Page 60 of Safe and Sound

She whistled as she wound the curling iron through a strand of my hair. “Lucky, lucky bitch.”

Shifting in the chair, I winced. “It’s so bad I think I’m going to have to take an epsom salt bath tonight.”

As Dani and Lexi snickered, my mom entered the office. Outfitted in her Corfu costume, her salt and pepper brows knitted at the sight of me. “Did you sprain a muscle at rehearsal, mykoukla?”

Even at thirty, my mother still insisted on calling me her beautiful doll. “Uh, no. Why?”

“You just said you needed an epsom bath.”

With a grin, Dani said, “Oh that’s for her–”

I elbowed her stomach. “I did too much dancing last night. Between it and rehearsals, I’m really sore.”

“Such a liar,” Dani muttered.

“I will kill you,” I mouthed at her reflection in the mirror.

Placing her hand on my shoulder, Mom said, “You look so beautiful.”

“Thanks.”

“And what about us, Yaya? Are we chopped liver?” Lexie teased.

Mom laughed. “Of course not. Ava is my very beautiful daughter and Alexandra and Danielle are my very beautiful granddaughters.”

Lexie kissed Mom’s cheek. “Nice save.”

Mom smiled. “You’re welcome.” After glancing at her watch, she said, “I need to get back out front.” When she got to the door, she turned back around. “Don’t be too much longer, girls.”

“Yes, ma’am,” we called in unison.

Once we were alone, I smacked Dani on the arm. “I can’t believe you almost told Mom that my pussy was sore. I mean, do you want her to have a stroke?”

Dani laughed. “No. But it would be kind of fun to see her lose her mind that her precious angel Ava had banged a stranger so hard that it left her with a broken pussy.”

“My pussy is not broken!” I argued.

“Are you sure?”

“It’s just temporarily out of use.”

As Dani and Lexie both dissolved in laughter, I rose out of my chair. “Jealousy of me and my pussy is an ugly emotion,” I quipped.

“I can’t believe as much as you hate that word that you’re even saying it.”

“Desperate times call for desperate measures.”

As I made my way down the hallway, music and loud conversation floated back to me. When I got into the main room, tables overflowed with people. To help with the overflow crowd, tents had been erected out back. While we were always crowded on the weekends, we were the sought out restaurant during the festival.

Smiling, I waved to several of our regulars. I allowed a few frat boys to slide some Alexander Hamilton’s in my waistband. “Opa!” they cried.

I laughed at their enthusiasm. “Opa!” I called back.

A tall, lanky one in a backwards baseball cap gave me a seductive smirk. “Do you do private dances?”

Sweeping my hands to my hands, I snapped, “Does this look like a fucking strip club, jackass?”

With a wink, he countered, “Considering you’re showing a lot of tits and ass, it’s a possibility.”

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