Postby Bennett » Sun Mar 02, 2014 12:33 am
Hello again! I thought I might try my hand at another story before uni, so a continuation. It's obviously been a while, so forgive inconsistencies between this and the first two. I'm experimenting a bit with levels of description, characterisation and whatnot, so if I seem to be droning on too much, let me know and I'll try to streamline my writing a little. That's not to say I'll cut it down heaps, but just find a balance. Hope you enjoy.
I let the car roll along the driveway, a long dirt affair that stretched across a recently cut rural lawn with tall gum and pine trees scattered randomly about. I kept an eye out for a handful of chickens that strutted about; expecting there to be more activity on this massive property, but it was seemingly rather empty. Connor himself was staring into the distance, his knee bouncing nervously in the footwell. The house came into view, blocked by the gate by a screen of trees. It was a massive two story wooden house; tin roof, wraparound verandah, screens providing shade for the western and northern faces. Not the mention privacy, but that didn’t really matter with this amount of land.
“Just here?” I asked, following a curve around the back of the house to a large shed, which could have been a small house in itself. A concreted area held three cars already.
“Yeah, wherever’s good,” he answered, scrutinising the main entrance, which strangely enough was on the back face of this house, for signs of life.
I came to a stop next to an older ute. As I stepped out, two young men came down the fancy main stairs. The thinner one was maybe fourteen, a few centimetres taller than me with short dark hair and limber arms, emphasised as he bounded down the stairs enthusiastically. The other was a head taller, maybe twenty, with considerably more muscle.
“Look at you!” the older one called out as Connor came around the car. He nudged Connor’s arm, “Do you have a license for these?” he asked. I smirked knowing that the elder’s own limbs would carry twice as many infarctions.
“Shut it,” Connor said, unable to keep the smile away. “Bennett, this is one of the many cousins I told you about.” The younger one wrapped an arm around his shoulders. “This one’s Christian,” he said, “and-”
“Joshua,” the elder cut in, extending a hand. I shook, holding my own as his hand tried to absorb mine.
“The aforementioned Bennett,” I smiled. Joshua released my hand, amused I match the exaggerated handshake.
“Nice to be able to put a face to a name,” he said, “Sorry, I’ve gotta run; I’m grabbing dinner. Chris can’t cook for crap.” Christian gave him a look, as Joshua walked to his car. “I’ll be back about half an hour before the episode, Christian maybe you can keep them occupied until then.” I grinned at the suggestion, wondering how much Connor had told his cousins about our recent times together. I waved as Joshua reversed away, and Christian led us around the side of the house.
“Is it just Liam as well?” Connor asked his cousin, who nodded.
“Dad’s away for the week, Sophie’s just left for her friend’s and Mum’s busy in the study. As long as we keep it down, we’ve got the lounge to ourselves. Christian seemed quite excited, almost with a bounce in his step. He was wearing a yellow sports polo and light blue shorts, with the beginnings of muscle showing in his limbs. We ducked under the verandah overhang onto a paved strip, and he led us through an open concertina door into what I guessed was the lounge.
“Nice,” I said, taking in the room. It almost spanned the entire eastern face of the house, with a pool table and a bar setup at the northern end and a few very comfortable looking modern lounges around a massive TV screen down the southern side. Apart from a pair thin support posts in the middle, which seemed out of place, the middle of the room was clear. A large portion of the eastern wall consisted of wooden framed, glass concertina doors, each with a pull down curtain. One could easily open up the lounge to the outside for parties. Or take advantage of the convenient posts there.
“With only four of us still at home, we could spread out a bit.” Christian explained, dropping onto one of the lounges, which tried to eat him. “This used to be Ryan’s room; the other side was Cooper’s. Took out the wall, but had to leave the supports in.”
“I see,” I replied, trying to impose the image of two rooms in this space. It must’ve been pretty loud with eight children running around. Or maybe not, given this family’s apparent reputation.
Connor dropped his bag by the lounge and was similarly engulfed by the cushions. He made a show of spreading out, a similar expression to one from that Monday two weeks back. He’d offhandedly asked me at work if I wanted to watch the next Game of Thrones episode at his cousins rather than his place, a little too casually. As much as I had wanted to see how the night would’ve played out with just him and me, given the last two episodes, I was very intrigued by his origin story he’d told me about the cousins. And going by Christian’s bouncy mood, it might not be a stretch to assume they were thinking along similar lines.
