Hey Everyone, I know it's only half a year later

but I decided not to write while I was attending my first year of University here in the states. I'm back now though, and ready to continue this story. Hope everyone enjoys the next installment!
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Nothing wakes a boy faster than the smell of food and Ethan was no exception. He woke up to the smell of breakfast coming from the kitchen, yawned, and kicked his blanket off. Looking out the window he saw that the rain was still coming down hard outside, the sky dark. Stretching one last time he padded into the kitchen to find Tess frying up eggs.
“Do you always roam around almost naked” she said laughing, looking Ethan up and down.
“Yup” he replied grinning “What are we doing today?”
Tess grabbed a plate and transferred some eggs onto it, handing it to Ethan. “Well I need to get some more rope first of all, and some other odds and ends so after you finish eating get showered and dressed and we can go shopping.”
A quick shower later Ethan, dressed in slim dark blue Hollister jeans and a forest green tracksuit top, threw on his black vans and buckled into the passenger seat. The shopping trip was quick, they stopped by a hardware store to pick up a bunch of rope, it was the soft nylon kind and Tess picked up a couple different lengths and thicknesses. The second stop was the mall, where Ethan got 20 bucks to spend however he wanted. He ended up buying a new hat. Tess had a couple bags that she didn’t let Ethan look at. All told the shopping trick was quick and they were back home in a couple hours.
“When are we going to play the tie up game again?” Ethan asked as soon as everything was unloaded. Even though he only escaped two tie ups Ethan was feeling confident and wanted to start again.
“As soon as you change, get out of those pants, and no shirt or socks this time. If you have a short pair of shorts wear those.”
Ethan nodded and ran upstairs to change. He picked out a pair of black adidas soccer shorts; they only went down to his lower thigh, well above his knee. He wore those over black briefs of the same brand and rushed back downstairs. Tess had opened some of the new rope and was working out how much she had in total. Ethan could see some new items next to the assortment of feathers, brushes, and other devices. He had a good idea what would happen if he failed to escape, and he was hyper ticklish. Keeping that in mind he cleared his throat to let Tess know he was ready.
“Okay, this is going to be timed, if you fail to escape its 3 minutes of tickle torture this time. Lay face down on the bed again and we will get started.”
Ethan complied and laid face down, hands at his sides. Tess crossed his ankles and used the new rope to tie them tightly together, much tighter than before. That and the crossed ankles would make it more difficult to get off, and this time speed mattered. Once his ankles were bound tightly she moved to his wrists, crossing them and tying looser knots then the ones binding his ankles, yet tight enough to be a challenge. With his wrists secure she looped some rope right above his knees to make sure his legs stayed together. She finished it off by hogtying him, connecting his ankles to his wrists with a short piece of looped rope. With that done she grabbed a stopwatch and set it to five minutes. Wanting to give Ethan some motivation she grabbed a fine bristled brush and ran it across his left foot, getting a strong reaction from the restrained boy.
With the price of failure in mind she started the clock, and Ethan raced to get free. The first two minutes were spent rolling around, almost falling off the bed a couple times before he worked the knot completing the hogtie out. After that knot was gone he had a much easier time with his wrists, and freed them within 30 seconds. A minute later he was free, with 45 seconds left on the clock. Ethan sat on the edge of the bed triumphantly; he had worked up a sweat in breaking free and he took a moment to breathe normally again. Escaping these knots was tiring him out.
Ethan continued to grin until Tess pulled out a new item from the secret bag, a pair of handcuffs.
“No fair!” he complained smiling “That’s going to be hard” Truth be told Ethan was looking forward to getting out of the handcuffs and Tess could see it in the grin he wore.
After a quick water break they began again, this time Tess had Ethan lay down on his back. Starting with his ankles again she crossed them and tied them tight. Next the handcuffs went on his wrists which she kept in front of his body. Not wanting to make things too easy she tied a rope around his neck and connected it to his ankles, preventing him from sitting up all the way or lying flat. She put the key to the handcuffs on the edge of the bed and reset the timer to 5 minutes.
Working his way to the key Ethan lay on his side and tried to the work the key into the lock. He stumbled with this for 3 minutes making quiet grunting noises until he finally managed to slide the key in and unlock the handcuffs. After that he untied the rest of rope in 45 seconds and again sat up triumphantly, a huge smile beaming from his face.
“Is that all you got?” he said, not knowing he would soon come to regret those words.
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Hope you like it, in the next part Ethan will finally meet a tie up he can't escape, and in a bit big brother will be stopping by to torment our poor protagonist. As always comments, questions, and positive feedback are appreciated.