“About?” Caelen asked with a wide grin. This group was just so darn cute.
“Ms. Hattie said the classes are up and running again. Is that true?”
Oh no.
Dacey and Caelen looked at each other helplessly. Of course, Ms. Hattie had mentioned the classes. That woman loved to serve some
T,
but Caelen had no idea how much she had shared.
Caelen blushed, unsure of how to explain to The Ladies that they were going in a whole new direction. “Well, uh… The classes are starting again, yes, but in a limited capacity.”
“Are there still openings available?” Scarlet said, her smile so sweet that Caelen imagined “Xanadu” music playing in the background, while cupids danced a jig down a colorful rainbow.
At that exact moment, Ms. Hattie strolled in and greetings were repeated. Caelen breathed a sigh of relief at the small talk, the conversation jumping from one topic to the next. Maybe Caelen and Dacey would have a chance to escape.
Ms. Hattie chimed in, “What did I miss from before?”
“Oh yes. Thank you for reminding me. We were wondering if the school was up and running again. I have a nephew that is in great need of some etiquette lessons. That boy’s pants hang so low… well, let’s just say nothing is left to the imagination. I used to wipe that ass when he was a baby; that doesn’t mean I want to see it when he’s a teenager.”
Caelen’s mouth dropped to the floor, but Dacey let out a loud guffaw, followed by genuine laughter from the rest of the group. Well, everyone except Henry. No response from him, whatsoever. Could he even hear the conversation going on around him?
“Hmmm. Well, things are kind of in limbo at the moment. We’ve just found out about inheriting the school, so we don’t have any etiquette classes right now.” She was rather proud of her answer. She’d been truthful without having to explain too much.
“I don’t know about you, but I want to sign up for the hoochy-coochy classes,” Scarlett announced.
“Are those still happening?” Babe asked.
“Are those the ‘special’ classes Belle hinted at? Oh, I remember the stories from her heyday.” All the women squealed in glee, including Ms. Hattie.
Dacey grabbed her tablet and asked, “Are you interested? I can sign you up, right now.”
Caelen’s brain started to fuzz. She was going to have to look out on these sweet old faces and explain the Sucker and Pucker?
No. Please, God. No.
“Ladies, I’m not sure you would be comfortable with the explicit nature of the class.”
“Oh, I’m ready. Look what I got!” Scarlett dropped Henry’s hand, carefully placed her large patent leather purse with Pilgrim-style gold buckles on her lap and pulled out the largest, pinkest dildo Caelen had ever seen in her life. “Look at this! Henry helped me pick it out.”
Caelen glanced over helplessly at the old man and was shocked when he gave a small nod. Apparently, dildos merited a response.
“Hot damn! That thing is huge. Pass it on over.”
“Dacey.”
Oh, hell. Now she felt like Athena with her disapproving tone, but her sister wouldn’t have to face these ladies tomorrow.
“What? It’s like a cotton candy dildo.”
“Don’t say that word, please.” Caelen gritted her teeth, ready to run screaming from the room. All her hopes of resurrecting the school were crumbling in front of her, if these ladies were her clientele.
“I used the proper terminology,” Dacey huffed.
“Will this do, dear? I wasn’t sure what we needed for instruction. We could go back and buy another if—”
“No!” Caelen felt faint. “No, no. I’m sure that will be just fine. “S-s-so then, uh, I guess that means you’re aware of the subject matter of the class?”
“Yes. ‘Fellatio’ I believe is what your generation calls it. Although we just used to call it Going Down South,” Scarlet announced with a sly grin.
“Oooh! We used to call it Sucking Exhaust Out of a Windpipe.” Babe crowed in laughter.
Old Henry started nodding again.
Caelen felt like the ringmaster who’d lost control of the circus. “I…”
The front door flew open, and Carly, who looked like she was all skinny arms and legs, burst into the room. She scanned the place, and her eyes immediately lit on the dildo sitting on Scarlett’s lap. “Aha! I knew it! You guys have been lying to me.”
Caelen raced across the room and blocked the giant dildo with her body, spreading her arms in front of her, convinced the police were going to barge in and arrest the lot of them. Surely it must be illegal to expose a teenager to a plastic pink penis?