“Are you any good at pool?” I asked them both, wondering if I could steer the conversation.
“I’m pretty good.” Christian perked up. “I’ll play you.” I laughed at his forwardness, but Connor seemed disappointed to be left out. Christian noticed this, and rolled his eyes. “I could grab Liam if you want doubles.”
“Shotgun Liam’s team,” Connor said, already heading out to find him.
“He’s in his room!” Christian called after him, taking a cue.
“I assume Liam’s pretty good?” I asked, setting up the triangle. They sure were forward, these guys.
Christian grinned widely, showing off teeth that might have just had the braces taken off. “Liam’s good enough to carry, but I’m banking on Connor screwing up. But are you any good?” he looked me square in the eye.
“Few rounds here and there,” I replied casually, lining up a shot with the white and sending it down the length of the table, having it rebound off one corner to slip straight into the opposite pocket. Christian raised an eyebrow, “Not bad.” At least he hadn’t seen my face; that fluke would be the best shot of the day.
“So what grade are you in?” I asked, making conversation.
“Nine,” so fourteen or fifteen. “How about you, eleven?”
I burst into laughter, “Ah, no. Coming into a third year of uni.”
“You serious?”
“Afraid so. I shave often enough and everyone’s taller than me.” I took another practise shot, but my foot slipped a little on the tiles, sending the ball a pathetic few centimetres. I took off my shoes and socks. I wore a dark blue collared button up and white, close fitting chino shorts, which contrasted a bit with Christian’s sports duds. Connor came back, in his grey shorts and casual white shirt, followed by a guy about ten centimetres taller than me.
“…so I’m helping you against Christian? I know you’re bad, but he’s not- oh hey,” Liam stopped short as he saw me.
“Hey man, Bennett.” I introduced myself with an extended hand.
“Sorry, I’m so out of it. Liam; how’s it going?”
“Not too bad, considering we’re gonna kick Connor’s arse.”
“Maybe,” Liam took a cue. “Unfortunately I have to stop that from happening. And apparently there’s a bet involved?” Liam wasn’t particularly large like Joshua, but he was lean and fit looking. His short hair curled a bit, unlike his brother’s, and he wore a white shirt with long red chinos.
“So the bet?” Connor asked, his usual manner returning at the prospect of victory.
“You’re the guy who … introduced Connor to Game of Thrones?” Liam asked neutrally.
“Yeah, he’s the guy.” Christian clarified. I raised an eyebrow in Liam’s direction, who raised his hands apologetically.
“Sorry; I’ve been busy with uni,” he said, “I assume Connor told you…?”
“He sure did,” and his nervous expression fell into a knowing smile.
“Care to tell us how?” Christian asked, white teeth bared again.
“Let’s settle this bet first,” I mediated.
“Winning team gets to do whatever to the losing.” Connor announced, reminding me of the fun we had at his pool the week before last, and the similar bet I’d given to him. And won. I stepped at little closer to the table as another part of me remembered the sight of his arms trussed behind his back, unable to slip his way out. The added bonus of tying him to the chair afterwards was fresh in my mind. And now, either I’d do the same again, or Christian and I would be captives together. Not bad for having known these guys for less than an hour.
“I’ll agree to that,” I said and Liam took the break, sinking a solid from the first shot. He missed the follow up, and I let Christian take the next turn. He was presented with an odd angle if he was to take an easy solid, and leant across the table awkwardly, his shirt stretching across his back.
“So how’d it happen?” he asked, missing the solid but rebounding with enough force to accidently sink a stripe. “Totally meant to do that.”
“Well this guy doesn’t stop talking smack when it comes to Game of Thrones,” Connor began, outlining our activity over the course of the episode, going into great detail and length to describe the bonds and how superior he’d been, with myself adding a few details here and there. Liam listened quietly, a perpetual smirk on his face and occasional ‘boys will be boys’ shake of the head as he patiently lined up his shots. Christian pressed for more experiential details from my perspective – how did it feel, was it totally restricting, did I try to get out? I responded in similar levels of detail, finding it funny how quickly we considered each other familiar and how casually the conversation went.
“Hogtie, nice,” Christian commented near the conclusion of the game. We had two stripes to sink, while our opponents were on the black, but it was well snookered by one of ours, so we had some breathing room.
“I take it Connor told you where he got it from?” Liam asked, missing the black and giving Christian an extra shot. My partner used it well, sinking a stripe and then missing the next, giving one shot to Connor.
