Page 91 of Truth

Something warm coated a small section of my leg. To my surprise, it didn’t hurt. It was the temperature of a relaxing bath, not that of a hot stove.

Something was placed over the warmth and pressed down. It reminded me of making a pie crust, and having to be sure you got all the air bubbles out of the dough.

“This may hurt some.”

Julie’s words barely registered before there was a flash of pain, like having an old Band-Aid ripped off. As quick as the pain had come, it was gone.

“How was that?”

For the first time since climbing on the table, I met Julie’s gaze. “Not... not as bad as I thought it would be.”

She smiled and patted my leg. “Good. The ankles are the worst part of the legs. Once those are done, the rest shouldn’t be bad at all.” Julie paused. “Are you getting a Brazilian as well?”

“Yes.”

“That’s going to hurt. I won’t lie to you. But we’ll take it slow, and if you need a minute to catch your breath, you just tell me. We’re in no hurry.”

Julie picked up her wooden stick again and slathered more wax on my leg. I relaxed this time and watched her. When it came time for her to remove the strip, I was prepared. While it wasn’t pleasant, the pain was tolerable.

“So do you have a boyfriend, Brianna?”

“Um...”

“Yes, she does.”

Julie smiled. “I thought maybe you might. Not many women come in here wanting the Full Monty if there isn’t a guy going to see it.” She winked at me before refocusing her attention on my leg. “What’s his name?”

“Stephan.”

“He sounds sophisticated. Is he older?”

I realized then that I had no idea how old Stephan was. He didn’t look that much older than me, but that didn’t mean he wasn’t.

Lily noticed my struggling and jumped in with an answer. “He’s twenty-four.”

Twenty-four. That meant his parents had been gone ten years.

“Not too old, then.”

Julie finished with my legs and asked me to scoot down farther on the table. A lump formed in my throat and I had difficulty swallowing.

“I’m right here,” Lily assured me.

Once I was where Julie wanted me, she pushed the towel out of the way. She gasped. “What happened to you?”

I didn’t need to look to know what she was referring to. The bruising had gone away over time, but the scars would always be there. They were high, mostly under my pubic hair, so she probably hadn’t noticed them when she was waxing my legs. With my legs spread wide, and no towel to shade the area, there was no hiding.

“This wasn’t done by wax, was it?” Julie’s eyes were wide. Her face held a mixture of pity and outrage.

“I don’t know.”

That was honest. I really didn’t know. So many things had been done to me, especially in that area of my body, that I didn’t know what had left permanent marks and what hadn’t.

Julie didn’t move for a long time before she appeared to get a hold of herself. “We’ll go really slow. I don’t know how this scar tissue is going to react to the waxing. If something doesn’t feel right, I need you to tell me right away, and we’ll try something else.” I could have been wrong, but I thought I saw a tear fall down her cheek as she turned away from me to reach for the wax.

She placed the wax on a small area of skin along the crease of my leg and pressed the cloth strip over top. For the first time since we’d started, Julie appeared more nervous than I was. I wasn’t sure why, but knowing that gave me confidence.

“It’s okay.”

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