34

Lexi
I float through the next day at work.
I love the way Bobby demands my submission then rewards me thoroughly for giving it. For a natural pleaser like me, it’s a win-win. I can’t really lose because he tells me exactly what he wants. There’s no denying the appeal of a man so clearly in charge of me and the world around him. Or maybe it’s as he saysI just need it a little rough.
In the afternoon, a courier delivers a box to Stylz with a dozen pairs of expensive panties from Victoria’s Secret. The note reads,
Sorry about ripping your panties last night. Hope these make up for it. Can’t wait to see you again.
They’re exactly my size and the style I wear.
The day gets even better when I check my phone and find an email came in from Stellar’s human resources. I open it and scan the words, hardly able to process what I’m reading: I got the job.
I got the job.
“Hey, Lex?” Ondrea interrupts my reverie. “You have walk-ins requesting you. Can you fit them in?”
“Them?” I glance toward the waiting area where two beautiful young women stand. Sistersno, twins.
“Well, just one of them wants a cut. But they came in together.”
“Sure, I can squeeze her in. Let me just finish cleaning up from the last client.”
Ondrea leaves, and I clean up my station, then usher the young women back. One of them plunks down in her seat, and the other sits in the hood dryer seat beside my station to watch.
“Just a trim,” the pretty brunette says.
“Keep the layers? Just the way it is?” The young woman doesn’t appear to need a cut, but I’m not going to argue. Money is money.
“Yes, please.”
“Okay, come on back for a shampoo.” I wrap a towel around her neck, clip it in place then lead her back to the sinks to wash and condition her hair.
When we return to my station, she meets my eye in the mirror with an impish look. “You don’t know who we are, do you?”
I frown, looking from one face in the mirror, to the identical one sitting nearby.
“Should I?”
“I’m Juliana Manghini, and this is my sister, Janine.”
“Oh!” My heartbeat speeds up.
“Bobby is our dad. He didn’t tell you about us?”
I take a breath and will myself to speak. “Uh, n-no. I mean, I knew he had kids, but I didn’t know the specifics.”
I don’t know why I feel assaulted by this visit. They seem friendly enough. It doesn’t seem like they’re here to hate on me. But I knew nothing about them. Not that he had twins. Not that they’re grown-ups, not children.
It makes me realize how little I know about my benefactor. Because that’s all he is. We’re not in a real relationship. Even though that’s what I want. Everything is on his terms.
I draw in a breath and force myself to smile. “It’s nice to meet you.”
The girls smirk, as if they’re pleased with themselves for finding me. “Um, how did you find me?”
“Our Aunt Jessie gave me your card at the wedding last night.”
Wedding. Last night. That’s why he was late.
He was at a wedding. A family wedding that I knew nothing about. My stomach twists. Nothing about this is sitting right with me.
“Technically, she’s a cousin,” Janine corrects her.
“Right. Whatever. She said she met you at a Yankees game?”
“Uh… yeah,” I manage. My hands thankfully operate on their own accord, combing Juliana’s hair and parting out sections to trim. “So…why are you here?”
I brace myself, ready for anything. For them to tell me he’s married. Or drop some other bomb. Maybe they’re trying to expose me as a money-grubbing prostitute. I don’t know.
That’s definitely how I feel right now.
This thing with Bobby is just a business arrangement. I’m not good enough to take to weddings. Or to introduce to his kids. I’m not worth making a commitment to.
Hell, I’m not even supposed to call his phone. I have to text.
“We just wanted to meet you. He’s all secretive about you. He wasn’t going to introduce us, so we figured we’d take it out of his hands.”
I’m all awash with cold now. “Oh.” That’s all I can think to say.
His daughters seem nice. If I’d met them under different circumstances, I’m sure I’d love them. But everything about this interaction is making me dizzy.
Nauseous.
