Kelly pulled up in the parking lot where she was to meet RJ and kept her engine running until the song on the radio finished playing. RJ wasn’t anywhere around and she could see little of the trail. RJ’s pickup was the only other car in the small lot. The song ended and she rolled down her window to let some fresh air in while she waited. She eased back her seat so she’d have more room to stretch her long legs and let her head lean back on the headrest.
She wanted to get out and start walking towards the tower, but it wasn’t that long ago that her ass had paid the price for hiking in the wilderness area by herself. The memory of the switching RJ had given her was still fresh in her mind and she wasn’t ready to risk a repeat of that event.
She thought about how much her life had changed in the last few months since she’d been with RJ. How different her thought processes were now. Even the way she thought about relationships was different. If she were to be honest, she loved the feel of the flat of his hand coming down on her ass. She loved it when it was for fun. She loved it even more when it was a prelude to a good fucking. And she damn near creamed her pants when he pulled out his belt, and held it in one hand while he rolled up the sleeve of that arm with his free hand. Then he’d switch the belt over to his other hand and reverse the procedure. The entire time that he spent rolling up his sleeves—which she was sure he dragged on far longer than he needed to—his eyes would be on her, looking hard and stern. Letting her know he meant business and her ass was in for a solid thrashing. But the belt was for fun, he hadn’t used the belt for punishment since the first time he used it.
Since then, seeing how the belt turned her on, he only used it when she was stressed out or when she asked him to. That was something else that had changed in the last few months. She had always been too embarrassed, even ashamed, to ask outright for a spanking. She didn’t understand it herself, and thought that if she couldn’t understand it then surely he would never get it either. Sometimes, she simply craved a spanking. For absolutely no reason other than how good it made her feel. It just seemed to put everything in order.
After a long day at the clinic, days that sometimes seemed filled with uncooperative patients who whined about what they needed to do for rehab and complained that the exercises were too painful, it took her a long time to unwind and relax when she got home. If RJ was around, if he wasn’t working, she called him on his cell phone and asked him if she could stop by his place or if he could come over to hers.
The first time she’d done that, he said, “Sure babe, what’s up?”
She thought she’d taken a big chance when she just blurted out, “Nothing really, I just had a rough day and I would really love it if you would just come over. I think I want a spanking. I think it would relax me and help me settle down.”
His response had been, “I’ll be right over.”
When he got there, he asked her point blank, “Do you think the belt would do the job?”
Her answer had been, “Oh God, please, yes.”
That was her first stress relief spanking. RJ’s warm-up was long, but not punishingly hard. Before he started the warm-up, he made her tell him everything that had gone wrong that day, everything that had stressed her out, and told her—as he did his sleeve roll-up thing—that he was going to make it all better.
True to his word he had lashed her ass so many times with his belt that she’d lost count. Whenever he paused to make sure she was all right, she whimpered.
“More, please. Harder.”
Afterwards, soothing and stroking her flaming hot ass, he stayed with her until she fell asleep in his arms and held her all night long.
Just thinking about all this while she waited in her car, had made her horny and wet. Glancing at her cell phone to check for the time, she saw he was at least a half-hour late. She grinned to herself thinking about how she would be able to tease the punctual man about his tardiness.
Getting out of the car, she stretched her legs and walked around a bit to loosen up.
Should I just grab my backpack and start up the trail?
Maybe he’s hurt and needs help.
Was that smoke she smelled? She turned around in a circle, sniffing the air and caught another whiff of smoke. Glancing up to the sky, she saw plumes of grayish wispy clouds. Those aren’t clouds, dummy! That’s smoke!
She took another look up the trail as she thought about what she should do. A forest fire could be very dangerous. Was that what was keeping RJ from meeting her?
RJ knew he was late and hoped Jonathan had been able to reach Kelly. If not, he hoped she hadn’t got it into her head to start hiking on her own since he was late. As he came around the final bend of the trail and the parking lot came into view, he was relieved to see her pacing around the lot.
“Kelly! I’m glad you waited.” He was breathing hard from all the jogging he’d done for the last three hours.
“Is there a forest fire? I can smell smoke and I think I see smoke.” She pointed in the direction of the smoke.
“Yeah, they had it under control on one side, but then the wind shifted and now it’s heading straight for Corbin’s Bend.”
“Oh my God, what are we going to do? We better leave right now.”
“That’s the problem. We can’t. I was taking a shortcut here to get to you quicker when I noticed the wind shift, so I backtracked and went to the watchtower and radioed for an update.”
RJ pulled out his topo map and spread it open on the hood of her vehicle. He showed her where the main portion of the fire was and how the wind was moving. The winding road she had driven on to get to the trail-head now had a section covered in fire.
“So we’re trapped? Were stuck here?” Kelly asked with a little alarm in her voice.
RJ tapped the map and said, “Not necessarily. In fact, I want to try going in my truck down this forest road here. I’ve been on this road before and it’s not too bad. My four-wheel-drive truck can handle it. If I can get through, it’s the shortest distance to Corbin’s Bend since we can’t use the main road.”
