“Spread your legs.”
Sex Piston widened her stance, letting him wash her as she looked down at him. She started to reach out and touch his hair, wanting something she wasn’t willing to recognize, when her eyes caught the mark on the side of his neck.
“Shit.”
“What?” he asked, throwing the wet cloth into a basket in the corner and then going to the sink to wash his own hands. Zipping and snapping his jeans, he looked at her curiously.
“Your neck.” Sex Piston’s hand went to her mouth.
Stud turned back to the mirror. Sex Piston watched as he took in the mark she had left behind.
“I don’t think you left any doubt in anyone’s mind that you’re my old lady, do you?”
Sex Piston’s lips tightened at his remark. Jumping down from the counter, she stormed out of the bathroom, stopping in front of the closed bedroom door. She reached down to pick up her torn underwear before going to the trashcan by the bed and throwing them away. All the while she avoided his eyes as he came out of the bathroom.
“Is it so bad that everyone knows?”
“I’ve played this game before, Stud,” Sex Piston said. “I didn’t want to play it again.”
“I’m not playing you, Sex Piston.” His hard voice drew her reluctant gaze. “It’s not about the pussy, is it, Sex Piston? You’re fucking beautiful. You have a body that’s hot as hell and you know it because you work it with those clothes you wear. You’re not worried about me fucking another bitch. You want me to want you. What you don’t want is to want me back. Isn’t that right, Sex Piston? You’re letting me in enough to have that body, which is more than you gave Ace, but you’re still trying to keep me out like you keep everyone out, except your crew.”
Sex Piston lowered her lashes, trying to hide the panic coursing through her veins. She took a step toward the door, but Stud moved to block her path.
“You don’t have to protect yourself from me, Sex Piston. I’ve never let anyone down my whole life.” He reached out to touch her cheek, but she jerked her head back.
“What do you want from me, Stud?” Frustrated, she waved her hand toward the door. “Everyone out there knows we’re hooked up now.”
“I want you to admit this is more than fucking,” Stud responded.
“It’s all about the fucking,” she shot back stubbornly.
Stud shook his head. “No, it’s not, and you know it. You’re smart enough to know I care about you, but you won’t admit the same.”
She refused to respond to his misconception. She didn’t care about him. Her traitorous body wanted him, but that was all there was to it. Once she had enough of his dick then she’d move on to the next one.
“You can lie to yourself all you want, Sex Piston, but I know that you care about me.”
Stud’s stubbornness was beginning to get to her. “You’re full of shit!”
She had to get out of the close confines of the room, away from his searching eyes that were trying to find emotions that she had buried years ago when she realized how people could suck you dry and leave you with nothing left to give.
“No, I’m not. You’ve reorganized your whole life around my kids. You added them into the group of people you take care of.”
Sex Piston tensed.
“You take care of your mom, cooking and cleaning because she’s ditzy as fuck. You see that your dad takes all his medicine when he’s supposed to and eats right so that his diabetes stays under control. That’s why you don’t have your own place because you’ve been taking care of them for a long time. I’m willing to bet that you took care of Diamond before she took off for college.”
Sex Piston’s bottom lip trembled. She bit down on it to stop the betraying movement.
“You gave Crazy Bitch a job and are planning on taking care of her tuition. You promised one of your clients free services at your shop for a year if she helped get Fat Louise a job at the hospital. T.A.’s ex-boyfriend got violent with her a couple months back; you bought her a gun and made her take self defense lessons, and moved Killyama in with her. The only one I can tell that you haven’t had to shoulder is Killyama, and that bitch would fucking die for you.”
He took a step closer to her. Sex Piston warily stood her ground as he moved closer, feeling his arms close around her. “I appreciate the help with the girls, but my aunt has been doing it for years and she is missing them. She lives with me and I haven’t moved her here because I had every intention of you being in my bed at night. So Fat Louise can start her job Monday without you worrying about the girls. The club will pitch in and pay for Crazy Bitch’s beauty school. Me and the brothers already handled T.A.’s ex. You were right by the way; he’s a mean motherfucker. I’ve got Popcorn watching him now.
