Keeley sits up rubbing her eyes. “We’re covered.” Sam takes her hand away. “But-”
“No buts, I’m going to sort your mop out then we’re going.”
Keeley runs her fingers through her hair then flops back down. “Fine. Just go wait outside, Miss fucking sunshine.”
I laugh and give Sam a little wave. “Morning, Sam. Connor here?” She nods. “I’ll go see him if you wanna do girly shit.”
I pull back the covers and climb out of bed.
Sam gasps. “Woah! How many tattoos have you got?”
I chuckle at her amazement. “I stopped counting when it all started joining together.”
She eyes my body.
“Way to make a man feel appreciated,” Connor drawls, walking in and hugging her from behind. “Nice ink.”
“Thanks, man.” Connor has sleeves and they’re pretty decent, but I love my ink. “Apparently we’re being dragged to the beach.”
If I wasn’t looking at him, I would’ve missed the little flinch. “Yeah, I guess so.”
Him and Sam exchange a sad look but it changes to one of acceptance quickly. Wonder what that’s about?
I pull a t-shirt over my head and leave the girls to it, following Connor out to make some coffee.
Sam flops down onto the bed beside me and folds her hands behind her head. “Your guy is one hot piece.”
I can’t help but burst out laughing at Sam’s statement, I’ve never heard her talk about anyone like that before. But she’s right, he really is.
“So, your hair? What are we doing with it?” She asks.
I shrug. “I’ll let you have at it, I don’t even want to look before it’s done, I’ve avoided mirrors at every turn.”
She kneels and claps her hands. “I’ll just go get everything and we’ll do it now so it’s over and done with.”
I nod and pull the cover over my head. I need sleep and silence, but I guess she’s trying to stop me from wallowing in my own self pity, even though I think I have every right to be drowning right now.
She walks back in, dragging her chair from her dressing table and places the hair clippers and scissors on the bed. I try not to flinch at the sight of them, these are a part of my job, I will not let him ruin my life.
I pull back the covers in determination when she motions for me to sit in the chair. “Do you trust me?”
“Just do it,” I say, wanting to get this over with.
She brushes through my hair and I relax a little at her motherly touch.
“When I was little, my mom used to brush my hair every morning and night,” she says matter-of-factly.
I smile but then it drops. “How is your mom? I’m sorry I haven’t asked sooner.”
“Don’t be silly, you definitely have more important things to worry about. It’s still really weird talking to her normally, she’s not the her I know. She actually rang me this morning from the rehab center. She said she’s struggling with her memory still and is craving a drink but says the place is in the countryside and is beautiful, so that’s something.” Her voice is a little sad but I know this is an amazing thing for Sam. “I’m just worried that she’s going to remember everything and it’s going to hit her harder than before because she’s sober now. She’ll be on her own and that doesn’t sit right with me.”
I squeeze her hand. “I can’t predict the future so I won’t say that won’t happen. But if it does, you’ll be there for her in whatever way you can be, and you know I’ll always be here to help in any way I can. And when she finishes the program, maybe we can all have a memorial for your brother.”
She gives me a sad smile. “I’d like that, I think I’m finally ready.”
She still has her brother’s ashes in her bedroom in a blue box, we tried to scatter them a year after we’d met but she said she wasn’t ready then.
She ties what’s left of my hair in a low ponytail at the nape of my neck, the rest of it falling by my face. “You ready?”
I nod. “As I’ll ever be. If you mess it up, I’ll just wear a hat.”
She swats my shoulder. “Have more faith in my hairdressing skills will you.”
She takes the scissors and cuts above the ponytail, handing me it. I stare at it in my hands, feeling numb. “Throw it away, this is a new chapter in my life now. I don’t want any reminders.”
She tosses it into the metal bucket in the corner of my room, a symbol of one of the steps toward my recovery. She spends half an hour on my hair and says she’s finally done. I’m nervous. Hands over my eyes in front of the mirror, she waits for me to say I’m ready.
“Now?”
