Unfortunately this was the third time in as many weeks she’d forgotten her phone at home. The first time Sebastian explained that he expected her to always have her phone with her if she was out of the house. That he was making it a rule because it was that important to him. He wanted her to be able to contact help in an emergency, and to be able to contact her if something happened at home while she was at work.
After the second instance, he discussed the rule again with her, this time while she lay over his lap for a maintenance session. Obviously, Sebastian thought that way might permanently imprint the rule in her brain.
Apparently that hadn’t worked so well since Nancy now found herself rolling into Corbin’s Bend an hour and twenty minutes later than she expected to be home. She cringed, imagining what Sebastian’s reaction would be to her latest offense. Probably a punishment spanking. Of course, she might be lucky enough to get home before he even noticed her phone was in the house and she wasn’t.
Even as she thought it, she knew it wasn’t likely since the whole reason she noticed the phone was missing was because she wanted to call Sebastian and let him know she’d be later than planned. In her old life she wouldn’t have been concerned, but now that he was officially her HOH, he expected her to be where she said she’d be, when she said she’d be there. Unbeknownst to Nancy, her irregular hours and failure to keep him posted on when she’d be home had been a major worry and pet peeve of his, so now he insisted she keep him informed of her plans.
At first, Nancy had difficulty remembering to call if she was going to be late, or made an unscheduled stop somewhere, but once Sebastian explained how it made him feel when she didn’t keep in touch, she made it a priority. Hearing that her husband felt disrespected and unimportant when she didn’t take two minutes to make a simple phone call, made the impact he’d intended. Since then, she hadn’t slipped up once – until today.
Nancy hoped he’d hold off on any punishment until after Regan’s visit, though she suspected that wouldn’t happen. Sebastian had become the epitome of a stern, but gentle, alpha male and made sure he was always fair and consistent. The fairness worked in her favor but the consistency did not. He never missed an opportunity to nudge her back on the right path if she was veering off course, and he certainly never skipped a maintenance session. He no longer gave in to her every demand without question, or let her make unilateral decisions about their life. And he did it all without becoming an overbearing tyrant. He always asked the right questions to get her talking so he knew everything going on in their family, and in her head.
Plus, he’d started making a lot more decisions about things around the house instead of waiting to discuss everything with her after she came home from work. That had always been something that drove her nuts in the past. It made her feel like he couldn’t do anything without her input, though now she understood that he was trying to make sure she had a voice in all parts of their life. Funny how two people viewed the same thing in completely opposite ways.
Another benefit of their maintenance sessions was the opportunity it gave them to communicate. No televisions or phones to distract them, and for some reason having a hot behind prompted Nancy to speak her mind, respectfully of course.
Ten minutes later she pulled into the driveway and found Sebastian standing on the front porch, arms crossed across his chest. His short brown hair moved slightly in the breeze, but that was all that moved on him. His mirrored sunglasses hid his eyes, but from the firm set of his jaw and wide stance, he was clearly not pleased. Any glimmer of hope Nancy held that he’d failed to notice her left behind cell phone disappeared when she exited the truck and his first words were, “You’re late.”
“I know. I’m sorry. It took a lot longer than I expected and traffic was bad.” She busied herself with opening the back of the truck and loading her arms with bags as she talked, unable to meet his gaze. Of course he came over to help her. “The stores were very busy, and I had to go to a few different places to find everything.”
Between the two of them, they somehow carried everything into the house in one trip. After dropping his load of bags on the counter, Sebastian jogged back outside to close the truck and Nancy wondered if that would be the end of it for now. When he came right back to the kitchen and started emptying bags and shoving food into the fridge, she suspected not.
“We need to hurry,” he said, completely confusing her. “We have to leave in a few minutes.”
“What? Why?” She didn’t recall them having any plans for that afternoon.
“The school called and asked if we would come in today at three for Chloe’s kindergarten registration and assessment, instead of on Monday. Since I expected you home by one, at the latest, I agreed. I figured you’d appreciate getting it taken care of today instead of when Regan was here.”
Nancy flinched when he repeated exactly what she’d said on her way out the door earlier. Tossing her words from this morning back at her scored a direct hit. She started to apologize again, but he continued.
“I texted you to inform you of the change when they called at noon,” he ground out through a tightly clenched jaw. “Then I called at one fifteen when you weren’t home yet. Then again at one thirty when I got worried. At one forty-five I went upstairs and found your phone on the bedside table. That’s when I got upset. But we don’t have time to talk about this now. Go get Chloe from her bedroom, and let’s go so we don’t miss our appointment.”
Sebastian drove to the school on autopilot, barely hearing a word of Chloe’s excited chatter. Thankfully, Nancy stayed mostly silent at the meeting at the elementary school, letting him take the lead, which provided something else for him to focus on for now. Sebastian was beyond angry when she arrived home, though that was more from worry than anything else, and he needed time to calm down. Besides, he was the teacher in the family.
