The Towels

Here's my first attempt at public story telling, folks. Please be kind and maybe even enjoy. WEG. For the record, this is fiction. Many of the little details are true to life, but the story as a whole is made up.

Oh, and uh, click on the Read More link.

The Towels
By AngelBrat

"Hey, Sugar!" Nicole said when Travis answered his phone. Travis smiled when he heard his wife's voice. She didn't know it yet, but he'd planned a very special evening, just for the two of them. He'd arranged for Morgan, their four year old daughter, to spend a rare night with Grandma. He was very much looking forward to the night alone with his wife.

"Hey, Babe. What's up?"

"I just wanted to let you know that I'll be a few minutes late. I'm going to run by Wal-Mart to get those towels I showed you. I'd like to get the soap dish too. Do you need anything?"

Travis frowned. Nicole had been talking about those towels for nearly a week now. They were on clearance, and he'd promised her she could get them when they got paid. The problem was that they were at the Wal-Mart across town, an area that wasn't exactly safe at night, especially for a woman alone.

"Oh no you don't. You know you're not to be in that part of town at night without me. It's not safe. Just wait and we'll go tomorrow."

"But Honey! It won't take but a minute. I'll be careful, and I've got my cell phone!"

"Nicole, I said we'll go tomorrow."

"But I need to get shampoo and dog food too. I didn't have anything to feed the poor puppy today."

"Fine, you can stop at the Wal-Mart three minutes from our house. But hurry home."

"But you know how busy Wal-Mart is on Saturday morning. What if somebody buys them before we get there tomorrow?"

"Nicole, I said no. You can stop at the one close to home, but you are not to go to the other one tonight. End of discussion," he said, his voice firm.

Nicole suppressed a sigh. "Yes sir," she said reluctantly, knowing he was right. They'd been practicing DD for a year and a half now, and their marriage had never been better, but sometimes it was hard to be submissive on the little things. Yet she found herself smiling. It still thrilled her when he took a firm stance with her. They exchanged I love yous and goodbyes and hung up. Nicole went back from her lunch break, still thinking about the towels, but determined to obey.

She'd been hard at work for ten minutes when suddenly she heard something that made the account in front of her flee from her mind. Linda, the woman in the next cubicle was on the phone with her husband.

"Bill, I found the most perfect towels for our guest bathroom on clearance. They're the exact shade of red in the shower curtain. I was going to get them today, but I was all the way out west, and the lines were horrible, so I just left them. I'm going to pick them up on my way home."

That bitch! She'd heard Nicole talking about those towels three days ago and knew she was just waiting till payday to get them! All warm fuzzy thoughts of obedience flew from Nicole's head. Eyes narrowed, she began to plan. She worked until midnight, but Linda was scheduled until 2:00. She could get the towels and be home before that hussy even turned off her computer.

Suddenly, her husband's face intruded on her thoughts. She stopped short. What was she thinking?

Then Linda's voice drifted over the cubicle wall again.

"Oh, I forgot, Bill! I found the cutest soap dish too!"

Nicole could feel her hands curling into fists. Travis would be asleep long before she should be home. She could be in and out in five minutes, and he'd never know. If he asked about the towels, she could tell him she'd miraculously found them at the Wal-Mart close to home.She shoved down a nagging guilt over her planned disobedience and got back to work, telling herself that it wouldn't hurt anything because he'd never know. Deep down, she knew her excuses would never fly for him, but she just couldn't let that witch get her towels. Or her soap dish!

At home, Travis hung up the phone with Nicole's mother, Holly. Morgan was settled for the night, and Holly's voice had been rich with excitement over her part in the surprise. Looking around at the spotless house, he smiled in satisfaction. It wasn't in terrible shape before, but he'd straightened up the meandering path of chaos that naturally follows a four year old, and strategically placed candles around the den. A bottle of wine was chilling, and there was a carefully wrapped DVD of The Notebook. Nicole had been working hard, both at home and at the bank, and he really wanted to surprise her with a special night.

He passed the bathroom and grinned broadly at the towel bar. After dropping Morgan off with Nicole's parents, he'd made the trip across town. He'd not only gotten the towels and soap dish, but he'd even found a matching toothbrush holder and cup.

