Charm School After Dark: Lesson 1 (6 page)

Caelen choked on the words, the phrase taking on a whole new meaning after what she’d just learned.

“Because of that, she had a strict,
strict
policy that every technique she spoke about was tried and tested on a real sexual
partner.
She used to say ‘men,’” Ms. Hattie whispered, “but then we learned there were lesbian women interested in the classes, as well.” She clapped her hands in glee. “Ms. Belle tried and guaranteed every instructional technique.”

Caelen felt queasy.
TMI.
Never had she wanted to think of Ms. Belle experimenting with sexual techniques. And from the look of the trunk, there might be some pretty hard core classes going on.

“When y’all teach the techniques yourselves, you also have to agree to Ms. Belle’s strict code of ethics. That’s why it was crucial that you be in loving, long-term relationships. She would never want to put you in the uncomfortable position of having to find someone to ‘experiment’ with.” Ms. Hattie actually giggled, covering her mouth with one dainty hand. “Although that sounds like fun to me.”

The women laughed weakly, not wanting to make Ms. Hattie feel uncomfortable.

“Oh my! Look at the time. I have to pick up my great, grandbaby. He is goin’ to be so upset if I’m late. Just hates to wait. Typical male. They’re all the same. Makes no difference if they’re six or sixty.” Ms. Hattie let out a booming laugh, tickled by her own joke.

Caelen tried to slip in a question while all four women watched her, slowly and methodically, gather her things. “How—?”

Ms. Hattie continued on, as if no one had spoken. Her hearing wasn’t what it used to be. “Now, my suggestion to you is draw straws and start with a technique. They are all laid out in the instructional tin. Here you are.” Dacey snapped up the tin full of index cards before Caelen could get to it. “And get ready for Friday.”

The girls spluttered as Ms. Hattie made her way to the door. “Friday!
This
Friday? But…”

“Don’t you worry,” she said, her hand on the frame for support. “Fellatio will be your first class. None of the other techniques have been opened yet for enrollment. As Ms. Belle became sick and realized she would be passing the school onto you, she wanted to give you the freedom to pick who did what and when.” Ms. Hattie paused for dramatic effect, Caelen was sure—or maybe just because she was winded—and said with a flourish, “I’m sure y’all are naturals. Chips off the old block. And remember, babies, have fun with it.” Caelen heard her laughter all the way down the hallway.

Chapter 7

‡

I
N A SERIOUS
relationship… In a serious relationship…
Ms. Hattie’s words blasted through Dare’s brain along with,
Fellatio will be your first technique
.

Caelen was in a relationship?

Cramped and sitting with his knees touching his chest, Dare could barely catch his breath in the tiny supply closet. Not that he noticed any of it. He was lost in his head. All the anticipation, the pent-up desire, the fire had faded.

Didn’t matter if she were the last woman on earth. He was no cheat. Nothing he hated more. No matter how gorgeous Caelen Calvo was, he would never poach. Too bad the asshole who’d slept with his ex-wife didn’t have the same moral code.

Shit. How the hell was he getting out of here?

The explosion of voices after total silence almost knocked him into the hallway. It was a miracle he hadn’t fallen through the ceiling. He couldn’t see the Quads, but every word was coming through loud and clear.

“Why the hell did you poke me in the ribs?” Dacey asked.

“Isn’t it obvious?” Athena asked.

“No. That’s why I asked.”

“Just because,” Caelen responded.

“Puh
-
lease.
You didn’t want Ms. Hattie to know you weren’t in a relationship,” Athena said.

“Actually, I didn’t want her to know that
most
of us weren’t in relationships.”

“Why all the secrets, Baby C? It seems like there’s a lot you don’t tell us anymore.”

Baby C? Dare had forgotten the long lost nicknames. Rumor had it, their parents couldn’t decide on what to name them and because it’d taken them almost four months, the hospital’s assigned designations, A, B, C, and D for birth order, had stuck.

Wait—what had she said?
I didn’t want her to know most of us weren’t in relationships.
Did that include Caelen?

Shit.

“Spill it,” Athena demanded.

A long pause. Dare held his breath and almost hyperventilated.

“It’s a long story. I don’t want to go into it, right now. We need to focus on the school.”