The principal was a nice man named Kent Manning, who took the time to ask Chloe questions and get to know her like a person instead of only speaking to Sebastian and Nancy. He made sure all the paperwork Sebastian had filled out ahead of time and brought with them was correct and went over the uniform requirements and school rules. Then Kent gave them a tour, showing Chloe where the kindergarten classrooms were, as well as the library, gym and cafeteria. Overall Sebastian was impressed with the facility and its leader, and thrilled Chloe was so excited that she skipped through the halls, peeking into every open door.
As they left, Kent handed Sebastian his card, asking him to call if he wanted to discuss a possible position at the school. Nancy had already started walking towards the truck and didn’t hear so he had no idea how she’d feel about it, but it gave Sebastian something to consider. He hadn’t thought about going back to work yet, but seeing the school and hitting it off with Kent made him wonder if it would be possible. Being in the same building as Chloe, and finishing work at the same time her classes ended, would work out perfectly. If he needed to stay late, she could always hang out in his classroom until he was ready to leave. The idea intrigued him, and he’d definitely be giving it further consideration, but he had to put it aside for a while to deal with his wife.
By the time Sebastian made it out to the truck, Nancy and Chloe were already buckled in and ready to go. Without a word, he started it up and pulled out of the parking lot, heading in the opposite direction from their house.
“Where are we going?” Nancy finally asked after he’d driven a few more blocks.
“Chloe’s going to hang out with Ashley for a while so we can get something to eat and spend some time together.” He pulled into Sean and Traci’s driveway, ignoring the confused, and slightly frightened, look on Nancy’s face. “Come on future kindergartener, I’m sure Ashley’s got something fun planned for you guys to do. Say goodbye to Mommy.”
“Bye, Mommy,” Chloe chirped, hopping out of the truck.
“See you later, sweetie,” Nancy replied, her voice trembling slightly.
Sebastian followed Chloe up the f
ront walk to where Sean stood holding the front door open with Ashley hovering behind him.
“Hey there, Chloe, thanks for coming over and visiting,” Sean greeted them and stepped back to give Sebastian and Chloe room to enter the house.
“No problem, Mr. Sean. I’m going to play with Ashley and have fun.”
“Yes we are,” Ashley said, grabbing Chloe’s hand. “Say goodbye to your dad and let’s go get started painting your nails.”
“Bye, Daddy!”
“I’ll see you after dinner, Chloe,” Sebastian called after her but she was already gone, following Ashley into the house. He turned to Sean. “Thanks again for the suggestion to bring her here.”
“Not a problem. Ashley loves spending time with her, and would never pass up an opportunity to earn a couple bucks. Though I told you that you don’t need to pay her.”
“If she’s watching Chloe, then I’m paying her. And I’m hoping it goes well and she can come over to our house and babysit so we can have nice night out some time.”
Sean nodded his approval at Sebastian’s ulterior motives. “I think Ashley would like that.”
“I’ll be back at seven to pick Chloe up. You sure you don’t mind feeding her dinner?”
“Not at all.” Sean paused, checking to make sure there were no little ears within hearing distance. “Are you ready for tonight?”
“Yeah, I am. Talking with you this afternoon really helped. I have a plan and I’m going to make sure I get my point across this time.”
“Don’t forget this.” Sean opened the coat closet and pulled out a grocery bag with one item inside. “I let Brent know I was borrowing it for you and that you’d bring it back later today or tomorrow.”
Sebastian tucked the bag under his arm and turned to leave. “Thanks, Sean, I appreciate it.”
“Good luck. We’ll see you in a few hours.”
Sebastian set the bag on the floor in the back seat before getting in and pulling out of the driveway. It only took thirty seconds before Nancy’s curiosity overwhelmed her.
“What’s in the bag?”
Sebastian didn’t bother trying to sugarcoat the truth. “It’s a paddle I asked Sean to borrow from the Disciplinary Board office.”
Out of the corner of his eye, he watched Nancy’s face fall as she realized just how serious he was about what she’d done this afternoon.
“I don’t think a paddle is really necessary, Sebastian.”
“I do, and we’ll actually have one of our own soon. There should have been one in the welcome basket but they’d temporarily run out. It’s really a necessary accessory for every household here.” No question about it. He’d felt silly admitting to Sean that they had no implements, other than Sebastian’s hand, to use for spanking, and obviously his hand wasn’t getting through to her. Maybe something a little harder would.
Before she could protest further, he pulled into The Pit. “We’re going to stop here and pick up some food to eat later. Then we’re going home and you’re going to be punished for your behavior today. Then we’ll eat dinner, I’ll go pick Chloe up, and you will be going to bed early. Do you understand?”
She gaped at him but nodded mutely.
“Good, let’s get some barbeque.”
Twenty minutes later they were home. Nancy barely said a word except to place her order, but he didn’t sense any anger or hostility coming from her, more trepidation and nervousness.
Hell, he was nervous too. They hadn’t encountered a situation that he felt warranted punishment since their first weekend in Corbin’s Bend, but even though he worried about striking just the right balance between too much and not enough, there was no way he was backing down. Today had pushed him to the limit of his tolerance.
He carried both the bags of food and the bag with the paddle into the house, Nancy trudging after him like she was walking to her execution. He almost felt bad, but not quite. When she went to grab plates from the cupboard, he stopped her.
