“Very well, then your chin needs to be set at an even plain. Too high and you put out the feeling that you are better than everyone, too low and you give the feeling that you are a submissive to everyone and have no confidence.” She grabbed my chin and evened out its height. I wanted to scream and tell her she could have just done that in the first place instead of the mind fuck I just went through but knew I was still in freeze mode and she was still holding that ruler.
With the ruler, she ran it up my thigh that was exposed, thanks to the Jett Girl attire I had to wear and stopped where my shirt met my thigh.
“I thought your advertising days were over.”
“Advertising?” I asked, not understanding.
“Are you still getting paid for sex?”
“What?! How do you know that?” I asked entirely awestruck and hurt. That was private information that no one else should know besides Jett and Kace.
“Does it matter?” she asked, testing my limits.
“It sure as hell does when you know my private information,” I replied, feeling steamed.
“Miss, I suggest you clean up your mouth because your swearing will not be tolerated.”
I was about to stand up when Kace appeared in the dining room entry way, with his arms crossed over his chest and an annoyed look on his face.
“Don’t even think about getting up,” he said with authority.
“I can get the fuck up if I want. What the fuck is this, Kace?”
A loud snap echoed in the room as I felt the swoosh of the ruler hitting the chair I was sitting in breeze by me, sending me into the corner of the chair.
“Fucking Christ!” I screamed as I looked up at Miss Mary who was preparing for another lashing but Kace held her back and whispered something in her ear. Miss Mary nodded and walked out of the room while taking a deep breath as if she was the one who needed a break.
I looked up at Kace and said, “What happened to hiring an old lady with a jittery voice to teach me? I didn’t know I would be shaking hands with the devil’s dickhole this morning. Fucking hell!”
Kace placed both his hands on the arms of the chair I was sitting in and leaned over so our noses were almost touching.
“Listen to me carefully, Lo, because I’m not going to repeat myself. You are to do and say everything Miss Mary tells you. You are to learn to be a lady, to control that mouth of yours and to be proper; if you don’t, Jett will be taking someone else with him to his social events and I’m sure you don’t want that.”
“He said that to you?” I asked, feeling a little deflated.
“No, but I know that if this doesn’t work out, he has to bring someone and he’s not good at giving people second chances. So do as you’re told, shut your fucking mouth and get the job done. Got it?”
“Yes,” I said meekly as I thought about Jett with another girl.
Kace placed his hand on my chin and made me look him in the eye as he said, “He wants you there, he chose you to be there so don’t think for a second that that is not the truth. You just have to prove it to him that he made the right decision, okay?”
“Okay.”
“That a girl.” His thumb brushed against my cheek for a second before pulling away. “You can do this, Lo, just stop being a stubborn fuck and listen.”
I nodded my head as Kace exited and the devil herself walked back in. I got back into position and Miss Mary said, “I’m sorry we started off on the wrong foot and that I offended you by bringing up your past history but before I came here, Kace had to inform me what I was working with and that meant knowing your history.” She looked at my legs again and said, “Now, tell me, are you advertising still?”
“No,” I said with less bravado.
“Good, then you need to uncross your legs, sit up tall and cross at the ankles, that is how a lady sits.”
Last thing I knew, I had a vagina in my pants which made me a lady, despite the way I crossed my damn legs. It was going to be a long-ass day.
Chapter Eight
“All the Pretty Girls”
Jett
“There’s the sexiest man I know.” Diego’s voice rang out as I looked up from the contracts I was reading.
I stood and held out my hand to the man I’ve known for a while now. “Diego, it’s good to see you.”
With his free hand, Diego gripped my shoulder and said, “That new girl seems to be doing something good because you’re practically glowing,” Diego said in a cheesedick voice.
“Fuck off.” I smiled as I went to my bar and grabbed small glasses of bourbon for the both of us.
We both took seats in my office as we sipped the amber liquid.
“So, tell me how the club is coming along,” I said as I crossed my ankle over my knee.
Nodding his head, he said, “Good, good. Thank you for hooking me up with the lender. He is awesome and I was able to get the money I needed for the renovations.”
“Good.”
Diego was someone I met from working with the Boys and Girls club. He grew up in the bad part of New Orleans where opportunity to succeed was non-existent. He lived on the streets for ten years which you wouldn’t be able to tell now but when he was on the streets, he did anything to earn a dime and that meant he robbed tourists most of the time. It wasn’t until he made the mistake of trying to rob me after a night I was working at the Boys and Girls club that he tried to rob the wrong person. Instead of reporting him, I helped him. I gave him an education, gave him a place to live and got him out of the gutter. He was an unofficial Jett Girl which I still joke about. He doesn’t take too kindly to it but he’s making a name for himself and by the way he was dressed, I could tell he has changed from the inside out.
“When do you start breaking ground on the new place?” I asked, genuinely interested.
“We already have. We have the main room completed and the themed rooms were just started on. The bar they put in is fucking stellar, man.”
“I can’t wait to see it. Have you decided on the themes yet, or a name for the club?”
