Back in Charge

by Dinah McLeod

  "I think calming down is a good idea," Robert agreed, lowering his voice. "We need to talk about this. But the kids are going to find out eventually."

  "Why?" she choked out. "Are you… are you leaving us?"

  "Leaving you? Why on earth would I do that?"

  She sucked in a deep, shaky breath. "I just thought… I hoped that you might want to… save our marriage."

  "Save our marriage?"

  Really, this echo of his was getting old. "Yes, Robert. Our marriage. You know, ten years, three kids? That ring a bell?"

  "All right, I've had enough," he declared, reaching over and pushing the bedroom door closed. Sadie watched as he locked it before he walked toward her. He sat on the bed beside her and yanked back the blankets she was hiding under.

  "Hey!"

  "I know I've made a mistake here, Sadie. I know I should have talked to you first, but that's no reason to treat me like this."

  "Talk to me first?" She couldn't believe the nerve of this man. She'd thought she'd known him so well, that they were in love, but she was sure plenty of women thought that too, right before they found out otherwise. "That's laughable. Did you honestly think I'd ever agree?"

  "Well, I thought maybe when you understood the advantages you might come around to see things my way."

  She couldn't believe what she was hearing. Who was this man? "The advantages? What advantage could there possibly be for me? How do I end up with anything other than a broken heart?" The words spurred more tears, but she wiped them away angrily and continued to glare at him.

  "I know you like it here, but this really is a good offer. It could mean good things for me. For us."

  She shook her head, feeling more confused than ever. He just wasn't making any sense. "I can't listen to this anymore. You need to go."

  "Sadie—"

  "No. I can't do this."

  "But we have to talk."

  "We've talked enough. If you want to apologize, and let go of this other… person, well, then maybe we will have things to discuss."

  Robert looked just as confused as she felt. "What other person?"

  Oh, he was going to make her say it, was he? Well, if that wasn't just insult to injury. "Sebastian."

  "Sebastian? Sadie, he's just the messenger. You can't really be mad at him. I'm the one who's making the decision."

  The messenger? She couldn't be mad?

  "Wait a minute." Robert's face went pale for a second, then bright splotches of color flooded his cheeks and his neck. "What exactly is it you think is going on here?"

  She dropped her eyes and focused on her hands that were anxiously twisting the sheet in front of her. She couldn't bear to look at him for one more second. Looking at him just reminded her how dear he was to her and that was exactly what she didn't need right now.

  "Sadie?"

  "You're…" She choked on the words. She couldn't say it. She took several short, gasping breaths before she found the courage to meet his eyes. "You're having an affair."

  The words hung between them like lit firecrackers you were watching to see when they'd go off. Robert reacted first, his face looking so shocked and wounded you would have thought she'd kicked a newborn puppy across the floor.

  Shockingly, seeing the expression on his face gave her the faintest flames of hope.

  "You honestly believe that?"

  "You mean…" Her hope surged a bit higher. "You're not?"

  "Of course I'm not!" His voice boomed across the room, shocking her. "Sadie! Are you crazy? What would have made you think that?"

  "But you were being so secretive all the time! You were taking secret phone calls, and leaving with flimsy excuses, and there was that charge on your credit card…"

  The look on his face was so bewildered that she had no choice but to explain. She took a deep breath and everything came pouring out. She told him how she'd noticed his strange, jumpy behavior and how with Lexi's encouragement she'd begun snooping around to find out the truth.

  "And you decided I was cheating on you," he said flatly.

  "Well…" She gave a little embarrassed laugh. Now that she heard it aloud, it did sound… kind of presumptuous.

  "I can't believe it," Robert said, his face blank as a slate. "You should have come to me. If you'd just asked me, we wouldn't be going through any of this."

  "I did ask you," she pointed out softly. "You just made up an excuse."

