I sat on the stairs out the front of the State Library of Victoria, watching the city come and go around me.

The sun was shining, so people were lounging on one of the only green spots in the CBD, soaking up the warmth. I pulled my jacket closer, more out of nervous habit than anything. It was autumn, so the sunshine was rare, and the air was still cold.

Somehow, Liam’s friend Faye had talked me into meeting her here this morning. It was the first time anyone had invited me anywhere in what felt like years, and I wasn’t sure how to take it.

Speaking of the mysterious, and oddly friendly, Blade, I hadn’t seen him again last night, but I did see him fight. For the first time, he’d lost, and I wondered if that was why he left early. It seemed like he’d expected it from the tip he’d given me on parting. Bet on the Irish.

I began to think about him and realized I was crushing on the guy. Bad move. Bad, bad move.

Spotting Faye’s blonde hair through the mass of people, I straightened up. When Liam introduced me to her last night, she’d intimidated the hell out of me. Seriously, she was perfect in every way I wasn’t. Beautiful, confident, admired, and lusted after. She’d just taken me under her wing, no questions asked, and started chattering away like I was her new best friend. There were no snide comments or passive-aggressive compliments. She was just…genuine.

Every man in a twenty-meter radius turned and watched her walk toward me, their eyes settling on her tits and then her ass as they got the back view. I felt a small pang of jealousy, but standing side by side, there was no competition. Faye looked like a Victoria’s Secret model, and I… There were no words for me.

“Ali,” she said, throwing her arms around my neck and hugging me tightly. “Good, you’re here. I thought you might do a runner on me.”

I’d contemplated it, but I was far too curious not to come.

“You don’t have anywhere else to be today?” she went on, not even waiting for a reply. It was like she knew I was a woman of few words and was helping me out by filling the silences. When I shook my head, she said, “Great! I’ve got a whole day planned for us. Shopping, hairdresser, makeup, the works.”

“Shopping?” I asked. “Hairdresser?”

“The churros come later,” she said with a thousand-megawatt smile. Great, she had perfect teeth, too.

“But…” I began, embarrassment flaring. There was no way I had the money to pay for her grand makeover. All I had to my name was the sixty dollars in profits from my two lucky bets at The Underground.

“Don’t worry about it,” Faye said, keeping her voice low. “I know a guy who knows a guy.” She winked, over exaggerating the gesture. “Free will never look so good.”

“Free?”

She laughed, threading her arm through mine. “You’re hilarious, Ali. C’mon. Let’s start with your hair.”

As she practically dragged me down the street, the crowd parted as we went. Usually, I would put my head down and weave around slow walkers but not Faye. Her presence demanded attention, and like it was an unconscious response, people just moved aside. All I could do was follow, completely shell-shocked.

After crossing at the pedestrian lights, she towed me into a doorway jammed between a cafe and a convenience store. Reading the sign as we passed, I realized we were at a hairdressing school. Rush Academy. A chalkboard just inside was scrawled with the current price of a student’s haircut with basic colors starting at forty dollars.

Clattering down the concrete stairs, we found ourselves in a basement area that’d been renovated into a hairdressing salon. There was a desk with a telephone and an appointment book, a shelf jammed with various bottles of shampoos and other mysterious products, and a dozen or so chairs before floor-to-ceiling mirrors. Behind a partition was a row of basins, and beyond that looked like a staff and student only area.

The entire place was empty—school wasn’t in on a Saturday—but the moment we stepped into the salon, a man appeared from a doorway to the side. When he saw us, he smiled, throwing his arms wide.

“Faye, darling!” he exclaimed rushing over to air kiss both her cheeks. “Right on time, sweetie.” Turning to me, he looked me over and nodded. “This must be Ali.”

“This is Andy,” Faye said. “He’s a teacher here and owes me about a million favors.”

So that was why this was on the house. I began to feel a little better about being poor as hell, and I turned to Andy. He was tall, slim, and had an artfully messy swept back hairstyle. His clothes echoed the look one hundred percent.

“Darling, come with me.” He guided me to a chair and flung a cape around my shoulders, fastening the button at the back of my neck. Undoing my plait, he combed out my hair with his fingers and made a face.