At midnight, Nicole logged off her computer and walked with the rest of her shift to the parking garage, shooting a dirty look at the back of Linda's head as she passed. As she buckled her seat belt, she thought again about what she was about to do. She knew she should just go home. Travis had told her in no uncertain terms to wait until tomorrow. But she knew for a fact that the towels weren't going to be there tomorrow! She drove purposefully toward the forbidden Wal-Mart.

She parked and got out, careful to remember her cell phone, but when she looked down at it, she swore. The display was blank, and she suddenly remembered that it was nearly dead when she'd talked to Travis. She'd meant to plug it into the car charger when she left work.

Well, she thought, I won't be long in here. As she approached the store she avoided the leering gazes of two teenage boys lounging on the bench out front. Keeping her eyes in front of her, she walked through the automatic doors. She headed toward the bed and bath section, glancing back over her shoulder to make sure they hadn't followed her in.

At midnight, Travis had a sudden inspiration. He decided to wait at Wal-Mart for Nicole and take her for coffee. The Waffle House was a regular haunt for them when they were dating and during the early, pre-Morgan years of their marriage. Besides, if all went well, the night would be long, and he needed the caffeine.

Nicole stared in disbelief at the empty shelf. They were gone! Every single one of them! She'd disobeyed Travis for nothing! She started at the beginning of the first bed and bath aisle and began methodically searching. Maybe they had just been moved.

At 12:30, Travis looked at his watch and frowned. Nicole should have been here ten minutes ago. Normally he wouldn't worry, but Friday nights after midnight was prime time for drunk drivers. He tried her cell phone. His frown deepened when it went straight to voice mail. He hung up and sat back in the seat. He'd give it another ten minutes, and if she didn't show up or at least call, he'd go look for her.

Dejected, Nicole stared down the final aisle, which was slightly disheveled from her searching. She looked down at her watch and gasped. It was one o'clock! Praying that Travis was long asleep, she hurried to the front of the store. She gave the cashier a perfunctory smile and walked out the door. As soon as she stepped onto the sidewalk, she drew up fast.

The two teenagers from the bench were leaning carelessly against her Xterra. She spun around and went back inside. What was she going to do? The parking lot was otherwise deserted, and the elderly, half asleep cashier didn't look like she would be much help.

I can't very well call the police for something like this, can I? After all, they're not actually doing anything. But when I walked out they started whispering to each other, and the smaller one actually pointed at me! She shuddered as she thought of the predatory way they'd ogled her bottom on the way in. Maybe I should call the police. But what if there's some sort of report they have to follow up on? Travis will blister my bottom six ways from Sunday if he finds out I stopped here!

Travis was at that moment five minutes away. At 12:40, after trying her cell phone twice more, he'd driven her route to work. It had only taken him 15 minutes, and when she wasn't in a ditch along the way, the rush of relief had changed to grim realization. If that little brat's at the other Wal-Mart, she won't sit for a month!

Nicole glanced out the door again, then down at her watch. It was 1:15. She had to go home. I'll just march right up and very firmly tell them to move. She approached the car, trying hard to look very tough and no-nonsense. When she reached the driver's side door, she very firmly said, "Please excuse me. This is my car."

She reached for the door handle, and the bigger boy slid easily in front of it. She jerked her hand back just before it touched his crotch.

"Hey, baby. No need to be shy. You can touch."

Nicole's face burned with fury. "Get off my car!"

Suddenly, the shorter one was close behind her, and she whirled around. He backed her up against the car. "What's your hurry, honey? We should get to know each other better." He rested his hand on
her hip. A scream was rising in her throat when suddenly headlights flashed across them. Her eyes widened when she saw Travis' truck.

Travis felt his heart drop into his stomach when he saw Nicole's car. She was trapped against it, terror in her face. He slammed the truck in park and leapt out. The big one saw him coming and said, "Yo, Mike..." Travis was moving fast when he knocked the kid off of her, and Mike went down hard, emitting an unhealthy sounding squeak upon impact. If he hadn't been so concerned with Nicole, Travis would've broken every bone in the hand he'd laid on her. The tall one actually shrieked as he jumped out of reach. He ran fast into the building, apparently counting on the protection of Madam Cashier. Mike lay moaning on the ground.

