by Jamie Begley
“I have to admit it worked,” she joked back, trying to mask the love shining in her eyes, too wary to tell him outright how she felt about him.
“It did?”
“Drake, that dick of yours is all any woman could ever want and more.” Her shoulders shook with laughter. “I fell in love with you as soon as you pulled it out of your pants.”
“That’s not the first time I’ve heard that joke,” he said wryly, and Bliss giggled harder.
Drake stared down at the beautiful sprite. She was less than half his size, but her spirit was the size of Mount Everest. She was filled with a capacity to love that was unequaled. She had stuck by a woman who had never been capable of giving her a stable home, but Bliss had given her mother one by giving her body to those who had taken and abused her.
Stark wasn’t a young man. His long beard had been grizzled and grey. The thought of Bliss being subjected to that old bastard made Drake want to get his shotgun out. The only reason he hadn’t gone after him yet was because he saw no reason to spend the rest of his life in prison when that jackass was going to make it easy for him.
Eventually, he would come back for Bliss, and when he did, Drake would kill him and shove Stark’s own dick down his throat.
“What are we going to do about your poor hair?”
“It will grow back.” Bliss self-consciously started to touch the short tufts, all that was left.
“Yes, it will. The next time you feel like you may have something in your hair, promise me you’ll tell me, and I’ll look and get them out without you hurting yourself.” Drake reached out, pulling her hands down again.
“I couldn’t let you do that.”
“I got them out of Jace’s hair twice when he was little. I’m an expert at them.”
“Really?”
“Really.” Drake curled his hand around her nape, lifting her head so his lips could tease hers. “I don’t blame the little bastards. You’re too sweet.” He brought his mouth to her neck, teasing it as the robe fell off her shoulders.
“I thought you ordered pizza. What are you doing?”
“Making you fall in love with me all over again.”
* * *
Bliss hesitated with her hand on the door, trying to work up the courage to enter. Why in the hell was she here, anyway? She had lost her mind if she thought Sex Piston would help her.
Sighing, she dropped her hand away from the door and turned, bumping into someone about to enter the beauty salon.
“Excuse me—” Bliss’s voice came to a stop when she recognized the woman glaring down at her.
“What are you doing here?” Killyama blocked her path to her car.
“I was going to get my hair done, but I can tell Sex Piston’s busy, so I’ll come back some other time.” Bliss spoke in a rush.
Killyama’s brows rose in surprise. “You came here to get your hair done?”
“Beth and Lily always said she’s the best in the state.” Bliss pulled Ginny’s coat tighter against her, trying to keep the cold wind out.
“My bitch has to hear this.” Killyama laughed, reaching out to open the door then herding her inside the shop.
Several women were sitting in chairs as they waited their turns. T.A., who was sitting behind the front desk, threw her a disgusted look, which Bliss was familiar with. It was the one most women gave her. Sex Piston and Crazy Bitch were both working on customers. The only one in Sex Piston’s crew who was missing was Fat Louise, who must be at work at the nearby hospital.
“Why in the fuck is she here?” Sex Piston turned off the blow dryer. Her loud voice had the women in the shop waiting to witness the spectacle.
“That’s what I asked her. She wants her hair done.” Killyama threw her under the bus then took one of the empty beauty chairs to sit and watch.
“Why in the hell would I touch your hair?”
Bliss licked her lips nervously, tugging her red crocheted hat down farther over her head. “I don’t know,” Bliss mumbled before gaining some courage. “I was hoping you would put business over our personal issues. I can see I was wrong.”
“Ya think? I wouldn’t touch your skanky hair with a ten-foot pole. Get out,” Sex Piston sneered.
Bliss nodded, turning to flee.
“Wait a minute. It true you’re not with The Last Riders anymore?” Killyama’s imperious voice cut through her fear.
Bliss hesitated. “Yes. I’m sure you think it’s what I deserve.”
