Dacey had Athena by the spicy meatballs on that one. One thing they all knew how to do with each other was push buttons. They were all aware of how spiritual Athena was. She believed in karma
big time
.
“All right, all right. We don’t sell. But can we at least have someone else run the classes? I mean, some of those categories…”
“I have them right here.” Dacey rooted around in her purse and pulled out the old-fashioned, tin box, perfect for holding index cards—or in Ms. Belle’s case, sexually explicit and
graphic
index cards.
“Want me to read them off? By the way, how funny was it when Ms. Hattie opened that trunk? She was as cool as a cucumber, but Brynn…”
“She looked like her face was on fire.” Caelen jumped in, wanting to avert attention from herself. She’d been mortified.
“I wasn’t any redder than the rest of you!”
“Fellatio, cunnilingus, spanking, toys, ‘sensation play’—What’s that?” Dacey’s voice rose in excitement.
Brynn slammed the box closed, her glasses almost falling off in the process. She was, by far, the most reserved of her sisters. Her straight blond hair, swept up in her signature ponytail, swung back and forth as she glanced around the bar, hoping no one’d heard. “Keep your voice down.”
Dacey, in complete contrast, had no shame. “Oops! Sorry.
Not.
Everyone around me is at least twenty-one. No one cares, Brynn. Give me back the box; I want to keep going.”
“We heard the list earlier. Enough, please.” Athena took another giant swig from her mug and now Caelen was worried. The last time she’d seen Athena drink was at her wedding. Maybe not even then. “You guys realize that the first, uh, what did Ms. Belle call them? The ‘Intimate Instruction’ classes start this Friday. That only gives one of us four days to get ready.”
“Ugh. First item on the agenda, change that name. ‘Intimate Instructions’ sounds like a douche commercial,” Dacey said.
Brynn giggled helplessly, obviously overcome by the ridiculousness of the situation. It took all of about two seconds, and all four sisters were doubled over on their barstools. Brynn had always had the most contagious laughter.
After they all scrambled for napkins to dab at the mascara running down their cheeks, Caelen cut in. It was time to tell her sisters what she’d been thinking. And somehow, someway, she had to convince them that she could do this. “I want to run the school.”
“What?”
“Since when?”
“Figures.”
“I’ve thought about this a lot. I even wrote up a sketchy business plan, if you want to see it.” Caelen bent to retrieve her graffiti print Moschino backpack and grabbed the crumpled pile of notes that were shoved in the side pocket.
“You did?” Brynn asked softly. “You’re really serious about this?”
“Look. You know my situation. I’m between jobs, right now. And…” She cleared her throat, but refused to cry. All three sisters closed rank nonetheless, cocooning her in a circle, protecting her from prying eyes, “You know how I told you about breaking up with my boyfriend?”
All three sisters nodded their heads, leaning in to better hear Caelen’s softly-spoken confession.
“Well, that wasn’t the worst of what happened to me lately. When I lost my job—No. I really have to cut it out with the euphemisms. What I should say is, when I got
fired
by my…”
married, selfish ex who said he was legally separated and referred to his wife as the Dragon Lady
, “boss, it was really messy.”
“Why?”
“What happened?”
“Again I ask, why all the secrets?” Athena’s question was the last and dropped with the force of an atomic bomb.
Because I’m a weak-ass bitch, who believed the totally transparent lies of a married man.
Now was the time to come clean, the time to look her married sister in the eye and explain everything, the time to say her boss and boyfriend were one and the same, and in telling one story, she’d have to tell the other.
Where to start? Should she bother explaining he’d said he was legally separated? That he’d said he’d marry her one day? That he swore he hadn’t slept with the Dragon Lady in years? Why bother? In her heart of hearts, she knew she’d been wrong. Their mother and Ms. Belle had raised her better. “All I’ll say is it was really public and really humiliating.”
Athena deadpanned. “Well, that’s convenient. Just when you start to open up again, bam! The wall is back up.”
It must be so nice to live in your ivory tower, Athena
. The words were on the tip of her tongue until she remembered that her sister had every right to judge her. And when she found out her boss/boyfriend had been married, she may never speak to her again. With a sigh, she responded. “It will come out soon enough. I promise. But right now I want to focus on the school.”
