“You must be Lo,” she greeted.

“Yeah, that’s me.”

“Yes.”

“Yes?” I asked.

“Yes.”

“Yes, what?” I asked, confused.

“The proper term is yes, not yeah.”

“Ohhh. Yeah, I’m kind of a ditz.”

“Yes,” she said more sternly, making me realize I did it again.

“Fuck, sorry.”

There are times in your life where you realize that you must be wearing a protective shield around your body because the laser beams of pure dragon fire that were spouting out of Miss Mary’s eyes would have disintegrated me on the spot from dropping the f bomb if I didn’t have that protective shield.

“Oh God.” I covered my mouth. “I’m sorry. I didn’t mean to say fuck…I mean swear. I didn’t mean to swear.”

“Sit.” Miss Mary pointed to a chair that was pressed up against the wall.

There were no pleasantries, just like the first time I met Kace, we got straight down to business.

Not wanting to see any more scary veins pop out of Miss Mary’s forehead, I did as was directed and kept my mouth shut because right now, it was not helping me any.

I sat in the chair, crossed my legs, placed my hand on my knee and sat up properly. There, good posture, legs are closed, chin is tilted up, I look fucking good…I mean, just good.

Miss Mary walked up to me, patting the ruler in her hand as if she were getting ready to pepper my ass with it and observed my stance. I stood tall with confidence even though my insides were quivering.

“Do not move, not even an inch,” she said as she stood right in front of me. I didn’t know if that meant I couldn’t talk but I decided not to risk it so I stayed silent.

She ran the ruler up my arm, up my neck to my chin and said, “Are you better than me?”

“What?” I asked, trying not to move my mouth much because I was afraid I was about to be ruler whipped across the face, that’s how scary this lady was.

“Your chin, it’s thrust up in the air, which turns your nose up and the only reason someone would have such posture is if you were better than me. So, I will ask you again, are you better than me?”

“No!” I practically shrieked in embarrassment and pushed my chin down so it was threatening to kiss my chest.

“Are you my submissive?”

If ears could pop off a head as they tried to hear someone again, my ears would have been dangling on the damn floor. Is this some kind of fucked up kinky finishing school Jett was putting me through? I looked up at a camera that was in the corner and wondered if he was getting a kick out of this.

“Uh…no?” I asked in a question because frankly I had no clue what the fuck was going on.

“Well, you either are or you’re not,” she stated boldly.

“I guess I’m not.”

“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.