Cougar settles back on the bed with one knee drawn to his chest lazily, elbow splayed out atop it. He reaches out for the letter so he can read it off, as easy to remember as if he'd written it just today. "Sometimes," he reads, "I think I want nothing more than to be held down. Someone's big, firm hands to bruise my wrists as they pin me to the bed, hips locking me in place. And then, with such love and care, they will take me apart until I can do nothing but squirm and sob and plead for more."

"I cannot ask this in the army," he keeps reading, but now his gaze is higher and on Jake, "but sometimes, I want to give up all my control and be fucked the way I cannot be anywhere else."