Lon shrugged. "Show 'em to Jean, obviously."
"And after that?"
"Hide 'em somewhere, I guess."
"Dude, THAT’s what’s dangerous about pictures!" Rick pressed. "They need to go away, just as soon as they’re used!"
Lon blinked. "We’ve got a ton of pictures!"
Rick eyed his friend. "Do we? Do you? Do you know who DOES have them?"
Lon scratched his head. "Mama?"
Rick shook his head. "Toby — I think. That’s good, because Toby knows how to encrypt them and such to keep nosy people from finding them. You don’t know that stuff, Man — and it’s MY mom whose neck will be in the noose if your pics get out!"
"Maybe we can just wipe them, after…" Lon mused.
"THAT might be smart!" Rick agreed. "Prove we have 'em, then blow 'em away after Mom knuckles under…"
"Yeah…" Lon wasn’t that thrilled, but he had to cover Rick, too. Besides, the threat would still be enough to push Jean into giving up some pussy to him, one way or another. Maybe he would find a way to keep them — but if he didn’t it was no loss, as long as Mama didn’t find out … Lon knew instinctively that his mother would want that hold on Jean if she could get it — and just as instinctively, he figured that it was a bad idea. Beth was sorta different; it was almost like she wanted it that way — but Jean just wouldn’t put up with Mama riding her, and the situation would get unstable VERY QUICKLY! "If we do it that way, Man, we can’t mention it to Mama. She’ll shit a brick if she finds out we tossed something like that."
"Yeah," Rick agreed. "If it comes up, we’ll tell Candace we faked it."
"Cool." Lon nodded. "Let’s go check on them. Are we gonna try to do this in secret?"
"Probably."
"Can you turn off the flash, then?" Lon handed Rick the camera. Rick rolled his eyes; this was EXACTLY why he worried…
Inside, Toby and Jean had gotten down to business. "So what happened?" Jean asked.
Toby shrugged. "It all started when we went over to Lon’s after the Mall. Candace was there and gave us a fine lecture about how you had some valid points, but you were taking things too far. She gave us some rules to live by to keep everyone out of trouble. Of course, she delivered this talk from the bathtub…"
"Great…" Jean sighed, rolling her eyes.
"Yeah," Toby agreed. "By the time it was over, everybody was fired up. She sent Lon and Rick off to my house to see Ma, but she held me with this tale that she had some information that I needed to know…"
Jean rolled her eyes. "What was that? Her cup size?" she asked wearily.
"That was definitely part of it, but it turned out she really DID have something more important on her mind than seduction," Toby related. "It turned out that Ma had acted kind of strange with Lon, and Candace, who has done some off-the-wall stuff, recognized something." He sighed. "She was right to come to me about it — but I almost took her head off!"
Jean’s interest was thoroughly piqued. "Really? What was it?"
Toby started smearing the ring that his coffee cup left on the table top. "She started asking me questions — penetrating questions — about Ma’s relationship with Pa. I saw things … It was a sore point with me, so I got really angry when Candace started picking at the scabs — and when she suggested that Ma might have asked for it, I almost slapped her!"
"Tell me." Jean’s own concerns were set aside; this appeared to be more important. Her hand came out to take his.
It was difficult. "Pa … did things to Ma. Regularly. He was seldom nice to her and called her all variety of names — fool and idiot and a hundred nastier things — but behind closed doors, he was violent with her. Brutal. And a lot of it was sexual. He would beat her and he would fuck her — or she would suck him — whatever; you get the idea. I saw it, many times, and I think Pa knew, but we didn’t talk about it; Pa was gone before I was REALLY old enough to understand, never mind do anything about it…"
"Oh, you poor thing!" Jean was horrified! She got up and came around the table, pressing him against her, then going behind him to rub his back. These were undoubtedly terrible sights for a young child…
"There were … excesses, too…" Toby ground on. "Pa would bring in other men — and other women. Ma would have to…"
"My God!" Jean gasped. "Others, too?" She squatted before him, holding his head.
"Yes," Toby agreed. "I hated it, and I hated Pa for doing it. Like I said, it was a sore spot, buried. But Candace drew it right out, like she had seen it all or something — asking me did Pa treat Ma badly? Was he violent with her? Did he abuse her sexually? Then she opened up with the idea that Ma might have gone along with it because she liked it! There was a moment there when I … I don’t think I’ve ever been so mad! But she explained things, and somewhere in the middle, something clicked, and I knew Candace was right!"
"Poor Baby!" Jean hugged him. "I’m sure that’s not true…"
"No, it’s true," Toby sighed. "I saw that it was, when I thought about it. And I figured that Ma must be sick in some way — but Candace says that she’s just different from a lot of people. Candace says she’s been limping along since Pa left, sort of substituting me for some of her needs and doing without other things because she has such a low opinion of herself that she can’t get up the guts to do what is necessary."
"No, no, Dear — that’s not true!" What kind of crap was Candace spewing?
But Toby took her head in his hands and locked eyes with her, replying, "It IS true! I’ve spoken to Ma about it, and it is clear!"
"Wh-what could she be using you for, then?" Jean asked.
"She needs someone to obey — or at the very least, to do things for and give things to," Toby replied. "I was perfect for that." He smiled grimly. "Now, I’m even better at it — you see, I’ve discovered that in some ways, I’m my father’s son!"
"Oh, no! No!" God, he’s totally screwed up! Jean gasped to herself, pulling him to her.
"It’s not that bad," Toby murmured, rubbing her back, then began kissing her neck. "I just discovered that I’m capable of … dominating others…"
"What?" Jean’s whole neck was electrified; shivers were running up and down her spine.
"Candace … submitted to me," Toby replied softly, again kissing Jean’s neck. "She didn’t intend to, but sometime during our discussions, she did so. I think I scared her — but there was more to it than that. It was more or less instinctive." Toby drew Jean in closer. "Apparently, I have Pa’s talent for domination…"
"I’m sure that’s … not true," Jean gasped. Suddenly, she was hot and she was wet, and the things Toby was describing that he had done to Candace made her less of a threat and more of a sister.
"Well, she wanted something from me — but she was in no position to force my hand," Toby murmured. "You see, she wanted to take control of Ma — for her own good, of course…"
"Of course!" Jean rolled her eyes. The comment and her answer should have burst the romantic bubble that surrounded them, but it didn’t. She couldn’t escape — and didn’t want to! Somehow, Toby’s hands got inside her robe — and she lacked the will to stop him! Instead, she squatted before his chair while his hands roamed her body under the robe and listened to his soft voice in her ear.
"Well," he replied, "I allowed it — but only if I maintained ultimate control over the situation. That appears to be possible; Candace hasn’t wrestled it back yet. When we did have sex, it was on MY terms, not hers — and she has been doing as I ask, ever since…"