Chapter 21

I can feelmy heart beating in my feet by the end of my shift. Between blowouts, dye jobs, highlights, haircuts, and one permanent, I’m exhausted.

“I absolutely love this color!” my last client gushes as she runs her fingers through the long locks of fire engine red.

“The color is prone to fade and with your natural hair coloring being so light, your roots are going to come through quick. Maybe see me in four to six weeks to make sure we keep the color strong.” I look at her through the mirror. “And pick up some of the conditioner up front, the girls know which one.”

If I wasn’t going on hour nine of my day, I’d probably have a better chance of remembering the name of it. But as it is, I can’t think of much else than getting out of these boots and into my fluffy slippers when I get home.

“I will. Thanks so much for doing this. No one thought this color would look good on me.” She gathers her purse from the hook on my station.

“Bold color for a bold woman.” I grin. Her brown eyes pop with this coloring and she has the perfect complexion for it. “Trust yourself.”

She thanks me again then heads to the front. I take a second and sink into the chair and lean back with my eyes closed.

While I’m tired, I can’t help but be grateful that I had such a full schedule. I’m getting more clients asking for me by name. There’s actually a wait list for my hours on Friday.

“Marlena, oh, good. You’re still here.” Mrs. Randall pops up behind me.

I throw open my eyes and scramble out of the chair to face her.

“I’m sorry. I didn’t mean to scare you.” She eyes my station with the remnants of the last client strewn about. “Long day?”

I sigh with a small smile. “Yes, but a good one.” I pick up the client cover-up I just dropped. “How can I help you?”

“My daughter’s school is putting on a play next Friday. The music director hired a hairstylist to help with the girls’ hair and makeup, but they’ve had to cancel on the school. There’s drama.” She rolls her eyes. “Anyway, my brother suggested you. His daughter goes to the same school.”

His daughter? Michael is on his third wife, I guess I shouldn’t be surprised that he’d be having another set of kids even at his age, seeing as his wives run on the young side.

Michael’s behind this visit.

“Oh.” Tension builds in my shoulders.

“The job’s yours if you want it. It’s next Saturday, they’ll want you there at two. The play starts at five. It pays two thousand dollars.”

I blink.

“Two thousand? For a school play? How many kids are there?” I have two hands and cannot perform miracles.

“There’s fifteen kids. Six girls. The boys only need a little glitter spray in their hair. They are supposed to come with their hair already washed and curled, but the music director is a complete micromanager. He wants someone to make sure they all look uniform. The makeup will be all you, though. They’re going to be fairies, so whatever you think about that.” She digs through her purse and hands me a pamphlet that is going to be the school playbill. Then she hands me a check for one thousand dollars. “You’ll get the second half the night of.”

I take it. I have a wedding on Saturday and now the play next weekend. After this, I’ll have all the money I need for Jimmy’s next payment and a little left over toward the next one.

“If you think you need to bring someone to help, that’s fine. Just invoice the school for the extra staff.” She leans closer. “They have a healthy budget for this sort of thing, so feel free to take advantage.”

“Are you sure you want me?” I ask hesitantly. Last time I saw Mrs. Randall, she’d looked at me as though I should have the letter A seared into my forehead.

“The woman in charge of hiring the last makeup artist tried getting my husband into bed with her.” She raises an eyebrow. “I don’t appreciate that sort of thing.”

“Mrs. Randall, I promise your brother and I—” I’m cut off with her hand on my arm.

“I know. Michael swears there’s nothing between the two of you. He explained everything.”

I don’t know exactly what Michael told her, and I’m not taking a chance that I say something that could ruin this deal for me.

“Good.” I push on a smile that’s more to hide a wince from the pain in my feet than anything.

“Okay then.” She steps back with a grin. “Promise me you can do this. I’ll be the hero for my daughter and make that bitch look even worse than she already does.”

“I can do it.” I fold the check in half and slide it into my back pocket. “I’ll be there at two.” I’ll be working both weekends. I don’t think Viktor will like it, but that’s his problem.

I can’t start letting his feelings on things change my decisions. He’s not a permanent fixture in my life, just a passing ship.

This morning was too intimate, too perfect. I can still feel his lips on me, his arms wrapped around my body.

Space is definitely a good thing.

“Great. I’ll see you there then,” she says and walks away.

“Hey, Marlena, I have to run.” Janelle hurries up to me. “My sitter just called, and Jerry just puked all over his bed. Do you mind doing the trash for me?” Janelle asks while shoving her arms into her pink puffy winter coat and holding her purse between her knees.

“Sure. No problem.” I wave her away. “Go. Hope he’s better soon.”

“He’s four. He’s a walking petri dish, but thanks.” She zips up, tosses her purse over her shoulder, and runs through the salon and out the front door.

The salon is closing up so it’s just me and a couple of people left. I straighten my station and grab the trash from my can and walk over to Janelle’s to get hers.

I check my phone as I walk to the back of the salon to toss the bags and see Viktor hasn’t blown up my phone tonight. He’s only sent a message asking if I ate dinner and then another telling me he’d have dinner for me when I was done.

“Oh, are you going out to the alley? Can you take this too?” Carter hands me his bag of trash. “Damon is almost here and if I’m late again, he’s going to have my ass.” He grins. “Well, I mean, he probably will anyway, but there’ll be drama first.” He laughs and snatches his coat from his locker and rushes away.

I message Viktor that I’m just cleaning up and will be done in about fifteen minutes. He responds immediately.

