Return to Corbin's Bend

by Corinne Alexander

  “I can stay?” asked Kirsty, her eyes shining.

  “If that is what you decide to do. However, there are conditions to your staying that you will need to accept. I would advise you not to make a decision about whether or not you want to stay until you have fully considered the conditions we are going to lay down for you.”

  Kirsty nodded her head. Logan took her hand in his and squeezed it.

  “Firstly, as I stated, your behavior last night was unacceptable. I assume that a large part of that was caused by the amount of alcohol you had consumed. Do you think your drinking is getting out of control?”

  Kirsty nodded.

  “The first condition of your staying here is that you stop drinking. For a minimum period of six months. Do you think you can do that?”

  “Yes, absolutely,” said Kirsty.

  “I don’t know how much of a problem this will be for you or whether you have a serious addiction. We want to give you whatever support you think you need. I suggest that you speak to Dr Devon about it and let me know if there is any way I can help you with regards to finding support groups.”

  “Thanks, Brent. I really don’t think that will be necessary. I never used to drink this much. I think I just got into the habit of it when I got here because I was bored.”

  “Okay. If you need assistance, let us know. You say you’ve been bored, which brings us on to our second condition. Every person here in Corbin’s Bend contributes something to the community. Whether it’s by working within Corbin’s Bend, bringing money in from working outside or by staying at home to take care of children. Right now, you’re not contributing. It seems like the best way for you to rectify that would be for you to get a job. This would allow you to contribute to the community and will bring some focus back into your day. If you cannot get a job, you will need to agree to undertake some kind of community service.”

  “I’ll get a job,” Kirsty agreed. “I’ll start looking straight away.”

  “That’s good to hear. What kind of work will you be looking for?”

  “Hairdressing. I’m a hairdresser,” said Kirsty.

  “Well, we have a couple of beauty parlors here in Corbin’s Bend. You might want to give them a try first. Are you okay with the two conditions that we have set so far? That you stop drinking and look for a job?”

  Kirsty nodded vigorously. “Yes, absolutely.”

  “That brings me onto the third and final condition. You probably already know what this one will be. You need to be punished for your behavior. The disciplinary committee have decided that you are to receive thirty swats with the paddle in a public disciplinary session in front of all residents over the age of eighteen who wish to attend. Do you agree to that?”

  Kirsty sucked in her breath and nodded. She had realized as soon as Brent had said that she could stay that a public spanking was inevitable. She’d known when she had first applied to move to Corbin’s Bend that public disciplinary spankings were part of the rules of the community. In fact, when she had first read about the practice, the idea of residents being spanked in front of the whole town had sounded kind of hot. She had never for a moment imagined that the first public disciplinary session she would be attending would be her own.

  Charles Robinson, the president of the disciplinary board spoke now. “Normally, public disciplinary spankings are administered by the offender’s Head of Household. However, given that you and Logan have only been together for a short while, we understand that this might not be something that either of you are comfortable with. In which case, we can assign the task to another of the community’s Heads of Household.”

  “I want Logan to do it!” blurted out Kirsty. “I mean if you are willing to.” She cast a nervous look over to Logan. He hadn’t said a word throughout the proceedings, but Kirsty felt completely supported by his being there. She was so grateful for his presence. He was her rock.

  “Of course I’ll do it,” said Logan firmly.

  “Very well,” said Charles. “The public punishment will take place tomorrow at 5 p.m. in the community center.”

  “Thank you so much,” said Kirsty.

  Charles raised an eyebrow. “I doubt you’ll be thanking anyone after thirty swats with the disciplinary paddle.”

  “You’re giving me another chance. Thank you for that.”

  Logan drove Kirsty back to her place. He could see that she was trying to hold back tears the whole length of the journey. When they reached the house, the floodgates opened.

  He pulled her towards him for a hug. “Sssh. It’s okay,” he said. “You were really brave in there.”

