Learning to Trust - M.A. Innes Page 0,72

if you’ll share that with me.”

I could almost hear Dr. Sheppard in the back of my head pointing out that sharing with Leon would probably be a good idea.

He was as hard to resist in my head as he was in person.

“I know.” I rested my cheek against his chest and started stroking his tight abs. He didn’t spend enough time at the gym to get a six-pack, but he was naturally muscular and was perfect to cuddle against. “It’s something we should talk about even if it’s just to make sure you’re not worried about it. No matter what, that’s important to me.”

He kissed my head and I could hear a smile in his voice. “Thank you, but remember—this is about you too.”

He was so sweet.

“Yes, Daddy.” Knowing he’d probably worry about what to ask, I began without him having to say anything. “It started out fine. He was a bit overbearing, maybe, but we were getting along fine. Things started to change, though, when he realized I was a sub.”

Daddy started stroking my back, pressing me tighter to his side. “How did he figure it out?”

I shrugged. “I don’t know. I didn’t say anything specific and he never saw my toys, but it must have been the way I responded to his orders or something. At first it was simple things that were…boring, really, but just interesting enough that I must have responded. I’d never had anyone in my life who paid attention to me like that and it felt good sometimes.”

“I can understand that. Especially after seeing how Destin responded to things.” Daddy gave a dry chuckle. “Living with him was a learning experience, but it definitely prepared me for you.”

I giggled, nodding. “Oh yes, but with Stan, he wasn’t really into learning about other people. It was all about him.”

“Did you ever talk to him about submitting?” There was no censure in Leon’s voice, just curiosity.

“Not in the way I do for you. At first it started out so slow I didn’t even realize what he was doing. He’d give more orders and assume things would go his way, and most of the time it didn’t seem to be worth arguing over.” Letting out a slow breath, I refused to get distracted by memories of the past.

Keeping my explanation somewhat emotionless, I continued. “What I didn’t realize was that he was carefully chasing off anyone I met that wanted to be friends or to just hang out. He’d wipe messages off the board on our door and even delete texts if they came in when I wasn’t around my phone. I actually caught him doing that toward the end.”

I gave a dry chuckle. “That was when someone called the cops and Detective Davison was assigned to come check on us. I don’t know who it was, but someone on our floor was starting to connect the dots.”

That skipped over a lot, though, so I went back a bit. “But before that, when I hadn’t realized everything that was happening, I started to get that we didn’t see BDSM the same way.”

Leon snorted. “That sounds like an understatement.”

Giggling, I nodded. “Okay, maybe. But I was listening and in between his talk about dating and wanting to be in a BDSM relationship again, he made a lot of negative comments about kinks like puppy play and things like that, so I knew my needs weren’t compatible with his. I started distancing myself and trying to do my own thing, but in his mind, we’d been dating and I was being an asshole.”

“I take it you didn’t see things the same way?”

“No.” Taking a deep breath, I continued. “I thought we’d been eating meals together because that seemed to fit in our schedules neatly. I hadn’t been opposed to the idea at first, but in my mind, we’d never agreed to anything like that.”

But it explained a lot about why no one else had asked me out.

“He didn’t take it well when I tried to start doing things without him and he kept interfering in my life, but I didn’t know what to do about it.” Hence, why I’d lied to Detective Davison at first. “But it all came to a head when he started following me around campus and tried to take my phone and computer because he’d said I was cheating on him.”

He’d scared me at that point.

“So I called Detective Davison back and asked for help. He got me out and spoke with the campus people