  He sighed and ran his fingers through his hair. "Yeah, I guess you're right. We both made mistakes here." Without preamble, Robert told her the whole story and she sat, riveted, running through the gambit of emotions as he spoke. At first, she was stunned. Robert had been having a lot of trouble at work—she'd known that part—but then he'd been approached by a head hunter from another organization. It was an old college buddy of his who worked in Virginia, and they'd had an opening and were looking for a head supervisor for their department. His friend, Sebastian, had been in talks with Rob for the last two weeks about the position and he'd already had a phone interview and met with two of the most senior guys. Now he was being offered the job, which came with a substantial raise, better, less expensive benefits and a brand-new laptop and phone paid for by the company. It all sounded prestigious and amazing, and Sadie was floored. So much so that she almost forgot she'd just accused her husband of adultery. Almost.

  She couldn't believe that he hadn't told her about it earlier until he explained that in order for him to accept the job, they'd have to move to Virginia. When she ran the calculations in her head and realized that it would be nearly twelve-hundred miles from their home, suddenly she could see all too clearly why he hadn't told her. Which also meant he was considering it.

  It was all a little much to take in, frankly.

  "Congratulations," she said at last, offering a weak smile.

  "Thanks." He reached over and took her hand, giving it a squeeze. "I was going to tell you, you know. I was just trying to find the right time."

  "I should be relieved, I guess." She gave a little tinkling laugh, feeling both embarrassed and nervous. Maybe the shock of having to spill the beans would make him forget that she'd snooped on him and yelled at him, among other things—like accusing him of having an affair.

  "Are you?"

  "Um…"

  "I mean, what do you think about moving?"

  "It does sound like a great job…"

  "Absolutely," he enthused, but both his tone and his eyes were cautious.

  "But it's a long ways away."

  "I know."

  "The kids…"

  "They're at the perfect age to do it, honestly. Virginia's schools are some of the highest ranked in the country."

  She blew out of her breath in a huff, making her bangs fly upward. Of course he'd bring that up. Now if she said she didn't want to move, she looked like the bad mom who didn't care about her kids' education. He was good, she'd give him that.

  "And it's a beautiful place to live."

  "You know I don't care about stuff like that." She waved a hand dismissively. "I just sit in front of the TV most of the day anyway."

  "Come on, Sadie… let's at least think about this."

  "Okay. I'll think about it."

  "Really?" he asked, his eyes lighting up hopefully. "You promise?"

  "I promise," she said, somewhat reluctantly. But she couldn't shoot it down out right. This really was a great opportunity for him—for their family.

  Robert lifted her hand to his lips and kissed the back of it. "Thank you."

  "Sure, baby."

  "Now, there's just one little thing we need to discuss."

  Her ears perked up and her tummy muscled tightened. Uh-oh.

  "Actually, now that I think about it, it's not quite that little. Correct me if I'm wrong, but you thought I was cheating on you?"

  "Um, well… sort of?"

  "Okay, just sort of cheating on you. Got it. So not only did you go around thinking this without talking to me about it, but you told s
omeone?"

  "Just Lexi, and for the record you weren't talking to me!"

  "God only knows what this woman thought about me that she helped you spy on me."

  "I didn't spy, exactly."

  "Let's not get caught up with semantics, Sadie. You snooped through my computer, went through my credit card statements, and God knows what you would have done next, because it never occurred to you to sit down and talk to me."

  "If you had nothing to hide—"

  "That can go both ways, babe. If you didn't let your imagination get the best of you, for example."

  He'd brought out the HOH stare and was pairing it with the stern eyes and downturned mouth. Not good. Very not good. Her butt was clenching already. "I don't know why you're acting like I'm the only one who did anything wrong!"

  "I'm not. We both made mistakes, I'm more than willing to admit to that. I will make mine up to you, I promise, and you’ll make yours up to me by taking the spanking you have coming.”

