"No," said Felix quietly, not realizing his gaze had slid away from Shannon's face, drifting down to his lap. "I don't like pain. I don't want it." At times, he had used it as a catharsis, in the past when he needed some way out of his own mind. But that wasn't the same as what Shannon was asking him.

"The problem is that I can't always say no to it. I wasn't allowed to refuse, so I... I can't be trusted when pain is involved."