Chapter 5

• It had been three weeks since I signed on with Ms. Lilly. I had have all my shots as I like to call it- Psychiatrist, OB/GYN and the Family Practitioner. I swear I felt like a pin cushion from all the blood samples, I felt like I was entering the Armed Services. My blood work had been cleared, no viruses or infections and my mind was okay to blossom. I felt as if I had taken Ms. Lilly's money since I haven't been on a job yet, but I knew the time was coming. Now let the fun begin, Hurrah!!
• I got up around noon and went in to check on the girls. They were getting ready to take their final tests and for the last couple weeks they had been doing well. This summer I had them signed up for horseback riding lessons and French lessons. That should keep them busy for the summer. The adjustment to having a tutor was really helping their young minds expand. Their teacher Renee was awesome and the girls adored her.
• Ash and Liv were cracking up laughing. Evidently Renee had them making plans about dressing up as the Boston Tea Partiers. They were comparing politics of old to the politics of today. I wanted to avoid that conversation all together. Liv looked at me with a wondering eye. I took that as too why I got up so late. I started my cycle and it normally would drain me the first day or so. I grabbed a bottled juice and headed back up to my room.
• As soon as my hand touched the door, my phone went off notifying me that I had a text message. I saw that it was from Ben. I released the lock function on my phone and read it.
• It said that I needed to be ready in an hour and that he was picking me up. I responded, "what should I wear?" because you never knew where you would be going. He text to look nice. I took that as a nice dress and to look my best.
• I took a shower, dressed in a light blue Donna Karan dress with matching shoes and accessorized with silver bangles and earrings. I looked down at my watch and noticed I had ten minutes before Ben would arrive. I quickly flat ironed my hair and smoothed it back. As soon as I put the finishing touches to my makeup, I heard Ben in the kitchen.
• I walked in and Liv and Ash were hugging him. He was pulling out his wallet handing the girls money. "You are spoiling them Ben. Every time you see them you give them money. After while they will have enough to retire on," I said laughing at the three.
• "Well they are the daughters I never had so I gotta give my money to somebody that can use it. Plus they are just to adorable for words."
• The girls looked up at him and they each gave him a kiss on each side of his cheek. They definitely knew how to work it.
• Ben and I walked outside and he opened up door. "You look nice Suga," he said getting in the front driver's seat. Ben had started calling me Suga a few weeks ago since my photo-shoot. He told me I had a sweet personality and that I was still a virgin that made me the perfect girl. I thought it was funny so I didn't mind.
• Ben and I talked about a few things and we pulled up to the huge house. "It's called the Belleview. Ms. Lilly normally have her meeting with the girls here. You will meet some of the other girls that Ms. Lilly employ. Remember Suga keep your head up and none of them are no better than you."
• I looked out the window. The house was grand with the big columns. How many houses did this woman have? She seem like the Donald Trump of New Orleans. I could only imagine what her portfolio looked like. Ben pulled up the front of the house and got out to open the door.
• As I walked into the large foyer of the Belleview House, a lady in a black dress escorted me to the large conference room. The Belleview House was a home that Ms. Lilly transformed into a meeting place where all the girls met up at. The old home was gutted out and transformed into a state of the art facility. It housed over six bedrooms, a workout facility, tea room, and a state of the art conference room and pool house. No expense was spared. The travertine floors boast natural color and the imported European granite was to die for.
• A lady in black which I later found out was Marci, had been with Ms. Lilly for over twenty years. I'm sure she had heard and seen a lot in her days. We passed by many closed doors until we came up to the room on the left. Marci opened the door and there were about twenty other girls seated or standing around drinking coffee and tea. They all looked at me with either smiles or looks of confusion. I wondered if I had something on my face as I walked in.
• "Don't worry honey, you're the new kid," Marci whispered in my ear. She walked up to the front of the room, preparing papers and slides for what looked to be a presentation. She asked everyone to take a seat. Moments later Lilly walked in carrying a planner.
• "Okay ladies you know that the Black and White Masquerade Ball will be upon us this weekend. Many you have attended in the past. This year will be a little different."
