CHAPTER 16
I think I understand the game now.
I do as he says. I meet him upstairs in a giant bedroom with bay windows overlooking the pond. Naked as the day I was born.
I find him in the same state. Lying back on a big bed like a king.
That’s what he is, I realize, as I take him in—a king of his own making.
He was born into nothing, so he made his own kingdom. And now he wants me to submit.
I should feel powerless, and I do.
But I also don’t.
This is the difference that comes with choosing. With asking to be taken. With being given a magic word just in case.
Delaware.
It floats above us in the room, allowing me to breathe.
Allowing me to present myself naked and trembling. Not because I’m afraid but because it feels good to tremble. It feels good to submit and give someone else
