Make Me Learn

9 - Restraint

Louis's hand was warm on my back. I stared up at the looming door, almost vibrating with anticipation, and yet frozen to the spot. I knew what was behind there. I'd seen it all, even if only for a few seconds before Louis had discovered me. I glanced at him now, all soft and golden. We'd taken twenty minutes to shower and dress, and his half-damp, unstyled hair framed his face in a manner I found myself describing as charming, of all fucking things. 

"You okay?" he asked. 

I swallowed. "Just nervous."

"We can wait, if you-"

"No," I blurted out, cheeks immediately warming. "I want to."

Louis nodded. "You can back out at any time, remember. Speaking of - we need a safeword."

Safeword. I'd almost forgotten. "Like what?"

"Something preferably short, so it's easy to say, and out of context, so it can't be confused with anything else."

"Couldn't it just be 'stop'?" I asked.

"No," Louis said. "Play can involve elements of roleplay in which... well, certain acts are pretended to be non-consensual. Key word: pretend. Some people are into that, so it's best to avoid it altogether."

Orion's shining eyes, begging me for something, asking to stop, demanding more. I blinked away the image. "Makes sense." I frowned, racking my brain for a word. Something short, something unique. Why had I suddenly forgotten every word that had nothing to do with ropes and kink and sex with incredibly scuplted models? There must be more stored in my mind aside from all that - Classics, of course! I latched onto the first Greek story I could think of.

"Trojan?" I suggested.

Louis smiled. "Perfect."

My heart skipped a beat at the simple praise, then lurched when he reached up and gently pushed the door open.

He flicked the light on, illuminating the room with an intimate glow. Walls lined with toys, apparatus pushed to the side, wide bed against the wall. The bars of the headboard glinting at me, as if winking, luring me in.

I hovered on the threshold. Louis walked in ahead of me, shoulders relaxed. Effortlessly comfortable in his bizarre surroundings. He stopped by a hook on the wall, and from it plucked a coil of red rope which he slung over his shoulder. I watched, frozen to the spot, transfixed by the way the red lines cascaded over his muscles, the way his fingers flexed around it.

"Come here," he said. And like magic, I could move again.

 My bare feet padded on the cool tiled floor. I stopped in front of him, heart fluttering. "Why's the floor tiled?" I said, desperate to break the tense quiet.

"Easier to clean," Louis said.

My breath caught. Clean fucking what, exactly? Why would someone release straight onto the floor?

"Sit here," Louis said. 

I fell onto the bed, grateful for a position to hide the swelling at my crotch.

Louis placed the rope on the sheets beside me, then stepped away to close the door. I stared at the coil, carefully reaching out to touch it. It was surprisingly soft, gentle against my tingling skin.

"So," Louis said, returning. He stood in front of me, forcing me to look up. "We're only doing bondage today, and only with this rope, okay? Nothing else."

"Nothing else?" What the fuck was I supposed to do with my materialising boner?

"Well, no other kinks." Louis raised an eyebrow. "Is there something else you wanted to try?"