Daughters of Harmonia Pt. 01

"I'm sorry ma'am, your card has been declined," the barista said and she didn't bother to look uncomfortable or sympathetic. She was bored, ugly, chubby, and probably took pleasure in Keli's humiliation. There were about ten people behind Keli and she felt her ears get red under her blonde hair.

Keli dug through her purse and tried to find her other card. There was no reason, or shouldn't be, why the card she chose didn't work. If Ed maxed it out without telling her there was not much she could do about it. He was so moody lately there was no talking to him without risking a tantrum.

After her work outs she rewarded herself with a coffee that was more cream and flavors than actual coffee. It was the worst thing she put in her body and it was a treat she allowed herself just three times a week. If Ed fucked this up for her she was going to say something. She could not find her other cards. She dug for cash she knew she did not have. What happened to her other cards?

"I got her, just add mine to hers and I'll pay for all of it," a woman behind her said. There was strength in her voice, steel, it came out more like a command than a request. Keli turned to decline the offer but her words got stuck in her throat when she saw the woman speaking.

"What are you having ma'am?" the bored barista said.

"Coffee, make it big and black, and give us a couple muffins too." She was all of six feet tall and towered over Keli's five feet and seven inches. She wore a sun dress that looked vulgar on her. It was black with brown vines running through it that matched her tan skin, it looked vulgar because it hugged the curves of her body and her body was vulgar. It was all long toned brown legs, big tits, and sensual curves. Her straight black hair and make-up were perfect and her silver jewelry clashed brilliantly against the brown of her ears, fingers, wrist, and ankle. And her shoes, sandals with high heels and straps that coiled around her ankles and halfway up to her bulbous fitness model calves, were hot as hell. She flashed a perfect toothed grin at Keli and Keli still could not speak.

The barista told her the total and the tall woman paid with a hundred dollar bill. "Names?" the barista asked as she grabbed the cups with a magic marker ready.

I'm Elaine," the tall woman said then looked at Keli. Keli felt a panic attack coming on. She still could not speak. The tall woman smiled down at her, with a knowing look, then looked pensive for a moment. "Let's call her Cleopatra, you can just write Cleo on the cup. "Let's sit over here," Elaine said as she accepted the muffins and change from the barista and nodded her head toward an empty section in the back corner. Keli didn't know what else to do so she followed her and sat across the table from her.

"So, do you want to tell me your name or should I just call you Cleo?"

"I'm Keli," she said and she stammered. Keli felt her face go red to match her ears. Her hair was up in a ponytail so all her redness was on display.

"Nice to meet you. Do I make you nervous?" Keli nodded and hated herself for admitting it. What was going on? "No need, I'm regular as anybody, but I will tell you; I have that effect on people."

"You do?" So there was something. It wasn't just Keli being a fucking spaz.

"I do. It's not on purpose. I think it's my height. It freaks people out."

"How tall are you?"

"Awe Keli," she looked disappointed. "You were doing so good. Don't ask obvious questions, they're boring, and what does it matter anyway. I am fucking tall, that's all."

"Elaine? Cleo?" another barista yelled across the restaurant. He was a young kid, skinny, nerdy looking.

"Do you mind?" Elaine said to Keli and for a second she didn't know what she meant. When she realized Elaine was asking her to got the coffees from the counter she jerked and stood up too quickly. Her thighs pushed the table and tilted it. Elaine quickly snatched up the muffins before they could roll off the table. "Whoa Sugar, you okay?"

"Yes, fine, I'm sorry." Keli imagined her face was turning even redder as she focused on not stumbling, then not spilling the coffees as she brought them back to the table.

"Thank you Keli," Elaine said and pushed one of the muffins across the table to her.

"Oh, no, I couldn't," Keli said. "Thank you for my coffee. I don't know why my card declined."

"It's because you didn't have enough available credit or money in your account to cover a cup of coffee. That's how those cards work. Eat the muffin. I can't eat two."

"Thanks." Well that was pretty fucking rude. She bought her coffee, and a muffin apparently, so Keli felt an obligation to endure the rudeness.

"So how did that happen?"

"What?"

"How did it happen that you don't have enough money to pay for coffee."