Kelly looked up at him and he could see the worry in her eyes. He knew she’d figured out that the forest road he wanted to take was skirting mighty close to the fire.
“Isn’t that too close to the fire?”
“I’m hoping I can slip past the fire before it gets to this road. I’m going to have to move fast and leave as soon as possible.”
She shook her head and said, “It’s too dangerous.”
“That’s why I’m taking you to the tower. You’ll be safe there, the fire is miles away from it. Even if it did get close, it would never touch the tower with the big clearing all around it.”
“No! I want to go with you!”
“That’s not going to happen, Kelly.” RJ kept his voice firm, hoping she’d know he was doing it to keep her safe. “Come on, grab your backpack and let’s get a move on.”
“I said no. I’m going with you in your truck.” She stomped one foot on the ground to emphasize her refusal.
RJ gave a sigh and closed his eyes for a few seconds before saying, “I don’t have time to argue with you. I’m not giving you a choice here. You’re going to the tower. Now let’s go.”
Her eyes narrowed and turned a deeper blue/gray. “If you make me go to the tower, I’m going to wait for ten minutes after you leave and then I’m going to follow you back here. Then I’m going to get in my car and follow you down that forest road, even though I don’t have four-wheel-drive.”
The only response he could come up with was to threaten her with the spanking of her life. “You do that and you won’t be able to sit down for a month. I’ll give you a switching you’ll never forget.”
“I don’t care.” The firmness in her voice matched his.
“Stop acting like a spoiled brat. Can you just do as I’m asking like a good girl?”
“Like a good little lapdog, you mean?” Her voice dripped with sarcasm.
RJ gave up. What she needed was a good ass
pounding, but he didn’t have time for that or to stand here and argue with her. The people in Corbin’s Bend could very well be in danger.
“Fine. Get whatever you want out of your vehicle and get in my truck.”
He waited while she pulled her backpack out of her car and then she turned around and said, “I have about a dozen bottles of water on ice in the cooler. Do you think we should take them with us?”
Without answering, he walked over, grabbed the cooler, and put it in the bed of his pickup while Kelly climbed into the passenger side of his truck. When he got in, he handed her the map.
“I don’t suppose you know how to read one of these topo maps, do you?”
“As a matter of fact, I do. I’ve done plenty of hiking around this state and learned how to read them when I was still a kid.”
“Good for you.” His voice was surly. “Do you think you can keep track of where we are at all times?”
“Of course.” Her tone matched his.
“One more thing, when we get outta here, your ass is mine.”
He thought he put some fear into her when she remained silent for a few minutes. But no, his girl was just planning her next wisecrack.
“It’s a date! You, me, and your belt!”
He couldn’t keep up the stern facade. He let loose a loud laugh and said, “Nice try, but I don’t think so. You like that belt way too much. It’ll either be a good switching or a long session that will end with Corbin’s Bend emblazoned on your rump.”
“Spoil sport, you’re no fun.” She stuck her tongue out at him.
He chuckled and said, “You can’t say I didn’t warn you.”
“I know, but I was kind of hoping I could get a little fun out of it.” She kept her voice playful and he knew she was trying to lighten the mood. “I just don’t want you mad at me.”
“I’m not mad. I want you safe.”
The tension over their argument dissipated and RJ concentrated on his driving while Kelly kept up with the map. Her handheld GPS was useful in helping mark their progress.
He adjusted the truck’s air vents to recirculate the air already in the truck rather than draw in the smoky outside air. There was little conversation as they each focused on their tasks.
RJ kept his eyes on the road. Tree roots and large rocks could easily cause damage to the undercarriage of his truck or give him a flat tire if he wasn’t careful on this lesser maintained road.
Kelly was studying the topo map looking for another road they could take when RJ hit the brakes and came to a sudden stop. She looked up to see a tree trunk blocking their way. Dirt and dead leaves were piled all around it. Normally the road would be a fire break, keeping the flames to one side of it. But when tree branches spanned the width of the road and touched the branches of the trees on the other side, or a hot ember was carried to a fallen log like the one in front of them, a fire could quickly spread.
“What are you doing?” Kelly asked when he put the truck in park.
“Stay in the truck,” he said while reaching in the glove compartment. He pulled out a bandanna and tied it behind his head to cover his nose and mouth. “I’m going to see if I can move that log. Hopefully it’s all dried out and doesn’t weigh too much.”
Grabbing a pair of work gloves from his side door pocket, he got out of the truck and slammed the door shut before she could say anything else. She didn’t think he should be out there alone. The fallen log was on fire at one end and the flames reached a quarter of the way across.
She watched as he gave the end of the log that wasn’t on fire a kick. It moved and bits of charred bark and burning embers flew up into the air before falling to the ground. He was bending over scooping dirt and leaf debris away from the end of the log. RJ gave the log another kick and it moved again, sending more embers into the air.
Kelly gave a little yelp when one of those embers landed on RJ’s sleeve and burst into a small flame. She sighed in relief when he snuffed it out by slapping it with his gloved hand, but thought, he needs help, to herself. There were more bandannas in the glove box and she grabbed one. Checking her door pocket, she found another pair of gloves.