“Yeah.” Sex Piston went back to blowing out the hair of the brunette woman who was sitting in her chair.
Crazy Bitch took off the cape of the woman she was working on, telling her she was done. Bliss could tell the woman didn’t want to miss the drama still going on inside the shop. She walked to the front desk, taking her time as she looked for her credit card.
Killyama leaned forward, placing her forearms on her thighs as she studied Bliss with narrowed eyes. “Take off your hat.”
“There really isn’t any need since Sex Piston doesn’t want…” She tugged down her hat again, fidgeting with it fretfully.
Killyama stood, walking toward her with a determined stride. Bliss backed away, but she wasn’t quick enough to dodge the hand that reached out to snatch the red hat away.
The blow-dryer went off again.
“What motherfucker did that to you?” Killyama snarled.
Bliss grabbed her hat back. “No one did this to me. I did it to myself.”
“Why in the fuck would you do that?” Sex Piston put her blow-dryer down, coming toward her to gingerly touch the tufts of her remaining hair.
“I thought I might have lice.”
Sex Piston didn’t recoil in horror like Bliss expected. Instead, she gave her a stern look with her hands on her hips.
“You didn’t check before you ripped out your hair?”
“No,” Bliss chokingly admitted.
“Dammit! Christie, let Crazy Bitch finish you up.” Sex Piston motioned for the woman to move to Crazy Bitch’s chair before turning back to Bliss. “Take your coat off and sit your ass down,” Sex Piston ordered, opening a drawer at her station and pulling out a pair of plastic gloves. She put them on matter-of-factly then began going through her hair. When she was finished, she took the gloves off and tossed them in the trash. “You don’t have lice.”
“Are you sure?” Bliss felt the heated fire of a blush stain her cheeks as everyone stared, waiting for the verdict.
“Yes. I’m sure. Bitch, I’ve seen my fair share of lice. Why didn’t you ask someone to check before you ripped out your hair?”
“Because I felt them.”
“You felt them?”
Bliss nodded helplessly. “When I was younger, I had lice several times. Some moms made their kids quit playing with me. I was finally able to get rid of them when I cut my hair off and Evie helped me.”
Bliss wouldn’t say that any of their expressions softened, but the hatred that was always so easily visible disappeared.
“You don’t fuck Train anymore?” Killyama’s sharp words startled Bliss at the sudden change in the conversation.
“What?” Bliss stared at her, dumbfounded.
“Do … you … fuck … Train … anymore?” Killyama spat out as if she was simpleminded.
“No. I. Don’t,” Bliss snapped, starting to get up, having had enough humiliation from these bitches. She wasn’t going to take anymore.
Killyama leaned back in her chair. “Fix her hair,” she ordered Sex Piston.
“What am I supposed to do with it? There’s nothing left.”
“You’re bragging all the time about how good you are. Prove it. Fix her fucking hair.”
“Since when do you care what her hair looks like?” Crazy Bitch twirled the poor woman around in her chair until Bliss thought she would get whiplash.
“Since she isn’t fucking Train anymore.”
“I don’t know who would fuck her looking like this.” Sex Piston reached into her drawer,
pulling out a clipper. Draping a cape around her neck, she began shaving the rest of her hair off the sides.
Most women would have broken down in tears as their remaining hair fell to the floor. Bliss didn’t. She simply watched in resignation as Sex Piston expertly glided the clippers around her head.
“Drake.” Bliss found the name slipping from her lips.
“What?” T.A. asked from behind the counter, showing the other women hadn’t lost interest. Gossip always ruled in a hair salon.
“Drake Hall doesn’t have a problem fucking me with the way I look.”
“He that good-looking realtor in Treepoint with his picture planted on those For Sale signs?” Sex Piston casually asked, setting down the clippers and picking up her scissors.
“Yes.”
“He any good?” Killyama asked.
“Yes.” Bliss straightened proudly in her chair, no longer hunching over. The women had gone from looking at her with pity to envy. That, she could deal with.