Then I will be there in ten

I roll my eyes but can’t help the little smile that tugs at my lips.

Maybe Izzy is right. Maybe it’s sort of nice to have a man who cares about my safety.

I push through the door to the alley with my trash bags in hand. A crisp chill hits me, sucking the breath from my lungs.

Why do I insist on living in a place that hurts my face in the winter?

I catch my breath and hurry to the dumpster, tossing in the bags. The metal lid slams, echoing in my ears.

My skin feels tight in the cold. I turn to jog back inside but come face to face with Jimmy.

I scream, but with the cold and my shock, it only comes out as a squeak.

“You scared me.” I press my hand to my chest, where my heart is trying to escape. “What are you doing here?” I take a small step back because he’s too close. He’s right up in my face. It’s then that I see two other men standing behind him and a third off to my right.

Jimmy puts a cigarette between his lips and sparks his lighter. The orange flame illuminates his face enough for me to see the anger. I’ve seen him like this before.

I take another step back, but he follows me. Every retreat I make, he advances, until my back hits the brick wall of the building.

He blows a puff of smoke into my face.

“You’re a real idiot, you know that?” He points at me.

“What?” I take notice of the other men. They haven’t moved, but it will only take a signal from Jimmy to sic them on me.

“Getting those Russians to start poking around my business. You thought that was a good idea?”

I don’t need to ask what Russians he’s talking about.

“I didn’t ask anyone to do anything, Jimmy. I swear.” I swallow. The air is still cold, but fear works as an amazing heater. “I have the cash, all twenty thousand. I can meet you tomorrow with it. Then you’ll destroy those pictures and we’re done.” Owing Viktor has to be better than keeping this going with Jimmy.

He eyes me, taking another drag of his cigarette.

“Maybe you didn’t ask them, but they’re poking, Marlena. And you know what happens if Michael gets wind? You know how butt hurt he gets when his crew makes a little money on the side.”

“You don’t have Michael’s blessing?” Michael will have his head if he’s moving cars behind his back. Especially if he’s moving them for another family.

“I don’t need his fucking blessing. My prick uncle let me get sent away and he gave no protection while I was in there.” Spit gathers at the corners of his mouth. “So, fuck him and his permission.”

I swallow back the warning I want to give him. Going up against Michael is like running toward the machine gun firing at you. There’s no way he’s going to get away with it unscathed.

“Look, what you do with him is your business. I don’t care. I just want those pictures destroyed. That’s all I want.” I flick my attention to the other men; they’ve moved in a few steps.

“Good.” He takes another puff of his cigarette and flicks it away. “Then you’ll understand our new deal. I want five grand, every two fucking weeks until I say otherwise. You miss one drop and I’ll get those photos to the Donato family and to your boss here at Luxe.”

“I just said I have the money. All of it. I’ll meet you tomorrow with the cash. Then we’re done.”

He shrugs with both shoulders and his hands in the air.

“I’m changing my terms. Sue me.” He laughs.

“Jimmy. Why are you doing this? I had nothing to do with you getting caught. You’re the one that taught me to run if I saw trouble. I ran.”

His features darken. “You may not have put me in that cell, but it was because of you I got caught. If you’d been there on time, we would have been in and out of that lot before anyone found us,” he accuses with a pointed finger in my face.

I’d been ten minutes late to meet him. The bus had been delayed because of construction and then there was an accident.

“I texted you. I told you what was going on.” It’s my only real defense, I suppose.

If we’d put off the lift, he wouldn’t have gotten picked up. We can go through all of the ifs and would haves, but it doesn’t change what happened.

He eyes me silently for a long moment, and I’m not sure if he’s deciding about the money or if I’m going to be leaving the alley at all.

“Five grand, every two weeks.” He holds up two fingers and wiggles them. “I hear about those Russians so much as whispering my fucking name and it goes up to seven.”

He lifts his hand to touch my cheek. It’s cold against my hot skin.

“Are you fucking them all or just one in particular?” He lifts my chin until I have to look him in the eye.

Viktor’s held me this way, but it was different. So damn different. When I look into Viktor’s eyes, I feel a connection. I can sense his soul.

There’s nothing behind Jimmy’s glare.

Nothing.

“I’ll get the money,” I say with clenched teeth. If I let myself say anything else, I could make things way worse.

“There’s another way. This order I told you about. There’s one car in particular I could use your help with. Then you can join my crew and it would be like the old days. We’d make a lot of money together,” he offers, but it’s bullshit.

He knows I’ll never say yes. Not when I’ve gotten my life straightened out this much.

Going against Michael would be insane. I was able to walk away the first time, if he finds me betraying him, I won’t be walking anywhere.

“I already said I have the cash.”

He pats my cheek then drops his hand. “All right then. Bring it next weekend, then we can set up regular drops for the rest.” He snaps his fingers at the other men, and they walk behind him down the rest of the short alley and disappear around the corner.

Only once I’m alone do I let myself breathe again.

My phone vibrates in my back pocket.

Viktor.

With a shaky hand I pull it out and swipe it to life. Hurrying back to the salon, I read the text message.

I’m sitting at your station. Where are you?

My fingers fly over the screen.

Two seconds. Grabbing my coat.

I stop at my locker, sucking in a breath. After taking several deep breaths to get my lungs and heart back in working order, I grab my coat and purse from my locker and head to meet him.

Five grand.

With no end in sight.

What the hell am I going to do?