The bar conversation dissolved the way whiskey does when you stop paying attention to it—slowly, then all at once.
Elara watched the clusters form without seeming to look. Liam had Bryce cornered near the hoist controls, one hand gesturing through the air as he described something that involved a lot of wrist movement. Joel stood a half-step behind his partner, arms crossed, watching with considerably more interest than the conversation seemed to require.
Across the barn, Erin had Matt against the people wall. Holly stood beside them, running Bryce’s belt through her fingers.
But it was Sophie who held Elara’s attention.
Sophie, whose eyes had drifted toward the restraint chair in Bay Seven three times in the last five minutes.
Sophie, who kept touching the rim of her glass without drinking.
The chair was impossible to mistake once you noticed it. Heavy dark timber, tall padded back, broad arms fitted with permanent leather restraints. More straps waited across the front. The padded centre section was fitted into the seat, hiding the long opening beneath.
Elara remembered helping carry it out before the concrete went down. Her thumb finding the discreet circle Si beneath one rail before Bryce lifted it away. It had been one of his pieces long before the rest of the barn caught up with it.
She caught Bryce’s eye.
He followed her glance toward Sophie.
A single nod.
Elara set down her glass and crossed the barn.
“Sophie.”
The smaller woman looked up.
“Come with me.”
Sophie’s eyes widened before she nodded and set her untouched drink beside Elara’s.
The curtain changed the sound when Elara drew it behind them. Voices and laughter remained beyond it, but softer now.
Sophie stopped in front of the chair.
“This is the one you were looking at,” Elara said.
Sophie laughed nervously. “Was I that obvious?”
“To me.”
She reached out and touched one padded arm.
“What’s the middle section?”
“Removable.”
Sophie looked down.
Elara tapped the fitted centre.
“It comes out. Leaves the seat open underneath.”
Understanding came slowly.
“Oh.”
“Later.”
That earned a startled laugh.
Elara ran her fingers beneath the chair rail until she found the maker’s mark.
Sophie crouched enough to see it.
“What’s that?”
“Ours.”
Then Elara straightened.
“You want to sit in it?”
Sophie looked at the restraints.
“Yes.”
Sophie lowered herself into the chair.
Her hands settled naturally on the padded arms.
Elara picked up the first permanent wrist restraint.
“This?”
“Yes.”
She closed it around Sophie’s left wrist and checked the fit.
Sophie pulled once.
The restraint held.
“Alright?”
“Yeah.”
“The other?”
A nod.
Elara secured her right wrist.
The first crack of the belt came from somewhere beyond the curtain.
Sophie jumped.
Her head turned immediately.
Another strike landed.
Then Matt laughed, rough and breathless.
Sophie looked back at Elara.
“You can stop.”
“I don’t want to.”
The belt sounded again.
Sophie’s fingers curled against the leather.
Elara watched her.
“You want to see.”
Sophie hesitated.
“Can I?”
Elara opened the curtain enough to give her a view.
Erin stood behind Matt at the people wall, his wrists secured against the timber. Holly remained beside him, one hand between his shoulders while Erin let the folded belt hang from hers.
The next strike landed.
Matt pulled against the restraints.
Sophie stared.
Luke appeared at the opening a moment later. His gaze moved from Sophie to Elara.
Elara shifted slightly.
He came inside.
“You alright?” he asked Sophie.
“Yes.”
He crouched beside the chair rather than crowding her.
“Can I?”
Sophie looked at his hand.
“Yes.”
Luke brushed a strand of hair away from her face and left his fingers briefly against her cheek.
Sophie leaned into them.
The belt cracked again.
Elara reached for the broader strap across the chair.
“This one goes around you.”
Sophie touched it.
“Do it.”
Elara brought it across her torso and fastened it snugly.
Sophie breathed against it once, then again.
Her shoulders lowered.
“How’s that?”
“Good.”
She looked down at herself.
Then toward Matt.
“I like this.”
“I can tell.”
The belt came down again.
Erin paused afterward, palm replacing leather against Matt’s skin.
Sophie followed every movement.
“I didn’t think watching would feel like this.”
Elara leaned against the chair.
“Neither did I.”
Sophie looked at her.
“You like it?”
“Apparently.”
That made Sophie smile.
Her eyes returned to the gap in the curtain.
Then, after another moment, back to Elara.
“I want to see you.”
“You are.”
“Not like this.”
Sophie pulled lightly against the wrist restraints.
“I want to see you when you’re the one being held.”
Elara went still.
Sophie immediately shook her head.
“You can say no.”
“I know.”
“I just thought—”
“Sophie.”
She stopped.
Elara smiled.
“I’m thinking.”
Elara looked through the curtain.
Bryce had moved away from the hoist with Liam and Joel. The three of them stood near the stage now.
She caught Bryce’s eye.
Again.
No signal this time.
Just the question.
Elara looked at Luke.
“You still have rope?”
He smiled.
“Always.”
She held out her wrists.
Luke took them.
The tie was simpler than the one at his house. Wrists together, then raised to one of the recessed rings already set into the post beside the bay.
Elara rose onto the balls of her feet as he shortened the line.
“Enough?”
“More.”
Luke took another small amount.
The rope stretched her arms overhead without lifting her from the floor.
Elara tested it.
Held.
Sophie watched from the chair.
“Does it hurt?”
“No.”
Bryce appeared at the curtain.
