Page 80 of Kings & Carnage

“Maybe you’ll be able to come to the masquerade at St. Andrew’s,” Claire said.

I laughed. “That might be… out of my comfort zone.”

“You’ve never been to a sex club?” Claire asked, raising her eyebrows.

“Does a hostel full of horny travelers in Greece count?”

“Ugh. No. St. Andrew’s is wild. You have to come! It’s over a month away so you have lots of time to convince the Kings.” She glanced at Rafe’s man, still standing like a statue at the front of the salon. “Maybe you’ll even have to bring your bodyguard.”

“You definitely need to get laid,” I said.

Claire grinned. “I don’t disagree.”

Flame combed out my hair, studying the ends. Her gorgeous red hair fell in waves around her pretty face, a Blades tattoo peeking out from the side of her neck. “Just a trim? Long layers?”

"Yes please," I said. "It's out of control.”

"Just needs a little cleanup." Flame smiled at me in the mirror. "Be a shame to cut off all this length. It's so pretty.”

"Thanks," I said. I knew the Blades were rivals of a sort with the Kings, but they were clearly business partners too, and I was glad to have them on our side for now.

"I'm so glad you were able to come today," Claire said. "Even with your bodyguard.”

"Me too," I said. “It's been ages since I've had a wax.”

Claire smirked. "You're getting a lot of action. It's important to keep up appearances.”

My face heated and I looked in the mirror.

Yep. I was blushing. "Oh my god, Claire.”

Flame grinned. "No need to be shy with me, honey. Those boys of yours are legendary. We should all be so lucky.”

Great. Let’s just tell the entire town of Blackwell Falls that I was fucking all three Kings.

I was relieved when Claire started chatting with the hairdresser cutting her hair. It was nice to have a girls’ day — we’d gotten facials and mani-pedis in addition to the waxes — but I had no desire to play out my sex life for everyone at Siren.

We spent the rest of the time making small talk with Flame and Claire's hairdresser, and I fluffed my hair in the mirror when Flame was done while she looked on, waiting for the verdict.

"It looks amazing,” I said. "Thank you so much.”

"Easy to work with such gorgeous hair," she said.

I paid with the Kings’ credit card as they'd instructed, gave Flame a hefty tip, and Claire and I stepped out into the sunny but cold winter day.

“I feel like a new woman," Claire said.

“Same. Want to grab lunch on me? Or on the Kings I guess." I still wasn't used to having no money of my own but Neo had made it clear that I was never to use the card Roberto had given me and now I understood why.

Owing Roberto was the last thing I needed.

Neo had told me to use the Kings’ card for everything instead. When I’d asked about the limit on the credit card, he’d smirked and said, "Just use it for whatever you need, Jezebel.”

"What about your shadow back there?" Claire asked.

I glanced back at my bodyguard, following a few feet behind us. “I guess he’ll just follow us there?”

I wasn't exactly sure how the whole bodyguard thing worked.

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