The Right Kind of Love (8 page)

Sydney

W
alking into Bang’s Salon and Spa, I took in its opulence. I was lucky to find a job here. I’d searched for jobs all over in Vegas. Bangs was the last listing, and when I contacted them and sent my resume, Drea had instantly called me. We hit it off and she hired me. It really helped that my old boss and she had met at a seminar on hair in New York, and she talked to her and gave me a recommendation. I was so lucky.

The salon had a very reputable reputation. This place was amazing and was a plush place for a client to indulge. The waiting area was spacious with racks of products and the chairs were a rich chocolate brown. I could only imagine how comfortable they were. The walls were painted a soft blue and the floors were rich mocha colored hardwood.

I walked up the counter to counter so that I could let Drea, the owner know I was here. There wasn’t anyone there so I just took a seat and waited. There were several people who were also in chairs waiting. I could hear light conversation and the sounds of blow dryers running.

I delicately placed myself in the chair trying not to wrinkle my black knee-length pencil skirt and leopard blouse. I had paired it with a pair of gold wedge sandals. They made me feel like I was on top of the world, and I bet they put me up around 5’3” from my short stature. I had decked myself out with some gold jewelry not to overdo, but enough to show I had flair and that I worked in a salon. It was important to put off the image of having fashion savvy. I’d also curled my blonde tresses on the ends to give it some body and finished out with a shine spray to make it look lustrous. I completed the look with my signature perfume with its rich vanilla and floral scent.

Picking up a hair magazine, I checked out the latest styles. I had a feeling I would be learning a lot here—at least I hoped. In only a short time, just a little over three years, cutting hair, and creating different hairstyles came naturally to me. It was fun to be able to work with a blank canvas and create a masterpiece.

I heard someone clear their throat and I looked up to the reception desk. I had to do a double take. For the love of God, it was Damien’s skank from last night, but in all actuality, she didn’t look like a skank. She was dressed extremely classy with her hair done just so and flowing down her back in light waves and her outfit was absolutely darling. Maybe she just had a week moment and got involved with Damien. I could only sympathize with her because those tattoos and his sexy smile drove me a little on the crazy side as well. I wouldn’t deny that I was attracted to him. I just didn’t do one night stands. And let’s be real here—he wasn’t boyfriend material. He was too interested in getting a different piece of ass every night.

I closed the magazine and placed it on the table. It was now or never. I walked up to the reception desk. “Hi, Mindy, what a surprise.”

She stared daggers at me. “It’s Miranda, and hi. What are you doing here?”

“Oh, I’m sorry, it’s just well...” And suddenly I was at a loss for words.

She prompted me. “How can I help you?”

“I’m sorry, yes, Miranda.” I apologized again. God, I felt like a huge flippin’ idiot. “I’m your new stylist, and I’m supposed to start today. I guess I need to see Drea.”

“Oh, sure. You must be Sydney Summers.” She reached her hand out to me. “Let me formally introduce myself. I’m Miranda Jones” She seemed very sincere. And I let down my guard.

I took my hand and shook hers. “It’s nice to meet you. I’m sorry about the circumstances last night.”

She looked at me with confidence. She wasn’t embarrassed about being caught in just a shirt and nothing else. She wasn’t embarrassed about begging Damien to come back to bed. I had no clue what was going through her head, but I admired her confidence.

“Yeah, that was less than favorable. I’m sure we can move past that.”

“Yeah, totally. I’m sorry I interrupted your night.” I wasn’t going to divulge anything to her, but I wanted to be polite.

She waved her hand in the air. “It’s no big deal. We had our fun before you had your nightmare. By the way, are you okay?”

Shit, shit, shit… she heard my nightmare. I guess I would have to play damage control if she asked much more. My hands started to sweat and I felt the hairs on the back of my neck rise. I rolled it off. “Totally fine, not to worry, Miranda.”

“Ah, okay. Well, I’ll let Drea know you are here. You can look around if you want or just have a seat and wait.” She motioned to the waiting area.

“Great, I think I’ll just have a seat. Thanks, for everything, Miranda. I appreciate it.” Maybe I would have a new friend here.

Going back to my chair, I picked up the magazine and resumed my reading. It only lasted for a couple of minutes before Drea came out to the waiting area. I heard someone say my name and looked up.

“Hi, you must be Drea?” I knew it was she because I had seen her picture on the website.

She stuck her hand out to me and we did the formalities. “Hi, yes, I’m Drea. Welcome to Bangs Salon and Spa. Are you ready to work today?”

“Of course, I’m super excited!” I was thrilled to have a new salon to work at.

“Well, let’s give you the nickel tour, and then I will get you settled at your station. You’ll be doing walk-ins today and most the rest of the week until we can get you an established clientele.”

I followed her around the shop from the stylist area to the spa part of the salon. The shop was rich with warmth and gorgeous. She truly had created a lovely business. I met the other stylists and employees along the way. I wasn’t going to be able to remember everyone’s name, but I would at least try.

We made our way back into the salon and she ushered me over to my station. “Here’s where I have you working for now. You’ll be between Mags and Luka.”

They were both in the middle of taking care of their client’s but stopped to shake hands and formerly introduce themselves. They were both gorgeous. Mags was tall, much taller than I was. She has platinum blonde stick straight hair. Her make-up was done to the nines, which only accentuated her stunning blue eyes. Luka was raw sex appeal but after talking to him, he was very effeminate. He was tall with nearly black hair that he wore short on the sides and longer on the top. He had deep brown eyes. I could tell he was Italian by his olive skin tone. He was very good looking. They booth looked like they had spent plenty of hours at the gym with their chiseled physiques.