“Caelen,”
all three sisters said in unison.

“Why should I do all the talking?”

Damn it, she’s evading again,
Dare thought.
Why can’t the woman answer a simple question?

Caelen continued. “Why don’t we talk about why Ms. Belle thought we were
all
in relationships? Dacey, you haven’t dated anyone, like, ever.”

“Hey!
That’s not… exactly true,” Dacey finished meekly.

“And Brynn, I don’t remember hearing about any boyfriend six months ago. That means I’m not the only one keeping secrets.”

“A ha! So you admit it! You
are
keeping secrets,” Athena shouted.

Just when Dare thought Athena had Caelen cornered, she followed up with, “You guys are keeping stuff from me, too.”

A cell phone on vibrate interrupted the girls, and Caelen muttered something that Dare couldn’t make out. The buzzing stopped.

“I wasn’t dating anybody at the time. I just wanted to get Ms. Belle off my back. My love life seemed to be the ‘go to’ question the last few months she was alive, which was weird, because she never cared about that kind of stuff, before. Now I know why! And I’ve had plenty of boyfriends. I just don’t do long term.” Dacey supplied before the girls even asked for specifics. A full confession from Dacey, as usual. The girl never seemed to hold anything back.

Dare tried to adjust, slipped, and went sideways into the supplies. A mop got knocked over. He paused, convinced they would hear him, but thankfully no one skipped a beat. He readjusted and finally caught the tail end of Brynn’s comment.

“…lie seemed easiest.”

“Come on, Betty. You’re turn,” he muttered.

“Enough with your secrets, Caelen. You don’t want to tell us about your job, fine. I have no leverage. But if you don’t want Ms. Hattie to know about your relationship status then you better spill the beans.” Athena had never been one to shy away from blackmail.

“All
right.
I was dating somebody. We broke up recently. I didn’t make a big deal about it because it wasn’t all that serious. At least on his part.” Caelen said the last sentence so softly he almost didn’t catch it.

Dare heard
I’m sorry
and
You okay?
Caelen wasn’t doing much more talking, and then he heard a sniffle. His heart dropped. Was she crying? Anger, pure and clean, raced through him. Someone was going to pay. All he had to do was wait for one of the sisters to coax a name from Caelen and it was all but done.
Done.

“It sounds like it might have been serious on your part,” Brynn said.

“No. Yeah, totally… I don’t know. It’s a mess. The most confusing relationship of my life.”

“Who was this douchebag?” Score one for Athena, who obviously was a girl after his own heart.

Caelen snort-laughed through her tears. “It doesn’t matter. It’s over,
really
over, and I don’t want to spend another minute talking about him.”

Dare felt his shoulder muscles unbunch slowly. His clenched fists started to loosen. He had worked himself up into a fine rage and hadn’t even known it. The red started to recede. Now that Caelen was laughing again, he could calm down.

“But why didn’t you tell us about him in the first place?” Athena asked.

“I just—He asked me—Look, he’s kind of a high profile guy, and we both didn’t want any publicity. I’m not going to have him take all the blame. I guess we both wanted to keep it private.”

Athena still seemed upset about her lack of knowledge. “I still don’t know why you couldn’t tell
us.”

Dare almost felt bad for her. Athena really had taken on the role of big sister, and it sounded like she was hurt by Caelen keeping her out of the loop.

There was a long silence with no reply. Finally Brynn, the most level-headed of the bunch, declared, “Let’s take a break from Caelen’s love life. We need to figure out what we’re going to do. We just inherited a charm school!”

Dare heard his name being called from the front of the house.
Shit!
One of The Ladies that Lunch must need a hand.
Damn.
He was going to miss the best part. If that woman kept bellowing his name, one of the quads was bound to start looking, so he unfolded himself from the small space and crawled back into the hallway, careful to tread lightly.

So much to process.
Had Ms. Hattie really been talking about giving head? And if Caelen really wasn’t seeing anyone, then that must mean she needed a Guinea pig.

A slow, devious, and decidedly excited grin started to spread across his face.
Guinea Pig,
a role he had been born to play. Now to convince Caelen that he was the rodent of her dreams.