Her sisters started grumbling, but Athena was deadly quiet, not a usual course of action for her. Ever.
“You guys know I’ve worked as a personal assistant for some pretty high-end clients. I know how to run things smoothly. If you would just trust me…”
“It has nothing to do with trust,” Brynn said as she pushed her glasses up the ridge of her pert nose.
“We know you have mad skills.”
Athena chimed in. “You’re a hard worker, I’ll give you that. Your problem is you throw yourself into something, but then get bored five minutes later. How do we know you won’t just quit?”
“What the hell are you talking about?” Who was this person and what had she done with her sister? Caelen was on an emotional roller coaster, and it didn’t take much for her feelings to careen from one extreme to another. In the last few days, Athena had been riding her hard, and she was sick of it. So, at that particular moment, she held onto her anger. By. A. Thread.
“Come on, Baby C.” Athena signaled for another round. “How many jobs have you had? Remember when you wanted to be an actress?”
“In
high school?”
Caelen asked.
“Ballerina, veterinarian, fashionista—” Athena ticked each word off on her fingers.
“Ballerina? I was in
kindergarten.
Are you really holding that against me? In that case, where is your crown, princess?” Caelen was seeing red, and she forgot all about her promise to be nice. “Remind me. How old were you when ‘housewife’ became your dream job?”
Athena had gone to school for years to be a lawyer and had shocked the shit out of everyone by quitting the minute she’d gotten married. Not that anyone had ever brought it up before today.
Athena froze mid-drink and turned to glance at her sister. She slammed her beer glass on the table and wiped her mouth with the back of her hand. “You’re right. I’m a housewife. And?”
Oh shit.
Too many levels of wrongness were happening simultaneously. Now was not the time to debate post-feminist values. “No. Wait. That didn’t come out right. I just meant none of us end up doing exactly what we planned, but I’ve never thrown it in anyone’s face.”
“Until now.”
“Enough.” Brynn’s quiet voice finally broke through Athena’s frozen pose.
“That’s all you see me as. That’s all anyone sees me as.” Now Athena was talking to herself and Caelen got the impression the issue went far deeper than she guessed.
“What happened to you? When did you get so mean?” Caelen blurted out.
Athena gasped and slowly raised a hand to her throat, practically wincing in pain.
Caelen knew she had gone too far, but she didn’t understand why. “Athena?”
In a soft voice, Athena replied, “You’re not the first one to ask me that question.” Then she reached in her purse, took out a twenty and tossed it on the bar. “I’m out. If you want to keep that money pit of a school open, it’s on you. I give you my support, but I will not give you a dime to keep it open, and I certainly won’t participate in any of those sex techniques. Good luck.” Athena stormed off, but stopped only a few feet away. She spun around quickly and added, “Guess there’s no need to draw straws. You want the school, you’re up first, Headmistress.”
Dacey hopped off the stool and followed after her sister, “Athena, wait! You’re my ride.” She cast a look over her shoulder at Caelen and said, “I totally support you, but she’s kind of right. Four days left. You’d better get to work.”
Caelen blinked slowly and looked over at Brynn. “What just happened?”
Brynn cleared her throat and patted Caelen on the shoulder. “I think she’s going through something, but she won’t open up. Sound familiar?”
Caelen almost spit out her beer. “Hey. At least I’m not going off on everybody.”
“No. You’re just guzzling your problems away.”
Caelen decided she resembled that remark and took another swig. “I feel like I just got punched in the stomach. What did she mean?”
“I think it has to do with her and Jake. You were right, though. There is one thing that we know Athena always wanted to be, ever since we were kids.”
Horror dawned, slowly and painfully. “A mom.”
“Yup. And she and Jake have been married now, for what, five years? She doesn’t even talk about it anymore.”
“I’m such an idiot.”
“Pretty much.”
“God, Brynn. I messed up so bad. She’s never going to forgive me.” Not that Brynn had any idea about the real secret Caelen was keeping. Athena would never forgive her for having an affair. And she didn’t blame her, not one bit.
“Hey, come on now. It wasn’t that serious. Just a small fight. Just another night for the Calvo Quads.”
“That’s what you think,” Caelen muttered.
