Free Break Me In by Shari Slade Page B

ladies here to get their weekend frizz on. What’s up with that?”
    “There’s a sale on Ensure at the A&P?”
    Noah shakes his head. “Go bang on Luca until some change falls out.” Then he turns to me. “Come on, baby. You want to get your hair done?”
    The question is so ridiculous I don’t even know how to respond. “What? Why?”
    “No customers means no money in the register. She’s gotta pay one way or another, and I’m not having her do for me what Stone was after.”
    “You mean sex.”
    He nods.
    “If I wasn’t with you?”
    He runs a hand through his dark hair and smirks. “I wouldn’t be getting a trim.”
    Bells tinkle above the door as we enter the shop, and a dark-haired woman in her thirties peers over her magazine. Her lips are so chapped it looks painful. When she licks them nervously, I understand why. “That time again already?”
    “Where’d all your customers go, Kristi?”
    “Luca’s been causing some trouble. I don’t think he’s very discriminating about the type of merchandise he’s willing to buy lately. It brings the wrong sort of clientele to the mall. There’s times I don’t even want to cross the parking lot by myself, but what’s a girl to do?”
    “You could’ve called. This is the kind of shit we’re here for. Protection.”
    Her face twists in confusion. “Dev came by and told me to keep my mouth shut and my eyes on my magazines. I’m doing it, but damn. I don’t just pay you bastards. The bank’s on my ass too, and they won’t take a blow job in payment.” Her pretty brown eyes fill with tears that don’t fall, and she twirls a manicured hand at the empty salon. “Wouldn’t my nana be so proud?”
    “Your nana was a good woman who did what needed to be done to provide for you. She was a friend of the club, and that means something.”
    “But Dev—”
    “I’ll take care of him. Now take care of Star. Whatever she wants. If I’m going to tell the brothers they need to send their old ladies up here, we need to sample the merchandise.”
    He nudges me forward, and I squirm under their scrutiny. “Maybe just a trim. I haven’t had one of those in a while.”
    “Honey, your split ends have split ends.”
    “I’ve been busy.”
    Kristi looks from me to Noah and back again and purses her sore lips. “Yeah, I get that.”
    Warm water rushes over my scalp, soaking my hair. I scoot back farther in the reclining chair, letting my head fall deeper into the shampoo bowl so the water doesn’t run down the back of my neck.
    “Too hot?” Kristi asks, pulling the stream away.
    “No, it’s perfect. I was just getting comfortable.”
    Kristi lifts the bulk of my hair and directs the spray underneath. “You relax. I’ll take good care of you.”
    “Mhmmm,” I murmur as she works up a coconut-scented lather. Her touch is brisk and efficient. In minutes I’m reduced to jelly. I wonder if it would be too forward to ask her to work her magic on the small of my back. “That feels so nice. I don’t think there’s anything more decadent than having someone wash your hair.”
    Then her tight circles are replaced by broad strokes, and I gasp. My eyes flutter open, and Noah is hovering over me.
    “The noises you were making? All those mmms and aaahs? I only want to hear them if I’m the one wringing them out of your body.” He glides soapy fingers along my neck and trails them over my collar bone. Cool water runs down my breasts, soaking my shirt and tightening my nipples. My cheeks burn and I squeeze my eyes shut.
    “I’ll take a break in the back room. Don’t forget the conditioner.” Kristi says.
    “Don’t go far.” Noah grunts and continues massaging me, working his way ever so slowly back to my scalp.
    The spray starts back up, and I hear a break in the stream before it lands on my soapy tresses. The realization that he checked the temperature warms me more than the water.
    “I’m not going to fuck you here, Star. Not in Kristi’s shop.