“The food will keep. We have something to take care of first. Let’s go upstairs to the bedroom.” Since Chloe wasn’t there, there was no need to go down to the basement.
“Sebastian, can’t this wait? I have so much to do for the party tomorrow and Regan’s arriving in the morning. I really don’t have time for this,” she whined.
Even though he’d expected some resistance, her attitude still surprised him. “Nancy, this is more important than party preparations. I don’t want to hear another attempt to dodge the punishment you know you deserve. Now let’s go.” He kept his voice calm but pointed a finger towards the front of the house, directing her towards the stairs.
She finally started moving in that direction, but so slowly she could have been walking through molasses. He stayed right behind her, paddle tucked under his arm, silently urging her forward all the way up the stairs and into their bedroom.
“Take off your clothes and lean over the side of the bed.” His directions gave her another jolt of shock but this time she didn’t argue. She removed each piece of clothing, folding and stacking them on her dresser before she positioned herself on the bed.
She buried her head in the comforter, but he could tell how nervous she was from the trembling of her legs. It made him want to reassure her that they’d get through this, but that her punishment was absolutely necessary.
Crossing the room to her side, he put a hand on her lower back, steadying her when she jumped from the touch. “I love you, Nancy. It’s because I love you that I’m going to hold you accountable for what happened today. We have rules in our relationship. Rules that you agreed to and asked for. Today you broke two of those rules and had me worried sick about you for a full half hour until I saw your phone and realized you hadn’t been kidnapped or were lying in a ditch somewhere.”
“I’m sorry, Sebastian. It won’t happen again.” Her words were a bit garbled from speaking into the mattress, but he still heard and understood.
“That’s what you said last time, but evidently I didn’t make it clear how important carrying your phone with you at all times was to me. So I’m going to make sure I make my point today.”
At his implied threat, she lifted her head and turned to look back at him. “No, you don’t have to do that. I understand.”
His hand stilled where he’d been tracing circles on her skin. “I don’t think you do. It’s dangerous to be without it, driving in these mountains.”
“The roads are fine, Sebastian. It’s not dangerous.”
The stubborn woman was still arguing with him.
“They’re fine now, but when winter comes, they’ll be icy and snow covered. Before the bad weather arrives I’m going to make sure you’re already in the habit of having it with you, at all times.” With that he started the spanking, using his hand to warm her up, but he still continued speaking. “Sean agrees with me too. In fact, he said he might implement that rule for Traci.”
His right hand swung, smacking her backside all over, trying to achieve an even amount of heat before he brought out the paddle. She accepted the blows without protest, twitching a little when he connected with her upper thighs, but when he mentioned Sean’s name, Nancy tensed up.
“What! You told him?” she shrieked, loud enough that he was grateful their windows were closed. Not that anyone around here would think twice about some yelps coming from their house.
“Of course I told him.”
Smack. Smack. He put a little more oomph into these two.
“He’s my mentor and who I’m supposed to go to for advice.”
Smack. Smack. These made his palm sting.
“I’m so embarrassed that you told him! And I’m sure he told Traci. I can’t imagine what they must think of me!” she cried, her behind swaying in an attempt to avoid his hand.
“You should be more worried about what I think, then what Traci and Sean think, Nancy. I’m the one you disappointed today, who you worried today,” he said, trying to make her focus on the issue at hand. “Traci
and Sean know how this works and aren’t going to think any differently of you. Everybody makes mistakes. But now it’s time to pay for yours.”
Satisfied that she was ready, he stepped away to grab the paddle from where he’d left it on his dresser. Putting his hand on her back again, more firmly this time, he raised his hand and brought the paddle down on the center of her right cheek.
“Owww! That hurts!” She tried to twist away but he wrapped his arm around her waist and sat down, pulling her lower half over his knee and securing her legs with one of his.
“That’s the point, Nancy.” He pulled back and gave the left cheek a matching red spot. “I need to get through to you somehow.” The paddle came down on the right again, this time lower, earning him another howl and more thrashing around. “What would you do if you slid into a snowbank with Chloe in the car and didn’t have your phone with you? These roads are winding and not heavily traveled.”
That stilled her for a second until he blistered her left sit spot.
“You could be stuck for a long time before someone drove by, and it’s cold here in the winter.”
Two more smacks, in rapid succession, had her sobbing. “You cannot forget your phone again, Nancy. Repeat it and tell me why,” he ordered.
Sniff. Sniff. “I will not forget my phone again because it’s dangerous.”
“That’s right. And you will remember to call me and let me know if you’re not going to be home on time, correct?”
“Yes, Sebastian.”
He gave her two more smacks with the paddle, a little lighter this time. “Repeat the whole thing so I know you understand me.”
Sniff. Sniff. “I will remember to call you if I’m not going to be home on time.”
“Good, because if you forget again, not only will you be paddled, but you’ll also be grounded from going anywhere but work for a week. I need to trust that you’re going to be safe at all times, and if it takes not letting you leave the house for a while, then that’s what I’ll do. The only reason you’re not grounded this time is because Regan is visiting. Do you understand?”
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