Chapter 4
“She called! She called,” Mel said screaming into her phone. “Oh my gawd! We are gonna have a new boss.”
“What,” Kalyn replied. It was ten o’clock in the morning and the salon didn’t open until noon. Kalyn had spent hours driving her car around picking up passengers. As the night wore on so did her patience with her passengers. At two in the morning she was driving a couple tech workers home from the bar. They were bragging about the size of their wallet. One of them had opened the door while they were driving north on Telegraph avenue close to a Taco Bell and had vomited. The car wreaked of his spew. They then demanded she stop by the Taco Bell or a taco truck for late night food. She kicked them out of the car. The men had given her a one star rating and called her a “cunt.” When she’d gotten home she cried for thirty minutes before showering and going to bed.
Kaboose snuggled up next to her on the bed. He licked at her face, obviously hungry and or wanting to go out for a walk. More likely than not he wanted to do both.
“Joy called. It’s true. She bought the building and she made an offer to Deborah already. They are signing the papers this afternoon. She said she’s going to keep everything the way that it is and put more money into advertising so that we get more clients.”
“Uh huh,” Kalyn said. She still wasn’t awake enough for Mel’s high level of enthusiasm. Usually Mel was reserved and when she wasn’t reserved she was angry. This was a different Mel though one that had never listened to the dark, moody music of Depeche Mode and The Cure but had instead been raised on bubble gum pop and optimism.
“I did a little research,” Mel said.
“Right.”
“And she’s the wife of Gary Duplan. Do you know him? He’s this tech guy that made billions, I mean absolute billions during the first tech boom in the 90’s. He invested in a couple startups in the mid aughts and now has more money than the Tenderloin has crackheads.”
“Isn’t the Tenderloin being gentrified,” Kalyn said.
“That’s not the point.”
“What is the point,” Kalyn said. She finally sat up in bed. The morning sun shot into her eyes and she yawned. Kaboose started to do a series of figure eights at the edge of the bed chasing his tail a sure sign that he needed to use the bathroom.
“The point is that we are saved. I can fix my oven. We’re going to be rich, filthy rich,” Mel said into the fun.
“Oh finally,” Kalyn said. She put on a hoody and slipped into some sweat pants. “Kaboose where are my shoes?”
“What sort of of shoes are you going to wear,” Mel said. “What are you doing? When you come to work you better bring your A game. This could be a good day for us.”
“I’m sure it will be. Kaboose where is your leash,” Kalyn said still holding the phone to her ear. She opened her front door to the apartment and took Kaboose for a walk.
The two made their way down to the waterfront. Kalyn liked to watch the large cranes along the docks load and unload the oversized shipping containers. She imagined what was inside sometimes but it always remained a mystery. The two made their way back to her apartment and passed by the oversized post office. The large building was built in a decrepit brutalist style that always made Kalyn’s nose scrunch up.
Kaboose looked up at her and yipped when they stood by her front door.
“I know. I’m sorry that you have to be locked up all day. Things will get better I promise.”
Kaboose barked again.
“Well what do you want me to do? Do you want to move somewhere else where I can’t even afford your dog food because there are no jobs?”
Kaboose barked twice.
“Alright, alright, I’ll figure things out. I promise things will get better. I’m a woman of my word.”
The two went inside and Kalyn showered and did her make up. The water was hot on her skin and the vibration woke her up. She stepped out and thought for a moment about what she would wear for the day. Mel was putting a lot emphasis on the meeting this afternoon. She thought for a while about dressing up or putting on something special. She decided she would wear jeans and a girl’s Fred Perry polo. The shirt had been a present to herself when she’d graduated from beauty school. She sat in front of her mirror and did her make-up, putting on basic foundation and then she arched her eyebrows up and applied a dark red lipstick.
“You’re no beauty school dropout,” Kalyn said to her reflection. “You can do this.”
She made a quick breakfast of toast and an avocado and made a cup of coffee. The hot liquid burned on her mouth making her taste buds go numb for a moment. They came back to life as the taste of roasted caramel washed over her tongue. The coffee had a considerable amount of caffeine and she’d bought the bag of beans from a hip coffee shop on Claremont street called Timely.
Kaboose barked at her one last time before she left the apartment. He sounded frustrated.
“I know, I know. Maybe I can ask if you can come into the shop. I promise I won’t leave you alone much longer,” Kalyn told Kaboose.
It was drizzling out when she left. The early afternoon was still gray and dark. Usually the sun had burnt out the morning clouds but nothing had happened yet. Kalyn worried that it would be a dark day.
