Stepbrother (Sequel to Stockholm Syndrome)

08

Two days later I was back in the burgundy chair.

This time, Luke walked in and towered over me in a nonaggressive way. I still curled into the chair in fear of being this close to him. So at his mercy. But he wasn't looking to hurt me.

​"Madeline, I've told you. I'll do anything for you to start trusting me again. Even just a little bit." He offered. I stood and squeezed through the small space he left in front of the chair and began pacing the floor.

"How are you assuming you'll get my trust back?" I growled. He was ready to respond but I kept talking. "I let you play with my heart and you squeezed the life out of it." I protested.

​"You have to see, out of everything that I did with you before you knew was all me trying to help you." He begged some sense into me. I nodded hesitantly. I knew he wasn't trying to hurt me. He was trying to get me healthy again.

"But do you have any idea how terrifying it was?" I whimpered, looking up at him. I had stopped pacing and he was standing in front of me. "You said you'd do anything?" I clarified. He nodded. He seemed to sense that I had something in my head, but, surprisingly, I couldn't see any regret in his eyes for his deal. "Sit on the bed." I told him. He squinted at me but allowed me to carry through my plan. I went to the drawer I had seen him stash it in long ago and grabbed the rope.
​"Madeline." Luke warned, watching me sadly when I came to stand in front of him.
"I don't want to physically hurt you, Luke." I assured him, my voice rasping a bit in pain.
​"What are you doing?" He asked as I unraveled the rope.
"I just want to show you how it feels. To be at the complete mercy of someone else. Even if they don't want to hurt you. I want you to know how terrifying it is to have no control over your own body. May I show you that?" I asked. Luke stared at me and nodded, sorrow glazing over in his eyes as it sunk into him how scared of him I really had been.

After he allowed me to proceed, he watched my hand and I could tell he had noticed how hard it was shaking. I tied the rope around his arms before attaching it to the bed frame in a way so that his hands were behind him on either side of his body. I left his feet alone, something he had done for me.

​​"Put the gag on." Luke told me.

​"Why do you want me to do this?" I asked, staring at his pain glazed eyes.

​​"You're right. Before I judge your reaction to this, I should know exactly how it felt." I could still see confusion in his eyes.

​"You still look confused, though." I said, tying the handkerchief into a bandanna so it would stay in his mouth once I put it around his head. He nodded.

​​"I guess it comes with this situation." He smiled lightly. "Just put the gag on." He breathed out. I nodded, slipping it around his head.

​​"I just want you to know how terrifying it is to have no control. Like, physically, no control over what happens to you. Nothing. Being at the mercy of someone else's hand." The look he gave me was glazed over with pain. "The thing is, you aren't the only one in my life who's put me in that situation. And I'm tired of being used to people doing that to me. I was finally beginning to think that, after my mother, there was someone else who could actually, truly, unconditionally, care about me."

​​"But don't you understand? I would've let you stay with your dad if I didn't."

​"If you did, you would've told me the truth."

​​"How can I convince you that there's no way I couldn't care about you?"

​"You'll have to work for that." I
grumbled, slipping the gag into his mouth. I tightened the rope on his arm so he couldn't pull it out as easily before I left the room.