“I’m so sorry, I’m late! Rain needed Mommy cuddles. River rarely wants to be seen with me anymore, he’s all about his dad, so it’s nice to get that.”

“You’re not that late. This isn’t urgent you know, we can do it some other time,” I tell Petal as I get out of the car. She’s got her hair pulled back in a messy bun and she’s wearing a loose fitting blue maxi dress that looks so pretty on her. She’s gorgeous without trying, but what makes her truly pretty is that she’s just so genuine. I truly like her.

“No, now that I’ve got the shop opened back up I’m booked. I want to do this.”

“If you’re sure,” I tell her, still feeling guilty that I’m taking her away from family time.

“I’m sure. Besides—and don’t tell Luka, I feel weird leaving the shop. Now that it’s fixed, I’m afraid crazy Linda will break in and destroy it again.”

I feel bad for her. She wasn’t out of business long. All of us pitched in to do the initial clean up and then her insurance had contractors come in and do the rest, but this shop was her baby and it hurt her to see the damage and to be closed as long as she was.

“You really think she’s the one behind all of it?”

“I do. I can’t say why I do, but I do. Just a gut feeling.”

“Still, you can’t stay at the shop 24/7,” I tell her as we make it to the front door.

“I keep telling myself it will get better. Luka is having some big shot company out of Dallas come by at the end of the week to install new security measures. That will help.”

“I bet that’s costing a pretty penny.”

“All of this is. We had insurance on the place but it had a deductible and since we were basically having to remodel, I wanted to add a few things I didn’t have before. Shit…”

“What is it?” I ask, hearing the alarm in her voice.

“The door is unlocked. I made Tilly promise to lock up before she left for the night.”

“Maybe she forgot?” I respond, though I’m worried too.

“Maybe,” Petal says. “Stay behind me, Addie,” she orders, opening the door slowly.

“Bullshit, we will go in together,” I argue. What is it about these Lucas’s that make them think they have to protect everyone?

We enter slowly and Petal reaches up to turn the light on. The place looks clean and is completely empty. I relax a little.

“I need to check the back,” she says, distracted, her eyes darting around to take in the entire shop.

“Let’s lock the door and I’ll go back there with you,” I tell her, remembering my promise to Black. I click the lock into place and we walk to the back quietly. Petal switches on a light and again, everything looks fine.

Petal lets out a huge sigh.

“Damn it, I keep looking for boogey men everywhere.”

“That’s understandable, honey.”

“Maybe, but it’s damn annoying,” she says with a wry smile. “Why don’t you get settled in a chair. I’ve got a sample thing here to show blonde ranges…”

“I love my original color, but I wouldn’t mind trying some of those caramel tones mixed in you were talking about.”

“Deal. Love a woman who knows her own mind. I’ll get the color together and you get in the chair closest to the door. That’s mine and all my stuff is there that I like to work with,” Petal orders.

“There, that’s it. Now we wait for a bit. I’d like to put you under the dryer for a bit, and bake that color in.”

“I’m yours to command,” I joke.

“If only I could get Luka to agree to that,” she laughs.

“You’re not fooling me, girl. I’ve seen you two together. You like it when he commands you.”

“Maybe, a little,” she giggles. “Speaking of which, you and my brother seem to be really happy.”

“We are,” I admit. “I love him. I wasn’t expecting it, but I do… completely.”

“Good. Black needs someone to love him. Of all of my brothers, I’m probably closest to him. He jokes and plays a good game, but he’s a romantic at heart you know.”

“I don’t know. He sure didn’t want a relationship,” I tell her, as she settles the top down on the dryer.

“Linda had him messed up. It just took him a little bit to pull his head out of his ass. I’m glad he managed it before he lost you.”

“I couldn’t make myself give up on him,” I confess.

“I’m glad. I’m going to leave you under this for a bit. I’m going to go in the back and check in with Luka before he shows up.”

“I’ll text Black too,” I laugh. I pull out my phone. The heat from the dryer seems to be hitting the chemicals different than they have in the past. My eyes are watering. It’d be just my luck to develop some kind of allergy to hair coloring. I push the thought aside and take out my phone and pull up my ongoing texts with Black.

I put my phone up grinning. I have no doubt the surprise is him. A couple of days ago, I got out of the shower to find him lying on the bed, naked, with a big red bow tied around his cock. He’s such a goofball.

I frown because the top of my head feels like it’s burning. I’ve had color before, although not at regular intervals. But, I’ve never had it burn like this before.

“Petal?” I call, wondering if I’m just being a big baby and overreacting.

“What’s up?” she says coming out of the back, the phone still in her hand.

“Something doesn’t feel right. Did you use something new, maybe something that I don’t normally get when I color?”

“No… why?”

“It’s burning and my eyes are watering,” I tell her and the longer I sit under the dryer, the more intense the feeling gets.

Petal’s face instantly goes concerned.

“Luka, I’m going to hang up. Something’s going on with Addie’s hair,” she says into the phone, hanging up before I’m sure that Luka could respond. Something on her face makes me even more worried. She all but throws the phone down and lifts up the dryer. She unrolls one of the foils and it’s when I hear her softly whispered, “Fuck!” when I really start to panic.