Now, that was a mouthful…
Caelen glanced over her shoulder and whispered, “Scarlett, would you mind putting that away?”
“Put what away?”
“The pink,” her mind blanked at what word to say aloud,
“appendage
sitting on your lap.”
“Of course, dear.”
“Carly, sit, honey. Sit down. I’m sure no one lied to you,” said Ms. Hattie.
“That’s right. Sit. Sit. Caelen, Dacey, this is Carly. Have you met? She used to attend many of Ms. Belle’s classes. She has been invaluable around here these last six months.” Scarlett scrambled to cram the giant dildo back into her purse. She never quite succeeded, and the bulbous, pink head seemed to wink as it protruded from the patent leather purse.
“Yes, we’ve met. Hi, Carly. Nice to see you again. This is my sister, Dacey.”
Dacey waved as they all studied the fuming teen.
Caelen cleared her throat and asked, “Everything okay?”
“No.”
“Young lady…” The threat in Ms. Hattie’s voice sat heavy on all of them. It was a tone she’d heard a time or two back in the day, and it meant that if Carly didn’t straighten up, she was going to be in
tru-ble
.
The teenager sat up as if realizing her mistake. “Sorry. But…”
“Sorry, what?” Ms. Hattie still hadn’t relaxed the tone.
“Sorry, ma’am.” The distracted teen’s eyes widened, as she looked Caelen over. “Cool shoes.”
“Thanks.” She lifted them in the air and sighed with contentment.
Pretty, pretty
Prada
. Caelen glanced back and was thankful Scarlett seemed to have wrangled the head of the dildo back into her purse. “So, why the glum face? Although, you obviously have excellent taste in shoes.”
“Thanks.” She shot up out of her seat and announced, “The Ladies said the classes were all full, but when I went online to check, it said they were still open.”
An audible gasp went through the room. “You tried to sign up for the classes? We talked about this. You’re only fifteen!” Babe took the words right out of her mouth.
“I’m almost sixteen. And I have a boyfriend, who, well, he’s not exactly my boyfriend but—” She cleared her throat, opened her mouth and closed it again in indecision. “I love him. Like, really,
really
love him, and… I want to know things.”
The weight grew in Caelen’s chest. The scenario seemed obvious. Carly was in over her head, obviously thinking she needed to put out to keep some boy’s attention. Images of stupid Bobby floated through her head. He’d been the star football player, the most popular boy in school, and she’d handed him her virginity on a silver platter.
“You’re too young. Period. End of story,” Dacey said.
Caelen laughed uneasily when she saw the young girl’s eyes narrow. Instantly, she realized the teen and Dacey might be a little too much alike, and the insults might start flying. She knew her sister hadn’t meant to offend the girl, so she tried to smooth things over. “Dacey’s right, but she should have added that it’s nothing personal. No one who’s sixteen can join the class. We have a strict eighteen and over policy.”
“You shouldn’t be worrying about that stuff, anyway,” Dacey persisted.
“Why? Because I look young?”
“Because you
are
young. You need to work on yourself first, so you’re so fierce this guy will come chasing after
you.
And you won’t have to give him blowjobs to make him do it.”
“Dacey, be careful…” Caelen warned, unsuccessfully.
“Yeah, right. You saying you never did any of that stuff when you were my age?”
Caelen suddenly went mute. Caelen prayed the teen was talking to Dacey and not her. But no matter how valid her point, there was no way in hell she’d teach her how to give anybody a blowjob.
No. Way.
“Nope,” Dacey said with a tight smile on her face.
Carly looked at her skeptically, but didn’t call her a liar. Yet.
Dacey took a deep breath and blurted out, “I swear. It’s true. I’m still a virgin.”
“What?”
The teen’s mouth hung open at an alarming angle. “How old are you?”
“Twenty-seven.”
“But, why? You’re gorgeous. Oh, are you super religious or something?”
Dacey laughed, her usual sparkle dimmed. “No. I—Well, it’s a long story but the part I’ll share with you is that there are a lot of jerks out there. I want it to be special, and I don’t settle. And neither should you.”
Carly started to check her out, eyeing Dacey’s cell, tablet, killer sneakers, and the respect started to grow.
Dacey didn’t flinch, the twinkle back in her eyes. “You good with computers?”
“She’s amazing.” Ms. Hattie sent an approving wink in Dacey’s direction.