“Okay, now.”
She lifts her hands and a different person stares back at me. I look older and edgier than before. She’s cut my hair in a choppy, slightly longer than a pixie cut style with one side above my ear shaved. I love it! I start crying and she starts rubbing my shoulders.
“Oh no, no! I’m so sorry, Kee. I honestly thought you’d like it.”
I spin and cling onto her tiny body. “Thank you. You’re a magician with a pair of scissors.”
She pulls back. “Phew! You had me going there for a moment. You look awesome!”
“Do you think Hunter will like it?” I ask, feeling nervous.
She giggles. “Of course he’s going to like it, you look hot!”
I blush. “Okay, well I’m going for a shower so let’s go see what he thinks.”
I blow out a breath and walk out, both men turn at the same time. My eyes lock with Hunter’s big brown ones and a fire lights inside of them. “Well?”
Connor speaks first. “It suits you.”
“Yeah it does,” Hunter breathes.
He stalks toward me, forgetting Sam and Connor are in the room, and runs his fingers through it. “Real sexy, babe.”
I laugh and swat at his chest, feeling a little on show. “Alright, get your paws off me. I need to take a shower.”
He’s reluctant to let me go but places a chaste kiss on my temple then motions for me to carry on anyway. I’m finding it a little easier to walk but my muscles are still aching from being in the same crouched position on the cold floor for so long. I can’t wait to let the hot water run over them.
It feels amazing. I relish in the feeling of it warming up every part of me and even though the soap stings the cut’s that haven’t fully healed yet, I haven’t enjoyed a shower like this before. Only one thing could make it better.
How hunter reacted to my hair has a fire starting in the pit of my belly and I have to pull myself out of the shower so I don’t get caught up in my head and leave everybody waiting for me.
I wrap a towel around myself and walk out. “Oh, fuck.”
There’s two cops sitting on our sofa and I painfully fast walk to my room, slamming the door shut.
“Er, Kee. They’re here for you,” Sam says.
“Yeah, be out in a minute.” I close my eyes, how embarrassing!
I gently towel dry my new hair and throw on some black leggings and a baggy white tank top, finishing it off with a red bomber jacket with ‘I ain’t your baby’ written on the back. My hair will have to wait until I’ve spoken with the cops. I tense, they aren’t going to make me relive it all again like in the hospital, are they?
“Steely? You alright?” Hunter’s voice washes over me and I open the door.
He’s here, I’m okay.
They didn’t want me to go through the whole sordid thing again, just the first bit that happened in Little Hollow. Explaining every detail in front of Hunter of how his brother, had taken me was painful. He was white knuckling the sofa cushion and eventually had to go stand outside to cool off. He’s still outside as we near the end of the questioning and Connor goes to see if he’s alright.
“So from then on you don’t remember anything else? Just seeing the shattered mirrors over the floor?”
I refrain from rolling my eyes, I’ve explained this twice already. “Yes. That’s all.”
; “Which is where your Uncle put you into a…” He looks down at his notepad. “...black van and drove off.”
“Well I wouldn’t know, I was unconscious.”
I’m seconds away from shouting ‘obviously’ but I stop myself.
Dumb and Dumber shake their heads but only one answers. “We know, but there was a witness that came forward, that’s how we knew where you were, we tracked the plates.”
I’m speechless. I didn’t think to ask, I just assumed Hunter or Jacques had rang them for help. “Who was the witness?”
“A... Mrs Faith Marshall-”
The other cop raises his voice over his partner. “I’m sorry, ma’am. We’re not obliged to tell you that.” He gives his partner a death stare then turns back to me. “That’s everything for now but if you think of anything else, please let us know.”
I didn’t understand any of this, he was dead now. Why are they still carrying on the investigation? I asked them and they gave me a boring answer, ‘because of paperwork’. Well that kind of made sense but I just wanted to be left alone now. Faith, the timid woman with the two beautiful girls springs to mind and I want to see her. If Hunter hadn’t have found me, she would’ve saved my life, and perhaps because the police were there sooner, she did.
