TRUTH (34 page)

My anxiety began to rise again. This woman didn’t know me. I didn’t know her. There was no way I could tell her . . . tell her all of those things . . .
 

Lily took hold of my hand and pulled me closer to her. “Brianna’s been waxed before, but it wasn’t a good experience. I was hoping you could do me first so she can watch and see it’s not so bad.”

“Oh. I’m sorry. Yeah. There are some really bad estheticians out there. It was a man, right?”

I managed a small nod.

“They’re the worst, especially when it comes to Brazilians. Like ripping a huge chunk of hair from our lady bits won’t hurt. Please! I’d like to see how they’d react if someone did the same thing to their balls.” She laughed and walked to the back of the room.
 

Once she was several feet away, Lily leaned in to whisper in my ear. “You going to be okay?”

“I have to be.”

“You don’t have to be anything, Brianna. If you don’t want to do this, then you tell me. I know it’s what Stephan wants, but he’ll get over it. He won’t want you to be traumatized over this either.”

Julie glanced up from where she was now sitting on a rolling stool. It was similar to the one I’d seen in Dr. Cooper’s office. That brought with it the memory of lying there, panicked, while Dr. Cooper examined me. Stephan had been there that time. He’d been there when I’d needed him. I remembered the look in his eyes, the sound of his voice.
Shh. No one is going to hurt you, Brianna.

No one was going to hurt me. Stephan would never have asked this of me if he didn’t know it was safe.
 

Lily hadn’t moved from her spot even though Julie was waiting. She looked as if she were about to call the whole thing off.
 

“I’m okay.”

“Are you sure?”

I nodded.

“We ready to get this show on the road?” Julie patted the end of the table.
 

Lily hugged me and then began removing her clothes.

I stood off to the side, still hugging my purse, while she climbed up on top of the table. Julie covered her discreetly with a large, white towel.
 

“You can pull that chair over if you’d like.” Julie was turned away from me as she spoke.
 

Looking behind me, I noticed a chair pushed up against the wall. Without moving it, I sat down.
 

“The usual, Lily?”

“Yep. Make me hair-free.” Lily made a sweeping motion with her hands down her body, and they both laughed. Neither of them appeared to be nervous about what was about to happen. Knowing that, I concentrated on my breathing and staying calm.
 

Julie dipped what looked to be a wooden tongue depressor into a ceramic pot. When she pulled it out, it was covered in hot wax. I cringed as she put the wax on Lily’s leg.
 

“How are things with you and your man? He still traveling all the time?”

“Unfortunately.” Lily didn’t sound distressed at all. She sounded . . . relaxed. “He was home this past weekend, though, and he’ll be here this coming weekend, too.”

“Anything special planned?”

“No idea. He likes to surprise me.”

“Nothing wrong with that. I love when a man shows up with some elaborate plan for us to spend an evening together.”

“You’d love Logan, then. He always has something up his sleeve.”

As Julie worked her way up Lily’s leg, the sight and sound of her applying the wax and then ripping the cloth off didn’t bother me as much as it had at the start. Every now and then Lily would wince, but after a second, it was gone and she was back to her conversation with Julie. Maybe this wouldn’t be so bad.

Lily moved, and it caught my attention. She positioned herself farther down on the table, her legs bent and spread wide open. Julie pushed the towel up and reached for the wax.

It was strange. I didn’t want to look, but I couldn’t turn away.
 

“Brianna?”

I dragged my gaze up to Lily’s face. “Yes?”

“Did you want to come closer so you can see what she’s doing? I don’t mind.”

Did I?
 

She held out her hand, beckoning me.

When I reached her side, Lily took hold of my hand. “This part hurts more than the legs, but once it’s done, it’s done. The pain goes away after a few seconds, and I don’t have to worry about hair for at least a month.”

“Ready?”

Lily nodded to Julie, and I held my breath as Julie pulled the skin taut and ripped the cloth strip away.
 

Chapter 24

Brianna

Before I knew it, Lily was hopping off the table, and it was my turn. Julie looked concerned as I removed my clothes and lay down on the table, my hands holding tightly to the sides.
 

“Are you sure you want to do this?”

“Yes.” I closed my eyes and tried to remember to breathe. It would be okay. I’d be fine.

The sound of a chair scraping across the floor, followed by the feeling of fingers prying my hand off the table, made me open my eyes. Lily sat next to me.
 

“I’m right here.”

I nodded.

Lily glanced in Julie’s direction, and there seemed to be some sort of unspoken communication that took place.

A hand touched my leg, and I jerked. “It’s okay. I just want to see what direction your hair is growing. It will make removal easier and less painful.”

“Okay.”

She ran her hand up and down both my legs, turning each one to the side. “I’m going to get started now. If you need me to stop, just say so.”
 

I didn’t respond other than to hold tighter to Lily’s hand.
 

Something warm coated a small section of my leg. To my surprise, it didn’t hurt. It was the temperature of a relaxing bath, not that of a hot stove.
 

