She grabbed his arm for stability until the world stopped wobbling, then set her gaze on the small white terrier practically bouncing around Gumby’s feet.
Beth crouched down, and the dog bounded toward her. “Oh my gosh,” she gushed as she held her arms out. “What a cut! Holy shit, what the hell happened to her?”
“See,” Screw said to Gumby. “I told you it’s fucking criminal.”
The dog wriggled all around as Beth stroked her horribly cut hair. The poor girl looked like someone hacked at her fur with a machete while blindfolded. The uneven tufts stuck out in all directions. “What happened?”
Screw threw his hands in the air and practically shouted, “She was butchered. That’s what happened.”
“Okay, baby.” Jazz walked over to him and rubbed his back as she kissed his cheek. Her eyes sparkled with laughter, but shewisely appeased her husband. Well, one of her husbands. The other rolled his eyes. “This is Mary Lou. We picked her up from the shelter last night. She was filthy, so Screw took her to the Barking Beautician this morning…”
“And that evil woman destroyed her,” Screw said with a growl.
Beth cringed. This didn’t bode well for her interview later today. Did she really want to work for someone who did such shoddy work?
“Pretty sure she did it on purpose too,” Screw muttered.
Beth blinked up at him. “Really?” Being shitty at her job was one thing, but if the woman were malicious, Beth would cancel the interview in a heartbeat. “Why do you think that?”
The dog rolled to its back, soaking up belly rubs with an adorable wiggle.
“Because when I walked in, she started preaching to me about the family unit and how disgusting it was for me to be with a mananda woman. She got pissed when I told her to shove her opinions up her ass.
Her jaw dropped. Well, that sealed the deal. No way could she work with or for someone who thought that way. Screw, Jazz, and Gumby had one of her favorite relationships on the planet. The three were so over the top in love with each other, even after a decade and a half of being together.
Now what the hell was she supposed to do for work?
“Can you fix her?” Screw asked, sounding near desperate.
“Yes. She won’t be perfect, but I can even her out. It’ll be too short, but at least it will grow in properly, and she won’t look like a gremlin anymore.”
“Thank fuck,” Screw said. He seemed to lose fifty pounds of tension as he put his arm around Jazz’s shoulder and tucked her into his side.
The dog scampered back over to Gumby, so Beth stood. “I’m glad you came by. I was supposed to interview there today.”
“Oh no, I’m so sorry, Beth.” Jazz looked gorgeous in a hunter green V-cut tank top and white denim shorts. A litany of scars covered her arms and chest from a past trauma. Back in the day, Jazz would wear full-length sleeves no matter the temperature or time of year. Having two men worship her for the goddess she was helped her overcome any insecurities she had regarding her appearance, and now she wore whatever the fuck she wanted, and she looked fantastic.
“No. God, don’t apologize. I’d much rather know she’s an evil bitch now.”
“Tell you what,” Screw said. “You should open your own salon. Put that monster out of business. There’s a need for it. She has a terrible reputation, but is the only game in town. She’s only been open a few weeks too. Before that, we had to drive almost an hour for a good groomer.”
“Yeah, I’d love to have my own place.” She shrugged. “Maybe someday. I don’t have the capital for that right now.” Her parents had offered to help, of course, but she wanted to do it without their assistance.
“Huh.” Screw rubbed at the stubble on his chin.
A grin broke out across Gumby’s face. “Uh-oh, you’ve got him thinking, Beth.”
“What do you mean?”
“He’s been talking about investing in a local business for months, but hasn’t found one that speaks to him,” Jazz said with a smile. “You might have just given him the perfect idea.”
Her heart skipped a beat. “Wait, really?”
“Want to talk about going into business together, Beth?”
“For real?”Holy shit. Was he serious? Could this possibly be real?She’d kill to own a salon and to be in business with one of her favorite people.
Hell yes.