“Let’s relax and straighten the frizz…” Messing up my hair, he stared at me in the mirror. “Your color is nice, but I think we can put a nice semipermanent through there to add some warm reflect.”

I didn’t know what that meant, but it sounded fancy.

“Then some layers and a fringe,” Faye added. “Heavy, blunt. Totally sexy.”

“Yes!” Andy exclaimed, clapping his hands together. “Totally runway.”

“Is that good?” I asked, wringing my hands together under the cape.

“Is it…” Andy waved his hand and spun my chair right around. “Darling, when I’m done with you, you won’t know yourself. You’ll be a whole new woman.”

“Sex on a stick,” Faye declared.

It was their way of saying they thought I would look beautiful, so I smiled. Just once, I wanted to hear someone say it to me and mean it. Just once.

“I trust you,” I said to Andy.

“Oh, my sweet…” He fanned himself. “Those are the words every stylist dreams of hearing. You must let me do your hair from now on. Ali, you’re a gem. I’m going to make you sparkle!”

Faye pulled up a chair beside me and chatted away happily with Andy as he brushed layer after layer of chemicals on my hair, and when I was wrapped up, she handed me some magazines with instructions to pick out clothes I was into so she could figure out my style.

“Why are you helping me?” I asked. “I mean… I only met you last night.”

“Any friend of Liam’s is a friend of mine,” she replied. “Besides, I’m a sucker for a makeover. You’re pretty, Ali, don’t get me wrong, but there’s a man-eater in there. We’ve just got to bring her out to play.”

I laughed nervously. “Sure.”

“You need more confidence in yourself,” she said. “It’s in there. Otherwise, you would never have walked into The Underground in the first place.”

“Do you really think so?”

“I know so. I’m a great judge of character. Just ask Andy.”

He poked his head around the partition. “She’s right, you know. Listen to her, Ali darling. Time to burst out of your cocoon!”

I laughed, starting to feel at ease.

“So how did you meet Liam?” Faye went on. “He’s never mentioned you before.”

“Oh, I um… I only met him the other night. He helped me escape a guy named Mountain…”

“Mountain?” She made a face. “Good thing Liam was there, then. That guy is one of the kick in the balls, ask questions later, fighters. A few coins short of a dollar, if you know what I mean.”

Good thing he was, I suppose. Wondering about Faye and Liam, I got the feeling they were pretty friendly. She talked about him like they’d known each other a long time, and I wouldn’t be surprised if they were together. I died a little inside at the thought.

“You and Liam?” I asked, my heart withering just the tiniest little bit.

“Oh, God no,” Faye replied with a laugh. “I’m not his type, honestly.”

“He’s not…”

“In a relationship? No. A man like Liam is hard to tie down. I’ve never known him to be in, or want, a relationship in all the years I’ve known him.”

I glanced at my reflection in the mirror and cursed my red cheeks. He’d only been nice to me because I was on my own and completely clueless. Nothing more.

“Relationship is such a scary word,” Faye went on, oblivious. “It’s a foolproof way to scare off every man in a five-kilometer radius. Our handsome Bade included.”

After several applications of some product, a color, a couple of trips to the basin, and a few snips later, I was sitting in front of the mirror, staring at the stranger before me.

“Holy hell!” Faye said, clapping her hands. “Was I right, or was I right?”

I ran my fingers through the silky strands of my newly straightened hair and couldn’t believe it. The fringe was heavy and brushed the top of my eyebrows, but it didn’t overwhelm my face, it framed it. Turning from side to side, I could see the red tones the color had brought out of the plain chestnut I’d been before. Then there were my eyes. The whole thing made them look like honey.

I was seriously checking myself out.

“My work here is done!” Andy declared, puffing out his chest.

“Thank you…” I said, sounding completely breathless.

It was just a hairstyle, but seeing myself looking so different…it changed something inside me. Something really good. I felt like a million bucks as Andy removed the cape, my confidence really starting to fill up.

We left with promises to return, the hour creeping on. According to Faye’s plan of attack, we still had several stops before the battle was won.

Next on the list was a boarded-up storefront on Russell Street.

A knock on the door and a burly security guard later, we walked into a large warehouse space with white walls and skylights in the ceiling. Before us were racks of clothes, several tables full of shoes, and stands of accessories.