• Lilly turned on her computer and the projector light appeared on the screen. Marci came to everyone giving them a binder with a list of names. There were about thirty names listed on the paper. Either they had a confirm stamp next to their name or nothing at all. Looking behind the sheet were profile pages of each gentleman. There was identification including name, race, occupation, medical history and sexual information. I couldn't believe my eyes. I knew this was a business but she ran this like a professional business meeting.
• "Okay, ladies we will go through the slides and if you have any questions, please ask." Ms. Lilly went through each slide introducing us to these gentlemen. She would give us little tidbits that were not listed on their profiles. The men she was introducing were new members to her organization. I could see the girls glancing at each other marking the ones they wanted to meet. I was praying this would not be some type of crazed affair. After thirty minutes of going through each profile, she introduced me.
• "Ladies I would like to introduced you to Cadence. She is our newest family member. Please treat her with the same respect as you would treat your family." I could hear the warning in her tone. I didn't know anyone in the room. The dirty looks I got earlier were not fake ass smiles. We were dismissed from the meeting.
• A girl came up to me no more than about my age and introduced herself. "Hi, I'm Katie and this is Rachel." Katie looked to be like a Barbie doll cheerleader kind and Rachel had smoky eyes that looked like she was into some things that I would be afraid of. We talked for a while until Lilly came over.
• "I hope everything is well, Cadence. I have something else in mind for you, follow me."
• We both walked out into the hall and headed up a long staircase. She opened the door and the room was fully stacked with clothes and shoes. The room had been converted to a full size closet. There were rows and rows of clothing arranged by sizes, colors and themes. We walked over to the back of the room and on the mannequin there was a white ball gown. I was in awe and Lilly must have seen my face.
• "I see you like it. I thought it would be perfect for you."
• I couldn't take my eyes off of the dress. The beading work was impeccable. I walked over to the dress and ran my hand across the neckline. I could imagine myself slowly walking down the staircase in this dress and my prince charming waited to take me by the hand and lead me to the ballroom for a dance. Snapping out of my thoughts I turned around and saw a little lady standing next to Lilly.
• "This is Annabelle she will fit you for this dress. This will be the dress you wear to the Ball." Annabelle guided me to the mirror and I step on the small step.
• "Ms. Lilly it is a beautiful dress. I don't know if I could do the dress justice? I might spill something or rip it. It looks too valuable to wear. Plus I already got fitted a few days ago for a dress."
• "I know Cadence but this will be more of a coming out for you. No other girl has worn this dress and I think it will be perfect for the occasion. Don't you think so? I see you in this dress with a pair of angel wings and a white mask as a pure soul. The men will eat it up. They would pay plenty just to have one night with you."
• I thought about what she said. Was this my time to prove to her I could do this? The thought of what I just signed up for was now actually hitting home. I could feel my stomach churning as to think in a couple of the days, the thing I promised my husband to be would not now be used. I wanted to cry and vomit at the same time. But this was what I agreed to and my word was bond.
• I put the dress on and it was a little big. I looked inside the tag to see it was a classic Versace. I had started to learn my designers since I had been going shopping at the boutiques. An half an hour later Annabelle had all the pins and marks to the dress. I stepped out of the dress and put my clothes back on.
• "Okay, Cadence we are done here. Ben will take you back home and I will see you this Saturday morning for your debut. If you have any questions please call me." We said our goodbyes and she hugged me goodbye.
• In the foyer Ben was talking to Rachel. "Ms. Cadence are you ready?" I nodded and I could see the disdain expression on Rachel's face.
• "How come she gets to use Ms. Lilly's personal driver?" She asked Katie. Ben looked at her with a sly expression on his face.
• "Because she is just like suga. Pure and sweet," he said walking off. I laughed and followed behind him.
• "Ben I don't think they like me too much. The girls looked like they wanted to mob me. They don't even know me."
• "Cadence you have what they don't have. You still have your virtue. Don't let them put you out the game. They may have more experience, but you are in a whole different league. I know this is not your final career path, but to some of them this is it. In another couple of years they will be old hags and be lucky to have a man look at them twice. So put on your happy face and do what you are paid to do."
• I smiled through the window. He was right I had something they hadn't had in a while. I was going to use this as my advantage. Hopefully Ms. Lilly would be kind enough that it wouldn't be in vain.