  Kirsty looked up at him. Although she was still crying, she gave him a big smile.

  “It’s the weirdest thing, but I feel so happy right now. I’m just so relieved, Logan. I can’t even explain it. Ever since I got to Corbin’s Bend, I have felt so lost and adrift. I didn’t know what to do with myself and now that I have been given some directives to follow, I feel like a weight has been taken from me.”

  Logan frowned at her words. “Sweetie, I’m sorry. I should have done more to support you.”

  “You’ve been amazing, Logan, you really have. But the way that Brent and Charles and the others laid down those rules for me to follow… it just made everything so much clearer in my mind. I didn’t know what to do before and now I know exactly what to do. And I know I can do it. I’ll stop drinking. I’ll get a job. And I’ll take those thirty swats in front of the town even though I won’t be able to sit down for a week afterwards. They’ve given me the chance I needed to prove myself.”

  He should be happy that she feels like this, thought Logan. She’s had some purpose restored to her life. That’s a good thing.

  So why did her words make it feel as though he had been punched in the gut?

  Because, he realized, he felt like he had let her down. She had been adrift, she’d been drowning, and he hadn’t done enough to save her. If he had been firmer with her, set better boundaries – like the disciplinary committee had had to do – then things might never have reached this point.

  He hadn’t recognized how much she’d needed some rules and order in her life. He was supposed to be her Head of Household. He should have taken care of it. It made him realize how very new he still was to all of this. This was his first proper DD relationship. The spankings he had given to Caitlin when they had dated didn’t count because Caitlin hadn’t been willing to acknowledge that she needed that kind of dominance in her life. Kirsty clearly did need it and had just told him as much. It just felt like that discipline was being provided by other men than him.

  “Hey,” said Kirsty. “You look worried. Please don’t be. I really can do this, you know. I know I can.”

  “I know you can do it, Kirsty,” said Logan. “I just feel bad that I haven’t been setting the sort of boundaries that you obviously needed. That Brent and Charles had to do it.”

  “You don’t want other people to set boundaries for me?”

  “I don’t mean that, exactly. It’s just that when I tried domestic discipline before – with Caitlin – it all ended really badly.”

  “What happened?” she asked.

  “The more I tried to impose discipline, the further away she got from me. She basically accused me of abuse in the end.”

  “Was she into the whole spanking lifestyle?”

  Logan shook his head. “No, not at all.”

  “Well, you see, there’s your problem. I think you definitely only should get involved with women who are as into spanking as you are.” She smiled at him.

  “Yeah, I seem to have that covered with the current one.” He grinned. “But I’m still not doing it right. Maybe I haven’t been firm enough with you.”

  “Really? You think that? It’s a good thing I’m going to behave myself from now on. You know, I think giving me thirty swats with a paddle in front of everyone definitely counts as being firm.”

  “I guess it does. I’m sorry it came to this though.�
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  “Why are you sorry?” said Kirsty. “This is nobody’s fault but mine. I acted like a drunken idiot.”

  “I’m worried I may not be very good at being anyone’s Head of Household.”

  “Don’t make this out to be your fault, Logan. You’ve been wonderful. I didn’t even know I wanted a domestic discipline relationship until I met you. I thought it was all about the sexy spanking. That time you paddled me after the Chicago trip… that changed everything. I think if you hadn’t disciplined me then, I wouldn’t have understood how much I needed this now. You’d already taken me in hand.”

  “Well I’m going to take you even more in hand in the future,” said Logan.

  “Mm. I guess I’m okay with that,” said Kirsty. “You’re my Head of Household. Of course we don’t even share a household yet. We’re both pretty new at this. It’s bound to take a while for us to get it all figured out.”

  “I guess that it’s a good thing we’re in Corbin’s Bend. It’s the best place for us to learn.”

  Kirsty smiled. “Yes. I’m going to learn to be good and you’re going to learn to keep me that way.”

