A Private Affair (9 page)

The woman tapped the side of her head with a nail painted a deep purple with black stripes. “Yes, that’s right. I’m supposed to remember that.”

“I don’t understand. What are you doing in my apartment?”

“You should have gotten the notice.”

“What notice?”

“About your membership.”

“My membership to what?”

“The Society. And there’s no reason to shout anymore the shock should have worn off by now.”

Carissa took a deep breath. “I’m calling the police.”

The woman shook her head in pity. “Now you’re repeating yourself.”

Carissa pulled out her phone.

The woman snatched the phone from her. “You don’t want to do that. It would completely revoke your privileges.”

“What privileges?”

“To the Society.” She frowned. “Didn’t I already establish that?”

“You must have the wrong place. But how did you get in here anyway?”

“Your landlady is so sweet.” The woman turned to the oven and pulled out the biscuits. “Hmmm. We’re going to enjoy these.”

“Who are you?”

“Oh, I’m sorry.” She took off her oven mitt, held out her hand and flashed a big smile. “I’m Sara Kitano, your Associate.”

Carissa shook the woman’s hand feeling as if she were in a fog. “I don’t understand what’s going on.”

“Your box came. I thought we’d go through it together.”

“I’m confused.”

“You were accepted into the Black Stockings Society.”

“And you’re here because…”

Sara pulled out her phone, typed in a few words then held it out to her. “Isn’t this you?”

Carissa looked at the picture. “Yes.”

She scrolled down. “And isn’t this your address?”

“Yes.”

She scrolled down some more. “And isn’t this your application and receipt?”

Carissa nodded. “Yes, but what are you doing here?”

Sara clicked her tongue in pity. “No wonder you’re shocked. You obviously didn’t read the fine print. You agreed upon acceptance to have an Associate, like me, help you over the next week.”

“Week?” Carissa asked suddenly nervous. “What’s so important about next week?”

Sara opened the refrigerator. “Do you want butter, jam or marmalade on your biscuits?”

“Can I change my mind?” Carissa asked, uneasy by how Sara had ignored her question.

“You don’t get a second chance at this so I wouldn’t suggest it.”

“I don’t think—”

“This isn’t hard and it will be fun. Let me help you, it’s what I do.” Sara beamed at her. “You could call it a specialty.”

“But
who
are you?”

“An Associate. I told you.”

Carissa held the side of her head. “I can’t believe this is happening.”

“I know, isn’t it great? Let’s look at your package.”

“Package?”

Sara frowned. “Wait…that sounded wrong, right?” She playfully slapped Carissa on the shoulder. “Thank God you’re not a man or that would have been really awkward. I meant your membership kit. It’s on the table over there. I’ll join you with the biscuits in a second.”

Carissa walked over to the box sitting on her side table.
I must have lost my mind filling out that application. What am I going to do now?
She sat on her couch wondering what to do next.

“Open it,” Sara said setting the plate of biscuits down on the coffee table then taking a seat beside her.

Carissa opened the box and found a membership card. “Put this in your purse right away. Better yet.” She snatched it and ran over to grab Carissa’s handbag. “I’ll do it for you.”

“I really don’t think—”

She flopped back down beside her. “What else is in there?”

Carissa looked inside the box and saw a paper titled ‘Instructions’, three pairs of stockings and a red garter belt.

Carissa held up the garter belt and stared at it. “I don’t think I’m a ready for this.”

Sara grabbed the garter belt and swung it around her finger. “You’re going to be ready a lot sooner than you think. Not many ladies get the garter belt set.”

Carissa picked up a pair of stockings. “I’m not sure I want to know what that means.”

“Consider it an honor,” Sara said putting the garter belt away. “Not everyone gets a garter or someone like me to help them.”

“Why me?”

“Some special cases need more ‘hands on’ services.”

Carissa set the stockings down and gaped at her. “I’m a special case? Why am I a special case?”

Sara just grinned. “You ask a lot of questions. They’ll get answered, just not yet. We don’t have a lot of time, which is the real reason I’m here. We have to get you ready for the auction.”

“Auction?” Carissa said not sure she’d heard right.

“Yes, the bachelorette auction you signed up for. You’re a participant.”

Panic suddenly gripped her. “I didn’t sign up to be part of a bachelorette auction.”

Sara smiled. “Yes, you did.”

Carissa shook her head. “No, I didn’t.”

Sara’s smile grew. “Yes. You did.”

“Just try it on,” Sara said holding up a red, low cut dress. She’d convinced Carissa to go shopping after telling her there was nothing in her closet that would suit and having her repeat the Society oath twice.

“This is ridiculous,” Carissa said taking the dress and studying it. “What if nobody bids?”

“Why wouldn’t they bid? You should see your profile.”

Carissa widened her eyes. “You already posted a profile?”

“Of course. We had to pull a lot of strings to make this happen on such short notice. How else would you have been a participant? I’m sure you’re going to make a lot of money.”

“I shouldn’t have let you talk me into this. I shouldn’t have filled out that stupid application to join the society. I shouldn’t have—”

“You’re not going to regret this. You wanted to shake up your routine, remember? This is your chance. You could meet your match. Now go try this on.” Sara pushed her into one of dressing rooms.

“I doubt it,” Carissa mumbled disappearing inside.

“Plus, you’re raising money for a good cause.”

Carissa rolled her eyes and put on the dress. Minutes later she emerged and held out her arms. “Slutty enough for you?”