I blow out a deep breath and eye the cops as they walk out of the salon. Hearing how my brother took Keeley made my blood boil, I hadn’t been able to stay and listen while she retold every minute detail.
I walk back up to the apartment, Connor trailing behind me like a watchdog.
I walk over to Keeley and place a kiss on her temple. “Sorry, beautiful.”
She smiles at me then looks at each of us. “We need to find a woman around our age called Faith Ma-”
“I’ll help!” Sam screeches a little too high, cutting Keeley off.
“O-kaaay. So no beach, I want to find this woman and thank her for coming forward.”
“What’s that?” I ask her.
“A woman apparently saw me… well, you know. And they tracked the license plates of the van, that’s why the cops turned up when they did.”
I nod slowly. “That makes sense, I did wonder why the pigs were there.”
She rolls her eyes at me. “They’re not all bad.”
Yeah, right. “We’ll agree to disagree.”
I pull her by her red coat and kiss her slowly. It’s a long, lingering kiss and I forget where I am until a male voice clears their throat. “I err… I heard you were back so I thought I’d come say hey.”
I turn and eye the dirty blond haired guy holding a bunch of black and purple flowers. He looks like he shops at Abercrombie and Fitch and my lip quirks up at the corner.
“Lewis? You didn’t have to come,” Keeley says a little flushed.
From our kiss or from seeing him?
“I was worried about you, I wanted to,” he says, eyeing me warily.
I put my hand on Keeley’s shoulder, a feeble attempt of claiming her.
“These are for you, I wasn’t sure what your favorite flowers were but you always wear black so…”
“I’ll stop wearing black when they make a darker color,” she says, and winks at him. She just Goddamn winked at him! “Thanks, Lewis. They’re awesome.”
“Anytime. Hey, I’m Lewis by the way, you are?” He questions, turning to face me.
I want to grind my fist into his face but I don’t. “Keeley’s man, Hunter.”
His face falls a little. “Oh, well nice to meet you.” He looks confused but shakes his head and looks back at Keeley. “I don’t really know what to say apart from that I hope you’re okay?”
She looks at me sheepishly. “I think I am, thanks, Lewis.”
Abercrombie smiles a fake smile but it turns into a real one as he waves behind my shoulder. “Hey, Con.”
“Lew, glad you got here on time, I was going to whisk this one away to go buy new flooring for the salon, you in?”
“Hey, what about the beach?” Sam asks.
“And finding Faith?” Keeley chimes in.
“What about Faith?” A small voice chimes in from the open doorway.
More fucking visitors? I’m happy Keeley has made a life for herself, but I just want my woman to myself for now.
A little girl with long blond hair runs in and hugs Keeley’s legs, it sends a funny feeling running through me. Damn.
“Hey there, Katy. How you doing, sweetie?”
I look around the room. Connor looks confused, Sam looks like Connor but with anxiety written on her face, and Lewis, the newcomer, can’t take his eyes away from the woman with a black eye and long brown hair with blond bits running through it, standing in the doorway.
“Your hair is different,” Katy says.
“It is, I wanted a change. Do you like it?” Keeley asks her.
Katy nods her head enthusiastically. “You look pretty.”
“Not as pretty as you.” She cups Katy’s cheek. “Can I go see your mommy now?”
She nods and lets go of Keeley’s leg, looking around the room for the first time, eyes widening at all the people here. Keeley walks over to Faith and pulls her into a bear hug, Faith stiffens and looks really uncomfortable.
“I’m sorry if I’ve interrupted anything, I wanted to come see you.” She eyes Connor and her eyes widen and so do his.
In fact, as everyone takes her in they all go wide eyed. “Faith, what happened to your face?” Keeley asks, pulling back, sounding shocked.
Faith looks down at Katy and smiles. “I was clumsy and fell down the stairs with a basket of laundry.”