“What?”
“Nothing.”
“One burning question.”
“What?”
“If you really go through with this, who’s going to be your Guinea pig?” Brynn said with a twinkle in her moss green eyes.
Caelen winced as Dare’s toned body and mischievous smile did a jig in her frontal lobe. She had to admit, as her plan started to solidify, it was only Dare that came to mind.
Damn it.
But she couldn’t stand him, right? “I haven’t exactly worked out the details.”
“Dare was checking you out pretty hard earlier today,” Brynn said with an exaggerated wink.
Both girls burst into laughter.
Caelen caught her breath and took another swig of her beer. She perked up when “I Will Survive” came over the loud speakers, but the minute the karaoke singer, who acted like he thought he was Gloria Gaynor, started to shriek out the song, her enthusiasm faded. “He’s just such a jerk!”
“Kettle, meet Pot.” Brynn laughed.
“Hey, I’m lovely. Just not with him.” Caelen took a quick drink, the next words flying from her mouth before she could stop them. “What’s his dealio, anyway?”
“What do you mean?”
Maybe she could pick Brynn’s brain and it would help her make a final, and apparently quick decision. “The 411. What’s he doing here? He grew up in L.A., like the rest of us. Is he making the drive all the way out here just to help the school?”
“He really loved Ms. Belle. He would’ve done anything for her.”
Brynn’s soft words reminded Caelen of Dare’s rough childhood. Abusive father, house full of brothers. He’d worshipped the ground Ms. Belle walked on, although he’d never admit it. If any of the kids had teased him about it, he’d kicked their asses. Dare was definitely a brawler. All those rock hard muscles…
“Turns out he moved to Sierra Madre a couple years ago to work at the local firehouse, before his divorce.”
Brynn’s last words knocked her back to the present. “Divorce? He was married?”
“Yeah, and news on the street was that it was a bad breakup.” Brynn took off her glasses and examined them, tilting them back and forth, finding the smudge and then cleaning it off with her soft, pink tee.
“What happened?” Caelen asked in hushed tones.
“Don’t know. You’re going to have to ask him. Not that you care, though. Right?” Brynn laughed softly.
Bzzz. Bzzz
.
Damn it, Victor. Not now. Not ever
.
“Your phone has been ringing nonstop. What’s up with that?” Brynn plopped her glasses back onto her nose.
Caelen shrugged and took another swig from her beer.
“Oh my God. It’s him, isn’t it? Your ex. You wouldn’t ever consider going back to him, just for Ms. Belle?” Brynn placed a hand on Caelen’s arm, the small smile fading from her face.
Caelen twirled the end of one of her braids. “No…
No.
Well, I hadn’t even considered him ’til you just brought it up. Damn, it really is the biggest glitch in my plan. I mean, I figured I’d have time to find somebody. I didn’t think I’d have to go first, but thanks to Athena, I’ve run out of time. Couldn’t I just study really, really hard without testing the merchandise?”
“And not follow Ms. Belle’s instructions by putting your personal stamp of approval on every technique, like she did?”
Both sisters choked on their laughter, feeling horrified, yet ashamed about laughing. But the woman had to have been in her nineties! Who the hell had she been experimenting with? And when Caelen thought about the list: bondage, cunnilingus,
anal
…
“Seriously, though. Karma really is a bitch. I wouldn’t go messing with someone’s
final
wishes before they died. Right now, it looks like you need all the good luck you can get.”
“I know, I
know.
And I really need this to work. Even if only to prove Athena wrong,” she muttered to herself.
Reality set in. If this was really going to happen, she had to find someone
tonight
. There was no time to spare. She was in a bar. People came here to hook up. Problem solved. How hard would it be to find a total stranger and ask him to be her sex slave for a few days? Wouldn’t that be every guy’s fantasy?
And Dare, well, he wasn’t here, was he?
How typical
. She didn’t have the time to chase him around,
so
first come, first serve. Decision made. So why did her hand shake at the idea of putting her mouth on some random guy’s dick?
Come on, girl. Be honest. You’ve slept with guys for far less than Ms. Belle’s Charm School.
This is nothing
. “Damn,” Caelen moaned softly, grabbing onto her braids, and pulling hard at the roots.