"I'm sorry if I disrespected her," the man said from the counter and Eli snorted from his position next to Shannon. It seemed he was a suck up even after all these years. He eyed how Shannon was possessive of Eli and he tilted his head towards him. "So, sub or Dom? I know you go both ways, kid."

"Dom this time," Eli said as he directed Shannon over to where they kept the bondage gear, stopping in front of the harnesses so that he could pick them up and check them out, looking for one that would work best with Shannon. "Don't you have other customers to bother?"

"You've been gone for a couple years, kid. What the hell happened?" He sounded concerned by that and it was obvious that there was something there that wasn't being said. The fact that a guy working at a bondage shop knew Eli and apparently knew him well enough to be worried when he disappeared off the face of the earth was definitely confusing.