After a restless night, Kady woke to the sound of the birds and her alarm trilling away as it always did. She groaned, rolled over, smacked it onto snooze, and then lay on her back rubbing her eyes until she was feeling brave enough to open them.
Her night had been filled with dreams of Flash, and they showed no signs of slowing down. They had been fast and hazy, full of flesh and frenzy. She fanned her face and bit her lip, trying not to let herself become too turned on by thinking about him. He was such a mystery to her still, but she liked it. She liked the fact that there was an element of the unknown.
She climbed out of bed, got herself showered and ready, and picked herself a cute outfit. She had a definite spring in her step and as she flipped through the hangers in her closet she grinned when she saw her tight little red vest top and figure hugging jeans. It had been a while since she had dressed so bare for work, but she didn’t mind. She only had two appointments booked, one of them being her close friend, and she had already decided she was going to shut up shop early to get herself home and ready for her big date.
She left the house with a big smile on her face, feeling sexy and confident and ready for anything the day may have in store for her. Her walk to work and down Main Street was peaceful, enjoyable, and when she ducked into the coffee house to grab her morning pick-me-up, she already felt full of beans.
She opened up her store and went inside. She let her fingers tickle the bouquet of flowers she had ordered at the end of the previous week, but were still fresh and bright, and then she began to turn on all the lights and make the place come alive.
She opened the door and put her board out front and she waved to the old lady across the street. Main Street was bustling as ever and she felt a great sense of accomplishment. As she sat down at her desk with her coffee and her diary, she began to sketch out some notes on her upcoming plans and of how she could make the pamper parties become a reality. But every so often, Flash would work his way into her mind and make it all about him.
She was having a hard time forgetting him.
And now, it was even harder because she knew that in only a few hours, she would be seeing him again.
She bit the end of her pen and smiled.
Suddenly, she heard the clatter of heels coming down the sidewalk outside and she spun in her chair, already fully aware of who would be tumbling through the door at any moment.
Ashley.
True to form, Ashley burst through with the biggest grin on her face and her arms wide open, and Kady felt full of joy. It had been weeks, if not months, since she had seen her best friend, and now they certainly had a lot to talk about.
“Hey, doll,” Kady smiled as Ashley pulled her into a big hug.
“Oh, Kady, it’s so good to see you! I can’t believe how long it’s been!”
“Well, you were all loved up and taking him out of town,” she laughed. “How was your trip back home?”
Ashley raised her eyebrow and shrugged.
“Maybe the less I talk about that the better,” she said with a half laugh. “I mean, can you imagine, Breaker and my brother under the same roof? It wasn’t exactly smooth sailing…”
Ashley’s brother was a member of a rival bike gang which The Forsaken Riders were now forming bonds with to help them overthrow an outside threat. Kady’s knowledge on the subject was limited, but what she did know was that Ashley had fallen for a Forsaken Rider and her brother was now having to deal with it. There had been all sorts of tension in the beginning, but now things had settled down, and Kady just hoped things were going well for her friend and her new man.
“What did he think of Iron Hill?” Kady laughed.
Ashley raised her eyebrows again.
“I think he was glad to come home,” she laughed.
Before now, it was pretty much unheard of for a Forsaken Rider to spend a significant amount of time in Iron Hill, the rival gang’s home. But as things were changing, all sorts of new bonds were forming and new avenues were being opened up day by day.
Ashley slipped onto a seat underneath a big mirror lit by lightbulbs and spun around from side to side excitedly.
“I feel as if we must have so much to talk about,” she said to Kady. “I mean, it’s literally been almost two months. That’s way too long, and for the record, it should never happen again.”
“Hey! I’m the one who’s been waiting here patiently for your return,” Kady laughed. “But I’m certainly glad you missed me.”
Ashley beamed and nodded her head.
“Girl, I really did,” she said.
They looked at each other for a moment and then Ashley narrowed her eyes.
“What’s going on?” she asked with amusement. “I can tell you’re happy about something… Spill.”
Kady put her hands over her eyes and laughed.
“Is it that obvious?”
Ashley’s smile widened.
“It’s very obvious, come on, what’s going on with you? You can’t have spent the past couple months locked away?”
“Well, you’d be surprised…” Kady mused. To be fair to her, apart from her wild night with Flash six weeks before, she hadn’t done much apart from work. She had kept her head down and she had beavered away at her business. But when it came to Kady and Ashley, a man was big gossip… and especially considering it was a Forsaken Rider.
“Flash,” Kady said as she scrunched her eyes tightly closed.
She couldn’t bear to see the look of either shock or smugness on Ashley’s face, and she covered her eyes with her palms.
“Flash?” Ashley blurted. “You just said… Flash, right?”
Kady nodded her head slowly as she peeled back her hands and slowly opened one eye.
Ashley’s jaw was sagging open and she looked as stunned as Kady had expected. When Ash had met her boyfriend, Breaker, Kady had done nothing but say bad things about the bikers. She’d always thought them to be arrogant and full of themselves. But now, after seeing the way Ashley and Breaker had fallen in love, she had to admit that her opinions had changed.
And Flash…
Well, even after she had tried to keep herself away from him, she was already finding herself being pulled back in after one sighting.