Diego and I shared the same interests when it came to the bedroom. We both dabbled in kink and required our women to submit to us and only us. I didn’t know much about Diego’s lifestyle choice but what I did know was that when he told me he wanted to put together a kink club, I was more than supportive and thrilled about the idea.
“Le Cirque du Diable,” he said with pride. “The Circus of the devil is what the club will be called and the rooms I’m still working on, but they will go with the feel of the club. I have some people I still have to hire and then we need to start practicing our shows but I sure as hell know who’s going to be the ringmaster,” he said with a glint in his eye.
I laughed as I shook my head. “Man, I would love to see you take center stage.”
“I didn’t take you for a guy lover,” Diego teased.
“In your fucking dreams, man.”
He laughed and grew serious for a second. “I do need to find someone to paint some designs on my walls.”
“Designs on your walls?”
“You know, the club has a vintage circus theme, minus the animals, and I need to add some decorative crap…add a woman’s touch, you know? But I need someone I can trust because I don’t want the club getting out to the public. It’s going to be invite only.”
“Yeah, I know what you mean.” I stroked my chin as I thought about Diego’s dilemma. There was an easy solution that anyone could see and that would be to let Diego borrow Goldie, have her go over there and paint her little heart out but the thought of her being alone in a kink club with Diego gnawed at my gut. It didn’t seem like the best idea. I liked Diego but I didn’t fully trust the guy either.
“If I think of something, I’ll let you know,” I said instead, feeling slightly guilty that I already had a solution to his problem.
“Thanks, man.” He reached into his pocket and pulled out a piece of paper. “Now, on to the good stuff, I was able to do some…snoop
ing, thanks to some friends that I have and I found out the kind of bid your dad put on Lot 17. It’s not a bad bid, man, and he’s offering a lot of concessions as well. It’s not a formal bid, more of an acknowledgement of what he could offer.”
Diego handed me the paper and I took a look at it. The price tag was exactly what I was looking at for myself so that was easily matchable but as I looked at the concessions, I realized that my dad was trying everything in the book to get what he wanted. There were kickbacks from his building that would be given to the sellers for five years, under the table of course and there was also lifetime VIP access into his “gentleman’s” club which was just an illegal strip club that I knew of but couldn’t quite prove just yet, I was still working on doing some more snooping myself.
I looked up at Diego and said, “Thank you. I appreciate this.”
“Anything for you. You changed my life, Jett.”
“You changed it, Diego. I just gave you an opportunity.” I finished off my drink and set the empty glass down on my desk. “I’m going to the Fairfield event this Friday. Anyone I need to make sure to shake hands with?”
“Let me check and I will text you later with the information.” Diego peeked over at my cameras and nodded toward them, “That the girl?”
I looked up and saw Goldie holding a wine glass and standing in the dining room while having a conversation with Miss Mary. Her posture was straight, she held her wine glass properly and she seemed to exude a little more confidence than normal.
Not able to lie to Diego because he would be able to see right through me, I said, “That’s the girl.”
Nodding in appreciation, Diego replied, “She’s got one hell of a rack, man.”
Smiling, he got out of his chair and buttoned his suit coat. It was best he left because his little comment had my rage starting to flare up.
“I’ll be in touch. Play nice, Jett.”
“I could say the same about you.”
Diego threw his head back and laughed. “I never play nice.”
And that was what I was fucking afraid of.
***
Jett: Send Babs up
I wanted nothing more than to bury myself deep inside Goldie but knowing that my head wasn’t in a good place, thanks to Diego’s ribbing and the new found information on my dad and Lot 17, I decided to opt out of the Bourbon Room and call up Babs.
We had a lot to go over and now was the perfect time.
There was a light knock on my office door, alarming me that Babs had arrived.
“Come in,” I called out.
Babs walked in, wearing a business shirt over her Jett Girl kit, a pair of thigh high black boots and her hair was a purple bob wig rather than her long blond hair. Her mask wasn’t on which I normally would have harped on her for but the club was empty now and she took the back stairs.
“Hey, boss man,” she said as she took the seat across from me. “You beckoned?”
“I wanted to go over your makeup line and make sure you were on track for your launch.”
Each Jett Girl had the opportunity to gain an education through the Lafayette Club and apply that to real life after they left the club. Babs chose to start her own makeup line. It was a real passion of hers but she needed help getting her business going and working on a marketing strategy so we have been meeting every once in a while to go over her plan. Babs would be leaving soon, my first true Jett Girl to leave, and I wanted to make sure she was fully prepared and ready for her departure. I had to be honest, I was damn proud of the girl.
Babs’ face lit up from my interest in her new adventure. She leaned forward, placing her hands on my desk and started talking animatedly. “I just received my test packing in the mail today and I could not be more pleased. I went with a black-and-purple theme, I hope that’s okay?”
I smiled. “It’s perfectly fine with me.”
“I wanted to switch things up, you know? After thinking about it, I really wanted to play off your choice color of purple for justice because this makeup line is my justice. This is my second chance and I want to make sure I take full advantage of it.”