“What is this place?” I asked, raking my gaze over the clothing. It didn’t look like a proper shop but a warehouse. There were no mannequins or fancy displays in the windows, just piles of stuff organized by type and some makeshift cash registers by the door.

“It’s a pop-up sample sale,” Faye explained. “Designers do these sometimes to shift surplus stock and end-of-season lines. If you can get in early, there’s some amazing stuff for dirt cheap. Usually, the racks get picked clean after ten minutes of the doors opening, but today…” She spread her arms wide and grinned like a Cheshire cat. “VIP, baby!”

“Is that Faye I hear?”

We glanced up as a tall redheaded woman sashayed into view.

“Francesca!” Faye exclaimed, air kissing the woman’s cheeks. Mwah, mwah, both sides like a pro. “Thanks so much for letting us in early. You’re doing me a massive favor, doll.”

“Of course. This is me returning the favor you did me when you stepped in on my show last minute. You saved my skin.”

Faye gave me a wink. “I was at Francesca’s last runway show at Melbourne Fashion Week, and one of her models fainted backstage fifteen minutes before. I was the right height and size, so she dragged me out of the crowd and stuffed me into the clothes. It was a madhouse!”

“And the people loved you.” She smiled at me and gestured to the racks. “Pick out anything you like, and I’ll take care of you. We have some really good pieces.”

As she left us, Faye almost jumped out of her skin in excitement at the cornucopia of fashion before us.

“This is going to be so good!” she said chortling as she pulled me toward the racks. “I know just the thing to go with your new hair!”

* * *

That night, after churros, Faye took me to The Underground.

In the space of four days, I’d made two friends, had a makeover, learned how to do my makeup properly, and scored plenty of new clothes to compliment my new look. I could mix and match with some of my old things and still look great. Bonus points for the pieces that doubled as work clothes. Those water cooler bitches wouldn’t know what hit them when I walked in on Monday morning‬. ‬‬‬‬‬

Sixty dollars had never gone so far in my entire life.

“How do you feel?” Faye asked as we approached The Underground.

“Like a different person,” I replied. “It’s amazing.”

“It’s already working,” she said mysteriously. “Now for the final test.”

Taking a deep breath, I brushed my palms over my new leather-look Moto leggings and checked the knee-high heeled boots Faye had picked for me at the sample sale. I’d never owned something so luxurious in my life, and I’d gotten them for a steal. Almost ninety percent off retail price.

Making sure the button of my cobalt blue blouse was secure over my breasts, I flipped up the collar of my trusty leather jacket and smoothed my hair forward over my shoulders. There. Now I was ready.

The moment we walked into the warehouse, Faye grabbed my arm. “C’mon, let’s find Liam. I can’t wait to see his face! He’s going to jizz in his pants.”

“He is not,” I said, embarrassed when I felt my own juice working its way to the surface at the mention of his name.

What would he say when he saw me? Would he like my new look? I shook my head, trying to clear my stupid thoughts. I’d known him for, like, three days. Get over it.

“Blade!” Faye yelled, spotting him through the crowd.

Wriggling out of her grasp, I lingered behind her, suddenly shy. The imminent arrival of the man I had developed an epic ladyboner for had forced me back into my shell, the confidence I’d conjured up outside fleeing the scene. Traitor.

He emerged through a group of people, looking hot as ever in a tight T-shirt and jeans, his tattoos snaking up and down his arms giving him the air of danger that seemed to drive every member of the female sex wild…including me.

His gaze met mine, and he stared, completely confused. He looked like he’d just been hit by a truck, and I glanced at Faye who was laughing like it was the funniest thing she’d ever seen in her life.

“Holy shit,” Liam said, his mouth falling open. Reaching out, he picked up a strand of my hair and twirled it around his thick fingers. “Ali?”

“Told you,” Faye said before disappearing into the crowd.

Liam’s lips curved into a grin, his gaze raking over my body. “There she is,” he murmured. “You look beautiful.”

“Thank you.” I smiled, beaming up at him. He’d just made all my dreams come true, and he didn’t even know it.

His brow creased. “For what?”

Standing up on my tiptoes, I kissed him on the cheek, the gesture coming out of nowhere. He shook his head, his smile widening.

“You know what,” I said, caught in his gaze. “I’ll never be able to repay you.”