His gaze went to Elara’s wrists first.
Then Luke.
Then her face.
“You good?”
“Yes.”
He stepped inside.
“You didn’t tell me you were planning this.”
“I wasn’t.”
Sophie spoke from the chair.
“I asked.”
Bryce looked at her.
Then back at Elara.
“She wanted to see.”
Bryce came closer and laid his palm against Elara’s cheek.
She leaned into it.
His thumb moved once.
“Then let her.”
He kissed her.
Slowly.
Elara instinctively tried to bring her hands down.
The rope stopped her.
Bryce felt it.
His mouth shifted into a smile against hers.
“Annoying?”
“Fuck you.”
Sophie laughed.
Elara opened her eyes.
Sophie wasn’t watching Luke.
Wasn’t studying the knots.
She was watching Elara.
Joel’s voice carried from the aisle.
“Bryce.”
Bryce looked back.
Joel stood beside the stage, Liam next to him.
“The stage is empty.”
Bryce’s hand remained against Elara’s face.
He looked at her.
“You good here?”
“Yes.”
“Sure?”
“Go.”
He kissed her temple and left.
Elara turned her head as far as the rope allowed.
Sophie followed her gaze.
“What are they doing?”
“No idea.”
“You’re not worried?”
Elara looked at her.
“No.”
On the stage, Liam climbed up first.
Joel followed.
Bryce came after them.
They talked for a few seconds.
Then Joel caught Liam behind the neck and kissed him.
Sophie inhaled sharply.
Elara smiled.
Liam’s shirt came off.
Joel dropped it near the edge of the stage while Bryce moved behind him.
His hand travelled slowly down Liam’s back.
Liam shivered.
Even from across the barn, Elara saw it.
“You’ve done this before,” Bryce said.
“Not with this many people watching.”
Joel smiled.
“That bothering you?”
“No.”
Bryce’s hand settled at Liam’s waist.
“Good.”
Elara shifted against the rope.
Luke noticed immediately.
“You’re leaning.”
“I know.”
“You want down?”
“No.”
Sophie looked between Elara and the stage.
“You want to watch too.”
“Yes.”
The joking on the stage faded.
Liam dropped to his knees between them.
The barn began to quiet.
Not because anyone had been called over.
They simply noticed.
Erin stopped with the belt. Matt turned his head against the people wall. Holly looked toward the stage.
Elara felt Sophie pull against the chair restraints.
“Still alright?”
“Yes.”
Her gaze never moved.
Joel stood in front of Liam.
Bryce behind.
Liam looked from one to the other.
“Now what?”
Joel’s hand settled in his hair.
Bryce smiled.
“You tell us.”
Liam reached first.
What followed erased most of the remaining conversation.
Elara watched Joel guide him from the front while Bryce moved behind him, hands settling at Liam’s hips.
Nothing rushed.
Liam adjusted.
Bryce followed.
Joel slowed when he needed to.
Then movement found its own rhythm.
Sophie’s fingers tightened beneath the restraints.
“I didn’t know men could look like that together.”
Elara smiled slightly.
“You didn’t know you wanted that chair either.”
Sophie laughed once.
“Fair.”
Her laugh disappeared when Liam’s head tipped back and the sound he made carried through the barn.
Elara shifted again.
Luke’s hand rested briefly on her shoulder.
“Still good?”
“Yes.”
“Then watch.”
She did.
The scene shifted again when Joel moved behind Bryce.
Elara saw Bryce look back.
Saw the hesitation.
Then the nod.
Her breath stopped for a moment.
Sophie noticed.
“What?”
“Nothing.”
“Bullshit.”
Elara laughed softly.
Bryce bent forward.
Liam shifted beneath him.
Joel’s hands found Bryce’s hips.
The first sound Bryce made reached her clearly.
Elara tightened against the rope.
There.
Bryce receiving.
Bryce not deciding the pace.
Bryce trusting somebody else to read him.
Sophie had stopped watching the stage.
She was watching Elara.
“You like seeing him like that.”
“Yes.”
No hesitation.
Elara turned back toward him.
The three men moved until the last awkwardness disappeared.
Around them, the barn gradually started breathing again.
Holly whistled softly.
Erin laughed.
Matt said something Elara couldn’t hear.
Nobody rushed to make the moment mean anything.
By the time Luke lowered Elara’s arms, her shoulders had begun to ache.
Her heels settled fully onto the polished concrete.
He untied her wrists.
Elara rolled one shoulder, then the other.
Sophie was still staring toward the stage.
Elara crossed to the chair.
“Still with me?”
Sophie blinked.
“Yes.”
“Hands?”
“Good.”
“Chest?”
“Good.”
Elara released the wider strap first.
Sophie took a deep breath.
Then one wrist.
The other.
She flexed her fingers and looked down at the chair.
Her fingertips found the edge of the removable centre section.
Then the ⭕Si beneath the rail.
“Thank you.”
Elara looked at her.
“For what?”
Sophie glanced toward the stage.
“For letting me see.”
Elara smiled.
“You asked.”
Sophie stood slowly.
Across the barn, Erin was releasing Matt from the people wall. Holly handed him his shirt.
At the bar, someone had already started pouring drinks again.
Nobody had ended up where they started.
Sophie looked at Elara.
“I think I need that drink now.”
Elara laughed.
“Come on.”
They left the chair where it was, the centre section still fitted and the restraints hanging open against the padded arms.