Joy was there when Kalyn arrived. Kalyn could see her from outside the doors and took a deep breath and walked in.
“Listen I know how things were run before, but this will be how things are run now.”
“I’m just not sure that’s a good way of dealing with things. We already have a system,” Deborah said.
The two were standing by the front desk. Joy had on a new outfit, a fashionable pant suit with, as Mel was happy to see, heels. Deborah was put together well but didn’t have the same presence and style as Joy and when Kalyn looked at her friend her shoulders were slumped in defeat.
“If you are unhappy with how things are looking,” Joy said.
“I’m not sure it should come to that,” Deborah replied.
“Well I want you to know that it’s an option.”
“I think things sound good,” Mel interjected. She was seated in one of the empty chairs looking at the two women as they talked. Kalyn could tell that her eyes were on Joy and that she wasn’t really listening at all.
“I’ll let you all have the run of things over the day or two to get used to the new system and I’ll be back tomorrow,” Joy said.
“Okay. We’ll see you tomorrow then,” Deborah said.
“Yes. Hope to see you soon Joy,” Mel said.
Joy walked out the door and Mel’s eyes followed her along.
“You are like a teenage boy. You’re just trying to hump her.”
“What she’s fucking hot,” Mel said.
Kalyn rolled her eyes at the same time as Deborah.
“Well you don’t have to be such a fucking kiss ass.”
“And you don’t have to be so ungrateful,” Mel shot back.
“Okay well it’s a light day here. Although you have a late client Kalyn. I hope you don’t mind closing up,” Deborah said.
“No. It’s not a big deal.”
“Great. Well we have to get used to the new system that Joy is putting into place.”
“What is it exactly?”
“It’s basically the same as the last one but with a new hot owner,” Mel said.
“You’re making me feel bad about myself,” Deborah said.
“It’s not my fault that a living goddess just walked into the shop and bought you out. I’m sure someone will try to sweep you off your feet at some point. Maybe not today, maybe not tomorrow but soon.”
“You two are awful,” Kalyn said. She walked over to her chair and began to set things up. The first hour or two of work would be slow and so but she wanted things ready. As she finished setting things up she noticed a few things missing.
“Are we running low on stock? I know it’s only been a day since our new ownership but I’m out of hairspray. Are you going to be taking care of it, Deborah?”
“Well under the new system with the new management I won’t be. I’ll just be a normal stylist here. Everything is up to Joy,” Deborah looked away from Kalyn and then walked out the door. Kalyn watched as her friend lit up a cigarette.
“What’s wrong with her,” Kalyn asked Mel who was still lounging in her chair.
“I think she’s mad that she couldn’t save the shop herself. But I mean come on she didn’t ever even do the books.”
“Yeah. I mean I guess it really hurt her pride but there are things more important than pride.”
“Yeah like money.”
“Yes, like money. Well what should I do about the supplies,” Kalyn asked.
“You can borrow some of mine. I also hid some extra stuff in the backroom.”
Kalyn got the bottles of shampoo from the back room and brought it to her station. She watched as her friend outside smoked a cigarette. Deborah threw the butt on the ground and lit up another one. She always chain smoked when she was angry. The nicotine made her more angry and then she’d be in withdrawals for several days adding to her grumpiness. Things did not look like they were going to be smooth at the salon, Kalyn thought.
The day crawled by with Deborah repeatedly going out for cigarettes. She even walked to the corner store to buy an extra pack. She didn’t ask anyone if they wanted anything but came back with two boxes of cigarettes and a few red bulls. She slammed the sugary drink and went out for another smoke.
“She’s got a real bug up her ass,” Mel said as she finished up a dye job on a hipster.
It wasn’t that Joy had made that many changes, it’d only been a day. Deborah was mainly nursing an injured sense of pride. She’d tried to pull the company together herself and had failed. The failure smarted on it. By the end of the day she’d gone through two packs of cigarettes and she reeked like smoke. Even one of her customers complained about it. After the complaint, Deborah stormed out of the shop. Luckily Kalyn wasn’t busy and was able to finish things off for the client, a young man who’d walked in for a high and tight.
“Sorry about that,” Kalyn said to the young man. He had a big nose and looked a bit like broken down Ryan Gosling.
“No problem. She just smelled like my dad,” the young man said with a laugh that was a bit too loud. He looked over at the hipster girl that Mel was working on. The girl was busy playing with her phone and didn’t notice his comment.
When the man was all set and down he paid, and walked out of the door backwards looking at the girl in Mel’s chair the entire time.
