Page 3 of Restraint

Something shivered all the way down Jamie’s spine. This–this made him feel something, even more than the tentacles had. More than anything he’d looked at so far had.

It struck in his chest like a bell with piercing clarity. The image was exactly the kind of helplessness he wanted. The kind that made his hands shake and his throat dry with pure desire.

Beneath the image, in the information about the piece was the wordShibari.

Jamie opened another tab and typed in the word. His eyes went wide as he read through the definition, then flicked over to look at the photos. It was a Japanese style bondage, and it was intricate and beautiful, and suddenly Jamie wanted that. Badly. He had no idea why, but there was just something about it. Something that had its hooks in him.

What would it be like to be tied up so prettily, like a work of art? To be completely immobilized like that by whoever did the tying? Jamie knew enough to know that intricate knots and rope work like that had to take time and concentration.

If it were being done to him, he’d be the sole focus of the person—the man—binding him.

All of his attention would be on Jamie.

Jamie squirmed on the couch, his cock already hard. He’d never really had that. Had someone interested in him. He’d always been too busy, too tired, too jittery, working as hard as hecould to try to escape his mother, to even really dream of finding a—a partner. He barely knew what he wanted, much less what he liked.

What would it be like to have someone who desired him? Who wanted to… play with him. Someone who was focused only on Jamie.

The thought seared into his brain. Like the mere concept had reached inside him and shaken something loose. The tentacles had been good, but this was–

This was what he’d really been looking for.Shibari. He could practically feel the ghostly sensation against his skin. How they would wrap around him so tightly, hold him and not let go. He wanted it.

“No.” The word fell from his lips as he snapped back to himself. To his living room in his apartment. “No, I don’t–I don’t want that–” There was no one there, but he still spoke the words aloud. Tried to rationalize it to himself.

His eyes drifted back to the screen. He could deny it all he wanted, but another pulse of heat went through him. His hand drifted down to his lap, and the second he touched himself he twitched. He was sensitive, but hard.

“I can’t like this,” he whispered. “It’s–”

The wordbondagewas like a reverberation in his head. It came with all kinds of dark and dangerous connotations. Things that Jamie had seen in the fringes of his Internet usage, but had stayed away from.

His mother had never cared enough to give him a sex talk, but Jamie knew inherently she wouldn’t approve of something like this. It felt… deviant. Different. Scary.

So why did he want it?

He dropped his phone on the couch beside him and scrubbed a hand over his face. At this rate he was definitelygoing to have a dream about it. He wanted to regret that, but some part of him simmered with eagerness.

“Fuck,” he moaned as he collapsed back against the couch, his hands falling to his sides. His body was tense, ready. So much for the cozy morning in.

Then something in the corner of the room flickered. It was like an energy blip, but more. Like the air had shifted and something had convalesced suddenly.

Jamie turned his head to stare at the dark spot. The room had gotten dimmer somehow. It was still storming, but the sky hadn’t gotten any darker, he didn’t think. The lamp was still on. Jamie could see it out of the corner of his eye.

But the room was significantly darker than it had been just a few minutes ago. What…?

And now that he was really looking, the shape of the shadow in the corner wasn’t right. It didn’t match the way the light bounced off everything in the room.

He squinted at the shadow. There was somethingthere,something…

The shadow shifted. Instead of a cloud of darkness, out sprouted long, spindly legs. A second later a dozen eyes blinked into existence, luminescent acid green against the pitch dark.

The creature–the spider–stepped forward out of that darkness on massive, horrifying legs. It was taller than he was, taller than any spider ever should be, almost scraping the ceiling as it crept out of the shadows.

It was a monster. A nightmare. His nightmare, come to life.

Fear and the adrenaline slammed into him.

“No, no, no, no,” he breathed, panicked as he fumbled up from the couch on clumsy legs, nearly bashing his knee into the coffee table as he stumbled away. He couldn’t take his eyes off of it, couldn’t bear to look away for even a second.

The spider prowled toward him with those long legs. It was just like the dream–the black form and the glowing eyes. It was the same thing that had wrapped its tentacles around him, and held him down.

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