Page 18 of Bourbon Deceit
Kace pulled away, allowing me to breathe again, no longer sucking in all the air in my vicinity.
Before I walked into the dining room, Kace called out my name again. I turned to see him standing in the entryway, with his hands tucked into the worn-out pockets of his jeans and his plain white T-shirt stretching across his chest. No matter who my heart belonged to, it would always have a special place for Kace . . . always.
“Thank you for checking on me yesterday.” He looked up through his eyelashes as he talked to me, a modest pose I hadn’t seen from him before. Whatever happened to him had hit him hard, because he never showed emotion and right now, all I could see was hurt and pain pouring out of him.
“Any time,” I replied.
He stepped forward for a second and then shook his head as if what he was about to do would be the biggest mistake of his life. I wanted to go up to him and ask him what was going on but I didn’t. I kept the line that was drawn in the sand between the two of us, respected his wishes, and entered the dining room with a heavy heart.
* * *
Learningetiquette didn’t seem like it would be very hard to do until I stepped into the dining room and came face to face with Miss Mary. I was expecting to see a little old white lady, with an impressive bouffant and real pearls gracing her neck, but instead I was standing next to a rotund, six-foot-tall black woman with a scarf in her hair and an apron around her belly. Her face read, “Don’t fuck with me,” and I wasn’t going to! I glanced at the ruler she was holding in her goliath-sized hands and gulped.
“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’d done it again.
“Fuck, sorry.”
There are times in your life when you realize you must be wearing a protective shield around your body, because without it, the laser beams of pure dragon fire spouting from Miss Mary’s eyes when I dropped the f-bomb would have disintegrated me on the spot.
“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 good, I look 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 and 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 they 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?”
