Page 220 of Sin Bin

“Awesome,” Reid said approvingly. “So she’s not gonna be worried about fucking up her hair when we go whitewater rafting, right?”

“Nah, I don’t think so,” Logan said with a chuckle. “She’s not prissy like that.”

Reid grinned. “She doesn’t have to be prissy. A lot of black women don’t go swimming because they don’t wanna mess up their hair.”

Logan laughed. “You think I don’t know that? Don’t forget I lived with two black women when I was growing up. I remember Roxanne and Cynara spending all damn day at the hair salon and not wanting to get in the water whenever we went to the pool or the beach. It was weird to me and frustrating to Santino. Sometimes he’d look at me, shake his head and say ‘Fuck it.’ Then he’d pick them up, one by one, and just toss ’em in the water. They’d be seriously pissed, and they always gave him one hell of an earful. But it never stopped him from doing it.”

The others laughed and applauded Santino’s bravery.

“Thank God Scarlett isn’t like that,” Viggo said humorously. “She loves swimming so she’d never let anything keep her out of the water. Being a performer, she’s always switching up her hairstyles, dyeing it different colors, adding extensions, cutting it short or growing it long. I’ve seen pictures of her hair at different lengths over the years. She prides herself on taking good care of it, but at the end of the day, she says it’s just hair.”

“She’s natural, right?” Reid asked.

“Right,” Viggo confirmed.

Reid nodded. “Nadia has a relaxer, but she says she’ll probably go natural someday.” He chuckled. “I remember the time she mentioned that around my mom, who totally freaked out and started asking a bunch of questions about what she meant by going ‘natural.’ Nadia was very gracious about it, but I couldn’t stop shaking my head. My mom can be cringey as fuck sometimes.”

Hunter chuckled dryly. “Don’t tell me she’s worried about Nadia sporting a big Afro with a pick sticking out of it?”

“I’m sure that’s part of it,” Reid said wryly. “But it’s mostly because she loves the length of Nadia’s hair. She’s always touching it and complimenting it. She never had long hair herself, so she’s a little obsessed. You guys have seen how long Aria’s hair is. It’s practically down to her ass. If she ever cut it short, Mom would have a fucking heart attack. So, yeah, she panics whenever Nadia talks about messing with her hair.”

Everyone chuckled and shook their heads.

“I don’t know whether Jupiter’s relaxed or natural,” Logan said thoughtfully. “I can’t tell, but I’ve heard her mention something about getting a blowout.”

“A blowout? She’s probably natural,” Reid surmised.

“Yeah,” Viggo agreed. “Scarlett gets blowouts.”

Hunter grinned at them. “Look at you two sounding like experts on black women’s hair.”

They both laughed.

“We’ve been well educated,” Reid joked.

“Yup.” Viggo sent a lazy smile around the table. “Before I forget, Scarlett wanted me to invite everyone to our summer cottage before training camp starts in September. After the weddings and honeymoons and band tours are over, we’re planning to host our very first barbecue at the cottage. There’s three bedrooms and a loft, so there’s plenty of room for everyone. We figured we’d spend the week swimming and sailing and just relaxing until it’s time to come back and get ready for the new season.”

“Sounds good,” Reid and Hunter agreed.

“Definitely.” Logan smiled. “Sweden is on Jupiter’s bucket list, so she’ll gladly take you up on your invitation.”

“Good. I hope she does.” Viggo grinned teasingly at Hunter. “Now we just need to find you a woman, Captain.”

Hunter and Logan shared a glance across the table.

Reid divided a speculative look between them. “What was that about?”

Hunter lifted his glass to his lips, his eyes glinting over the rim.

“He may have already found himself a woman,” Logan grumbled.

“What?” Reid and Viggo exclaimed in surprise. “Who?”

Logan sighed. “Santino’s daughter.”

“The Duchess?”

“Yeah.” Logan smirked. “He met her in Vegas and got struck by lightning. Or at least it seemed that way, judging by the stunned look on his face.”

---