“Caring about me won’t make you weak, Sex Piston. You’ve been fighting against the world for so long that you haven’t seen that the war’s over. Your bullies are gone, and there’s not a person whose ass you can’t kick.”
“I don’t need your help.”
“I know you don’t need anyone, Sex Piston, but I do want you to need me in your life. I need you because I need your sexy body in my bed, your sassy mouth giving me hell and the way you look at me when you think no one is looking.”
Sex Piston saw a flash of vulnerability cross his face before he smoothed out his expression. Taking a step back from her, he let her have her space back.
“I’ll think about it,” Sex Piston said stubbornly.
“You do that.” His lips twitched in amusement.
Sex Piston smoothed her leather skirt down over her hips then smoothed down her tumbled hair before adjusting her breasts in the halter-top. When she was finished, she went to the door. Her hand was on the doorknob when Stud stopped her again.
“Sex Piston?”
“What?!” She turned back around.
“Come here.”
She started to ignore him, but for some inexplicable reason she found herself going back to him. He pulled her toward him when she was within reach, giving her a sweet kiss that tugged at her heartstrings. He then released her with a pat on the ass.
“Now you can go.”
She turned on her heel, leaving him in the bedroom, not even slamming the door behind her at his arrogant attitude. The kiss had been that good. He deserved a reward.
To soothe her bitchy side, she told herself that next time, she’d make him eat his nuts if he got mushy with her again.
Chapter Thirteen
“How much longer you going to be?” Fat Louise complained.
“Give me five minutes,” Sex Piston snapped at her friend, giving a final touch to the hairstyle she had been working on for the last twenty minutes.
“All done, Susan,” she said, removing the black cape draped across the woman.
“Thanks, Sex Piston. See you next month.”
“I’ll mark you in. Thanks, Susan,” she said with a smile, placing the cape in a basket to be washed.
“Bye.” Susan waved at the women sitting around the shop, who were waiting for Sex Piston to get off.
“Finally, I thought you’d never get finished,” T.A. said, slapping the magazine down on the table.
Crazy Bitch, Killyama, T.A. and Fat Louise were all waiting for her to finish so they could take Fat Louise out for dinner to celebrate her first week at work.
“It’s not like Popeye’s is going to close anytime soon,” Sex Piston said, getting the broom out of the closet and going to sweep up the hair on the floor left behind after Susan’s cut.
“I’m starving. I haven’t eaten since lunch.”
“You’ve been snacking on chips and soda; there is no way you are hungry,” Crazy Bitch remarked, rolling her eyes at Fat Louise.
The door opening drew Sex Piston’s attention away from her arguing friends. She was surprised when Lily walked in the door.
“Your appointment isn’t until tomorrow,” was all she could think to say.
Lily grinned at her. ??
?I know. I was nearby, visiting a home with the social worker I was shadowing for my internship. Traffic is at a standstill to Treepoint, so I’m caught in town until it clears. Beth suggested I hang out here with you guys until the road is clear, if that’s okay with you guys?”
“That’s cool,” Sex Piston said softly. With Lily, for some inexplicable reason, she and her crew always toned down their natural abrasiveness.
“We heard the sirens.” Crazy Bitch closed the cash register, placing the night’s deposit in Sex Piston’s purse. “I wondered why there wasn’t much traffic outside.”
“There is a big fire at a house. They’re having trouble getting it out. The radio said that several fire departments from three different counties are there. Police are redirecting traffic to the interstate, but there is no way to go around any of the other counties,” Lily explained.
“I wonder whose place could have caught on fire that needed that many fire trucks,” Killyama said, taking out her cell phone.
“It began at a house next to the railroad tracks,” Lily explained. “If I hadn’t stopped for coffee with my mentor, I would have been home before the fire started.”