  Sadie bit down on her lip, hard. That was exactly what she'd been afraid of. Almost before she knew it, she was scooting back toward the headboard—as though that could save her. "I said I'm sorry, honey."

  "I know you did. And I believe you. I can't imagine what kind of hell you've been putting yourself through these last few days."

  "Some people would say that's punishment enough," she piped up.

  She was shot down with an even sterner glare. "Some people would, I guess. I'm just not one of them."

  "But, honey—"

  He reached for her, and she foolishly batted his hand away. Oops. Mistake number… where was she even at again? Too many to count.

  Obviously Robert thought so too, because no sooner had his fingers closed around her wrist than she was hauled over his knee. Normally, he started with a warmup over her panties, but today he yanked her sweat pants down taking the panties along with them as he began to paddle her with rapid-fire strikes with his hand. He didn't normally start off so hard so quickly, but to be fair, she didn't normally hit him when it was time for a spanking. The whole affair bit probably hadn't helped, either.

  For the first time in a long time, he didn't lecture her, but simply spanked and spanked. Her bottom warmed quickly under his fast, sharp spanks and it wasn't long before her legs kicked in protest. He stilled her quickly by throwing his leg over hers, trapping her. Still, she wiggled and fought as much as she was able.

  "Be still," he admonished with several firm spanks to her sensitive thighs.

  "It hurts!" she wailed, twisting with all her might.

  "It's going to hurt more if you don't learn to be still," he growled.

  "I'm trying," she whined, but all she was really trying to do was escape.

  "Try harder," he warned, his voice full of promise of worse things to come.

  She tried. She really did. But as his hand spanked a tattoo across her bottom, she couldn't help but reach back to try to stop him. He caught her hand before it made contact and kept it trapped against her back. After which, she could barely move. Well and truly caught and without any hope of escape, the only thing she could do was focus on the ever-growing pain in her backside. It was far from pleasant.

  The painful tingle that always came when her bottom was beginning to tinge pink had already gone and was being replaced with a red-hot pain that she knew wasn't going to stop anytime soon. And as she lay there with nothing left to do but feel every stinging smack and think about what had brought her here, she had to admit that she deserved it.

  She couldn't believe that she'd ever accused Rob—sweet, dependable, never-looked-twice-at-another-woman Rob of having an affair. It was laughable. Well, it would be, in ten years maybe. Right now, no one seemed to feel like laughing—least of all her. She'd gone behind his back and played detective and now she was paying the price.

  Why hadn't she remembered how very painful the price could be?

  "Ow!" she couldn't help but cry out after a particularly stingy spank.

  Still, Robert didn't speak. It seemed that his sole focus at the moment was making sure that she wouldn't be able to sit down in the morning. His hand bounced off one cheek and landed on the other, each and every spank just as hard and punishing as the one before it. He was an expert spanker—he never left even the smallest inch of skin untouched.

  "Rob, please," she began to plead as she blinked back tears. "I'm sorry." She thought he'd come back with something snappy like, you better be or sorry is as sorry does, but he didn't give her even that satisfaction. Instead, he paddled his way up her left cheek, then began to go down the right, not missing a beat as she tried to struggle against him.

  The silence was becoming even more disconcerting than her sore bottom. She knew she deserved to be punished, loath as she was to admit it, but his refusal to talk to her was unbearable.

  He began to space the spanks out, almost as though he was giving her a chance to really feel the burn he'd stoked in her nether region. She felt it all right—she couldn't think of anything else. The strokes he landed were hard, given with many lingering seconds between them, just enough time to make her tense and worry about where the next would fall. Long before the final spank fell, tears were streaming down her cheeks.

  She was crying so pitifully that it was actually several minutes before she realized that she'd been released. As soon as she did, she brought her arm in front of her and began to massage her wrist, sniffling.

  "Corner. Now." His voice was stern, though not unkind. Sadie was just happy that he was talking to her again and scurried to do his bidding.

