She didn’t even realize he’d undone the straps, which bound her to the chair. He pulled his lips away; Jay whimpered softly at the loss. “There’s nothing like unwrapping a present. Go stand there.” Brendon pointed to the middle of the room. Jay got up from the chair, not realizing how weak her legs felt, after sitting bound to the chair by Ryan, for a half hour before Brendon arrived to find her. Her muscles had been tense with nerves, her stomach knotting with fear of rejection. But he had not rejected her. Jay complied, silently moving, except for the click of her six-inch, black heels on the cement floor. Whatever happened next, she desperately hoped she could go through with it. Because standing still, knowing that Brendon watched her every move, was more nerve-wracking than Ryan leading her down to the dungeon and strapping her into the chair. She breathed slowly in through her nose and out through her mouth, as Ryan had taught her, to help calm her nerves. It somehow didn’t seem as effective in practice, as it had in theory.