She tucked her long braid inside the back of her shirt. No sense in risking an ember falling on flying hair. She got out of the truck, grabbed a shovel and something that looked like a hoe on one side and a hatchet on the other from the truck bed.
Her heart racing, she jogged over to him with the tools. She saw the relief in his eyes when he saw the tools, but then he barked, “Thanks, go get back in the truck.”
“No! You can’t do this alone, I’m going to help you,” she shouted back at him.
She saw the resignation in his eyes as he realized he needed to accept her help.
“All right, but do what I tell you and always keep an eye on that fire spreading across the log.”
“I will, just tell me what to do.”
He grabbed the hatchet/hoe tool and said, “I’m gonna go on the other side and loosen up the debris. Use the shovel, and try and pull away as much of the growth as you can on this side.”
She nodded and went to work, slamming the edge of the shovel into the dirt, leaves, and undergrowth that had accumulated around the end of the log. With every strike of the shovel, she looked over to see if the fire was advancing. After several minutes of hacking away, she heard RJ shout to her.
“Do you think you can try and help me move the log?”
She tried to look affronted behind the mask of her bandanna and said, “I ain’t your basic simpering female, RJ. There’s a reason one of my old boyfriends used to call me his Amazon chick. Tell me what to do.”
The crinkles around his eyes told her he was smiling at her ‘Amazon chick’ remark.
“Okay, we’re gonna lift this end and pivot the log to the other side. Make sure you get a good grip and let me know if you need to take a break. We don’t want to drop it or sparks will fly everywhere.”
“Got it. Let’s do it!” She was sure she was strong enough to help him.
He bent down to get into position, looked up at her, and said, “Ready...lift.”
Together they lifted the end of the log and slowly shuffled in a wide arc towards the other side. Halfway across, RJ asked, “Should we stop?”
“No, keep going.” She gasped her answer.
RJ tripped over a root or a rock embedded at the edge of the road and fell. The sudden weight of the entire log was more than Kelly could handle. Though she tried to compensate by twisting her body for better leverage, one foot slipped out in front of her and she went down too.
She tried to roll away from the log, but wasn’t fast enough and the end of the log crashed down on her right shin, snapping her bone.
“Kelly!” RJ yelled her name when he heard her agonizing scream and then hollered in his own pain as a shower of red hot embers landed on his back and burned through his shirt.
Kelly turned at his yell and watched in horror as the back of his shirt flared up in flames.
“RJ! Roll! You’re on fire!”
He was already rolling and when the flames were out, he lay still on the ground, not moving, and Kelly feared he had passed out.
Close to blacking out herself, she pushed herself up on her elbows and felt a searing pain on her forearm. Looking down to see what was causing the pain, she saw a large hole in the thin sleeve of her shirt. The surrounding area was soaked in blood and the edges of the hole were charred black. She lifted her arm for a better look and saw a burn from what must have been a chunk of red-hot wood. It was a bad burn and she knew it had cooked some of her muscle tissue. The smell was disgusting. Taking deep, slow breaths, she fought back the shocky feeling washing over her.
Now is not the time to be fainthearted, she berated herself. She looked away from the injury to help keep the shock at bay and sat up. Her left leg was free, only the right one was trapped under the log. Leaning back, supporting herself with her left arm, she placed her left foot on the log and pushed with a
ll her might. It rolled off fairly easily though the pain from her broken leg made her cry out again.
Taking several deep breaths, she dug deep and found the strength to start dragging herself over to RJ. After rolling to put the fire on his back out, he was a good twenty-five feet from her. Using her left arm and the heel of her left leg, she scooted back away from the log and turned so she could see RJ better. At least he wasn’t unconscious. On his side, he was inching along towards her.
“I’m coming, RJ,” she called out in gasping breaths. “Just give me a minute, and I’ll get there.”
He shouted back to her, “No, you’re hurt. I’m coming to you.”
Neither stopped moving towards the other, and in a few minutes their outstretched hands touched. She felt immeasurably better as soon as his fingers curled around her hand and gave a gentle squeeze.
“Everything’s going to be okay, babe,” he told her.
“How badly burned is your back?”
“I don’t know, but it hurts like a mother-fucker. What about you? What’s wrong with your leg?”
She gave a harsh laugh and said, “Broken, it snapped when the log fell on it.” She didn’t mention the burn on her arm.
“Your leg is broken? Why the hell didn’t you wait for me to get to you? You shouldn’t be doing anything with it.”
“I didn’t, I just dragged it along. My other leg did all the work. Can you sit up so I can take a look at your back?”
“My back is fine for now,” RJ said as he sat up with a grimace of pain. “We gotta get moving. Stay here and I’ll drive the truck right next to you and then help you get in.”
“Okay, but we need to hurry. Those flames are getting closer to the road and the log is burning more now.”
RJ struggled to his feet and almost fell again when he put his weight on his left foot. Kelly saw him stumble and shouted, “Are you okay?”
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