Neelo’s heart pounded as he tightened his grip on the rope and pressed his forehead to the knot binding them together. “I love you, Gretchen,” he swore, keeping his voice low and tender. “You don’t have to hide anymore.Iseeyou.Youmatter so much tome.”
Gretchen’s sobbing wavered, as if his words had cut through the haze of agony.
Neelo drew closer, lowering his mouth to her ear. “You don’t have to pretend, Bee-shjoo. You’re so much more thanenough.You’re…fuckingeverythingto me.” Neelo let out a ragged breath, tears slipping down his face. “I don’t care about the masks you wear, or the characters you hide behind,” he swore. “I don’tcareabout who you think you should be, Iwantyou. I want… Icrave…therealyou. The one who’s been hiding in the dark for so long.”
The rope pulsed again, stronger this time, and Gretchen’s sobs softened. Neelo could feel her just beyond the edge of the storm, waiting for him to find her.
“Come back to me,” Neelo whispered, his voice as broken as his heart. “I’ll take all your pain, every bit of it. But I will not carry it, Bee-shjoo, I’ll crush it. I’ll destroy it for hurting you. BecauseIam your monster. Nothing will terrorize you in this world exceptme. But you have to come back.Come back to me, Bee-shjoo.”
Tension thickened the air then Gretchen’s sobs faded into soft, broken breaths. Neelo felt every tie between them as it pulled so tight, like the universe itself meshed them together.
“Neelo…” she gasped, her voice weak, trembling.
“Bee-shjoo,” he whispered urgently, pouring all his love into the ropes that bound them. “I’m here, I’m right here. I’ve got you.”
The weight of her pain lifted a little and he felt her daring to reach for him.
“I’m never letting you go,” he swore. “Not ever.”
He struggled with every breath as Gretchen’s eyes fluttered open, her gaze dazed and distant, but her body was finally calm. She noticed the rope on her wrists and flexed her fingers as if not sure they were real.
Neelo reached for her bound hands and held them gently in his own, kissing her knuckles. “I’m right here,” he said. “You’re safe with your monster.”
She blinked, her tear-streaked face turning more toward him. “Neelo…” The hope in her tiny voice hit him in the chest and he gasped. It washer. It was hisrealBee-shjoo.
“I’m here,” he repeated softly, his heart swelling with so much relief. “I’m right here.”
He heard the door and looked over his shoulder right as Handy and Fetch left out. He needed to…Finishit. That was the term whispering through his blood and mind. He had toFinishit byshowingher just how much she meant to him, that she belonged to him, and was utterly safe and sacred to him. He had to take ownership of every part of her.
Her mouth quivered as her fingers tightened around his. He devoured the sight of her, covering her lips with his. “You’remorethan enough, Ma Belle Petite Bee-shjoo,” he swore hotly, kissing every inch of her face. “You’reeverything. You’reeverythingto me.”
Monster Knots
Gretchen’s breath came in shallow bursts as her body trembled beneath Neelo’s touch. The ropes that had once bound her wrists were slowly unwound, the tension slipping away with each careful movement of his hands. She could still feel the shadow of the binds on her skin, an almost comforting reminder of his steadfast presence. The ache in her wrists mirrored the deep longing inside her, the one that had been trapped for so long beneath the layers of pain and fear. Yet here she was, being released not just from the ropes but from everything.
Neelo’s fingers trailed along the sensitive flesh of her wrists as he removed the last coil of rope. It was a tender, unspoken apology for the wounds of her past, for the burden she had carried alone. She watched him through heavy eyes, every nerve in her body heightened, every sensation magnified as if she were experiencing life for the first time. The weight of the world had been lifted, but in its place was something heavier, more intimate. The warmth of his body, the heat of his breath. The kisses he placed where the ropes had pressed. All of it felt more… real.
Memories flared and her pulse followed. Unseen. Unheard. Abandoned. But he’d seen her somehow. Heard every silent scream she’d ever buried. His touch was gentle and firm as he moved to untie the knots around her ankles, the sensation pulling her further out of the past and into the present. His fingertips brushed the skin of her legs, his careful movements igniting a fire that began to spread through her veins. She feltstrange, almost as though she had been asleep her entire life, waking up to being alive for the first time.
Her need spiked as he leaned over her, placing a soft kiss on her forehead, his lips lingering. A gasp escaped when his kiss found her mouth, his lips gentle but demanding, deepening the kiss. But even in his hunger, it was warm and careful—as if he were savoring every taste of her. It wasn’t just a kiss, it felt like a promise, a vow that she would never be left to suffer alone again. His fingers touched her face, cradling it in his hands as he kissed her to the edge of things never dreamed.
His weight pressed her deeper into the bed, the warmth of his body scattering the bad memories in her body. His weight was delicious, like an anchor holding her steady in the storm. His hips shifted and the hard length of his cock pressed against her thigh, stealing her breath. She opened her legs, longing for the hard push of him against all her intimate secret places.
“Kinbaku,” he whispered against her mouth, the familiar word sending a thrill down her spine.
Every part of her remembered that word as she struggled to pull him closer, taste more of him.
His response came in a low, throat growl, his teeth grazing her bottom lip as he spoke, “It’s what you will call out when you need me.” His hands, rough from years of wrestling rope, found her wrists again, this time pinning them softly above her head. “It’s what my body is to you,” he whispered, brushing his lips along her ear, sending shivers down her body. His grip on her wrists tightened, but not painfully—just enough to remind her that she was his, that he was holding her, binding her in a way no rope ever could.
Her breath hitched as more of his weight pressed into her, leaving no room for doubt, no room for fear. He carefully nipped at the sensitive skin of her neck then his kisses turned hungry,sucking at her pulse point, each pull of his lips sending waves of heat through her.
“I will trap your beautiful body with mine,” he promised, his voice low and thick with desire. “I will bind your needs with my hunger. Say it, Bee-shjoo,” he urged, his mouth a breath over hers. “Let me hear it.”
“Kinbaku,” she gasped, her heart pounding as he kissed her again, this time his hunger igniting every part of her. “Kinbaku,” she moaned, the foreign word so perfect on her tongue, as if she’d longed to say it all her life.
He pulled away from her so suddenly that she gasped from the loss of his warmth. The sight of him ripping the buttons from his shirt made her heart race faster as her gaze locked on the hard lines of his chest and abdomen. She drank in the ripple of muscles as he discarded the clothes, his eyes darkened with something primal as they locked onto hers.
He pushed down his jeans, freeing his beautiful cock completely, the sight setting off her moans. Her hands moved to her dress, pulling it up and over her head. Neelo stood next to the bed, his eyes now following her every movement, watching with intensity as she discarded her undergarments, leaving herself completely bare before him.