"That's what I meant when I said I didn't know why my card declined. There should be plenty of money in that account. I will have to ask my husband if he charged something without telling me."

"Does he do that often?"

"Not really, a couple times since he lost his job."

"How long ago was that?"

"Almost a year now."

"Wow, that's a long time to be unemployed. What does he do?"

"Well, it's a tough economy. He was a realtor but he was laid off from his agency. He is working on a novel and trying to launch a couple of internet businesses."

"Why was he laid off?"

"He says politics."

"Doubtful, real estate is sales, and the only reason to fire a salesperson is if they are costing more than they produce. What do you do?"

"I am an executive assistant to the CEO of Cybertek. He's out of town for three weeks so I am on paid leave until he gets back."

"Cushy. I love that. What's the CEO of Cybertek like?"

"Typical dotcom billionaire, misunderstood genius, eccentric tastes, handsy."

She threw her head back and laughed loudly. Louder than was socially acceptable. Keli looked about the Starbucks nervously to see if anybody noticed. Everybody did and Elaine did not seem to care.

"So tell me about handsy."

"He likes to give massages as he has me take notes. He'll stand behind me and work my shoulders and back as he tells me what I need to do for him."

"That sounds kind of nice. Is he cute?"

"He's young for a CEO, only a couple years older then me. He's more nerdy than cute."

"Fat nerd or skinny nerd?"

"Skinny."

"Damn, I need a fat one."

"A nerd? You need a fat nerd?"

"I do."

"What for?"

"To add to my collection."

"Your what?"

"My collection. I collect men for fun and as a business, and I like variety."

"As a business?" What the fuck was this chick talking about. "Like they're your sugar daddies?" Her friend Jessica from the gym had a sugar daddy and bragged about it all the time. Jessica was nineteen. Elaine looked to be in her late twenties, maybe early thirties. Young still but too old for sugar daddies.

"Sugar daddies?" She laughed again. "No, not sugar daddies. I own these men, they are my slaves and I put them to work and take one hundred percent of their incomes to support my lifestyle."

"Bullshit," Jessica blurted.

"No, not bullshit Keli." She looked like she was about to explain but they were interrupted by someone yelling from the the entrance.

"Who owns the Bugatti?" a young man in his twenties was asking. Keli watched Elaine raise her left hand and wave at the man who grinned and walked over to their table. "That car is my dream car. I'll never have one, shit, I never thought I'd ever see one in person. When you are done with your coffee, would you mind letting me see the inside of it?"

Keli watched as Elaine dug through her purse and came up with a key fob with the Bugatti logo in red and chrome on the side. She tossed it to the man who looked shocked as he caught it.

"Go take a look. If you let me hold your driver's license you can take it down to the Chevron and fill it up."

"Really?" He looked as shocked as Keli was. Keli didn't know a Bugatti from a Lamborghini but she knew they were both very expensive cars.

"Really."

The guy dug his wallet out of his cargo shorts and pulled his driver's license out of it and placed it on the table. Elaine pulled another hundred dollar bill out of her purse and handed it to the man. "Premium please, and if you overflow onto the paint, I do it all the time, please make sure you wipe it down, rinse it with water, and wipe it down again."

"You got it." The man shook the key in his hand like it was a gift from heaven. He looked amazed and as if on the verge of tears. He thanked her again then dashed out of the Starbucks.

"He's kind of cute," she said and she pinched a chunk off her muffin and put it delicately in her mouth.

"You have a Bugatti?"

"Yes, not my favorite car, but I have one."

"This comes from the money these men you own make?"

"It does. You say it like it's a bad thing."

"Isn't it? Slavery is illegal."

"I didn't go and take these people from their lands and put them in chains. These men are not oppressed. They are my willing slaves. You can ask them, and they are more than happy to do my bidding. If anyone tried to free them they would run back to me as soon as possible. It's happened."

"Someone tried to free your slaves?"

"Soloman, his sister and daughter came and dragged him away. They put him in treatment and tried to deprogram him. It took Soloman six months but he was able to convince the doctors at the asylum that he was sane and in my service of his own free will."

"Soloman is one of your slaves?"

"Soloman Krenshaw, he's a CEO too. I forget the name of his company though."

"Allogra Capital, Soloman Krenshaw, the CEO of Allogra Capital is your slave?"

