Page 1 of Outlaw

Chapter One

Faith

When I was young, my grandma told me all kinds of stories. Most of them were made up tales of kings and queens from far away kingdoms. Every story had a theme, but there was always a quest. Sometimes, the quest involved giant fire-breathing dragons. Other times, the journey involved finding a flower that would cure the kingdom of its darkness. No matter the journey, the results remained the same. The king and queen found each other, fell in love, and lived happily ever after.

I’ve taken all kinds of advice from those stories over the years. For one, I shouldn’t trust talking animals. Turns out, they never have good news. Second, bravery and independence are virtues. But by far, the biggest lesson I learned from my grandma’s stories was the power of love.

Love can make you do all kinds of things. Things you couldn’t imagine yourself doing otherwise. Love can make you overcome fears and make you braver than you thought possible, love can make you ruthless, and love can make you see things in a way you didn’t believe was possible beforehand.

I brush the remnants of a haircut into a dustpan and toss it into the trash. The salon is extra busy this time of day, and while I hate crowds and people in general, I love how I disappear in plain sight when a room fills up.

There’s no place like a salon. Blow-dryers flip on and off, and the snip of scissors perform a chorus with the music that plays on the speakers. Customers laugh and ramble on about life while phones ring and aerosol spray hisses. It’s the perfect place to blend in.

“Can you grab me a bottle of developer from the back?” My friend Carmen grazes past me and heads toward her chair.

Okay, I didn’t completely disappear.

I grab the developer from the back room, holding my breath as I walk past the girl doing a chemical dye. Having been around this for the past month, you’d think I’d be used to it, but I’m not. I still hate the smell of hair products.

“Here ya go. What time is your next client?”

Carmen sighs. “Oh, any minute now. You all moved into your new place? I can come over tonight and help you unpack.”

“There’s not much to unpack. I need to go shopping, though. We could do that after work.”

Carmen pulls out a curling iron and twists her hair into the heat. She’s a pretty girl. I’d guess her family is Italian by the way her skin glows with an olive undertone. Her hair is dark with natural highlights from the sun and her lips are perfectly pink without an ounce of makeup. “I’ll still never get how you’ve moved around with so little. You’re like… the ultimate nomad. Where’d you say you’re from again?”

This is the part where life gets tricky, remembering all my lies. I’m from Louisiana, born and raised off fried shrimp and okra. My accent hasn’t been hard to hide. I’ve been trying to shed that my whole life. I don’t know why, but I always wished I’d grown up with a New York accent. It sounds so much more badass than what the Lord gave me.

“Pennsylvania,” I finally say. I’m tempted to pull out my fake ID to make sure I got it right, but I decide otherwise. “What about you? Where are you from?”

We’ve worked together for the last month, and we’ve had some pretty serious conversations, but never this very basic one. That’s the difference between men and women. Women dig right into the serious stuff.

“Right here in Rugged Mountain. All day, every day.” She blows out a breath. “I think about leaving like twelve times an hour, though.”

I laugh. “Why? This place is gorgeous. Big mountains, rushing rivers, wide open spaces… what’s not to love?”

“It’s nice, but it’s small. I guess I thought… I don’t know… I thought life as an adult would be more… exciting. Look at your life. I mean, you moved all the way here. What made you do that? How did you get the guts?”

I chew on the inside of my cheek. More lies on their way. I really should’ve thought about questions folks might ask before I started working and showing my face in public. “Oh, I don’t know. Just got up one morning, packed my bags, and… I left.” I guess that’s sort of the truth.

She spins another strand of hair around the curling iron. “I wish.”

“You’d miss your family. Trust me. I miss mine every day.” Finally, something that’s not a lie. “It’s so hard to be away.”

“Yeah, I guess you’re right. I am pretty close to everyone, especially my brother. If you’re missing everyone, why don’t you go back?”

I can’t go back. Not ever. “I don’t know.” I shrug. “Still on my adventure, I guess.”

She grins wide and pulls out a bottle of spray and spritzes her hair. This is a floral scented mist and I like it. “Maybe I don’t need to leave town. Maybe I’m just looking for an adventure. Like a real one, where I do crazy things and throw all caution to the wind.” Her eyes widen as she says, “Wouldn’t that be amazing?”

I remember that feeling, though the caution I’ve thrown to the wind is not the norm for me. Usually, I’m cautious to a fault.

The front bell on the door rings and I glance up quickly. It’s not my job to check clients in, but during the lunch hour, I take over for the receptionist. It’s not ideal given the fact that I want to disappear, but it’s only thirty minutes and usually it’s not such a big deal… until now. Now it’s a big deal!

The man walking through the door is a giant. I’d guess he’s over six and a half feet tall, thick build, covered in ink, and a long, salt and pepper beard. He wears a motorcycle cut and I know without any introduction exactly who he is.

“Outlaw!” Carmen walks toward him with a grin on her face. “I’m almost ready for you. Tilly here will check you in.”

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