“Which is better, Train or Drake?” Killyama’s booted foot began tapping on the floor.
Bliss was afraid to answer the strange woman’s question.
“Well?” Impatience laced her voice.
“It’s impossible to answer that question. It’s like comparing apples and oranges.” Bliss hoped her answer would let her off the hook. It didn’t.
“No, it isn’t. If you could only have one of them in bed, who would it be?”
“Both,” Crazy Bitch joked.
“Shut the fuck up,” Killyama growled at her and then turned to Bliss. “Answer the damn question.”
“Drake.”
Killyama’s face relaxed into a serene mask. “I’ll make sure to pass that information along to Train the next time I see him.” She looked like she was already enjoying the thought of telling Train that Drake was better.
“You don’t like Train?” Bliss tried not to wince when Sex Piston combed out her hair.
“She loves him,” Crazy Bitch said in a sing-song voice.
“Bitch, don’t make me get up,” Killyama threatened her friend. “I don’t love that fucker. I can’t stand him.”
“That’s for sure. You prefer him lying down on his back,” Sex Piston joked, standing back to admire her handiwork. “There. That’s the best I can do.”
Bliss felt her head. The sides were all buzzed off, leaving a small tuft of hair across the top of her scalp in a lopsided Mohawk. Sex Piston had sprayed mousse until it was spiked up. It wasn’t perfect, but it was much better than it had been.
“You look cool,” T.A. complimented, coming closer to look. “You did a good job, Sex Piston.”
“I know,” she said, taking off the cape.
Bliss stood, following T.A. back to the counter to pay. T.A rang her up while she put her coat back on. Bliss then paid, leaving a generous tip, before she went back to Sex Piston’s station.
“Thank you. I appreciate you fixing the mess I made.”
Sex Piston gave her a hard look. “I don’t like bitches who try to take other women’s men. We aren’t ever going to be best friends, but you can come back until I get your hair straightened out.”
Bliss nodded, putting her red hat in her pocket.
She stared at Killyama. “Train likes it when you rub his shoulders. It makes him horny.”
The women around her tensed, waiting for Killyama to beat the shit out of her.
“Anything else?” Interest sparked in her eyes.
“He’s a whore for blow jobs.” Bliss racked her brains for anything else that could help the woman. “Oh, yeah, he really likes blow jobs.”
Killyama stood, and Bliss tensed, waiting for her reaction.
“Sit down, bitch. Tell me what else Train likes.”
Her peace offering had been accepted.
Chapter 14
“Where’s Darcy today? She never misses,” Bliss asked Jessie as soon as breakfast was finished.
“She won’t be coming anymore. She was placed in another foster home. The family she will be staying with has six kids, and the mother stays home with them.”
“Six kids? Darcy will be the seventh?”
“Yes.” Jessie left to wipe up the spilled orange juice on the counter, and Bliss took a group of three children to read them a story.
“Are you okay, Miss Bliss?”
“I’m fine, Marcus.” Bliss furiously blinked back the tears threatening to fall.
“Why are you crying, then?”
“I have something in my eye.”
Bliss managed to hold back more tears as she finished the story.
“Who wants to make a list for Santa?” she asked when she was done. “We’ll put them on the wall so your parents will see and tell Santa when he calls.”
“Santa doesn’t call!” Anna called out. “We go to the supermarket and tell him.”
“I saw him at the bank.” Marcus pushed Anna back so he could be heard.
“Santa is a busy man. We’ll make the list in case you forgot to tell him something.”
“Yay! I forgot to tell him I wanted a new car so Mama will quit crying about ours in the morning when it doesn’t start,” Marcus said, grabbing a piece of construction paper.
Bliss sat down at the large table where the children were working.
Anna raised her head to stare at her quizzically. “What do you want for Christmas, Miss Bliss?”
“I already have everything I want.”
