Page 24 of Sin and Salvation

I tucked the roller back into its case, willing my body to relax.

The Black Hearts might have a reputation, but so far, they’d shown no inclination to lay hands on me in any way that wasn’t enjoyable. Even the spanking had been designed with my pleasure in mind.

Aeron’s eyes had narrowed, and he didn’t lose the suspicious cast to his face as he stepped in, closing the door behind him. “I just came by to see you before the club opens. Do you usually have such an intense flight reaction when you’re surprised?”

I looked at him in the mirror as I unrolled the last curl, lifting one shoulder in a shrug. My heart was still hammering against my ribs. “It could be worse. At least I don’t freeze.”

Nope, not me. I was an expert at immediately fleeing for the nearest closet or cabinet I could fold myself into. That way there was a chance Maxime would simply vent his rage on my belongings, and not my person.

Aeron smirked a little, but I could tell it was forced. There was none of the amused light I’d come to expect in his eyes when he made jokes. “I’ll start knocking. Wouldn’t want to send you running in the middle of something… delicate.”

I raised an eyebrow, and fluffed my fingers through my hair, making my curls bounce. “I’d just have you make up for it.”

“Oh, yeah?” Aeron leaned on the wall next to my dresser, watching as I patted silver glitter over my dark eyeshadow. “Does the employee boss the employer now? Maybe you deserve another spanking for this sort of insubordination.”

I paused, and a pleasant shiver ran down my back when I thought of the red mark his hands had left on my ass, as though his palm had been emblazoned there.

But his face was still tight despite his even tone. I knew my reaction was another line of inquiry I wasn’t going to be able to evade forever.

“Maybe I’m simply a very bad girl,” I said lightly, picking up a tube of lip gloss. “Nothing like a spanking to keep me in line.”

There it was. A spark of fire in his green eyes, the line of his quirked lips a little more natural.

“I’d be happy to oblige.” His voice had gone husky as he pushed off the wall and stepped behind me, running his inked fingers through my curls. He leaned in close, his lips moving against my ear. “But jokes aren’t going to get you out of this, Venus. One day you’re going to spill your darkest secrets to me. Like why you looked terrified as hell when I walked in.”

I arched one eyebrow, gazing at him in the mirror, so aware of those rough fingers tracing my collar bone. “Those secrets may cost more than you can afford.”

There was no amount of money, no amount of gifts, that could pry those secrets from me. I kept them locked in the depths of my soul, and only when I felt that someone truly loved me would I share them.

It would feel cheap to me to throw the worst moments of my life out there for strangers to hear. I wasn’t looking for pity.

“You’d be surprised at what I can afford, sugar.” Aeron twined a long pink curl around his finger, the movement slow and deliberate, hypnotizing me as I watched his reflection. He tugged it lightly… then released it, brushing it behind my ear. “One secret, how about that? And I’ll do you a favor in return.”

I’d been holding my breath without realizing it, waiting for him to jerk my hair hard enough to send pain screaming through my scalp. It seemed my body could not help but fear, even while my mind didn’t.

“Fine. One secret.” I turned and looked up at him, breathing in his spicy scent. “I absolutelydespisehaving long hair. It’s such a pain to keep up with.”

And it was one of Maxime’s favorite handholds. I never wanted to feel that again.

Aeron blinked, then a slow smile spread across his lips. “Cut it off if you want, sugar. None of us would tell you no.”

It was my turn to blink.

I was… free. I could shave my head down to the scalp if I wanted. I picked up a lock, thinking about the long hair Maxime had always liked on me…

I was going to cut it off. Fuck what he wanted. And if he ever got me back, Devil forbid, I’d enjoy every second of his irritation over it.

“Now for your favor.”

“What?” I’d already forgotten what Aeron had promised, gleefully imagining taking scissors to my long, unwieldy locks.

Aeron reached around me and pulled a small container out of Kylaea’s bin. “You need more titty glitter.”

I burst out laughing, and some of the shadows finally left his expression.

“Come on, let me poof it on you,” he said, uncapping the container and pulling out a pouf covered in sparkling powder. “Smells like… cherries. Oh, and look, it says it'sedible.”

Now his eyes really lit up, and I laughed as he smacked the pouf right on my left boob, sending a cherry-flavored puff of shimmer into the air between us.

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