Page 88 of Perfect Sin
Raven
The soundof voices slowly rouses me from my nap. After the last few months I’m in a constant state of alert, and it takes me several moments to recognize the voices as belonging to Lucien and Amber. Despite my nap, there’s a lingering wariness clinging to me. It’s exhausting, always anticipating a threat.
I catch a glimpse of myself in the mirror and cringe. My only real vanity has been my hair, and now the ends are straw-like and an ugly orangish yellow. I’ve always considered myself a low maintenance woman, but this experience has shown me that I care more about my appearance than I thought. I could cut it, making it fall to the middle of my back, but the idea of losing nearly twelve inches of hair makes my eyes sting with tears I refuse to shed.
Using the back of my hand, I angrily swipe at the few tears that threaten to escape. “It’s just hair,” I chide myself.
Accepting there’s nothing to be done about the current state of my hair, I glance down at myself and frown. I’m wearing the bathrobe I put on when I got out of the shower and nothing else. Changing my clothes won’t make everything better, but it will make sure I don’t accidentally flash my brother. I think I’ve got enough reasons for serious therapy without adding to the list.
Amber gasps when she sees me and immediately tries to school her features so as not to offend me. I take a calming breath in through my nose. “It’s okay. I know my hair is a wreck.”
She bites her lip, and I can see the look of apology on her face. “Raven,” she sighs, “I don’t think I can fix this.”
Stabbing pain lances through my chest, and I try not to let them see how bothered I am, but my voice wobbles when I speak. “It’s okay. I was afraid of that. I guess I’ll just have to cut it.”
She squares her shoulders. “I saidIcan’t fix it, not that it can’t be fixed. Let me call my hairdresser. He can work miracles.”
I know better than to think Sin and Lucien will be okay with Amber and I having a girl’s outing with everything that’s going on. I look around the room and realize Sin isn’t hanging around. “Where is Sin?” I ask my brother.
“He went to have a beer with Ford. You don’t need his permission to go to the salon.” He smirks, and I know I’m going to want to hit him in his smug face as soon as he says what’s on his mind. “I mean, I’m here. I’ll work it out for you to do what you need to do and stay safe.”
“You’re enjoying this a bit too much,” I grumble.
“I missed out on years of bossing you around when we were kids. I need to take my fun when it comes,” he teases. “Don’t worry. I’ll call Ted and see if he wants to go with me to keep watch.”
Amber grabs my hand. “Let’s get Jen and make a girl’s day of it.”
“Fine, it’s my treat, though.” After all, why shouldn’t I spread the wealth around? Jen and Amber are just as related to Angela Blackthorne’s parents as I am.
Despite Luce saying I don’t need to ask Sin, I do feel I should inform him where we are going. I grab my phone and shoot him a quick text, making sure to let him know that Lucien and Ted will be with us the entire time. At least for the time being, my inclination toward stubbornness is repressed. I have no desire to insist on my independence if it puts me at risk of falling into the hands of sex peddlers.
Amber directs us to an upscale outdoor shopping center. The salon has a Parisian theme with modern black and white decor and small touches of pink. It’s a bit cliche perhaps, but I like it.
Jen, Ted, and Shane pull up next to us as we park in front of the salon. We don’t have appointments, but it turns out the owner is a friend of Amber’s aunt and we’re accommodated immediately.
I’m shown to a chair, and a beautiful man starts running his hands through my hair. After Sin’s response to my friendship with Ford, I’m worried how he’ll feel about this. Until he starts to massage my scalp, that is. At that point, all worries melt away.
His hands slip through the hair at my scalp but become entangled toward the ends. “What on earth did you do to your hair? You know what?” He clucks his tongue. “You don’t worry, because I’m the best, and I’ll figure this out.” Under his breath he mutters, “Somehow.”
He wrinkles his nose as he picks up one of the ruined ends. “What were you trying to do? An at home bleach job? I can do an ombre, but it would have been easier if you’d have come to me before trying to DIY.”
“I just felt like everything around me was covered in dirt and started scrubbing the kitchen with bleach,” my voice wavers.
Frankie moves my head until I’m looking at him through the mirror. I see understanding in his light brown eyes. “Say no more. I’ll help you. Just relax in my chair and let me take care of you. Sounds like you’ve worried yourself sick enough. I will make you look stunning. Promise.”
He hands me a swatch of colors and points out the ones on the blue end of the spectrum. “Those will counteract the brassy tones in your hair.”
I finger a deep blue, imagining it paired against the black of the rest of my hair.
He nods. “Yes, that’s the one, I think. Your eyes are going to practically glow with this color.”
Jen and Amber fill the time with soothing chatter. Only now I’ve met a lot of the people they’re talking about. Their gossip is never malicious, just the usual nonsense I always imagined other girls talked about at the salon. Too bad I had to practically destroy my hair to have this experience.
While I’m sitting waiting for the color to develop fully, I’m shown over to another station where my hands are tended to, and my bleached and brittle nails are painted with gel polish. Like my hair, they are done with a black and blue ombre.
Jen surprises us and chooses to add pink to her pale blonde hair, and Amber transforms herself into a fairy princess by going with a dramatic pixie cut and a rose gold color.
We stand side by side in the mirror and gape at each other. “We look badass,” Jen comments.