Divine Solace: 8 by Joey W. Hill Page B

looked between
them. “What am I missing?”
    “It’s hard to explain.” Chloe collected residual strawberry
preserves off the rim of the open jar with a spoon and tasted it. “Most
submissives go to work, watch TV at night, whatever. They let the sub side come
out in the club or maybe in other structured ways with their significant
others, like me and Brendan, but they’re still really sort of like everyone else.
They run their own lives. Then there are those like Noah. He’s…fully
subservient. I don’t know if that’s the right term to use or not.”
    “It’s accurate, to a point,” Marguerite said. “Noah is very
independent in some ways, Gen. I’m sure you’ve experienced his self-determined
side.”
    Gen had a hard time not flushing at that. Marguerite didn’t
miss the reaction, but she didn’t remark on it, thankfully. “In other ways,”
she continued, “Noah requires protection. He has no use for money. Everything
that belongs to him is in that duffle he carries. I expect he has a couple sets
of clothes so that, when and if a Domme releases him, he can take his leave
with more than the clothes on his back. However, whatever his Domme chooses to
purchase for him he views as her property. Much like himself. Even if she’s
buying those items with the money he turns over to her.”
    “Wait. You mean Lyda…”
    “Whatever money he earns, he gives to her,” Marguerite
confirmed. “Noah makes very few demands, but he’s adamant about that. He
doesn’t want anyone paying for his upkeep. When he doesn’t have a Master or
Mistress, I expect he uses his money for food or to give himself a place to
stay. Someone’s extra room, or a place that accepts cash. He thinks about what
his Master or Mistress may need from him and acquires the appropriate skills,
but when it comes to the structure most of us have—bank accounts, bills—he doesn’t
do those things.”
    “So he’s like a homeless person, in a sense.” Gen was seeing
him in an uncomfortable new light.
    Marguerite lifted a shoulder. “It’s tempting to define
someone on your own terms rather than understanding who and what they are. Noah’s
free will is a very elusive thing. It tends to be like a chameleon, adapting to
whoever has possession of him.”
    She’d fought so hard for her independence, to own her own
home, car—to regain control of her life. She couldn’t understand someone who
turned their back on such things. It sent up all sorts of red flags. But those
protective instincts she’d felt around him were also back in an unexpectedly
strong way. “Can’t that be dangerous to him?”
    Marguerite’s blue gaze flickered, telling her she’d said something
her boss had hoped she’d understand. Gen didn’t claim to comprehend any of it,
but Marguerite’s approbation was always enough to steady her in any situation.
“Yes, it can. Certain submissives are so immersed in their orientation that it
defines everything about them. It makes them a prize to a certain kind of
sexual Dominant. Unfortunately there are good and bad ones. Once Noah commits
to a Dom, he is everything that Master or Mistress desires him to be, because
that challenge fulfills his soul. Even that doesn’t fully describe it, because
there are many things about Noah that are unclassifiable. He is a special young
man.”
    “M’s hitting the nail on the head,” Chloe agreed. “He’s
incredible, and yet a little scary as well. If he was part of one of those
cultures with arranged marriages, he’d accept the choice given him without
question, and serve his wife with utter devotion. Even if she was a hideous
bitch.”
    “But how could that make him happy?”
    “Happiness isn’t the primary priority to this type of submissive,
Gen,” Marguerite said. “Or rather, their definition of happiness lies in their
service. To a point. For Noah, that point is much further along the spectrum
than most.”
    “So how would you know if you were special to him at