Nicole collapsed into her husband's arms, sobbing. "I'm so glad to see you! I was so scared! I thought they were going to - "She crumbled, weeping against his chest. He held her tightly, stroking her back and gently kissing the top of her head. Mike took the opportunity to roll out of range of Travis' boots, then carefully got to his feet and limped off after his friend.

When her sobs had quieted, Travis took Nicole by the shoulders and pushed her back so that he could see her face. "Nicole, what the hell are you doing here?" Her face crumbled again.

"I'm sorry! I just - Linda said she- I'm sooooorrrrry!" she wailed.

"Is your car locked?" Still weeping, she nodded yes. "Then we're going to leave it here tonight since you seemed to think the area is safe enough for you to directly disobey me about coming here. You're too upset to drive. Get in the truck."

Trying hard to keep her crying under control, she obeyed, meekly fastening her seatbelt. Travis flipped open his phone and dialed the non emergency police number. He gave a quick description of the two punks and hung up without identifying himself. The last thing he needed to deal with was coming back tomorrow to a vandalized Xterra, and those two bastards needed a brush with law enforcement. He got in and started the truck. The silence on the way was deafening. At one point, she worked up the courage to ask where Morgan was.

"At your mother's, " he answered curtly, and his tone forestalled any further questions. As they neared home, he turned into the Waffle House parking lot. He still needed the caffeine, but for a different reason now. He parked the truck and turned to face her.

"I don't feel sufficiently reasonable to punish you right now, so we're going to have a nice cup of coffee and a danish while you explain to me what you were thinking."

Miserably, Nicole followed him inside. They took a corner booth with some semblance of privacy, and Travis ordered coffee and danishes for them both. They say in silence until the waitress brought their order. When she'd left, Travis looked at Nicole.

"Well?"

She started to weep again, but his next words stopped her cold.

"Young lady, this is your one and only chance to help yourself here. Now you can sit there crying into your coffee and leave me to assume I have no reason not to whip you raw, or you can share with me your undoubtedly good reasons for directly disobeying me and getting yourself in such a situation.

Over three cups of coffee. She spilled out the whole story, starting with Linda, leading to her dead cell phone (another strike against her), and on to her certainty that the whole trip would only take a minute and that he'd never have had to have known (now why did that sound so bad when she said it out loud?). With every sentence, she sank lower in her own eyes. By the end of her recitation, she could barely meet his gaze. When she'd finally run out of words, he just looked at her for a long moment.

"Nicole, would you like to know why the towels weren't there?"

"Yes sir," she answered in a small voice. expecting something along the lines of it being God's way of telling her she shouldn't have stopped in the first place.

"The towels weren't there because they're at home in our bathroom." Her face went white. "You'll also," he continued, " find a spotless house and a very good bottle of wine chilling in what was planned to be a romantic candle lit setting. You've worked very hard both at home and at work lately, and I wanted to do something special for you." He almost felt pity at the devastation on her face. "Now, we're going to go home and deal with this. I thought about waiting until tomorrow, but I want to put this behind us." He handed her a napkin, and she dabbed at the tears streaming down her face. His voice was gentle when he told her to go ahead to the truck while he paid. He went to the counter and handed their waitress a ten.

"Is your wife okay?" she asked, concern written across her lived-in face.

"She's fine. She had a bit of a scare in a rough part of town tonight, but I'm going to take her home and see to her." She smiled as she handed him his change. He slid a couple of dollars back to her and wished her a good night, seriously doubting that she had any inkling of what his plans of "seeing to" his wife included. The short ride home was quiet, punctuated only by Nicole's occasional sniffle.

When they got there, he said, "Baby, I want you to go upstairs and change into your nightgown and put yourself in the corner. I'll be up shortly. Nicole obeyed, determined to do exactly as she was told every step of the way for the rest of this sorry night. She changed into a simple cotton gown and went to the corner. She hated cornertime. It
was first of all embarrassing, but mostly it forced her to think about her crimes, and tonight that was especially hard.

