“It’s great. You always look good.” That awful sensation from earlier today that had taken me hours to beat back was digging a new hole in my gut all over again. He looked perfect forsomeone else.
“Awesome! Well, I gotta go. I have practice and homework.” He patted my back as he walked past me, and the heat of his palm seared through my thin shirt. I breathed through the rush of excitement that mingled in a strange, unpleasant way with the grief biting at my insides.
“See you at home,” Barber said, before flinging himself down into the chair KC had abandoned and texting with his tongue poked between his teeth. That meant he was probably sending Quain, his boyfriend, something that would irritate him. Pissing off Quain was Barber’s favorite hobby when he should be working. Well, also when he wasn’t working.
It was half of what he did with his life.
KC was Quain’s son, so Barber got to live in the same house as KC. See his perfect face every morning. Go on vacation with him. Hang out for no reason, other than they belonged in the same space. I knew Barber didn’t care about that, but it didn’t stop me from being jealous. As I walked past him, I stepped on the pedal that lowered the chair, and he yelped.
“Shit! I bit my tongue.” Barber pouted in my direction.
“Sorry.” I was sonotsorry.
“What bug crawled up your ass?” He slipped his phone into his pocket, then crossed his arms and focused all his attention on me, which could be dangerous.
“Nothing.”
“Oh no. You look like someone called your mom a whore.” He snorted.
I glared at him and went over to the register, dropped down onto the stool behind it, and then rested my forehead on the counter.
“You alive over there?”
“Someone is opening a tattoo place next to PD’s.”
Barber laughed and clapped his hands, and I raised my head to glare at him.
“That’s not a good thing,” I ground out between my teeth.
“Eh, maybe it’ll put him out of business, and you can finally stop trying to quit on me.” He sprang out of his chair and rushed over to ruffle my curls in exactly the way that made me homicidal. I swatted at him.
“Stop being a jerk! It’s a really bad thing!”
He tilted his head and laid his hands on the counter. “It would be a real fucking shame if something happened to that building the new guy is in, wouldn’t it?”
“I told PD that, and he said it wasn’t my business. Told me to stay out of it.” I wrinkled my nose.
Barber bent over, rested his chin on the counter, and then the goofy idiot smirked up at me. “Well, I’m not supposed to involve you in club stuff, but this isn’t that. You know what I always say.”
“Better to ask for forgiveness than beg for permission?”
“Close enough.” He struck, ruffling my hair again, and I squawked, nearly falling off my stool to get away from him. “Don’t be a fucking pussy.”
“PD was mad,” I mumbled.
“Yeah, when isn’t he?” He shrugged and went back to his chair, taking out his phone again.
“Can I go? It’s dead.” The wheels were turning in my head again. If my life was about to be over because KC was going to meet someone perfect and marry him and never look at me twice, I at least needed to hold on to my other dream. I couldn’t let PD lose business or I would never have a chance to redeem myself and get him to hire me. I knew I could do it. I just had to try harder.
“Sure. Don’t do anything I would do.” He winked.
“I’m going to do exactly what you would do,” I grumbled, taking off for the door.
He must’ve heard me because he was laughing when I left.
4
REN