Sara frowned. “Showing a little skin doesn’t make you a slut, but if you don’t feel comfortable that defeats the purpose. You’ve been a little too bottled up. You’ve got a great figure.”

Carissa sniffed. That was a first. “I’ve got figure enough for two women.”

Sara snapped her fingers and pointed at her. “Exactly.”

“You’re missing the sarcasm.”

“You’ve got some nice curves you can show off.” She handed her another dress—black with silver accents. “How about this?”

Carissa took the dress and tried it on. She liked the fabric. “Well?” she asked coming out of the dressing room again.

Sara started to reply when a squeal interrupted her.

“Carissa!” Ashley said rushing up to her. “You look amazing! I’m so glad you finally dropped Morris! He’d never approve of a dress like that,” Ashley said making a circle around her. “You’ve got a date? Who is he?”

Carissa sent Sara a glance not knowing what to say, she certainly wasn’t going to tell her she was part of an auction. When Sara just continued to grin, she knew she was on her own. “Blind date. We’ll see if it goes anywhere.”

“I still have—”

“I’m not ready for that yet. One step at a time.”

“You have to get that dress or maybe this one,” she said grabbing another dress from a nearby rack.

Sara held out her hand when Ashley handed Carissa her selection. “I’m Sara by the way.”

“Ashley.”

“We tried that one before, but I thought it didn’t show off her legs enough,” Sara said.

“True, but in this one her cleavage disappears—”

“Yes, she’s got a great set of—”

Carissa held up her hand. “Excuse me.” She pointed to herself. “I’m still here.”

“We know.”
A woman approached Sara and held out a blouse. “Could you find this is an eight for me?”

“Sorry,” Sara said with a polite smile. “I don’t work here.”

The woman looked at her surprised as if she couldn’t understand why an Asian American woman would be so chummy with two black women if she weren’t trying to make a sale.

“And you should be getting a size twelve,” Ashley called after her.

Carissa nudged her. “Be quiet.”

“Who does she think she’s trying to fool? An eight? In her dreams.”

Carissa looked at Ashley’s size four figure and decided to say nothing since she was wearing a dress that was a solid size sixteen.

With Ashley and Sara’s help, Carissa finally selected a dark blue, just above the knee silk dress with gold spaghetti straps, that whispered against her skin and made her feel like a million dollars.

Ashley rested her hands on her hips and looked at Carissa with satisfaction. “Perfect.” She turned to Sara. “What’s next?”

Sara didn’t say anything, but they shared a look then said in unison. “Hair and makeup!” before giving each other a high five.

Carissa sighed. “You two are enjoying this entirely too much.”

“You’ll enjoy it too, if you’d let yourself,” Sara said.

Moments later, Carissa sat in her bedroom while Sara made up her face. “You’re a natural beauty,” Sara said.

“I don’t like wearing a lot of makeup,” she insisted looking at the array of items Sara had pulled out of her makeup bag.

“I know, and you don’t need much, but for this event, a little addition will help bring out your best features.” And she was right. Growing up, Carissa had learned, from looking at stylish high-class magazines, how to ‘look’ the part, and knew how to get a sophisticated look. With Sara’s help, she showed her how to make her eyes look more sultry, and how to bring out the color of her lips. When Carissa finally saw her reflection, she looked nothing short of stunnin

***

“I need a favor.”

Kenric switched his phone to his other ear. He’d just gotten off work and looked forward to a quiet evening. He should have known better than to accept a call from his younger brother, Joshua. “You’re about to give me a reason to hang up this phone, aren’t you?”

“Just hear me out.”

Kenric sat on the couch and turned on the TV. “Go on.”

“I promised a friend that I’d go to some charity event, but I overbooked.”

“What’s her name?”

“I didn’t say it was a woman.”

Kenric grinned. “I know you, it’s always a woman.”

“Fine. You’re right. Her name’s…” He paused then swore.

“You forgot her name?”

“She has one of those foreign names with lots of consonants.”

“Well, you’d better remember it fast if you want to see her again.”

His brother laughed. “I don’t worry. I call them ‘honey’ or ‘baby’ until I remember or get a hint.”

“You’re going to get caught one day.”

“So will you help me?”

Kenric picked up the remote and flipped through the channels. “What do I have to do?”

“Just show up and bid on 563.”

“Fine. What’s your limit?”

“Couple thousand. I’ll send you the logistics. Thanks.”

Kenric hung up the phone then had a strange feeling his brother wasn’t telling him something. He found out later what that was when he got the address and full information about the event—it was a bachelorette auction! He should have known his brother would ditch one woman to woo another. He called him right back. “No.”

“Kenric, it’s just for a couple hours.”

“I’m not doing it.”

“You promised.”

“I didn’t promise anything.”

“I promised her. I convinced her to try it. I just need you to get the ball rolling. Make a bid so she doesn’t feel bad. You don’t have to go out with her.”

“What does she look like?”

“I don’t know. It’s the organizer I’m trying to impress.”

Kenric turned off the TV and pinched the bridge of his nose. “You’re going to give me a headache.”

“Aren’t you bored? It’s only for one night and you get to see pretty ladies.”

Although his brother lived in the suburbs, just outside Washington, D.C., like him, he was willing to travel to different states like Virginia to woo his various women. That’s where he differed.

“I don’t care how pretty they are.”

“It’s for a charity.”

“So what?”

“It’s to raise funds for a local facility that helps addicts get their lives back on track.”

Kenric swore, his brother had hit on one of his biggest weaknesses. He had a soft spot for people overcoming addictions and admired those who tried to help them. “You bastard.”