Page 92 of Skalterra By Nightmare
It was infuriating. If he wasn’t going to be mad at those girls, who’d only come here because I’d disobeyed Gams and reposted the Riley posters, then what was I supposed to do withmyanger?
I hurried back to the register, eager to be out of the aisle when Liam returned with a mop.
By the time Gams came up to take the closing shift, I’d dusted the register counter with a smattering of hair pulled from the back of my neck. I brushed it away before she could notice, and disappeared into the stairwell up to the apartment.
My looming Von Leer interview, thoughts of Skalterra, and the quiet sadness that Liam carried the rest of the day had caused enough turmoil for me to seek comfort in pulling at my lengthening undercut. I’d done enough damage that my fingertips could feel where my hairline at the nape of my neck had been made uneven.
Jonquil wove between my ankles in the tiny bathroom across the hall from my bedroom while I dug in a small black tote for my electric razor. It was near the bottom of the bag, hiding beneath a bottle of aloe vera.
It hummed in my hand when I pressed the power button to test its charge, and I pursed my lips. Mom had shaved down the undercut for me, but she was probably in Spain by now.
Jonquil jumped onto the counter, knocking the black tote of razor guards to the floor.
“Be my eyes for me, will you, Jonky?” I pulled up on my ponytail with one hand, and held the buzzing razor to the nape of my neck with the other.
I froze, concentrating on my reflection, wishing I had a way to see the back of my head and wishing I didn’t have to shave down my hair in the first place. Why did the Nightmare version of me have beautiful, long hair? And a slender neck and graceful chin?
She wasn’t afraid of breaking the rules, of monsters, or of people.
Thatwas who I should be, not the scared kid in the mirror with no way to give herself a decent undercut, so screw it, here goes nothing.
“What are you doing in here?”
I jumped as Liam appeared behind me in the mirror. I slammed the razor to the counter and spun around.
“I’m trying to cut my hair. What areyoudoing in here?”
He lifted a plastic bag.
“I brought you a burger. I thought we could practice more interview questions, and I was looking up iron deficiency—”
“I’m not iron deficient.” I cut him off and looked at the steaming bag. It smelled too good for me to be angry at him. “But yes. Burgers would be nice. I’ll meet you on the back deck.”
He set the bag down and squeezed into the tiny bathroom beside me. He gave Jonquil a head scratch, then picked up the razor.
“Just a clean up, right?” He positioned himself behind me, but I kept a hand over my neck.
“I don’t need help.” I would rather have the world’s most uneven undercut than let Liam Glass see the patchwork mess my hair pulling habit had made of the back of my head.
“Are you sure?” His reflection stared back at me, and I tapped my fingers against the counter where I leaned. I needed help. He wanted to help. Why was this so difficult?
I gave a heavy sigh, trying to force out whatever stubborn pride I was holding onto.
“Just be quick, okay?”
I held my hair out of the way and closed my eyes with my head bowed over the sink. Liam’s fingers brushed against my shoulder as he held me steady with one hand and used the other to lift the razor to my neck.
The razor tickled against my skin as Liam ran it up the base of my head. He let go of my shoulder to brush bits of hair into the sink.
“Where’s Sabrina?” I asked as he put the razor back to my hair.
“Working. Who do you think made the burgers?”
I frowned at the brown hairs gathering in the white sink basin. I wasn’t sure I’d won my way back into her good graces after my blow-up at the beach parking lot.
“Did she know who they were for?”
Liam laughed and brushed at my neck again.