I went about putting my scissors, blow dryer, and flat iron away in my station. I hadn’t brought any product, so I went back out to the reception area to see if I could buy some. Walking up to reception, I noticed Miranda was in the middle of talking to a client. Politely waiting, I went and perused the shelves to see what they had. They had top of the line products, which I was used to and I knew I could definitely make this work.

Miranda finished so I walked back over to her. “I just moved here. I didn’t travel with any of my products. Only my scissors and other tools. Do you think it would be a big deal if I bought some?”

“Yes, you can and you get fifty percent off. We have a lot of good lines, so hopefully you can find what you need.” She motioned to the racks of product.

“I certainly can. I see several of the products I used to use when I did hair in Detroit.”

“Oh, you’re from Detroit?” She gave me an inquisitive smile.

“Yes, just moved here over the weekend.”

“Cool. Well, help yourself. Bring everything over to me so I can write it down. We’ll take it out of your check.” She sat back and started moving the mouse around her desk.

I went over to the shelves and started grabbing a little of everything. I didn’t stick with one product line. I chose some from almost every brand. There wasn’t one entire line I loved. It was bits and pieces of everything for me.

With my hands full, I made my way back over to Miranda where she logged everything I had selected into the computer. “Thanks, Miranda. I appreciate you helping me out.”

“No problem. Now go cut some hair. You have an appointment that’ll be here in an hour, so be ready at twelve.”

“Will do, do you have any details?” I hope that maybe it was more than a haircut.

She typed something in the computer. “Sure. You’re doing a highlight and cut.”

“Perfect, I can’t wait!” I would be starting my day off right since I loved to do color.

Heading back to my station, I noticed that Mags was in between clients. Hopefully, it would give us a chance to make a little small talk. I got to my station and started putting everything up in the cabinet.

Mags approached me. “So are you settling in okay?”

I turned to her and gave her a warm smile. “Absolutely, I didn’t bring any product with me, and I didn’t know where any of the supply houses was, so I had to buy some here.”

She put her hand on my shoulder. “Girl, I’ll take you whenever you want to go. It isn’t far from here. I know that you get fifty percent off here, but you can save a lot of money at the supply house.”

“That would be great, Mags. I really appreciate it. I think I’ll be all set for a while. Fortunately, Drea said that we didn’t need shampoo or anything for color so I’m set there, but I just needed gel, mousse, you know product for styling.’

“Yeah, I totally get it.” She looked down appraising me. “You are totally rocking those heels, but girl, I’ve got to tell you, you’re still short.” We both giggled.

“Yes, I know. I was blessed with short genes.” People were always making comments about my height, but my mom always told me good things come in small packages.

“Let’s do cocktails after work tonight. I will get a bunch of us together so you can meet everyone.” She gave me a look filled with excitement. I was, after all, the new shiny kid.

This was so exciting. I was actually making new friends. “Sure, sounds great!”

The afternoon flew by. For not having a clientele, I had three appointments and two walk-ins. It was just nearing six o’clock when I heard my phone chime from my station alerting me that I had a text. I picked it up and unlocked the screen seeing that I had three missed text messages and a call from Damien. Hmm. I wondered what he wanted.

Damien: Ran home for an early dinner and let the rat out.

Me: Perfect, thank you. I plan to go out after work, so now I don’t have to be home at any certain time. Was he okay?

Damien: Yeah, he was fine. TTYL

Hmm. I wonder why he was so short with me.

I scrolled through my phone and saw a text from Bee.

Bee: I miss you, girl. We need to catch up. I want to know all about Vegas. Call me.

Me: Hey, Bee, I’ll call you tomorrow morning before work. Miss you and love you.

Then I scrolled through my phone finding a text from Wes. My stomach sank and all the color had to have drained from my face. I opened it with trepidation.

Wes: Please talk to me. I miss you and love you so very much. I’m so sorry.

Throwing my phone back onto my station, I walked on shaky legs to the bathroom. I wasn’t going to be sick, but I needed to get my shit together so that my co-workers didn’t think anything was wrong.

Honestly, I didn’t get it. How could he all of a sudden be so nice and all apologetic? He was a monster when he took me against my will.

A complete and utter monster.

My only choice was to ignore him, although, in my heart, I wished I had pressed charges, but I think it might be too late now. I wasn’t familiar with the laws, but that was my best guess. When Bee had discovered me in the bathroom bruised and bloody, she had taken me to the hospital where they did a rape kit. I had the evidence, but it was clearly too late. Plus I just didn’t think I could do that to my step-father. It would be a total nightmare if he knew. I wish my mother were here so that she could assure me that everything was going to be all right.

Gathering my wits, I made my way back to my station when Miranda announced that I had another client. I walked up to the reception desk and was shocked to see who my next client was. Miranda didn’t say a word. She only gave him a sexy smile. I’m sure she was replaying their sexual encounter in her head and most likely undressing him with her eyes.

“Damien, what are you doing here?” I tried to go for subtle, but I could tell I was anything but.

“Well, that’s a nice way to greet me. Hello to you, too. I’m fine, how are you.” His words were dripping with sarcasm.