“I wanted a new bike last year, and Santa didn’t bring it.” Cory glued a picture of a bright red bike onto his paper.
Jessie and Bliss had spent lunch cutting out over a hundred things the children could want for Christmas. Since they were sure the parents wanted the tradition of helping their children make their Christmas lists, they had come up with letting them glue the pictures as an alternative.
“You must have been bad. That’s why you didn’t get it,” Anna explained without sympathy. “I got the doll I wanted.”
“Did you get everything you wanted when you were little, Miss Bliss?”
Bliss was only half paying attention to them, her mind on Darcy. She took one of the papers, grabbing a few pictures to fiddle with. “When I was little, I wanted a coat. It had a furry hood and was cream-colored. I thought it was the prettiest thing I had ever seen. It was in a department store my mother and I passed every day.” Bliss didn’t tell them they would walk past the store on the way to the free lunch the church fed the homeless.
“Did you get it for Christmas?”
“No, I didn’t.” It was the last time she had truly believed in Santa Claus and that her life would be better than it was. She had only been five years old.
“Were you bad?” Anna whispered.
“I must have been.”
“Can I glue your pictures down?”
“What?”
“Can I glue your pictures down?” Marcus repeated. “I’m finished with mine.”
“Go ahead.” Bliss slid the paper over she had been absently playing with. “When you’re done, let’s wash our hands and do circle time.”
The children talked about their Christmas plans as they finished. Their excitement was increasing each day as it grew closer.
She had already picked out presents for Drake, Jace and Cal. Drake wasn’t going to be happy about them, but he would get over it when she gave him a blow job. The man was putty in her hands as soon as her mouth went anywhere near his dick.
Bliss was putting the books back in the reading center after closing time when Lisa West came in, despite the closed sign outside. Jessie had been about to turn the lights out; she was just waiting for Bliss to finish straightening up for the following day.
“What can I help you with, Lisa?”
“I just wanted to drop off the check for Darcy’s last week.” She took it out, handing it to Jessie.
Bliss put on Ginny’s coat as she eavesdropped.
“I was sorry to lose Darcy. We’ll all miss her.”
“Maybe her new foster mother will bring her in for the Christmas party we’re hav—”
“I wouldn’t count on it. The State already took her away from her new foster home after only a few hours. She’s in the hospital in Jamestown. The worker told me when I took the last of her things by the office.”
“She’s in the hospital?” Bliss broke into the conversation.
“Yes, they took her there this morning. The worker seemed to think it’s the flu.” Lisa arched a sculpted eyebrow, letting her know she didn’t think it was appropriate for her to butt in to the conversation. Bliss could give a flying fuck what that high-class bitch thought of her.
Not caring that the two women were staring after her, she left abruptly without another word. In a nanosecond, she was behind the wheel of her car and driving as fast as she could toward the county road that led to Jamestown.
The thought of the little girl alone in the hospital with only strangers made her want to go back and beat the crap out of the woman who hadn’t cared enough to even call to check on her condition.
Her mind played back over the image of Darcy standing outside with Lisa in the cold. She should have gone outside and put her in the car herself.
“Please, be okay… Please, be okay.” Bliss was afraid, like all her wishes, it wouldn’t come true.
* * *
Drake was about to turn his computer off then meet Bliss at the diner when his cell phone rang.
“If you’re calling me again about freezing your balls off, I’m leaving now. You can go home in a—”
“Your woman just took off in her car.” Greer’s casual statement sent his heart pounding.
“Where was she going?” Bliss was supposed to walk over to his office after the daycare closed.
“How in the hell do I know? She was in her car and driving away before I could get out of this tree. My ass is numb.”
“I told you to watch her from your truck,” Drake snapped. When he had asked his cousins to take turns watching over Bliss when he couldn’t, they had all agreed for a price. Greer, of course, hadn’t wanted to do it without an expensive incentive, saying it would be boring. Drake had made it worth his while.