“Nice moonwalk,” Mel yelled at the man when he exited.
“You’re really helping out our repeat business,” Kalyn said to Mel.
“We don’t need bros who harass our customers, do we sweetie,” Mel said to the girl in her chair. She squeezed the girl’s shoulders. “This haircut is looking really good. I foresee a ten percent increase in your Instagram following.”
“I don’t use Instagram. I use Snapchat,” the girl replied.
“Ah…”
Kalyn smiled to herself and cleaned up. Mel finished with the girl who politely paid and left, hardly looking up from her phone the entire time.
“That’s it for me today. I’ve booked a repair man to come in this evening.”
“You got money already,” Kalyn asked.
“I got a loan from a friend. I think that the future is looking bright,” Mel said with a rare smile.”
“Maybe. I don’t know though Deborah seems pretty upset.”
“She also got us into this mess. Don’t forget you have another client coming in, in fifteen.”
Kalyn nodded and watched Mel tidy up and walk out the door.
The last client of the day was an older white lady from Walnut Creek. She was a bit like Kelly but more finicky and prone to complaining.
“I have so many greys now,” the woman complained right away.
“It happens but you can still look quite youthful with greys,” Kalyn replied. She draped a cape around the woman and gently ran her fingers through the woman’s hair. “We can do something with lots of texture to make it look modern. Maybe style it with a side parting.”
“Hmmm...,” the woman said.
The two went back and forth for several minutes before deciding to go ahead with Kalyn’s idea. The cut took quite some time because the woman constantly had to check her phone, her hair, and was constantly double guessing what Kalyn was doing. By the time that Kalyn was done two hours had passed. The woman paid and left happily. Kalyn sat down in her chair with a sigh.
“That was a good job,” a voice said. It was a man’s voice. Deep and low. Kalyn sat up in her chair, she hadn’t seen anyone come in and the door would have chimed. She whipped her head around to see who was speaking and saw Gary.
He was wearing a tie that was loose around his neck. The silk piece of cloth was black and skinny while his shirt was starched white. It was ironed but had a softness to it and appeared to be Egyptian cotton. He wore navy blue slacks but his shoes were basic converse. Kalyn appreciated the fade of his hair cut and his dark brown eyes. His skin was a warm brown and his lips were plump.
Kalyn’s eyes widened when she saw him, the orbs growing large and then contracting. She got up off the chair and stood to her feet.
“Can I help you,” Kalyn said.
“I’m Gary,” he said. He outstretched his hand.
“I’m Kalyn,” she replied cautiously taking his hand.
“I’m Joy’s husband.”
“Oh…”
“I came in to look at the books. Joy rushed into things and didn’t really figure out the financial side of things. I wanted to take a look.”
“Okay…”
“So I’ll just be doing that,” he replied.
“Right.”
“Joy didn’t call and said I would stop by?”
“No. No one said anything about you.”
“Oh. I’m terribly sorry. Well I’ll just look through the computer and the office.”
“You have a key,” Kalyn said.
“Yeah. I came in the back. That’s probably why I surprised you.”
Kalyn nodded. She was slowly letting her guard down. It helped that Gary was attractive in a ruggish sort of way. He was polite. He wasn’t pushing her too hard for anything. The whole buy of the salon was rather quick so while Kalyn wasn’t surprised by the turn of events but it had cut her off guard. She began to tidy up her work station and get ready to go home. She did her bit of paperwork and was getting ready to go out the door when Gary came to the front from the office.
“So how’s it looking,” Kalyn asked.
“Things are a mess.”
“Yeah. That’s what I gathered from Deborah.”
“It shouldn’t be anything too hard though. Just a bit of elbow grease and a bit more structure and the ship should be sailing smooth.”
“And you’re going to do that?”
“I suppose. Joy isn’t it. I told her she needed something to do but she’ll probably just go and start exercising again or go to LA for more Botox or go to NYC for a purse or something.”
“If you’re so rich why are you here? Why aren’t you jet setting around as well?”
“I miss it. I miss the passion and having something to do every day. Being rich is pretty great but it can also be painfully boring.”
“I imagine all the bottles of champagne and the vacations can be so utterly dull. I can’t remember the last time I had any free time was.”
“Really? Well let me take you out. My treat,” Gary said. “I should be happy that one of Joy’s employees is sticking around and you did stay late. I thought no one would be here when I got here.”
