Page 40 of Underground Prince

“He didn’t corner me,” I said automatically, then had to backtrack. “Much.”

“Rumor is he carries,” Verily said in a low voice. “That’s why I was anxious over you.”

“You think he’d draw a gun on me in private? And threaten to…do something if I didn’t take my clothes off?”

Little did she know Jake wasn’t the one to brandish a weapon in my face.

“I don’t know. That’s the thing. You’ve come to his attention, which means the Saxon family knows your name now.” Verily bent so she was level with me. “You need to be safer than you are. Everything looks great and under control but that first night should’ve shown you something.”

“It did.”

She frowned at me before resuming her styling. “I’m not so sure. Which is why I’ve thought about it and you can’t take any more shifts without me there.”

“You suck.”

“For now,” she amended.

She yanked particularly hard, and I wacked her hip in retaliation. “Point made.” But I followed up with, “If this is so risky, why do you do it? My spritely, happy-go-lucky best friend is involving herself with what you’re defining as murderous family ties.” I hummed in thought. “Maybe it’s me who should be the concerned one.”

“You’re not the only one who enjoys crawling into dark spaces,” Verily murmured.

My eyes snapped up to hers as she pinned back the shorter hairs around my face.

She ignored my recognition, pulling a bobby pin out from between her lips. “So far, you’ve given me two reasons to revoke your status and force you to go back to your day job and be a lame server making menial tips.”

“You wouldn’t.” I scowled, but couldn’t help rising to her bait. “What two reasons?”

“Your lack of fear at the brawl the very first night you’re exposed to this stuff, and last night. When Jake isolated you and you didn’t flinch.”

I craned my neck to meet her eye. “How would you know? I didn’t—”

She dug her fingers into my scalp, turning me to face forward again. “Sit still. And Sax told me after the fact. He’s concerned.”

I scoffed so hard saliva nearly escaped my mouth. “He’s not. Sax wants to be in control of everything, including me.”

“He needs stability in order to keep this operation successful,” Verily corrected. “And you, my lovely girl, are threatening the status quo.”

“By not flinching? By lacking a fear gene?”

“No. By not respecting.” She fluffed my hair before moving into my vision again. “This is serious, and short of putting the fear of God in you somehow, I’m not sure how to make you discover this fact. Neither is he. So give me one more thing, a third reason, and I’m going to have to throw down the ax.” Verily leaned on my shoulders. “For your own good.”

“I understand the risks, and I’ll make sure to be more careful.” I hoped my smile was sweeter than sugar cubes.

“Prove me wrong,” she said. “Show him. And start here.”

Verily whirled my stool around to the mirror, and I gasped.

She grinned above my head.

Verily had focused on the tips of my hair, maybe five inches, and even then only highlights, but there were rainbow hues scattered throughout the strands. Moving this way and that, I caught purples, blues, greens, reds, oranges…it was beautiful, bright. Entirely unlike what was inside this head.

“Now.” She gathered my hair at my crown. “Yes. We’ll do that.”

“Do what?”

“Wait and see.”

She stuffed a few more bobby pins into her mouth and went to work, creating a thick French braid at the top of my head and twisting the rest of my hair into a wide, messy bun by stuffing a sponge-circle thing I’d always thought was for bubble baths in the middle.

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