Something was placed over the warmth and pressed down. It reminded me of making a pie crust, and having to be sure you got all the air bubbles out of the dough.
 

“This may hurt some.”
 

Julie’s words barely registered before there was a flash of pain, like having an old Band-Aid ripped off. As quick as the pain had come, it was gone.
 

“How was that?”

For the first time since climbing on the table, I met Julie’s gaze. “Not . . . not as bad as I thought it would be.”

She smiled and patted my leg. “Good. The ankles are the worst part of the legs. Once those are done, the rest shouldn’t be bad at all.” Julie paused. “Are you getting a Brazilian as well?”

“Yes.”

“That’s going to hurt. I won’t lie to you. But we’ll take it slow, and if you need a minute to catch your breath, you just tell me. We’re in no hurry.”

Julie picked up her wooden stick again and slathered more wax on my leg. I relaxed this time and watched her. When it came time for her to remove the strip, I was prepared. While it wasn’t pleasant, the pain was tolerable.
 

“So do you have a boyfriend, Brianna?”

“Um . . .”
 

“Yes, she does.”

Julie smiled. “I thought maybe you might. Not many women come in here wanting the Full Monty if there isn’t a guy going to see it.” She winked at me before refocusing her attention on my leg. “What’s his name?”

“Stephan.”

“He sounds sophisticated. Is he older?”

I realized then that I had no idea how old Stephan was. He didn’t look that much older than me, but that didn’t mean he wasn’t.
 

Lily noticed my struggling and jumped in with an answer. “He’s twenty-four.”

Twenty-four.
That meant his parents had been gone ten years.

“Not too old, then.”
 

Julie finished with my legs and asked me to scoot down farther on the table. A lump formed in my throat and I had difficulty swallowing.
 

“I’m right here,” Lily assured me.

Once I was where Julie wanted me, she pushed the towel out of the way. She gasped. “What happened to you?”

I didn’t need to look to know what she was referring to. The bruising had gone away over time, but the scars would always be there. They were high, mostly under my pubic hair, so she probably hadn’t noticed them when she was waxing my legs. With my legs spread wide, and no towel to shade the area, there was no hiding.

“This wasn’t done by wax, was it?” Julie’s eyes were wide. Her face held a mixture of pity and outrage.

“I don’t know.”
 

That was honest. I really didn’t know. So many things had been done to me, especially in that area of my body, that I didn’t know what had left permanent marks and what hadn’t.

Julie didn’t move for a long time before she appeared to get a hold of herself. “We’ll go really slow. I don’t know how this scar tissue is going to react to the waxing. If something doesn’t feel right, I need you to tell me right away, and we’ll try something else.” I could have been wrong, but I thought I saw a tear fall down her cheek as she turned away from me to reach for the wax.

She placed the wax on a small area of skin along the crease of my leg and pressed the cloth strip over top. For the first time since we’d started, Julie appeared more nervous than I was. I wasn’t sure why, but knowing that gave me confidence.
 

“It’s okay.”

The look she gave me told me she understood more than she probably should, and it made me wonder if she’d ever been abused.
 

“Here we go.”
 

I wasn’t going to lie. The waxing hurt, especially between my legs. However, it wasn’t nearly as painful as I remembered. I wasn’t sure if that was because of Julie, or if it had to do with me.
 

Lily went to pay, but then I remembered Stephan had told me to use his card. I placed my hand on her arm, stopping her. “What is it?”

Pulling out the card, I held it up to her. “Stephan gave me this to pay.”

She considered for a moment and then nodded. “Come on. I’ll have them separate the charges.”

The wind had picked up by the time we left the salon. It looked like it might rain, so we hurried to the car. “Good thing I always carry an umbrella.”

Lily was always prepared. I wished I could be that way. It seemed like it was Stephan who always looked out for me and made sure things were taken care of.
 

Thinking of him made me smile.
 

“I know who’s on
your
mind.” Lily smirked as she pulled out into traffic.

I blushed.

“I’m going to assume by that blush things are going well between you two.”

I nodded.

Lily glanced over at me. “I’ll let you in on a little secret, Brianna. This is the part where you tell your friend all the things you can’t talk about to anyone else. This is girl time.”

“Oh. Um . . .”

“You can tell me anything.” She paused. “Or if you have questions, I’ll try to help. That’s how it works.”

“Okay.” I was quiet for a few minutes as I tried to gather my thoughts. There was only one thing I really wanted to ask her. One thing I’d been dying to know the answer to. “Lily?”

“Yes?”

“How . . . how do I tell Stephan that . . . that I love him?”

Stephan

I was trying my very best to stay out of Michael’s office. He would come find me once he was done analyzing Ian’s statements. It wasn’t as if he didn’t have anything else to do.
 

At five o’clock, I forced myself to go home without making a detour to our new CFO’s office. Being so close to having something that would put Ian Pierce behind bars was driving me crazy. I knew I needed to exercise patience. A distraction would have been good. Unfortunately, I was going home to an empty condo since Brianna was out shopping with Lily. I couldn’t even call Logan to come keep me company since he was still out of town until the following day.