“Okay,” Ashley said as she stood up and pulled a chair over to sit right next to her own. “Sit your ass down and prepare to tell all.”
Kady sucked in a big lungful of air and nodded her head, as she sat down and prepared to begin.
She recounted the night in The Bleeding Bullet, and relayed, in vivid detail, the way she had danced on the bar. The way he had caught her drunkenly falling into the crowd and had told her to take it easy. He’d half carried her across the room to a private table in the corner and made sure she was all right. He had given her water, made sure no one bothered her, and when she had told him how she felt he had erred on the side of caution.
“He’s a gentleman,” Ashley said. “I always told you there was more to these bikers than what you thought.”
Kady nodded her head and smiled from the inside out.
“I know,” she beamed. “I just can’t believe I got them all so wrong.”
“So then what happened?” Ashley’s smile was a mile wide.
“Well…” Kady said coyly as she looked off into the distance. “He may have come home with me.”
“Oh my God, you did not!” Ashley’s smile was now even wider and she slapped her hands together in glee. “I can’t believe Breaker hasn’t told me about this!” she screamed.
“Well, maybe he doesn’t know?” Kady asked.
“Maybe,” Ashley bit her lip. “And if he doesn’t, that just proves to you even more what a good guy Flash is, right?”
Kady hadn’t really thought about the brotherhood and their male bravado. She had always just assumed they would be the same as women and would love a chance to talk with the boys about their latest conquests. But maybe Flash really was different. He seemed respectful in all other aspects she had witnessed so far. If he had been a gentleman and kept tight lipped about their night of passion, then it only made her like him even more.
“And there’s more,” Kady said as she looked into Ashley’s wide open smile, and tried not to mimic it as well. “I bumped into him, for the first time since it happened, yesterday, and we’re going out tonight.”
Ashley screamed so loud it made Kady jump out of her seat. And then she began to excitedly clap her hands together as she cheered and whooped.
“Kady!” she panted. “This is some of the best news I think I’ve ever heard!”
And Kady could tell, because she had never, ever seen her friend this happy before.
“Forget giving me the make-over today! We need to focus on you!” Ashley grabbed hold of Kady’s hand and pulled her out of the chair and over to another set of mirrors along the back wall of the salon.
“Honestly,” Kady laughed. “I don’t think I need to mess on changing up my look. I mean, the guy’s already seen me naked. It’s like we’re doing everything backwards.”
Ashley laughed.
“I can’t believe you’ve already had sex with him,” she grinned. “I never would have had you down as the type.”
“Well, I’m not,” Kady blushed. “But something just happened to me that night and I knew what I wanted… So I went and took it.”
She bit her lip as she remembered how good it had felt to be so confident and sexy. It had lit up her soul and reawakened her spirit.
“You’re a bad, bad girl, Miss Kady,” Ashley said with a wicked grin. “And I like it.”
Kady tried to stop herself from blushing but she found herself grinning too.
“What time is he coming to pick you up? Where is he taking you? Oh my goodness, I literally have so many questions! I can’t believe I left you for a few weeks and this has all happened!”
“You left me for two months,” Kady corrected her. “And technically, I’ve only had one night of sin, nothing else has happened since then. I only saw him yesterday for the first time.”
“Come on,” Ashley beamed. “Let’s shut up this shop, get you home and spend the next couple hours pouring over outfits and painting your nails.”
Kady knew she wouldn’t be able to concentrate for the rest of the day, and the last thing she wanted to do was make small talk with a stranger when her afternoon appointment came in. But she did have a business to run…
“Cancel your afternoon booking and I’ll reimburse you. Come on, I want to spend the day with my friend.” Ashley pouted.
“It’s not about the money,” Kady laughed. “It’s about the honor.”
Ashley pouted some more and put on her sad face.
If there was a day when she would cancel bookings and shut up shop, today would be it with only one lady booked in later in the day. And she was someone passing through, she wasn’t even a resident of the town, so it wasn’t like Kady would be losing a regular custom.
“Come on…” Ashley wined as she tapped her foot on the ground.
“Okay,” Kady said as she rolled her eyes. “But if I start getting a bad name for cancelling on clients then you’re to blame.”
“I bet this woman doesn’t even show. If you don’t know her, how can you trust her anyway?”
Kady didn’t like to admit it, but Ashley did have a point. It wouldn’t be the first time someone had booked to come in and failed to arrive. She had wasted many a long afternoon waiting in the salon all alone only to be let down. Maybe she should put herself first, just this once…
She flipped open the diary and found the booking and the client’s cell phone number and then she put the phone to her ear and waited for the dial tone. When the line went live, Kady cleared her throat and smiled before she began.
“Hello, this is Kady from the salon on Main Street,” she said.
“The what?” the woman barked on the other end. And as soon as she heard the confusion in her voice, Kady knew Ash had been right.
She cancelled and ended the call, and when she turned around to look at Ashley, she was given the most elaborate ‘I told you so’ face that had ever existed.
“Okay,” Kady rolled her eyes. “Don’t get too cocky.”
Ashley linked her arm with her friend’s and the two girls walked toward the door before they shut up shop.
It had been a while since they had spent any quality time together, and now they had the added excitement of Kady’s impending date.
It was shaping up to be a very good day, indeed. And Kady couldn’t wait to see where it was going to lead.