“Umm…” Kalyn hummed aloud. She wasn’t sure if it would be appropriate if she went out with her boss’ husband the first time she met him, and alone but he was handsome and she hadn’t had a drink out in ages. She nodded her head. What could it hurt she said to herself.
“Did you drive,” Gary asked.
“I did.”
“Well why don’t we drop off your car and I can take us downtown.”
“Okay,” Kalyn said. “I’ll need to walk my dog.”
Gary followed Kalyn to her house. He hesitated for a moment before following Kalyn upstairs.
“You have a nice place,” he said looking around her small apartment. Kaboose came up to him right away and sniffed at his feet and then jumped up to sniff at his crotch. He seemed to have approved because after that Kaboose didn’t bark and seemed appeased by the new stranger.
“Thanks. It’s all I can afford.”
“Things are getting expensive in the bay, aren’t they?”
“Yeah not that you have that problem.”
“I don’t have that problem. I have other problems.”
“Like which champagne to drink?”
“More or less,” Gary said with a laugh. “You live here by yourself?”
“Yeah. Just me and Kaboose.”
“Cool.”
The two went out and began to walk Kaboose around. Kalyn and Gary talked for a while. He asked her about herself and she told him about how she’d graduated school, how’d she started working right away. How things were difficult economically but also how she was driven to succeed. She had to. There was no other choice. He continued to nod and ask her a few questions. She felt like he was genuinely listening to her. When they got back to her place she let Kaboose in and then grabbed her coat.
“Are you ready,” Kalyn said.
“Yeah… actually would you be interested in staying in,” Gary said. He came close to her.
She could smell him. He smelled of sandalwood. It was a rich earthy smell and she felt comfortable with him. She didn’t think that it was a good idea but… and there was a strong but. She felt a tinge of desire between her legs and her lips parted slightly.
“I know I’m your boss more or less,” Gary said.
Kalyn nodded. He was physically pressed against her. She could feel his cock against her. She didn’t resist nor did she push her increasingly wet pussy against him either.
“I’m not sure,” Kalyn said.
“Neither am I,” Gary replied.
“I want to,” Kalyn said. It had been too long since she’d had a man around besides Kaboose and she hadn’t been attracted to anyone in some time. She barely knew Gary but felt something for him.
It was Gary’s turn to nod. He lifted her head and captured her lips in his. She kissed him back eagerly and she felt his tongue slide into her mouth while her hand rubbed his abs. She could feel his body heat up and so in turn did her arousal.
Gary lifted up her blouse and unhooked her bra. She felt the garment fall away and her full breasts fell loose. Her nipples were pointing outward, yearning for his kiss. She groaned an approval as he lifted her shirt off her head.
“Woah,” Gary said. “You’re beautiful.”
He ran his hand along her face and then down her neck. He lightly drummed his fingers down her chest and then between her breasts. The back of his hand grazed her nipples and she moaned. She felt like they were on fire.
“Taste them,” Kalyn said pulling on her nipples with her hands. She loved when someone licked her sensitive nipples.
Gary brought his face down to her breast and began to circle them with his tongue. He bit them lightly and pulled. Then he cupped her right breast in his hand. With his left he began to pull on his cock.
“You are making me so hard,” Gary said.
Kalyn pushed his head away for a moment and pulled off his shirt then undid his pants. His hard cock protruded out of his boxers. Gary stroked it in front of her.
“I want you to lick me,” Kalyn said.
Her arousal was apparent when Gary pulled off her pants. Her panties were soaked. Gary hooked a finger on the waistband of her panties and pulled down to reveal a glistening cunt.
Gary was on his knees before her and she pushed her juicy cunt onto his face. She pulled away and a trail of her juice was on his mouth. He lay down on the floor and she slowly lowered down onto his face. She put her hips so that she was right above his mouth. Gary grabbed her hips and brought her wet pussy down to his mouth. She squeezed her breasts together as Gary began to lick her cunt. Her moans became pants and then gasps as his tongue circled her clit. She ground her pussy onto his face as she neared her orgasm.
“Oh god,” Kalyn screamed in the salon. Her voice was loud and shrill. She could feel herself cumming. It was intense. She hadn’t had anyone licking her in too long. She felt her vaginal walls begin to contract as an ocean of pleasure crashed through her body.
Gary drank as much of her juice as he could but she still gushed out desire. He lapped at her as she continued to orgasm. When she had finally subsided, her face was flushed red and she was breathing heavily. She looked down at Gary who seemed to be in a state of agony. His cock speared up towards the sky.
“Should we be doing this,” Kalyn said.
“Probably not.”
