“Thank you.” Duke shook himself a little. “Okay. Talking about it.” He closed his eyes, trying to picture where to start.

“There’s something . . . freeing. I guess I’ve always been on edge. Waiting for the moment someone decides I’m . . . wrong. Pushing it, even, to try to get it over with.” He bit his lip and opened his eyes again. “When Lucifer ties me up . . . I stop having to do that. I don’t have to try to stop, I just stop. Because he’s got me.”

A flicker of a wry lip twist.

“Plus, you know, I physically can’t do a lot. That helps too.”