I frown, not sure I believe that. “But how’s that different from… from a guy getting angry and hurting a woman? If you’re the one in control, isn’t it the same thing?”
He leans in slightly, voice calm but certain. “That’s the difference, Red. That’s where the line is. Everything in this world runs on three things: safe, sane, and consensual. Every single scene, every interaction, starts with agreements. Hard limits. Soft limits. Safe words. People set the rules before anything happens.”
I chew my lip, trying to understand it.
“Abuse doesn’t have a safeword,” he says quietly, and for some reason that hits harder than anything else. “In abuse, the victim doesn’t get to stop what’s happening. They don’t get to negotiate what’s allowed and what’s not. They don’t get to say no. But here? A s