  Logan smiled. “Yup. That sounds like a plan.”

  “Will you stay with me this evening?” asked Kirsty.

  “Of course. What do you want to do?”

  “I thought I’d chill out in front of a DVD before turning in for an early night. I’m still feeling pretty rough from last night, to be honest. Oh that reminds me.”

  Logan followed Kirsty into the kitchen and his heart stopped beating for a moment when he saw her take a half-full bottle of tequila from the pantry and take the cap off. It started again the moment she poured the entire contents down the sink.

  “That’s it,” she said. “My second new start. The new new start.”

  The community hall was packed for Kirsty’s public punishment with standing room only. It stood to reason, Logan thought, given how many people had been on the receiving end of Kirsty’s very public outburst. He just hoped that seeing her get a severe spanking would help put the incident in the past for everyone. He really wanted her to be able to have the fresh start that she wanted to once this was behind them.

  Logan really couldn’t wait for this to be all over. The idea of having to administer her punishment in front of the whole town was frankly terrifying. He had to ensure that each swat he delivered to Kirsty’s backside was hard enough or it would be deemed not to count and the stroke would have to be taken again. Any weakness on his part would therefore add to the severity of her punishment. He didn’t want to accidentally add any half-strokes to the total of thirty swats. It was already quite large enough.

  Logan was sitting with Kirsty in the little room off to the side of the hall. He held her hand, running his fingers over hers, hoping she realized how much he wanted to support her through all of this.

  Kelli Stevens popped her head round the door and came in to join them. “It won’t be long now,” she said. “I’ll be on the stage for support, Kirsty. We’re all there for you, believe me. Everyone’s on your side. Oh that reminds me.” She fished around in her purse and brought out a small tub of cream. “Here you go, Logan,” she said. “This will come in handy afterwards.”

  “Thank you,” said Kirsty. “I mean not just for the cream. For everything. The camp bed and the food and the reassurance, everything you’ve done for me since I got here. I really haven’t appreciated it enough. I’ve been so selfish.”

  “Don’t worry about it, Kirsty. It’s all going to be fine. You’re putting the past behind you now.”

  Charles Robinson opened the door. “It’s time,” he said simply.

  Kirsty and Logan stood and holding hands tightly, followed Charles onto the community hall stage. There was a spanking bench positioned in the middle. Kelli had gone through with Kirsty what would happen so that she was prepared for what was going to follow and knew what to do.

  She bent over the bench and Logan flipped her skirt up and out of the way. She had chosen to wear a short flared dress to make it easier for him to get access. A tiny lacy thong beneath it meant that she could retain a scrap of dignity in her exposed position in front of all her neighbors.

  She stole a glance behind and saw that Logan had gone to collect the paddle which was used in all public disciplinary spankings. It was wooden and looked sturdy and very heavy. Kirsty was not looking forward to being on the receiving end of it for thirty swats.

  She looked straight ahead again. Kelli was standing in front of the bench where Kirsty could see her. She gave Kirsty a reassuring smile.

  Charles’s voice boomed out “Begin the spanking” and Kirsty steeled herself for the worst minutes of her life.

  After only ten swats, Kirsty felt like she couldn’t take any more. Her backside ached and throbbed from the hard spanks that Logan had administered. She had no idea how she was going to get through the next twenty.

  Logan brought the paddle down with slightly less force on the eleventh swat. Kirsty, staring straight ahead, saw Charles shake his head ‘no’, disallowing the blow.

  Kirsty wanted to scream at him. Wasn’t this enough for him? Was the pain and the humiliation she was already suffering not sufficient? He needed to add more?

