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“What’s this?” he asked, his eyes fixed on the side of my neck.
It took a moment for me to understand what had caught his attention.
Ah, right…I had forgotten about those.
A gentle touch soon followed, soft and feather-light, tracing the faded marks on my neck. It mirrored the same path I had made earlier in the day, when I was alone with King in my thoughts. A shiver crawled up my spine, sending a wave of goosebumps down my arms.
“King and I may have had a bit of a scuffle,” I responded. Ace’s confusion bled into visible concern and before he could make any assumptions, I explained. “I may have accidentally bit him… and I’m pretty sure he needed to get a couple of stitches afterward.”
Ace let out an amused snort, and his very distracting hand finally fell off my neck. “I understand. Say no more.”
He turned his attention back to my hair, and I observed him quietly in the mirror as we worked. A foreign look of focus settled on his face. I knew I should be monitoring how much of my hair he was taking off, but I found myself preoccupied with watching him instead.
I didn’t know that his face was even able to make such a serious expression.
Torturing someone made him laugh, but it was when he was cutting hair that he turned solemn.This man, seriously…
I almost startled when Ace suddenly spoke up. “You know, I have to say that you did quite a number on King and Jack.”
I made a questioning sound at the back of my throat. “I did?”
Ace let out a faint hum. “Yep. You know, it’s been pretty obvious since the beginning King has had some sort of a fascination with you — which was unexpected, to be sure — but now it looks like you’ve somehow managed to make Jack lower his walls down too. Now that’s surprising.”
It was Ace’s words caughtmeby surprise.
Who would have thought that for all of his impulsiveness and obvious lack of care, he knew when to pay attention? Maybe I had been underestimating him a little more than I should have.
“And what about you? What do you think of me?” I asked, and his reflection caught my eyes in the mirror. I didn’t want to turn around to look at him directly. This way felt safer.
“Jack said that we should be careful around you. I just didn’t realize he meant that you could be dangerous without a weapon, too.”
Although Ace’s words lacked accusation and were instead more matter-of-fact, I found myself unable to maintain the eye contact any longer. I averted my gaze to the side, focusing on the white tiles beside the mirror.
Whatever spell we found ourselves under broke. Ace took a step back — alerting the end of both the conversation and the haircut.
Placing a well-practiced smile on my lips, I shook my head from side to side.
“Hey, it doesn’t look completely terrible anymore!” I declared, running my fingers through it. The ends were cut in astraight line at least, which was a vast improvement from what it looked like before.
“No, it doesn’t.” Ace smiled, his eyes crinkling charmingly at the corners, and I couldn’t help but match his grin. While that smile may seem overly sweet for someone like him, it didn’t look even remotely out of place on his face.
I bit down on my bottom lip. “So… Should we try for bangs next?”
Ace glanced down at the scissors that he was still holding, before gingerly placing them down on the countertop. “Better not. I’m not completely sure that I won’t accidentally take your eyes out.”
And here I thought that he was used to handling sharp objects.
Letting out an amused huff, I turned around to face him. “But for real now… thank you.”
Ace looked back at me, his eyes soft. “You’re welcome.”
We were so close that our noses could practically touch each other.
I blinked.
The bathroom wasn’t that tiny — there was really no reason for him to be standing so close. He seemed to have noticed it as well because he hastily took a step back.
“I should leave you… to sleep, I mean.”