“That’s what I thought,” Kalyn replied. She got off of Gary’s face and looked down at him then kneeled down between his legs. “It’s nice,” she said as she pulled down his boxer briefs to reveal his hard cock. The top of it glistened with precum and Kalyn brought her mouth down to it. She licked the tip of his head and tasted his cum.
“That feels good,” Gary moaned.
Kalyn smiled as she took more of him into her mouth. She could feel the hardness of his cock. She took as much as she could into her mouth and then pulled out letting her tongue drag along his head.
“You are going to make me cum,” Gary said.
“Good.”
His dick was wet with her saliva and his cum. She pulled up on his foreskin and more droplets of his juice oozed out.
Gary moaned and Kalyn took his balls into her mouth. She gently massaged them with her tongue. She could feel them tighten as she masturbated his dick. She cork screwed his cock upwards.
“I’m going to cum,” Gary said. He clenched his fists together and his face looked anguished.
Kalyn sunk her lips onto his cock and he came into her mouth. His jizz filled up her mouth and she licked greedily at his cock as he came swallowing each drop as it came in.
When Gary’s orgasm had finally subsided, he was fully clean. Kalyn had licked every drop of his cum off her dick.
“That was amazing,” he said.
Kalyn licked her lips and put her finger between her legs. She wiped her wetness onto his lips and kissed him. Her tongue pushed into his mouth and she could feel his cock begin to rise again.
“I want more,” Gary said.
“Maybe next time.”
“So there’ll be a next time.”
“I don’t know,” Kalyn said. Everything had happened so fast. She wasn’t sure if she should continue. She probably shouldn’t even be here at her home with him alone. She should definitely not be naked next to him. She got up and put her clothes back on. “It was probably a mistake.”
“How could something that feels so good be a mistake?”
“Sometimes the only good things in life are the things that are painful,” Kalyn said.
Gary was back on his feet dressing himself.
“What a terrible way of looking at life,” Gary said.
“I think you should be going,” Kalyn said.
“Are you upset with me,” Gary said.
“No. I’m not. I’m not sure. Maybe I am. I just need to think about all this.”
“Can I leave you my phone number?”
“I’m not sure I will call.”
“I’d like to give it to you anyways. You have something Kalyn. You have drive. My wife wouldn’t stay late at work. I know you are struggling now. I could maybe make things better.” Gary took one of his business cards out and grabbed a pen from Kalyn’s desk that sat against the wall. He flipped the card over and wrote his number on it.
He put the card in her hands. She took it. The card was firm and eggshell white. His name was embossed in a dark black lettering. It had his business email on the lower right. She set it down on the nightstand.
“It was great talking to you, and connecting,” Gary said.
“Yeah.”
“Okay. I guess I’ll be going then,” he said.
Kalyn watched as he walked out of the door. She locked the door behind him.
When Gary was gone, Kalyn went back into her bedroom. She looked at the floor where she had just given Gary the blowjob. It was wrong but it felt right.
Kalyn made a mental checklist in her head about the pros and cons of the situation.
“Kaboose, Kaboose, we need to talk,” she said.
The little dog came wagging over. He jumped up onto the bed and Kalyn collapsed onto it next to him.
“Okay let’s think positive first. First, he’s handsome. Second, he’s really attentive,” Kalyn said.
Kaboose lifted his head and tilted it to the side.
“He knows how lick a girl good,” Kalyn said with a laugh. “He’s got a nice size dick, not too big, not too small and it tastes good. He’s nice. He seems interested in me.”
Kaboose barked lightly.
“I know, I know, the cons. Okay the cons. He’s married.”
Kaboose barked again this time a little louder.
“Fine, he’s married to my new boss.”
Kaboose barked a third time.
“Yes if Joy finds out I could lose my job permanently. But I haven’t been with anyone in so longer. And he’s nice. And he’s sweet. And we might just have good chemistry. He is also married and I’m competing against Joy who is absolutely beautiful. She has a firm body and I have well, curves. She has perky breasts and mine are, well they are big and full but they aren’t the same. She has perfect skin and I wear foundation. We are just worlds apart. What should I do?”
Kaboose this time was silent. His large eyes gazed at her but they said nothing. She pet his head. His fur was soft. She lifted his chin slightly and she could see a few grey hairs beginning to grow on the underside of his chin like an old man’s goatee. Kaboose closed his eyes as Kalyn pet him. When she lifted her hand, he walked to the edge of the bed and did two figure eights and settled down at the foot of her bed. Kalyn crawled into the covers and fell into a dreamless sleep.