Page 764 of End Game

Then Micah adjusts a line.

Dex inhales.

I look toward him before he even speaks.

He closes his mouth.

Ten seconds later, he tries again. “I'm just saying aesthetically—”

“Dex.”

He stops.

Micah keeps working.

Another pause.

Dex opens his mouth.

Micah doesn't bother looking at him this time. “Please gag him.”

Cami laughs hard enough that we have to wait for her to settle before continuing.

Dex, predictably, looks delighted.

I retrieve the same ball gag we've used with him before, along with the clicker, and the humor in his expression recedes just enough that I know the anticipation underneath is real.

I place the clicker in his palm. “You remember how it works?”

He looks up at me and presses it once.

Green.

“Good boy.”

His eyes darken immediately.

I run my fingers once through his hair before fitting the gag, waiting for his nod before securing it. When I straighten, he settles his hands exactly where I left them.

That is considerably more effective than tying him down would have been.

His restraint is the fact that he has agreed to obey.

I return to Micah and Cami.

By the time her weight leaves the floor completely, we've checked every load point more than once and moved more slowly than any of the impatient people in the room would probably prefer.

Cami hangs vertically in front of us, compact and controlled, her arms and legs incorporated far enough into the structure that she cannot meaningfully reposition herself. Her pelvis remains accessible because that was part of the design, but otherwise there is almost nothing she can change about the way her body is presented to us.

Micah and I both step back.

For several seconds, neither of us says anything.

The rope does not hide Cami's body. If anything, it makes it more impossible to ignore. It compresses soft skin in some places and frames it in others, creating lines that draw the eye toward curves she has no ability to shift or conceal.

She realizes that at almost the same moment I do.

The change in her expression is small, but I've learned to look for small changes.