"That's it, Allogra, yes, he is one of my slaves."

"I know him. I've met him. He has been to my boss's office, several times, he does not seem very slave like."

"Soloman has a driver personality, not many CEO's don't, and not many gentlemen get to be CEO's. I let him be who he has to be to earn but he's a pussycat around me."

"Can you get him to be a pussycat around me? He's a dick."

She laughed again. "I'll see what I can do."

"You are either an amazing person, or completely full of shit. Thanks for the coffee either way." Keli said and was amazed she said it. The fact was she was feeling a little more comfortable around this woman. As intimidating as she came off initially, she seemed to work hard at being affable. Besides paying for Keli's coffee she just let a stranger drive her million dollar car.

"You are an amazing person too." Elaine shot her a look and there was a sparkle in her eyes.

"I am not. I am as regular as they get. No slaves and obvious money troubles."

"It doesn't have to be that way. You could have everything I do, if you want."

"Oh yeah? You going to sell me a surefire way to make six figures in the next thirty days? My husband is always showing me these programs online and needs fifteen hundred dollars to get started." Keli shot her a doubtful yet amused look.

She laughed loudly again with her head thrown back. "You can't afford coffee, why would I try to sell you anything?"

"Exactly," Keli said and laughed with her. "You are barking up the wrong tree lady."

"I think maybe you think I am more full of shit than amazing. I think maybe you need further convincing. What are your plans for the rest of your day?"

"I got nothing going on. I was going to go home and have a conversation with my husband that would end in him having a temper tantrum then riding away on his motorcycle after saying some shit he would have to apologize for later. We call it Monday at my house."

"Want to shake things up?"

"What did you have in mind?

"I have a conference to attend today. You could come as my guest."

"I am not dressed for a conference."

"We could stop and get you some clothes on the way, my treat."

So this was strange. Was it dangerous? This lady was a stranger to Keli but she associated dangerous strangers with unkempt overweight men in nondescript van type vehicles with candy or lost puppies. That was a throwback fear from her childhood, Keli was twenty-one now and needed to be aware of more sophisticated ruses. Stunning women in million dollar sports cars could be that type of ruse. But to what end? What did Keli have that this woman could need badly enough to take by force.

"Why?" Keli blurted.

"Why not? I have it, you don't, you seem like you'd like it, I want to show it to you so you can decide."

"Decide what?"

"If you want what I have."

"There's no question that I want what you say you have, not slaves so much, but a Bugatti and the ability to buy strangers coffee, that'd be cool. The question is do you really have what you say you have? I can find this out at a conference?"

"You will meet many women who have what I have, and more, at the conference. If you want to see if I have all I claim to have, then you could come by my place after the conference."

"And what conference is this?"

"The Sorority of the Daughters of Harmonia."

"Harmonia?"

"Ancient Greek Goddess, lover of Ares, mother of Amazons, you can learn all about that later if you decide you are interested. It's more symbolic than religious, it's not like we worship any gods for real."

"Fuck it, let's go," Keli said with a shrug of her shoulders. Elaine grinned her perfect teeth and took a sip of her coffee and pinched off another piece of muffin.

She really had nothing else to do that afternoon. It was pitiful that she preferred going to what sounded like a conference for dykes than go home to the man she supposedly loved. She did not look forward to going home a lot lately. Jake was a dick a lot and seemed to get worse every unemployed day that went by. He lost confidence in himself. He didn't shave anymore, bathed maybe three times a week, and spent his time on social media raging against the entitled millennials and both right and left wing politicians who were ruining America.

To Keli's shock, when they were done with their coffee and muffins, a bomb-ass Bugatti pulled into the Starbucks parking lot as she followed Elaine out. The kid who took it to the gas station popped out of it with an awed look on his face and beamed at Elaine. Keli half didn't believe there really was a Bugatti, and that the kid was a plant, and if he wasn't he would never bring the car back.

"It's everything I ever dreamed it would be. I drove it real careful and made sure not to overflow the gas. Thank you, you made my dream come true." He held out her change to her as she walked around to the driver's side of the car.

"You are very welcome. What's your name?" She handed him back his driver's license obviously never having looked at it.

"I'm Doug Adams."