Chapter 8

‡

“T
ELL ME AGAIN
why I’m here?” Caelen said in an exasperated huff.

Like she hadn’t been exposed to enough alcohol the night before? Yet here she was, decked out in cut-off jean shorts, a plaid shirt and high-heeled booties that looked just enough like cowboy boots without being the real thing. When invited to a country bar, one must always look the part. She’d even parted her hair down the middle with two braids. That was country, wasn’t it?

“We all needed to get out. What better place to meet than a bar?” Dacey laughed as she planted herself on the bar stool next to Brynn.

Caelen glanced around at the dimly lit dive and frowned. Not a cowboy hat in sight. “Wait a minute! Didn’t you say this was a country bar?” Caelen asked.

“No, dummy. I said they played
way
too much country at the
local
bar, but if we work fast and monopolize the jukebox, we might have a chance to blast some serious Britney.” Dacey was obsessed, still, with Britney Spears.

“That is
not
what you said. And why the hell do they have karaoke night set up? And why am I the only one dressed in my country finest?”

“’Cuz it’s not a country bar! You really need to work on those listening skills.” Her sister winked as she looked around the small bar. “But karaoke? That part I might have gotten mixed up,” Dacey said on a laugh, all the while dodging the peanuts Caelen started beaning at her head.

“You know I like to have the correct
ensemble
for every occasion. I’m sticking out like a prostitute in church.”

All four sisters cracked up because it was one of the only crude things they’d ever heard Ms. Belle say. So, of course, they’d used the expression at every opportunity since the eighth grade.

Brynn intervened by taking the bowl out of Caelen’s hands. “You look gorgeous, no matter what you wear.”

“So true, so true. I suppose, it’s my inner beauty that shines through no matter the occasion.” She almost pulled off the haughty air until she snorted and covered her mouth with her hand.
Damn snort!

“What are we drinking?” Athena asked, and Caelen cast her a surprised glance.

“Since when did you start drinking?” Caelen asked.

“About a month ago,” Athena said as she raised her hand toward the bartender. The place was starting to fill up, quick.

“What happened a month ago?”

“We’ll talk about that as soon as you spill about what happened with your job,” her sister answered as she popped a peanut in her mouth.

Touché.
“All righty, then. I will have a white wine, please.” Guess she wasn’t the only one with secrets. Caelen glanced at her sisters with a worried frown. Come to think of it, Athena hadn’t said a word about her husband, Jake, since she’d seen her. But that was crazy. Athena and Jake had been joined at the hip since high school. Hopefully, she wasn’t projecting her own issues onto her sister.

Brynn and Dacey started looking at all the fruity specials while the bartender waited impatiently.

“You guys are taking too long. Four beers. Whatever’s on tap,” Athena stated with a wave of her hand.

All three sisters groaned. Athena was a notorious cheapskate, and she had absolutely no patience.

“I, literally, just asked for a glass of wine.”

“Athena,”
Dacey complained.

Athena shrugged, unconcerned. Caelen plopped down onto the closest barstools. “I’m surprised she even asked what we wanted. You know how she is.” She gave the stool an experimental twirl. “I can’t remember the last time I chugged a brewsky.”

The bartender passed around four giant mugs of beer while Caelen said, “All right. Time to talk turkey. Are we really going through with this?”

Brynn looked hesitant, Athena acted annoyed, and Dacey remained distracted. Par for the course with this group.

“Maybe we should sell. It’s not as if any of us are in serious relationships right now. How are we going to pull this off?” Dacey asked.

“Well, none of us except Athena. Maybe she should teach first, and that would buy us some time before we decided if we wanted to keep the school or not,” Brynn said. She took a sip of her drink.

Athena choked on the latest handful of peanuts, and all three sisters waited as she chugged down some beer, clearing her throat. “I am
not
going first. I’m ready to sell. Ms. Belle couldn’t have really expected us to pull this off.”

“You’re ready to welsh on Ms. Belle’s dying request? You, Baby A, have some big balls if you want to mess with karma like that,” Dacey said as she pushed the mass of blond-brown curls out of her face.
“Biga, spicey meat-a ball-sized baaalls,”
Dacey said in her best – which was the worst – Italian accent.