“He mentioned something about always being the damsel,” I said, which earned me a dirty look as he tried to tap the white, but it didn’t go nearly as far as he wanted it to.
“Well, you’ve met Joshua, who always good for it. And Chris here was pretty keen to meet you.” Liam said “Before we started moving out, it used to get pretty interesting whenever Connor was over.”
“It still does sometimes,” Christian laughed.
I lined up the shot to separate the stripe and the black. “You didn’t hear of what happened the Friday after that?”
“Do tell.”
“He tried to get me again when I was over for a swim, but I turned the tables on him.” I couldn’t help but grin. “I had him trussed for a good hour and a half.”
“Hey! The last hour was a bit overkill.” My friend complained.
“Don’t tell me you wouldn’t if you had the chance.”
“You mean when I get the chance.”
The striped ball tapped the black on its way out, with enough force and spin to sink the stripe, but the black diligently followed it out. I bowed my head at the realisation that I’d lost us the game.
Connor’s face was the all too common grin of triumph, and I looked to Christian with an expression of hopelessness. My partner put a familiar hand on my shoulder and gave me a ‘what can you do?’ look.
“All right, so how are we going to do this?” I asked, replacing the cue and collecting the balls. Liam looked to Connor and shrugged.
“I’ll take Bennett,” my friend announced, happy to even out the score. The second week of the show had seen me again in the position of dominance, which made it 2:1 in my favour. Liam seemed amused, but said he was happy to follow Connor’s lead; he had to get back to studying he said.
“You guys wait here, I’ll be back.” Liam said, but Connor wasn’t content to wait. He put his hands around my arms, walking me towards one of the posts. I let him hold me; a bet was a bet, and while it was always so satisfying to be the captor, I was happy either side of the ropes.
“You’ve been working out,” he commented, testing the muscle I’d hurried to develop over the fortnight since our first game.
“It sure came in handy last time,” I retorted, as he stood me against the inside post, facing the other one and sitting me down, wrists together behind the thing. Chris mirrored me, of his own accord, smiling at me the whole time. I was pretty sure he was the youngest in the family, and like Connor, was very used to this.
“What?” I asked him.
“It’s nice sharing captivity with someone new.”
Liam returned with a bag of goods, dumping it in the space between the posts. As he picked through it, I saw a multitude of ties, belts, duct tape, cloth, a few pairs of socks even. Connor leaned forward and took a classic ring belt (I wondered if half of his wardrobe consisted of these for solely this reason) and secured my elbows together behind the post, drawing them so close together I was unable to join them to slip out. With a tie he lashed my wrists together, palm to palm, ensuring the knots were out of reach. I was glad he went with the tie; it was more comfortable and allowed him to make it tighter. No rope burn neither.
Across the way, Christian was causing Liam no trouble as the older cousin emulated Connor’s methods, but using ties and cloth rather than the belts. More personal I guess, and I’ll admit it was pretty invigorating watching someone else being tied. Christian didn’t resist; his body responded every time Liam cinched a knot. I watched in something like a trance; it was strange watching Christian being bound, and feeling the corresponding bonds around my own body.
After my elbows and wrists, Connor reappeared in my vision, scrounging through the bag and picking out a pair of socks, making a little noise of disappointment. Probably at the lack of underwear. I opened up and he worked a sock between my jaws, then he pushed my head forward to apply a length of duct tape over my mouth a few times. I watched Liam do something similar, but instead he looped a strip of cloth over Christian’s mouth, and the youngest boy groaned beneath it experimentally. He proceeded to try to talk from under it, as if having a normal conversation with me, and my laughter was similarly muffled.
I felt fingers around my stomach as Connor ran something around my body, tying one end to the wrists before pulling it taunt and doing the same to the other end. My shirt was drawn tight over my chest, as was my mirror’s; from the way our arms were pulled behind us. Another length of cloth fixed my thighs together, and a further one around my ankles. Connor did a spot check of my body, and I humoured him with an attempt to move, but I found very little give. He decided it wasn’t enough, and put a belt below my knees as well for good measure. Liam was soon done with Christian, and the captors stood up to appraise their work.
For a moment they stepped out of my immediate field of vision, so I exchanged glances with the bound boy across from me. Everything about his predicament I could only describe as tight; his arms pulled his shirt taunt over his chest, and his shorts were similarly form fitting. Connor was ecstatic; we both knew I wasn’t going anywhere. I wouldn’t mind the option; turning it around would make my day, but I also found myself wanting to be the next one to bind Christian. While Connor was reluctant to be a captive, I felt Christian was happy any which way, and I imagined a few methods I could bind the handsome youth.
