A Quiet Kind of Dominance novel · Chapter 17 of 24

Chapter 17: His Rule

On Sunday evening he laid the yellow pad on my kitchen table and turned it around so I could read it.

He had written one line, in block capitals, and pressed so hard that the pen had torn the paper.

RULE FIVE. WHEN AUDREY IS TIRED, HANK DECIDES. HE UNDRESSES HER AND PUTS HER TO BED. SHE DOES NOT HAVE TO SAY ANYTHING.

I read it twice.

It had been a long week.

Martha had left on Friday for her sister's, and I had closed three quarterly filings alone, and slept five hours a night.

My eyes burned behind my glasses.

"Why this?" I said.

"Because you came in last night and said you were fine."

"I was."

"You weren't." He sat down across from me. "You've held me up for a month. You haven't once let me hold anything."

I looked at the paper.

"It's not on my list."

"I know. I'm asking it to be."

"Hank, I don't."

"You told me once that nobody has held you when you're tired."

I had said it in the dark, at two in the morning, a week ago.

I had not thought he was awake.

"Rule two," he said. "You can say Salt. Anytime. And I'll stop, and I won't sulk."

I should have said no.

I am exact, and calm, and I do not give up the lead.

But I looked at his hands flat on the table, steady for once, and at his eyes, which were not asking me for anything.

They were offering.

"Yes," I said.

His breath caught.

"Yes?"

"Tonight. Once. And we'll talk about it next Sunday."

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