Chapter 71

Bryce woke up with something sour and rubbery in his mouth. He could feel that one eye was painfully starting to swell and his nose was clogged and throbbing. When he tried to spit the thing in his mouth out, he felt it was held in place by a strap that wrapped around the back of his head.

He tried to move his hands and found them handcuffed behind him. With his good eye, he looked around and saw he was sitting in the living room of the lake house, but sitting in one of the heavy dining room chairs, still naked. Looking down, he saw blood running down his chest in streaks and realized it coated his lips and was coming from his nose. Then he noticed that there was a rope wrapped around his waist, the chair, and even wrapping his ankles to the front two legs of the chair.

Bryce struggled and fought against the ropes. He looked around and saw two more chairs next to his and the couch that used to sit in this space had been moved against the wall of windows to make room for the chairs.

Jack, wearing only underwear and a tight t-shirt stepped from the house behind him and came into view. He stopped in front of Bryce and held his hands at his hips, his elbows cocked out. Behind him, Bryce heard Lily whisper, “Superman...” in a wistful tone.

“Listen, shit stain.” Jack ordered as Bryce renewed his struggles, “I examined those chairs myself. Your parents bought good shit. Those chairs are solid steel with oak laminate. There is very little wood on them, so you’ll just rub your ankles raw before you break the chair. Might as well calm the fuck down and listen up before you hurt yourself or make me break your nose again.”

Bryce sighed and relaxed, glaring up at the asshole who sucker-punched him.

Jack nodded, “Good. I hadn’t planned on doing this until tomorrow night, but your sadistic ass just had to force my hand over a full day early. Whatever...

“First, you’re going to stay tied to that chair until I say so. So get comfortable. If you need to piss or shit, snap your fingers to get our attention. Understand? Nod if you understand.”

Bryce nodded.

“When you need to use the facilities, we’ll untie you and walk you into the downstairs bathroom. You’ll stay handcuffed. You’ll wipe yourself. If you make a mess of yourself, I’ll walk you outside and spray you off with the garden hose.