“All right, I’m going back to study. Yay for me; I’ll be back to untie them before the episode.” Liam left, with Connor deflating a little, but it was still an hour and a half at least. I made a more thorough attempt at escapism, patiently feeling the bonds and trying to get a mental image of the nature of the knots. Christian across from me was doing something similar, and for a quarter of an hour Connor watched us both, until movement outside caught my attention. Someone walked past the concertina doors and tapped on the glass, their gaze by their phone by the looks of things.
I started; for all the familiarity and friendly nature of the guys, I irrationally found myself embarrassed at the idea of a stranger seeing me. Christian and Liam had become fast friends, but this was different, until Connor let the person in; a young woman, maybe eighteen or nineteen, about Christian’s height with similar features, brunette hair in a short pixie cut. She wore dark skinny jeans and a long sleeved white shirt. A glance to Christian and she smiled to herself.
“Never out of trouble are you, baby brother?” she said slyly, before seeing me and stopping fast. An unknown stranger, in the inner circle. “A friend of yours?” she asked.
“The guy I was talking about, Bennett.” Connor explained, which enough for a knowing look to appear.
“He’s kind of cute, for a school kid,” she flirted, and in that moment my attention doubled.
“Actually he’s in third year uni,” Connor said wily and she was as surprised as Christian had been.
“Interesting,” she mused. Connor looked to me, “This one’s Sophie. I thought you were at a friend’s?”
“Forgot my gloves,” she replied and disappeared. I tracked her out the room. Christian gave me a wink. Sophie was soon back, holding a pair of boxing gloves. “All right, have a good night. I might be back before you go.” She waved, the last words directed towards me. I was intrigued; my mind jumped between relishing the bonds, watching Christian, wanting to tie he and Connor up, and wondering if Sophie was just playing or was actually genuine. A boxer? And assumingly one attracted to bondage, or at least cool with it.
I was too occupied with my thoughts to try to escape, but Christian was making a good enough effort for the both of us. Over the last fortnight, my friendship with Connor had become far more intimate, and I wondered what our relationship was now. I was attracted to him, sure, but there were little in the way of romantic notions. Then again, I was also entertaining thoughts of binding Christian myself, so I was unsure as to how sincere I was at the present. Sometime well after Connor had closed the curtains and turned the light on, having experimented with my level of ticklishness and doing the same to Christian, which had really set me off, Liam and Joshua returned, bearing several pizza boxes. The smell pervaded my nose, drawing me from my internal musings.
Joshua gave us a knowing grin. “So you did keep Chris occupied.” The younger gave a reply. “Didn’t take you guys long. Come on, show’s about to start.” He and Liam sat down at the lounge, happy to eat, leaving Connor to untie us. He took Christian’s gag out, then came over to me. He started with my legs, Christian chatting to his older brothers all the while. I felt slack and stretched out my legs and Connor started undoing my gag, making a few delicate but unsubtle brushes against my face with his fingers, further confusing my thoughts. As the sock came out, I asked, “So … Sophie does boxing?” I asked innocently.
“Careful there,” Liam said, fixing me with a gaze only a girl’s older brother could.
Joshua seemed to find it amusing. “You’re quick off the mark. She does two martial arts. Black belt in both.” I couldn’t tell if he was leading me on.
“What happened to David?” Christian asked, still tied.
“David?” I ventured, as Connor’s fingers ran over my stomach to undo that loop, causing me to lurch a little.
“Her ex.” Liam said simply. “Fractured wrist.”
“No, wasn’t it a broken knee?” Connor asked, exaggerating his frown, fingers glancing on mine.
“I thought he was straight up knocked out.” Christian smiled.
“It was definitely something that required a trip to the hospital.” Joshua grinned.
Connor leaned close and said quietly, “It was a judo match,” but I didn’t know if that was reassuring or not. I shook my head incredulously.
Connor finally released me from the post, and started putting the bonds back into the bag. I shrugged to myself and walked over and started undoing Christian’s wrists, crouching with a knee up to make my enjoyment less obvious. Joshua turned to me with half a pizza slice in his hand. “You’re welcome to stay over man,” he said, with Liam nodding in agreement. Christian looked over my shoulder expectantly, and I said, “I appreciate it,” which drew grins from everyone present.
Oh dear, what had I gotten myself into?