“We can’t get her off her phone,” Babe added.
Old Henry nodded again.
“If you want, you can help me set up the school’s new website. Oh, that reminds me, I meant to tell you, Caelen. I want to start marketing the classes on social media.” Dacey’s gaze flew from Caelen back to Carly. “What do you say? You up for it?”
“Your sister said it wouldn’t be appropriate,” Carly said with a sneer.
“Carly Penelope Garcia…”
The young girl flushed, still too young to have the confidence to pull off the attitude. “Sorry, ma’am. Miss Caelen said it wouldn’t be appropriate.
“Hey, hey. No need to pull out the Miss and Ma’am quite yet. Caelen is just fine.” When Carly addressed her that way, it made her feel about 100 years old. “I’m okay with it if Dacey is supervising. I just didn’t want you to help with the actual class. I guess you could probably help with setup for the parties before the event, but you
cannot
attend.
“So I have to do all the work, but I can’t join the classes?”
“That’s the deal,” Dacey said sternly, but still with her sunny signature smile in place. “Two years and a few months from now, you’re golden. I will personally share every detail.”
“Well, that doesn’t sound gross. At all.” Usually Caelen wished her sister had some sort of filter, but in this case she seemed to be getting through to the sulky teen.
Dacey rolled her eyes. “She knows what I mean. You in?”
“Y-yeah, I guess.”
“You guess?”
The girl’s voiced dropped to a hush, and Caelen could have cried at the desperation in the Carly’s expression. Desperation with a huge splash of pride. This might be hard for her to say. “Yes. I’d really like to help.”
Caelen gazed on in amazement. Dacey had saved the day. Score one for brutal honesty. It couldn’t have been easy for Baby D to talk about her virginity. It was a complicated subject. “All right, ladies. If you’ll excuse me, I have some work to get back to.”
The elderly crew waved her off, already lost in their discussions while Dacey and Carly were huddled in front of the tablet. Caelen decided she’d ask Dacey about The Devil a little later. Now she planned to head back to the office and try really hard
not
to think about Dare.
Bzzz. Bzzz
.
Distracted by pink dildos and hysterical teens, she picked up the phone and glanced down at the text. Just three words and a picture that rocked her world.
I left her.
The text was accompanied by a sideways shot of Vic’s divorce papers. Caelen stood in the hallway, only inches from the back office, but she couldn’t move. The phone was gripped so tight in her hand, it felt fused to her skin. She was still breathing, but not very well.
All she kept thinking was,
What have you done?
Too bad she didn’t know if she was talking about Victor or herself.
Chapter 24
‡
T
HE SUN HAD
set. Work was done. It was time to party. Victor had promised to take her to The Ivy in L.A., and Caelen was giddy at the idea of bumping into a celebrity. She swept up her keys, ready to lock up the office for the night.
The door burst open, and a striking brunette sailed through, two sunny blond children in tow. Mid-laugh, the woman’s throaty voice floated through the room.
Caelen paused when the woman stepped closer. Suddenly her ears felt clogged, like she’d gone too deep under water. In an instant, she knew. This beautiful, tanned and glowing woman was the infamous Dragon Lady.
“Hello, I’m Rose Lassiter, Victor’s wife. Is he here?”
“No, you just missed him. He’s on his way home.”
“Oh. We came in from Texas to surprise him. I thought I might catch him before he left. He’s such a workaholic.” The woman was polite, but treated her as a secretary, not overly interested, until she spotted something on her desk.
The woman leaned forward, fingering the leather. “That’s a beautiful purse.”
“Thank you.”
“I have the same one. A gift from Victor.” Her face looked pinched, and Caelen felt her heavy gaze piercing her, looking through her. They both understood. Within seconds, the kids were out the door, and she was gone without saying goodbye. The next day she’d been fired in front of the staff and his beautiful family.
The memory still had teeth, tenacious and sharp, with a death grip on her insides, tearing her apart. She was responsible for that. She’d broken up that family.
Caelen sighed, examining her wall of shoes, each set carefully placed within a box, with a Polaroid picture affixed to the front for quick retrieval. It usually gave her such joy to arrange, organize, pile, shift, and whenever possible, wear her shoes whether out in public or just alone in her room.