“There really is a place like that around here?”
“Pretty close to here, yes.”
“Why do you call it that?”
“It’s actually called Power Exchange. Abbreviation, PE. PE equals gym. Get it?”
“Ha! Yeah, I guess I do.”
“Makes it a little easier to talk about when we’re out in public.”
“That makes sense. It’s a little difficult to believe there is such a place here in the Midwest. Seems more like the kind of thing you’d find on the West Coast.”
“Dungeons and clubs like that are actually pretty common. Any major city will have at least one. Aside from Gym there are two or three other places you can go, but those are mostly in someone’s private home. Not my scene.”
“Why not?”
“Just not an atmosphere I’m comfortable with. I like being in a neutral area, and homes are, well, homes, a place people host their family gatherings and such and not a place I want to play. I went to one once and couldn’t get in the right mindset at all. Everywhere I looked there were signs of kids around.”
He laughs.
“I think I get that,” I say. “I wouldn’t want to be doing anything like that in the same place kids play. A neutral place would be more attractive.”
“Exactly.”
“So, do a lot of your friends do this, too?”
“Not necessarily rope, but a few of them, yes.”
“You mentioned someone else you tie up, someone who has anxiety, like me.”
“Not quite like you, but Rocco is someone I tie frequently, and it helps him.”
“What makes him so anxious?”
“Not my story to tell.” Cree presses his lips together.
“Sorry,” I say quietly. “I didn’t mean to pry.”
“It’s all right.” Cree smiles again. “It’s just not something I’m going to talk about. That’s his private life, and you’ll have to ask him about it if you want to know.”
“But you do tie him up a lot?”
“When he needs it, yes.”
“And what’s that like?” I ask. “I mean, I’m assuming it’s not quite the same as it is with me.”
“It’s not.” Cree sits up straight, stretching his back and shoulders before relaxing again. “The mechanics are similar but without the more sexualized intimacy.”
“I have a hard time picturing that.”
“When I tie Rocco, he’s usually stripped down to his shorts, so there is a lot of contact, but I don’t touch him as intimately, stroke his body, or kiss him in the process. The connection is more from me to the rope to him. His main focus is on the rope, not who is tying him. I tie him because he’s comfortable with me, but it wouldn’t have to be me doing the tying. He’d be fine with someone else he trusted, too.”
“Trust is a big part of this.”
“Absolutely. You can’t have this without trust. When you let me tie you, you were making yourself completely vulnerable to me. If I violated that trust, I’d be a much bigger asshole than the dude who didn’t want to use a condom.”
I nod and look down at my hands for a moment, thinking about how it felt the first time he wrapped my wrists behind my back.