It wasn't long before she heard Travis enter the bedroom. She could hear the unmistakable sound of wood against wood, and the reality of her impending punishment hit her. She began to tremble. Finally, he spoke.

"Nicole come here please." When she turned to obey, there were no implements in sight, but what she did see sent her heart racing. Beside him on the bed was the kitchen timer. They'd talked about timed spankings, but never actually done one before. This seemed like an awfully heavy time to start. Her eyes downcast, she walked to the bed.

"Lie on your stomach." Somehow, she complied, and she even managed not to try to fight her way free when he leaned across her upper body, pinning her in place. He pulled up her gown and peeled her panties down to her knees, then began to rub her bared bottom. "Do I need to explain to you why you're here?"

"No sir" she squeaked.

"Because if you need, we can go over it, from your outright disobedience to your intended dishonesty to your absolute disregard for your own safety. Or perhaps you need to hear about the stupid, selfish chance you took with the future ever after happiness of myself and our daughter when you decided to force a confrontation with two punks intent on raping you or worse."

"No sir," she choked out, sobbing again. Why oh why did he have to make her feel so bad about this? Wasn't it enough that she'd gotten scared so badly and now was getting spanked?

"No? Well then let's get this over with. The first part of your spanking will last ten minutes." And before she could even wrap her mind around the thought of ten whole minutes, he turned on the timer and brought his hand down hard on her tender bottom. For the next 10 minutes he spanked her bottom and thighs without mercy, covering every spot, then coming back to land swat after swat on her sit spot, that tender area where her bottom met her thighs. When the timer went off, she was a soggy, begging mess.

"All right. Get back in the corner and hold your gown above your bottom. No rubbing, and leave your panties down. We're a long way from done." Shaking, she stumbled to the corner.

After five minuted that seemed both an eternity and an instant, he called her back to the bed. This time he was holding the Cracker Barrel paddle.

"No! Please!" she begged. "I can't!" He raised his eyebrows. "Nicole," he said warningly.She forced herself back into position. This round the timer was set for five minutes. It was horrible. She thought she would die. Her bottom was surely in shreds by now. It was, in fact, a very deep red, but hardly shredded.

After another trip to the corner, she was back in position, now facing Jokari for the same interminable five minutes. The first whack of the CB paddle had actually stirred up a bit of mad in her, and by the end of her time with Jokari, she was in a fair rage. She actually stomped back to the corner. Travis noticed, but he let it go. She'd change her tune soon enough.

This time when she came back it was to the big bathbrush. Minute 3 of 5 broke through her anger.

He sent her back to the corner again, then called her back a few minutes later for a meeting with the evil fish paddle. By the end of this five minutes, the fight in her was leaving. She went to the corner one last time, and this time when she came back to him, he was holding the dreaded short bathbrush.

Usually when faced with this implement, she begged and pleaded and often kicked and screamed.

This time she bent over without argument. She absorbed every swat, allowing herself to concentrate on the pain and what she'd done to bring it upon herself. By the time the last swat fell, she was exhausted, aching, and all sobbed out, but she felt cleansed and new again. Start to finish, the spanking had taken a full hour.

Travis put down the brush and gathered her close. Rubbing her back, he rocked he to sleep. When she was softly snoring in his arms, he began to shake as the reality of how the night could have ended settled fully on him. It was a very long time before he fell asleep.

Just before nine, Nicole turned in her sleep and flopped onto her back, and the throbbing of her bottom pulled her to consciousness. She turned to face Travis, and he opened his eyes.

"Honey," she started, "I so sorry about what I did I -" He put his finger to her lips.

"Shhhh! It's done. Now get up. We're going to have that romantic night this morning."

She carefully rolled out of bed and made her way to the bathroom. The door shut, she checked her bottom in the mirror. It was black and purple, and visibly swollen, but nowhere was the skin broken. She tentatively pushed on a particularly brilliant spot and winced. She would definitely feel this one for a while.

She brushed her teeth, then went out to find clean, preferably loose panties. She had a romantic rendevous to attend.

Copyright AngelBrat 2005