"Shit," Matheus muttered under his breath. This was all just perfect. Not only had he walked in on some BDSM between a pair of people he would have never liked to picture in that way, but one of them had obviously just tapped into something that set alarm bells off in his head. Usually he would have turned tail and beat a tactical retreat to let the two of them get their heads back on straight, but the burning book stunt was setting him on edge. So he did the best thing he could think of and closed the door as far as it would go without making too much sound and waited in the doorway.

Shannon was shuddering in Eli's hold, squirming and generally trying to kick up a fuss for no reason. He didn't want this, he didn't want this exposure boring into him from the doorway, it felt unsafe. Couldn't Eli see that? Everything was off kilter. Balance was suddenly an illusion to drag him down where the chaos simply pulled him further under. Worry was eating at his calm and turning him restless, desperate to find some kind of resolution.

"Make it stop," he pleaded into the shirt he was being held up against. His hands weren't cooperating and the angle at which Eli was holding him was making it difficult to gain any purchase on the ground or cushion with which to stand up. "Please... please, make it stop. I don't want to. It's not good."