“I couldn’t be more proud,” I said honestly. “Have you opened a business bank account and filed as an LLC yet?”
Babs cringed. “Not yet, but that’s next. I hate paperwork and all that business stuff seems too confusing. I’m good at planning and making things but the business side of things is confusing.”
“Aren’t you taking that business class?” I asked while propping my right ankle over my left knee and sitting back in my chair.
“Uhh, well…”
I looked at her sternly and said, “You’re to put everything on hold until you take that class. There is to be nothing else planned, picked out or produced until you pass it with flying colors. You need to know the basics of operating a business if you want to be successful at all. I expected more from you, Babs, you have to set an example.”
She cocked an eyebrow at me and then sat back in her chair.
“Oh, I’m sorry. I was only busy helping out Lo so she felt like she fit in, so she was able to prove to everyone that she was meant to be a Jett Girl. Sorry that I took a break from my life to help her out.”
My stomach flipped from the mention of Goldie’s name and I refused to think about why.
“She didn’t have to prove that to anyone, I knew from the start.”
“You know that’s bullshit. She might not have had to prove it to you but she sure as hell had to prove it to Kace.”
“Kace has no authority where I’m concerned.”
Babs gave me the “you’re full of shit” look.
“Fine, he has a little authority but I overrule him,” I conceded.
“Pissing around your territory, Jett? That’s very unbecoming of you.”
Growing frustrated, I sat up and spoke directly to her. “Stop changing the subject. Everything that is not involved with your makeup line is to desist and you are to sign up for the business class tonight. I’m not doing this to be a bastard like you think, I’m doing this because I want nothing more than for you to succeed and if that means I need to hone you in, then I will. You were right when you said this was your second chance and I’m going to make it my mission that you flourish, all right?”
Babs somberly nodded her head as she looked down at her hands. When she looked back up, there were tears clouding her eyes. Babs never showed emotion, ever. She was just as stoic as I was so to see her eyes brimming with tears was new to me.
“I just want to thank you, Jett.”
I didn’t do well when people thanked me, gave me credit for things. It was hard to be gracious because all I felt was awkward. I was born into a privileged life and because of that, I made it my mission to help those who weren’t privileged, it was my duty.
“You’re welcome,” I said politely.
“Do you know what I’m thanking you for?”
“I have an idea,” I said with a slight smile, not revealing too much, never revealing too much.
“Well, I’m going to tell you anyway. I want to thank you for picking me, for welcoming me into your home and giving me a chance to recreate myself. You gave me a once in a lifetime opportunity and I couldn’t be more grateful. You saved me, Jett, you’ve saved all of us.”
I just nodded, wanting this moment to pass.
Babs sensed my uneasiness and laughed.
“God, you just can’t handle it when someone passes you a compliment, can you?”
“Nope,” I answered honestly. “Now, if you would excuse me, I need to get to bed. You’re going to sign up for that class right away, right?”
“Yes, Daddy dearest.”
I cringed, making her laugh. “Let’s refrain from calling me that.”
“You’re too easy.” Babs got up and started walking toward the door. She turned around in the doorframe and said, “Oh, you might want to go see Lo. I don’t think I’ve ever seen the girl’s smile fall so flat since I’ve been here aft
er I was called up.”
I didn’t acknowledge Babs because what was going on between Lo and I was our business, I didn’t want to encourage the other Jett Girls’ advice, especially since they loved giving it so freely.
“Don’t you fuck with her, Jett. She is too good for that.” Babs apparently didn’t care about my silence.Those were her parting words as she walked away and headed back downstairs.
Like I didn’t already fucking know that. Goldie was way too good, especially for a heartless bastard like me but because of that lack of heart, I didn’t think about the repercussions, instead I just took what I wanted and what I wanted was Goldie.
Chapter Nine
“Break In”
Lo
Another presentation was in the books, making me forget how many I had under my belt now. I did know that Pepper was right when she said the original presentations were the best because I had never felt sexier than when I was wearing my Jett Girl kit that Jett designed specifically for me. We had a couple of odd presentations coming up that we have been practicing for so it was nice to just give a normal one, to dance to normal music and play out some hot choreography.
Miss Mary and I came to a mutual understanding this afternoon after butting heads all morning. Basically what it came down to was that she would stop threatening me with her ruler if I would put a sugar-coated filter over my mouth. You would think I had the harder task given the track record of nonsense that flew out from my lips but I saw Miss Mary glance back at her ruler in yearning and twitch in need.
I had a couple more lessons lined up with Miss Mary but what I learned so far was Jett socializes with a bunch of uppity frog warts and my nights accompanying him were going to be full of fake smiles and cheesy comments. Frankly, I didn’t care because if it meant spending more time with Jett, then I would do pretty much anything. I enjoyed our time more than anything in the Bourbon Room but one of my favorite moments ever was when we were on the Steamboat Natchez, watching the river ripple and being encased by his firm embrace as we watched the big red paddle push us forward. That day was the best date I had ever been on and it was burned in my memory. I only wished he would ask me out again.