  Only when her nose was planted firmly into the corner did he begin the lecture. She knew she must have really missed the sound of his voice to be glad when he began to scold her.

  "We have been married for over a decade, Sadie Marie, and I expect better from you. If there is a problem, you need to come to me. You know that. We've had more than a couple of sessions of corner-time talking about this very thing over the years, so you can't plead ignorance, nor can I let you off lightly."

  She turned to look at him, her eyes wide and shiny with tears. She was sure she made a pitiful picture to look at. "Rob, I—"

  "Nose in corner." His didn't raise his voice, but rather lowered it so that he was nearly whispering. She swiveled her head back around to face the wall, but not before she saw him headed toward her in fast, purposeful strides.

  Sadie tensed, hoping that she'd just imagined it, but when she felt his hand crack over her bottom—once, twice, three times she jumped—she knew she hadn't. She broke into pitiful sobs at the shock of renewed pain and Rob didn't speak again until she got ahold of herself.

  "You will have your turn, I promise you, but right now you're being punished and you're going to take it. You and I both know you have this spanking coming."

  Wait, what? He spoke as though he hadn't already lit her up and turned her bottom bright red. Granted, she was only guessing, but by the feel of it she suspected the mirror would later confirm her suspicions. Surely he didn't mean they weren't done. She would have loved to ask, but didn't relish the thought of earning any more of those firm swats.

  "I'm just so disappointed. I thought you knew me better after all this time."

  His words twisted in her heart. He really sounded wounded. And she'd put that hurt there, whether she'd meant to or not.

  "I know you're thinking you've already been spanked pretty hard, but seeing as we've already talked about this before, and the fact that you were caught trying to snoop and you lied to me about it, we're not done yet."

  She swallowed hard at hearing his words. With everything that had happened, she'd forgotten, but sure enough, she remembered how that lie had rolled off her tongue in a moment of desperation. Sadie winced, wishing she could beg his forgiveness, even though she knew it wouldn't save her. She just wanted him to know how sorry she was, but she suspected the best thing she could do just then to show him was to keep quiet. There would be plenty of time for apologies later,
she was sure. And in the meantime, she'd have to somehow survive whatever punishment he had planned for her.

  "I'm going to give you another minute or two to think about what you did wrong and then we'll finish this."

  She didn't need time to think. She already knew she'd totally screwed everything up. True, Robert never should have hidden the job from her, but if she were honest with herself, she could understand why he had. It was a big step, and he was afraid how she'd take it. She winced thinking about it—sometimes, she could be a little short-sighted. She imagined he'd had visions of her losing it when she heard about the move which had probably shaken his confidence. The truth was, getting the offer was a pretty big coup for Robert and would do wonders for his career and their family. He shouldn't have been afraid to come to her with it.

  Maybe he should have manned up and come to her, but at the same time, she could have asked. If she'd ever truly tried, he would have told her the truth. Instead, she'd gone behind his back, letting her own worst fears take hold and make her worry for nothing. She winced remembering some of the more colorful things she'd said in her hurt and anger. He hadn't deserved any of it. And she would have known, if she'd been thinking clearly.

  And on top of everything else, when he'd asked her about it, she'd lied right to his face. That was why she was in this predicament, painful as it was. She felt so terrible, she was willing to take whatever punishment he had planned for her without a single word of complaint. She'd do anything, so long as he'd forgive her afterward.

  Or so she thought, until he told her to turn around and she saw the much-hated belt dangling from his hand. As soon as she laid eyes on it she felt her heart drop straight into her stomach and come bouncing back up so quickly she thought she might hurl. Yes, it was that bad.

  It wasn't just a regular belt—the one Robert was holding. It was a thick, sturdy piece of leather that had been crafted by the Devil himself—which was why it hurt like hell. Robert never wore it, because he knew the power just the sight of it had over her. Just like she knew, seeing him holding it, knowing that it would soon punish her bottom, that he meant serious business.