Kinky Fuckery pt2

"Oh, Mum…" Alex lets out a deep breath before he starts his explanation of how my father came into his office to blackmail him. I can see Sheila is desperate to ask a million questions, but she manages to keep quiet and let Alex talk. "There were photos, Mum, and I just knew that I couldn't let them get out. It would damage the Davenport brand and I just couldn't risk all the hard work that you and Dad have put in all these years. If it had just been about me, I could have dealt with it, but there is no way I could let the family get dragged down with me…"

Sheila raises an arched eyebrow. "Photos?" Alex goes red and I can see how exposed he is feeling. "You mean of your…um…kinky fuckery? Isn't that what that Fifty Shades lady calls it?" I feel myself going bright red and Alex nearly chokes on the sip of water he has just taken.

"What on earth do you know about Fifty Shades, Mum? And kinky fuckery, for that matter?" Alex mutters. This is so not the conversation you want to be having with your mother. I look over at Sheila and I can see the twinkle in her eye. I guess it is not often she manages to ruffle Alex.

"I may be your mother, Alex. But I am not dead. And anyway, where do you think you got it from, huh?" Sheila says with an actual smirk.

"Too much information, Mum. Seriously!" Alex barks out. So far he has been studiously trying to avoid eye contact with his mother, but he is now looking at her straight on. "How did you know?"

"Oh, Alex," she replies gravely, with a soft sigh. "I already told you…a mother generally knows these things. Plus you started showing an extraordinary amount of interest in knots when you were sixteen and those magazines you kept under your bed were not exactly innocent. Who do you think used to vacuum under that damn thing anyway? And then, of course, there was the whole Becca thing..." I can see Alex just wants to die, but I am relieved at the complete lack of judgment coming across the table.

We are suddenly interrupted by the arrival of our food and for several minutes the conversation is put on hold as we tuck into our meals. My crab raviolo with samphire is delicious; I hadn't realised how hungry I was until I took the first mouthful. When the starters have all been finished, Sheila looks across at Alex and says softly, "Oh, honey. Is this why you left Perth?" Alex nods but stays silent.

"I am going to ask you one question about this, and then you can forget that this conversation ever happened." Sheila pauses briefly before continuing. "Have you ever hurt anyone—I mean, that didn't want it?"

I can see Alex processing her question and taking a deep breath. "No, Mum, everything I have ever done has been entirely consensual." Alex's words are barely above a whisper and I can see it is taking every ounce of self-control not to run out of the restaurant.

"Well, there you go…" Sheila says brightly as if we haven't been talking about her son's sexual preferences. "Alex, you are every bit the man your father and I brought you up to be. So what if you like it a bit different in the bedroom? As long as you have never brought harm to anyone, then I don't care. You will never 'dishonour' the family name. And you should know us better than to think we would ever think that, son." Sheila looks at me suddenly and I see comprehension dawn, but she holds her tongue as I squirm under her scrutiny until she gives me a discreet wink. Oh my god, this conversation is disturbing on so many levels.

"Okay, so now that is out of the way, where are we at with the whole Liv's dad trying to blackmail you scenario?" I think Alex is just so grateful to be past delving into his whole sexual history that unwittingly he lays open the whole mess that is my family, including my dad's phone call earlier today. "Oh, sweetie. You know your dad is an idiot, don't you?" Sheila says, taking my hand and giving it a sympathetic squeeze. I try to shrug off the horrible weight in my chest that keeps pressing down when I think of how he has treated me, but the tears that just don't seem to want to go away rise to the surface.

In an instant, Alex's arm snakes around my frame and he pulls me against his muscular frame as he soothes me. Just feeling him against me seems to calm me and after a couple of seconds, I am feeling much better. Enough to ask about the phone call that started this whole damn conversation.

"The Club," Alex says succinctly. "After I found out about the photos, I contacted the owner, who I have known for a long time. He has been away for the last couple of weeks so has only just been able to review the CCTV footage in the club."

"They have CCTV in there?" I ask, stunned that they would have footage of what went down in there.

Catching on, Alex quickly responds, "Not on the main floors, no, but at the entrance and in some of the corridors. Everyone has to stow their cameras and phones in the locker rooms, so I asked them to check if anyone was seen with a camera phone in the corridors. And lo and behold, the night my picture was taken, there was someone in the corridors with a phone." Alex's expression is dark and I am actually starting to feel a little sorry for whoever is going to be on the receiving end of Alex's wrath. No, scratch that, I want to fucking claw their eyeballs out!

"Who?" I ask, my voice low.

"Sofia." And with one word I am instantly transported back to New Year's and the bitch who ran her nails down Alex's jacket and then proceeded to glare daggers at me all night.

"But why?" I ask and I can see Sheila's raised eyebrows across the table.

Alex nervously looks at me and I know instantly I am not going to like what he has to say. But I try to stamp down any feelings of jealousy that are about to rear their ugly head, particularly in light of how stunning I remember the woman was.

"Sofia and I had a thing for the last couple of years. It was nothing exclusive, mainly just about scratching a mutual itch." Alex sighs and I see him throwing his mother an apologetic glance. "But it was a bit more than what I had had with other women in recent years and I guess Sofia thought it was going to become more significant. About six months ago I ended things with her; she was getting a bit too intense and it wasn't where I wanted things to go. She seemed to take it fine at the time, but now I am wondering whether maybe suddenly getting married so soon after might have riled her up…"

"You think?" I exclaim incredulously. Seriously, for a bloke who is supposed to be able to read the finer nuances of the female psyche, he has just about ignored the elephant in the room. Even Sheila is looking at her son like he has lost the plot. "Is there actually any proof that it was her? I mean, you said my dad said the package he received was anonymous. And we don't have the packaging from the document your mum was sent. Unless we have definitive footage of her taking those photos, there is not much we can do…"

"But the fact that she is trying to mess with me like this, sending stuff to my mum, for heaven's sake, I can't just let it go," Alex says defensively.

"I am not saying let it go, but I think we are going to have to be smart about this. Look, she apparently knows enough about you to know which buttons to push, like sending a copy of our prenup to your mum, but she is obviously resourceful enough to try and find our weaknesses, like my dad." Suddenly, a thought strikes me. "How the hell did someone get a hold of our prenup? Surely that should have been completely confidential?"

"I don't know," responds Alex, and I can see how stressed out this whole thing is making him. We all fall silent for a moment, which is perfect timing, as our main courses suddenly arrive at the table. None of us is particularly hungry, so much of the delicious food gets pushed around the plates. For the most part, Sheila has let the last part of the conversation flow but after a few minutes speaks up.

"Alex, I just want you to know that your father and I love you no matter what. How you live your life is no one else's business but yours. And for the record, however, it came to be, I am really glad that you and Liv found each other." Sheila pauses and I can see the emotion in her eyes. I lean across the table and give her hand a squeeze and a smile. "Just be true to who you are. That's all we could ever ask."

By the time the meal is finished, Sheila has caught us up on all the gossip from back home, and the atmosphere is feeling lighter. I am emotionally exhausted but utterly relieved that all this drama has not caused a rift between Alex and his mum; I know just how precious family is.