JACKSON’S POV

I know exactly what’s going through Vera’s mind. She’s wondering what I’ll do to her now that she’s lost the challenge she invented, the one that would end with me tying her hands and legs and punishing her.

She’s waiting for it. Anticipating.

But I’ve kept her guessing because something inside me has shifted. After making love to her slowly and gently without the usual roughness, I felt different. Not just physically, but spiritually. It was like something heavy inside me cracked open and finally began to breathe.

I became calmer. My response to other women dulled to almost nothing. Even my compulsive need to relieve myself, the...