He gives his wrists another little tug, to see if Jedao is done with the fingers-digging-in thing. Ow. Apparently not. Someone's gonna think he had kinky sex, at this rate.

It's a hard question to answer, because Holden doesn't really know, himself. "Well, you know me," he says, "I can't keep a secret, but when someone tells me what to do, I get real stubborn." It's not the truth, or at least not the whole truth, and he doesn't like how that tastes. "I just want you to trust me, okay?" he says. "On something stupid, fine. It's dumb. I want it anyway."

Jedao occasionally embraces his own arbitrary bullshit. Maybe Holden can do the same.