Suddenly, everything I loved about last night seems icky now. He wasn’t working late or doing mysterious mafia business. He was at a family wedding. One that I wasn’t deemed worthy of attending.
It’s not okay.
This situation is no longer okay. Not in the slightest.
I press my lips together, my hands still working steadily, snipping the ends of Juliana’s layers.
The sisters exchange another glance and an uncomfortable silence falls. “Sorry if this is weird,” Janine says.
“Um, no,” I say in a tone of voice that’s clearly too high and therefore a lie. “I’m just, ah, realizing that maybe his keeping me a secret doesn’t work for me anymore.”
Bobby’s daughters exchange another look. “Well, don’t take it the wrong way. He just doesn’t like to mix his dating life with us,” Juliana offers. “It’s our fault-when our parents first got divorced, we pitched a fit about them dating anyone else.”
I force myself to nod, like I understand. Like this all makes perfect sense, when in fact, it’s all bullshit. Somehow, I finish the haircut, pick up the blow dryer and turn it on, thankful it drowns out any further attempts at conversation.
When I turn it off, Juliana launches in, as if she’s been waiting to speak. “He really likes you, you know. You’re the first woman we’ve heard about. That’s why we came to check you out.”
My heart constricts. I almost believe her.
But it doesn’t matter whether he likes me or not.
He doesn’t like me enough.
I can’t bring myself to answer. I just force a wan smile as I remove the cape and dust the stray hairs off her neck. “That will be fifty,” I manage to say.
She pays me, and they both hesitate, as if wanting to say more, but I turn my back, walking away to fetch the broom. When I return, they’re gone.
I sit, trembling.
Bobby’s been treating me like a second-class citizen. And for what? To have a laugh at my expense? To keep me at arm’s length? Am I not good enough to be an actual girlfriend? Do you have to be Italian to make that cut? Or…what?
I can hardly think, and my next client will be here any minute.
I pick up my phone and hold it with trembling fingers. Thirty minutes ago, I’d been excited to text him to tell him I got the job. Now, though?
I grit my teeth and dial his phone number. I’m not supposed to call, but I don’t really care. Or actually, I do care. This is a test.
How he responds will tell me everything.
He doesn’t answer.
I Google-search his company and dial that number because he said he had to work today, even though it’s a Saturday.
“Lexi, you can’t call me here.” That’s how he answers.
I nod. The invisible guillotine blade just came down on his neck. “That’s what I thought,” I say tightly and end the call.
Fuck. Him.
I’m done.
This no longer works for me.
I take care of my next client then slip into the back room to call Gina. I’m afraid I might cry, and I don’t want anyone at the salon to see me.
My friend picks up on the second ring. “Hi, Lex.” She sounds sleepy, even though it’s two in the afternoon. With Gina working late nights and having a hot boyfriend who can’t get enough, she often sleeps past noon.
“Sorry did I wake you?”
“Mmm, no. I was just getting up. How are you?”
“Crappy.” My voice breaks.
“What happened?”
“I don’t know. Bobby’s daughters just showed up here to meet me. I guess there was a family wedding yesterday?”
Gina waits.
“Apparently I’m not good enough to merit an invite. Or to even know about it. According to them, he isn’t planning on letting them meet me, so they played detective to find me on their own.”
“Okay,” Gina says slowly like she’s trying to understand.
“This isn’t working for me. I don’t want to just be the whore he keeps for good times.”
“Yeah, of course not. But I don’t know if it’s really like that. Why don’t you just talk to him and ask him WTF?”
I make an impatient noise in my throat. “I don’t even want to talk to him again. Listen, I’d better go, I have another client coming. Thanks for listening.”
“You’re welcome. Hey, Lexi?”
“Yeah?”
“Don’t feel like you can’t leave him because you don’t have a place to go. You’re still welcome on my couch.”
“Thanks,” I say heavily. “I appreciate it.”
Sleeping on Gina’s couch is better than hanging around and being Bobby’s plaything.