This is meant to be read after Isolated Property and Isolated Property: Bonus Scene. I can't promise it'll make sense without it but it's a quick, pitch black (spoilers) scene for anyone who likes their non con without all the romance.
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Stupid.
So fucking Stupid.
Avery had been doing so well. He'd even let her start walking, albeit with his hand constantly resting on her neck, but she'd been walking instead of hauled around like a sack to be positioned wherever he wanted her.
And then she just got stupid. A moment of weakness. One slip and here she was.
The bar dug into her back below her shoulder blades. She tried again to relax her limbs a little, increase the arch in her spine so her elbows weren't pulling the bar so harshly. But it was no use. He'd bound her forearms to her biceps, keeping the bar firmly lodged in the crook of her arm and against her mid back as it ran across her body, holding her stiffly upright. She couldn't see where he'd secured the bar itself but then again, the bed was surrounded by fixation points, she knew that all too well.
Two weeks, three days. She'd managed to keep herself compliant, quiet, and seemingly beaten. Harrison had eased up! And then she just lost it. What an idiot. It was just how he stood there, his huge arms crossed over his chest as he watched her pee. Her arms had still been locked behind her back, but her ankle cuffs hadn't been clipped to one another. This rash anger had just overcome everything she'd been building towards.
Her legs ached, knees bent as far as possible so her thighs could be firmly lashed to her calves. Another bar holding them obscenely open. She'd lost sensation in her feet from the pressure a while ago. She tried to move again. Nothing. Not even a shift of her hips. She hadn't been able to see when he'd fixed her in place but she could tell every strap or rope on her body was tied off somewhere. She was pulled in all directions at once resulting in absolute motionlessness.
When he had lowered his hands to come towards her to clean her she'd lost all sense of herself and threw her body forward, lowering her head so that the crown slammed into his unprepared stomach. Even relaxed the muscles there were hard, but the satisfying whoosh of air from his mouth had made any ache she felt in her neck worthwhile.
She had managed to scramble into the kitchen, almost to the back door. But when she turned to get her hand lined up with the knob he'd been there, glaring at her. Only then had the full weight of what she'd just done hit her. Two weeks and three days of progress lost. Punishment would follow, as would resetting the clock on his treatment of her.
She'd babbled, hysterical when he came at her, but there was no pity in his eyes, not a word of anger from his lips. He'd dragged her back to the bedroom, locked the gag in place, and begun slowly binding her to complete stillness. When he'd rolled her on her stomach and laid the bar across her back she'd been sure he was going to strike her, but now this was worse. She was locked in place, nothing to distract her from how completely immobile she was.
Once more she tried to throw her head, to dislodge the sound canceling ear muffs he'd clamped over her ears, or to disturb the complete darkness behind the blackout mask he'd placed over her eyes. She could do little more than strain against the rope that ran from the base of her ponytail to some ring embedded above her, keeping her head perfectly still.