Killyama whistled, setting her cell phone down on the counter. “That’s Cracker’s place; he’s the resident hoarder. I bet he has three piles of tires in his backyard. The city has been trying to get him to clean his junk for years. The lumber yard is right behind it. If it spreads, it’s going to take more than three trucks to put that fire out.”
“That should keep our only two cops thrilled. The most they get to do is nab an occasional shoplifter around here,” T.A. remarked. “Anything worse, they call the state police and it takes them a good twenty minutes to get here from Treepoint.”
“Since we’re stuck here, let’s go ahead and get your hair done.”
Sex Piston hoped Cracker and his dogs were all right. He would often come by the club for a beer. He didn’t belong to the club, but no one had the heart to throw him out.
“Sounds good,” Lily agreed.
Lily took a seat at her station while Sex Piston put the broom back in the closet. Putting a cape around Lily, she took a minute to study the beautiful girl. Her hair lay silky against her back.
“Going to let me work my magic?” Sex Piston asked, studying the girl’s reaction closely.
“Go for it. I’m ready for a change. I think short hair is cute,” she said, then added, “Just not too short. About half of what it is now.”
Sex Piston asked herself whose reaction she was worried about most; if cowboys really liked longer hair or Shade saying that he liked short hair.
“I don’t think Shade is ready for your hair to be cut short,” Sex Piston probed.
“He’s just overprotective because Razer and him are best friends. He sees me as a little sister, like Razer does.”
Sex Piston looked deep into her eyes to find that she really believed the shit she was saying.
Sex Piston’s gaze paused briefly over Lily’s hair. The girl was too innocent for her own good. She had seen something else in Lily’s eyes that hurt Sex Piston deep inside her heart, but she didn’t know why.
Her lips tightened. A heads up wouldn’t hurt.
Sex Piston got to work on Lily’s hair by first taking her to the sink and efficiently washing it. When she was finished, she wrapped her head in a clean towel then put her back in the chair in front of her station. Her foot pumped the chair to the height she needed before she combed Lily’s hair out and then began.
“He call you little sis like Razer does?” she asked, grabbing her scissors to begin cutting.
“No.”
Killyama came around to lean against the workstation as the others unobtrusively moved closer to listen. Fat Louise put her bag of chips down and moved to one on the chairs closer to Lily. Crazy Bitch sat down in the chair next to Lily’s, using her foot to move the chair in circles as she listened. T.A. began sweeping, but didn’t get past where Crazy Bitch was sitting.
“You think of him like Razer, a big brother?” Sex Piston took a step back, looked at Lily’s hair for a second and then resumed cutting.
“Of course. He’s more overbearing than Razer, but I figure he’s just been lonely since Beth and Razer have married. I’m sure Shade and Razer don’t get to spend as much time hanging out together anymore.”
“I know for a fact they don’t spend as much time together since Beth,” Sex Piston said wryly. Beth had told her why she had broken up with Razer when they had first started dating. The men shared women and Beth had caught them in the act. Beth sure as fuck wouldn’t have told her innocent sister that piece of news.
Shade had drawn her and her friends’ attention since the first time they had seen him at the Pink Slipper, covered in tats. His badass biker vibe had everyone, including herself—she wasn’t ashamed to admit wanting a piece of the gorgeous man—wanting him.
Personally, Sex Piston knew a man as dominant as Shade would never be attracted to women with aggressive dominant personalities like her and her friends. Lily, on the other hand, would be a perfect submissive for the man and she was willing to bet he fucking knew it.
Being a friend of Razer’s wouldn’t protect her for much longer. That thin line was wearing down. She had noticed that in the diner when he had little patience with having no control over whether or not Lily cut her hair.
“He’s more than overbearing; he’s a Dom.” Sex Piston’s scissors kept cutting,letting Killyama take over Lily’s education—something Beth should have already done, but Sex Piston doubted she knew about that kinky shit.
“A Dom?” Lily’s eyes widened in the mirror, staring at Killyama.
