Page 32 of State of Mind

Luca’s cheeks flushed hotly. “Are you always like this?”

“Yes.” Raphael rolled ahead of Luca with long strides of his chair and came to a stop at the doorway of a back room. Just inside was a tall, thin man with soft, long hair—black with tinted beetle-blue highlights. It accentuated how pale he was, and how dark his eyes were, but his smile was as soft and friendly as his posture was intimidating. “This is Jayden. Jayden, this is Luca—the squatter.”

Luca’s mouth dropped open to defend himself, but Jayden just laughed and gave the chair a pat. “Come on, gorgeous. You don’t need much, but I can fix you up.” Raphael was gone before Luca could protest, so he sank into the chair and closed his eyes as the stylist began to run fingers through his hair. “I’ve heard a lot about you,” Jayden said after a beat.

Luca scoffed. “I have no doubt. I didn’t exactly make a great impression.”

“No, but you made a big one. My sisters are still talking about it.”

Luca’s eyes snapped open, and he stared at Jayden in the mirror. “Your sisters?”

“Rose and Sonia. They own the Tavern,” he said. He rubbed a few locks of Luca’s hair between his fingers.

‘Fuck,’ Luca mouthed. “You know I didn’t mean it, right? I didn’t…it was a bad night, and…”

Jayden’s chuckle quieted his words, and he laid his hands on Luca’s shoulders, giving them a gentle squeeze. “I’m not going to shave you bald or dye you green—though you could rock a fantasy color so hard. But Raphael explained everything, and Sonia feels really bad about the pine nuts.”

Luca’s cheeks heated, and he glanced away. “I didn’t mean to be a dick.”

Jayden simply hummed and then grabbed a comb from his drawer and began to drag it through his locks. “You don’t color your hair.”

Luca shook his head. “Not yet, but I will. My older brother, Pietro—he went grey at twenty-three, and I was always terrified. He looks amazing with it, but I don’t think I could pull it off.”

“It happens to us all, but you shouldn’t be ashamed of it. You wear youth like a shield.”

Luca bit the inside of his cheek, feeling his defenses rise. He’d known enough stylists in his day that tried to act like therapists, and there was something about Jayden that cut to the quick. Mostly because he wasn’t wrong. Luca was in his forties but looking at his life, no one would have known. He hadn’t done anything a grown adult should have done. He was a glorified teenager with daddy’s black card and no curfew.

It was embarrassing. He had no idea how he’d managed to fall so far off the path his brothers and sisters walked.

“Are you okay?”

Luca realized his emotions were playing out on his face, and he took a breath. “I’ve been going through some stuff. It’s stupid.”

“I very much doubt it’s stupid.” Jayden patted his shoulders twice, then urged him up. “Let’s do a wash, and then I’ll give you a trim. After that, Raphael can fix your face up, and I’ll get you styled when you’re done.”

“Okay,” Luca said, his voice low and raspy. Once upon a time, he paid for services like this and didn’t think twice about them. Salon workers existed in his periphery as necessary indulgences to pass the time or to get him looking better than he could on his own before a gallery opening or art showing.

He’d never bothered to consider their opinion of him. He simply paid a tab, added a tip, and went on with his life. Now, with Jayden’s dark eyes watching him and assessing his worth—he wasn’t sure he’d be able to withstand the judgment.

“You’ll feel better after this.”

“Why do you care?” he couldn’t stop himself from asking.

Jayden laughed as he eased Luca’s neck back onto a towel, then turned on a low stream of warm water. It was instantly soothing, along with the fingers dragging against his scalp, and his eyes closed. “Well, first of all, you’re paying me.”

He didn’t wince, but it was a near thing.

“Secondly, you’re going out with Wilder who is arguably one of my best friends, so I want you to feel good when you’re with him.”

“And the third?”

Jaden smiled. “I like when people leave my shop feeling good about themselves, not just about their hair. That’s why I do this. Trust me, if I wanted to get rich, I’d have gone to medical school or something.”

Luca chuckled. “Or porn.”

Jayden’s fingers spasmed, then he laughed. “You’re Adriano’s brother. I forgot.”

He managed a half-shrug from where his shoulder was pressed up against the basin. “He’s good at it, and he makes a ton of money. And he’s happy.”

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