She forces out a laugh and I don’t know why, but I can’t tear my eyes away from Connor and Sam. They seem to be in their own little world, he clenches his fists and his jaw ticks as Sam tries to calm him silently.
“How about us guys go pick flooring for downstairs, and you girls can stay and have a talk?” I say, trying to relieve the tension in the room.
Connor nods.
“Dark wood and modern,” Sam says to him, and plants a kiss on his lips.
I give Keeley a kiss on the temple and she smiles at me. “I won’t be too long, beautiful.”
She nods gratefully and I wait for Lewis to walk ahead of me but he’s in a daze, staring at Faith. Connor snaps his fingers in front of his face and he jumps and gives the girls a quick wave before walking out the door. I’ve gotta feeling I’m not gonna like this guy.
The guys walk out and Sam kneels down to greet Katy. “Hey there, what’s your name? My name’s, Sammy.”
“I’m Katy. Is Keeley your friend?”
Sam nods at her. “She sure is, Katy. If it’s okay with your mommy, shall we go see what Disney DVD’s we have in my room?”
She looks at Faith who worries her lip. “I promise she’ll be safe with Sam.”
She nods at me and then at Sam. “Be good, Katy. Mommy will just be here if you need anything.”
“Ok, mommy,” she says. Smiling at Sam, she asks, “Have you got any princess ones?”
I don’t listen to Sam’s answer as they walk into her room to give us some space to talk. I don’t hesitate before pulling Faith into another hug and I feel her flinch. “Oh my god! I’m sorry did I hurt you?”
She shakes her head. “No, you just gave me shock.” She forces out a giggle. “What was that for?”
“For coming forward with the information on my kidnapper. I could’ve died if the cops hadn’t turned up when they did. Apparently I blacked out and well… that’s not important. But you came forward for a total stranger, so thank you.”
I squeeze her hand and she looks embarrassed and shakes her head, pulling her hand away from me.
“It was nothing really, I had to do something. Plus you’re not a total stranger.”
“Well not everybody would’ve seen it that way. Can I get you a drink?”
She shakes her head again. “No, I can’t stay long I just wanted to come see if you were okay. Which now seems like a pretty stupid thing to
do to someone who was kidnapped, but it’s the thought that counts.”
I find myself laughing at her. “Well I’m really happy you stopped by, I was ready to get everybody to search high and low for you so I could thank you.”
She blushes. “Please don’t treat me any differently. I just wanted to help you since you were so nice to me. I’m so glad they found you.”
She eyes my bruised face but doesn’t say anything, she just looks like she has understanding written all over her and I have the sudden urge to try get her to stay for a little while.
“Why don’t I make us some coffee? Katy sounds like she’s in good hands.”
We both chuckle as we hear Sam and Katy singing along to some Disney movie then she turns to me, indecision written on her face.
She sits down on the edge of the sofa, playing with a cross around her neck. “Sure, I’ll have one.”
We find ourselves talking about all things random. Clothes, traveling, hair, everything normal friends would talk about, but always skirting over the personal questions. Before we know it, the bell chimes downstairs signaling someone has come in and there’s several footsteps on the stairs. I see Faith tense and I narrow my eyes at her, why is she on high alert all of a sudden?
All three guys stroll back into the apartment in easy camaraderie and I grin, feeling content that Hunter has slotted right into Connor and Lewis’s friendship.
At the entrance of the guys, Faith’s head spins toward them and she stares at Lewis, worrying her cross again.
“Faith, this is Hunter, Connor and Lewis.”
She smiles at Hunter and Lewis, but her gaze lingers on Connor. “I think we’ve met?”
He nods. “We did, how’s Rose?” I give him a puzzled look. “Oh, Rose is her dog. I got licked to death by her.”
Faith giggles and Lewis’s eyes narrow at her, I’m confused by his reaction.
“She’s good.” She eyes Lewis back before looking at her watch and turning to me. “I should get going now.”
I nod. “Sure, Sam? Faith needs to go.”
When I'm With You (Little Hollow #2) Page 24
