ARGH Nobody will answer my very relevant question?

I'm talking about my little cousin Ryan. He is ten years old (almost eleven) and I see him several times a year. My family was visiting Chicago to see him and our other relatives. Well, Ryan is a very cute little kid. thick blondish-brown hair, olive skin, big brown eyes. Adorable. He's also extremely (And I mean extremely) ticklish. Until christmas eve, i'd only ever given him the occasional tummy tickle or poke in the sides but on that day I attacked his feet on several occasions and held him down and tickled him all over to get him to answer my questions (which were stupid, random questions about himself). Now, Ryan is a fatherless child. He used to live with both parents but his dad was very abusive to him and his mom and the mother left him after his dad broke a few of Ryan's ribs in a drunken rage. Now he just lives with his mom and hasn't seen his dad since he was six. (for some reason, Ryan's mother never tickles him and the poor kid didn't know he had ticklish feet until I attacked him but that's not really important). Anyway, Ryan told me on fb chat recently that he can't stand being tickled and not to do it to him. It could be that he just doesn't like being tickled but I'm worried that holding him down and getting physical could possibly bring up some bad memories. he seemed okay but i know his mom is very protective and wouldn't approve of my tickling him like that. I don't know....did I traumatize him even more? he's a sensitive kid and I don't want to cause him any more grief.