“Don’t you read books? Haven’t you heard of Fifty-One Shades of Black and Blue?” Killyama wisecracked.
It was everything Sex Piston could do to hold her scissors steady, desperately biting down on her tongue to keep from adding a raunchy comeback.
“I’ve heard of books like that, but I’ve never read them,” Lily said, her head lowered to her lap.
“What’s your email? I’ll lend you a few copies,” Killyama said, then added beneath her breath, “You’re going to need them.”
“No thanks. I don’t have time for extra reading right now. I have finals coming up. Besides that, I really only read inspirational books.”
“They inspired me,” Killyama said with a big smile.
“Can I borrow them?” Fat Louise asked.
“No,” Killyama, Crazy Bitch, T.A. and Sex Piston all spoke at the same time.
“Send them to me. I need some fresh ideas,” Crazy Bitch said, still swinging the chair back and forth. “I have a new whip to break in.”
When Lily began staring at Crazy Bitch with fear, which Sex Piston had to admit she kinda had her reconsidering their friendship, she changed the conversation to Lily’s friend.
“What’s your roommate, Penni, doing for spring break?”
“She’s doing an internship, too. She wants to get a job with them when she graduates in May.” Lily didn’t look happy that her friend would be graduating before her. “I’m going to miss having her as a roommate.”
Sex Piston took her time styling Lily’s hair. It was beginning to get dark when Lily had arrived and now it was completely dark outside.
Out of the corner of her eye she saw Killyama go to the door and look out.
Finished, Sex Piston took a step back, admiring her work. The result was stunning.
“Holy shit,” the women surrounding Lily exclaimed.
The young girl had been transformed into a sexy woman. Her hair had been layered to let the dark locks frame her face, drawing attention to her beautiful eyes and full lips. The length remained almost the same, yet it appeared fuller and thicker with the addition of the layers Sex Piston had cut.
Sex Piston watched as Lily stared at her image in the mirror. She could tell that Lily was uncomfortable with the look. “If you don’t like it, all you have to do is blow dry it straight when
you wash it,” she said gently, laying her hand on her arm underneath the cape. “If you give it a couple of days, you’ll get used to it. The style is a more mature look for you.”
“It sure as hell is. If I was a guy, I’d do you. Hell, I love dick, but you’re making me consider switching, Lily,” T.A. joked, touching Lily’s other arm.
Sex Piston could tell the smile Lily gave her was forced.
“It’s nice. I was just expecting you to cut it shorter.” Her murmur was low and filled with disappointment.
“Lily, short hair isn’t going to make you less hot.” Lily shot a surprised look at Sex Piston’s intuitive comment. “Sometimes, the only way to fight what you’re afraid of is to be a better fighter. A girl can always be overwhelmed, but a woman knows how to overwhelm a man,” Sex Piston replied with the best advice she could.
Lily nodded, seeming to straighten in her seat as she gingerly touched her new hairstyle.
Sex Piston noticed Killyama motioning to her.
“I’ll be right back.” Leaving Lily’s side with the other women remarking on her new style, she went to stand next to Killyama who she had noticed had gone out back and then had returned with a worried look.
“What’s up?” she asked. Nothing scared Killyama, so to see her worried, sent alarm signals running down her back.
“Someone’s messed with the parking lot lights. It’s dark as shit out there and the other shops next to you are already closed.”
“Maybe it’s just the timer malfunctioning?” Sex Piston tried to think of a reason that the reliable system that automatically turned the lights on when it became dark had failed.
“I don’t think so. I think we should call the club and ask a few of the brothers to escort us out of here. I checked the back door; it’s locked. Let’s lock the front door and stay put until they get here.”
“You sure? They’ll give us hell if we drag their asses out for nothing.”
“Ace may have, but Stud wouldn’t. I don’t like the feel of this, Sex Piston. T.A. and I both left our weapons in the trunk of the car because of all the kids you have running around in here when their moms are getting their hair cut.”