“Okay. Will you let me get those off you now?”
He held my gaze and nodded again, and I thought maybe a small part of him trusted me, even if he didn’t realize it.
“Cain?”
“Hmm?” He was fiddling with the hem of my shirt, not looking at me.
“Thank you. For everything.”
I cupped his cheek and smiled. “You’re welcome, Bow.”
He flushed, and I knew it wasn’t with embarrassment. He liked that. A nickname.
I pressed a hard kiss to his forehead and lifted him as I stood up, carrying him over to the table. I let him keep his legs around me for the time being. He seemed to need to be touching me, so I let him.
“This won’t hurt at all,” I explained, picking out the bolt cutters. I just needed to cut the metal loops of the padlocks, and then he’d be free. “I promise.”
His face scrunched in confusion. “Promise?”
“Yeah. It’s like I’m saying it definitely won’t hurt. So when someone keeps their promise, that means that what they said would happen does happen. It’s like I’m showing you through my actions that you can trust my words.”
“Oh. Alright.”
“Alright. I need you to turn a little for me. Yeah, like that. Okay. Ready?”
His eyes were wide and fearful, so I took his hand and kissed the back of it, then placed it on my hip. His fingers curled over me, holding tight.
I watched him carefully as I took the muzzle’s padlock between the teeth of my cutters. I wasn’t sure if he would jump up and run, and I didn’t want to accidentally hurt him if he did.
I snapped the metal loop of the lock in half and it clattered to the table. Bowen cried out and buried his face in my stomach, so I set the bolt cutters down and palmed the back of his head. “It’s okay, it’s done. You’re okay. Did that hurt?”
“No,” he said into my stomach. “I just got—it was loud and it scared me.”
I was chastising myself for not warning him that it would be loud. “Sorry, I should have told you. I’m gonna take it off now, okay?”
He didn’t say anything for a long moment, and then whispered, “Okay.”
His response was so quiet I barely heard it, but as soon as he said it, I undid the straps. He wouldn’t pull his face away from me, so I let him stay like that for now. He was terrified, and as much as I wanted to pause this and reassure him, I was worried he would change his mind. I wanted to get these off him before he did.
“I’ll do the collar now. Are you ready?”
“Can I stay like this?”
“Yeah.”
“Okay. I’m ready.”
“Alright. Try not to move. This one’s gonna be loud, too.”
This lock was easier to break, like it was a lot older than the other one. This time Bowen just startled a little and kept himself plastered against me.
“You’re all done.”
He was trembling, keeping his face buried in my stomach, so I asked gently, “Can I take the collar off?”
He nodded. “Yeah.” His voice was a faint rasp.
The collar was made of two pieces of metal held together by the padlock and hasps, and with the padlock gone, the pieces would easily come apart. I gently pulled them apart and away from his neck. He made a small, terrified sound when the chain rattled as it hit the table.