  Not that she had much time to reflect as Logan brought the twelfth – though technically only the eleventh – swat down on her backside with renewed force. The next nine followed quickly. Kirsty screamed as each blow connected with her flesh. Logan had clearly decided to get through it as quickly as possible and to ensure that there was no question that the swats being administered were forceful enough. After the twentieth swat, he paused for a minute. Kirsty was sobbing into the bench. Her bottom felt like it was on fire. She knew Logan had tried to vary the area that the swats landed as much as possible, but the paddle was so large that he didn’t have any choice but to lay most of the swats on top of one another. Kirsty whimpered, thinking of the ten more swats she was due to receive. She just wanted this over with. She wondered why Logan had paused, whether it was to give her bottom a rest or because he needed the break.

  She wondered if his arm was aching from wielding the heavy paddle and then almost laughed at herself for thinking it - given the pain that she was in from the twenty swats she had already received with the heavy paddle. Not that Logan didn’t deserve her sympathy. She knew it couldn’t be easy for him having to do this. None of this was his fault. In fact, none of it was anybody’s fault except her own. She wanted to do her best to demonstrate that she was willing to take her punishment.

  She looked up at Charles who looked over to Logan and nodded his head slightly, presumably as an instruction to resume the spanking. The next blow – the twenty-first – came crashing down on her backside a second later. Kirsty didn’t know how she managed to get through the next nine swats but she did. When the spanking was finally, mercifully over, Logan pushed her skirt back down over her bottom – the light fabric still causing her to wince in pain – and helped her to stand. It was not easy for her to do. Her legs felt shaky and unable to bear her weight and she was grateful she had Logan’s muscular arm to lean on. They walked off the stage passing Charles as they did so.

  “Thank you again,” said Kirsty quietly to Charles as they passed. Charles frowned in response. As Kirsty walked on, she worried that Charles might have thought she was being sarcastic in thanking him. She wasn’t. No matter how bad the spanking had been – and it had been the worst spanking of her life by a long way – it was still infinitely better than the other option which would have been her expulsion from Corbin’s Bend. She was genuinely grateful to Charles and the rest of the Discipline Board for giving her the opportunity to redeem herself.

  From the way she shifted uncomfortably in her seat, Logan could see that Kirsty was finding the journey back to his house excruciating. At least it was fast. Under any other circumstances, they would have walked the distance from the community center to Logan’s house, but Logan was anxious to get her home as s
oon as possible. Once they were back at his house, Kirsty lay on her front on his sofa as he pulled her skirt up and carefully applied the arnica cream which Kelli had given to him before the spanking. Kirsty hissed in pain as he applied the cream to the angry red and purple marks which covered her entire backside. He moved his hand away. “Do you want me stop?”

  Kirsty shook her head. “No keep going. I’m sure Kelli would only recommend it if she knew it would help.”

  Logan continued to apply the cream. “Yeah, she said it was the best cream in her experience for soothing a spanked posterior. She and Lelo must be experts on spanking by now. They’ve been doing it long enough. We definitely should take her advice.”

  Kirsty’s gasps of pain as Logan’s fingers ran over her punished backside turned into sobs. Logan guessed it was from the emotion of the day as much as his touching her backside.

  “All done now,” said Logan. He was kneeling on the floor by the sofa and stoked Kirsty’s hair. “I’m so sorry, Kirsty,” he said.

  “You don’t need to apologize,” she hiccupped. “You didn’t do anything wrong. I’m the one who did something wrong.”

  “And now you’ve paid the price for it. The whole town got to see how bravely you took your punishment. You were magnificent. You should be very proud of yourself.”

  “Logan? Why do you think people go to watch the public spankings?”

  “I don’t know. Lots of reasons I guess. I’ve been to one,” he said.

  “Really? When?”

  “A few months ago. Before you got here. There was a resident, Melissa who’d been harboring an unauthorized houseguest who turned out to have a criminal record. She was publically spanked for it.”

  “Did you know her?”

  “No.”

  “But you still went along to watch?”

  “Yes. Discipline is an important part of what makes Corbin’s Bend Corbin’s Bend. It seemed important to go. It shows solidarity. Reinforces the idea that we are all part of the same community with the same goals.”