“I always explained any questions he had,but it was mostly typical kid ones, stuff that he’d heard from the kids atschool.” She grinned like she was remembering some of the crazy things I’dasked. “But when he got into middle school and we started to understand thatart wasn’t just something he was good at but that it was who he was, thingschanged.”
I laughed. “It changed because I was a nosyfucker.”
That sent laughter around the table, andMom nodded. “Yeah, homeschooling.”
I grinned and took over the story fromthere. “By the end of middle school I was homeschooled because I had additionalart classes that just couldn’t work around a traditional school schedule. Butthat meant I was home on my own more and I got curious. Needless to say, Idecided to see if I could help with her business because I was so smart,right?”
They laughed again, and I had to join in.I’d been so confident that I could make her plans better. Well, I had…once I’dgotten over the surprise.
“I had questions.” Their grins said theyknew that was one hell of an understatement. “She was good about answering themall and that just led to more questions about other stuff I’d heard of but hadnever asked about. Because really, who asks their mom what a flogger is?”
I grinned as they groaned. “One of the kidsat school kept going through his dad’s porn and coming back with all kinds ofinteresting facts.”
Mom laughed. “You were so let down when youfound out what it was.”
“I was expecting something much cooler.” Irolled my eyes as she laughed. “But that just helped us continue the samehonesty she’d always had about sex before. My questions just got moreinteresting until I realized I was a sub and then we had more talks.”
“What he’s not saying is that I had to findout he was gay and a bottom by the interesting packages that started arriving.”She looked over at me, still frustrated.
“Hey, it was my money and I thought therest was pretty self-evident.” I shrugged. “Not my fault you weren’t payingenough attention.”
She huffed as the guys chuckled again.
“Now, I know a bit about Julian, but Niall,how did you get involved with the lifestyle?” Her question was probably meantto be easy, but we both noticed when Niall stiffened slightly.
I knew she was thinking about changing thesubject but he started talking like he hadn’t reacted at all. “Dance clubs andplaces like that in college opened my eyes, but it wasn’t until some friendsexplained what they were into that I realized how much was out there. I learnedas much as I could and then went on from there after I found someone to show methe ropes.”
He let out a chuckle that was genuine, butI could still feel stress in it. “Literally, he showed me how to do ropes.”
That got a chuckle from everyone, but therewas something in his eyes that I knew Mom wouldn’t be able to let go. “Iimagine it was a bit like falling down a rabbit hole at first.”
Niall smiled, looking a bit more relaxed.“Yes, but it helped fill in the blanks about things I didn’t understand aboutmyself. I’m guessing most new people to the lifestyle feel that way sooner orlater.”
I’d been around the nosy woman long enoughto know she wasn’t satisfied yet.
“Yes, a lot of the people I work withexplain it that way. Missing pieces that finally come together once theyunderstand who they are and what makes them feel whole. It’s amazing how muchhappier people are when they figure themselves out.” She could’ve gone on forhours, it was her soapbox issue, honestly, but she subtly changed the angle ofher questions.
“Who helped you to figure out the lifestyle?”She smiled like the question was totally innocent. “There weren’t many Doms onthe East Coast at that point who were doing a lot of training.”
Niall seemed to be doing his best to lookrelaxed, but even Julian was watching him out of the corner of his eye like heknew something was up. “Yeah, most people back then knew enough to please theircurrent partner or to play in an orgy, but people who knew what they were doingwere hard to find.”
He laughed, a bit more genuine that time.“Ah, the old days before the internet actually put everything you could need atthe tips of your fingers.”
Mom laughed too. “Yes, it wasn’t as easy tonavigate as it is now.”
I just couldn’t imagine, but I wasn’t goingto point out how old they were by mentioning that.
“I worked with a man named Master Daltonfor a while.” There was a flash of stress in Niall’s eyes and something similarwas mirrored in Mom’s eyes.
What had I missed?
Julian was wondering the same thing too, though,so I was glad it wasn’t just me who was in the dark.
Mom nodded, still looking like nothing wasweird. “I met him a few times.”
Yep, everything was still off-kilterjudging by the way Niall’s hand tightened on his fork. “From what I understand,he’s not in the area anymore.”
There was a long pause before Mom shrugged.“Yes, from what I heard, he’s in jail.”