"Go around and get the door for my friend, Doug," Elaine said and the young man dashed around and got the door for Keli. It rose up instead out out and Keli sat down into the car. She was glad she was wearing yoga pants instead of a skirt, or dress, or she would have shown her goodies to Doug, and everybody else who was gathering around to see and hear the car. Elaine took her seat behind the wheel and motioned for Doug to come back around to her side after he lowered Keli's door closed. "This is my card, if you would like to drive my car again, less carefully maybe, wait three weeks, then call me."

"I'd love that."

"Good, but make sure you wait the three weeks. I won't have time for you before then. Do you understand?"

"Three Mondays from today. I got it."

"Excellent. I'll speak with you then. Bye Doug."

Elaine rolled up her window and revved the powerful engine. Several in the crowd cheered as she pulled away and into traffic. She drove with practiced ease and wove through slower traffic as she drove to a high end retail section of town. These were shops that carried name brands Kelli could not afford even when Jake was gainfully employed. She stopped the car in front of one of the shops and turned it off.

"You aren't in a parking spot," Keli pointed out.

"I know, it's crazy right? With this car nobody cares where I park, even in this neighborhood. Watch, no one will say a thing. Let's go."

Keli followed her up three steps to a landing and the door to the shop opened and a tall thin man, middle aged and dressed sharply, smiled and held the door open. "Good morning Mrs. Oppleheimer, welcome to Andre's."

"Hi Norman, this is my friend Keli. She needs a nice dress so she can attend a conference with me this morning. We are pressed for time. Could you have someone watch the car too."

"Of course."

Keli and Elaine were handed off to a slight young man, also sharply attired, who led them deeper into the store and, after eyeballing Keli from top to bottom, went to the racks and shelves and started pulling items and placing them in a neatly folded pile. Norman snapped his fingers and pointed at the car outside and another young man went out to stand by it.

"These will all fit her exquisitely Mrs. Oppleheimer," the little man said with a lisp and a feminine flare.

"I like this one," Elaine said and held up a sun dress, cut a lot like hers, but in different colors.

"I like it too." Keli admitted. It was pretty.

"Go put it on."

Keli went to the dressing room the little man led her too and stripped out of her gym clothes. She was glad she showered after her workout instead of waiting until she got home. She slipped the dress on and he was right. It fit her exquisitely. Keli had a good body, she worked hard at it, but she never looked like this in her regular clothes. This dress made all of the curves of her body look even more pronounced, more emphasized, more ... vulgar.

"Size seven shoes?" the man lisped as he held a pair of high heeled sandals through the curtain. He was right, she wore a size seven. They were fucking Valentino's and matched her dress perfectly. She slid her feet into them and they never looked so good. She stepped out of the dressing room to look at herself in a mirror. Holy shit she looked good. Her own legs, toned, long, and flexed from standing in the heels, made her gush. Her eyes caught Elaine's in the mirror and she was smiling too.

"You are stunning," she said then turned to Norman who was standing a few feet away and observing. "You want one my cards or do you want me to take a few of yours?"

"Please, take our cards Mrs. Oppleheimer."

"I'll take ten to hand out personally and another fifty to leave at check-in. Fair?"

"More than fair."

"Are you going to remember Keli? She looks good in your stuff yeah?"

"We will most assuredly remember Ms. Keli, she is a vision."

Keli was handed a bag with her gym clothes in it and they headed for the exit. Whoa, what just happened. They weren't paying for this stuff? Keli watched Elaine accept a small stack of business cards and they left. Keli didn't say anything until they were back in the car and driving away.

"You don't have to pay for clothes?"

"Not when I am on my way to a women's conference with a hot chick modeling their shit."

"These are name brands. The shoes alone cost a grand. How did that just happen?"

"No less than fifty women at that conference will compliment you on your outfit. We will give ten of them Andre's card, and tell the next forty they can get a card at check in. You wearing his clothes at that conference will get him at least fifty new customers."

"You think all fifty will go to the store?"

"They will all go before they leave town, more probably because they will take friends of theirs. All those women will also tell their friends where they got their new outfits and more customers and sales will come to Andre."

"These women at this conference, where are they from?"

"All over, there are Sisters and Daughters in every state, and in most of the countries of the world."