“Be in there,” I muttered. “You had better be in there.”
The door was yanked open by the proprietor. Not that I wanted to deal with him right now. Or ever. He just…
Ugh.
I glared at him. “Shaun, did you release some damn rat back here?”
He raised his eyebrow. “Well aren’t you a bowl full of pleasantness.”
“There’s a rat. In my beauty shop, Shaun.”
“They’re sneaky little suckers.” He was far too amused at this.
“You’d better come to get it out. I’m pretty sure it’s here because of you.”
“You think?”
“You release rats and bugs and crawly things all the time back here!” I stammered, shivering, and not from the cold air.
“You seem pretty sure it’s my fault.”
“Get over there and catch the damn thing and get it out of my beauty shop. Now.”
“No.”
“Shaun!”
“Fine.”
I turned and marched back to the beauty shop. I heard Shaun call to someone then his boots clumping on the ground behind me. The snow had started piling up already back here, the wind just enough to blow little drifts behind the building.
Fabulous. I hoped it didn’t ruin my heels.
I opened the back door of the shop and heard another scream. Muffled. But from the break room.
“Oh, for fuck’s sake.” I am going to kill those squealing girls, I thought as I walked in. There, plain as day was Summer in the hallway, her hand on the breakroom door, holding it shut.
Pounding inside.
“Let me out,” came Audra’s muffled voice.
Summer glanced at me and looked guilty.
Good.
“What the ever-loving hell is going on here?” I asked through gritted teeth.
“It got away from us,” Summer said.
“Oh for fuck’s sake,” I muttered. I waved her off. “Go. Cover the salon floor. Make sure none of the clients are freaking out over your freak out.”
She turned and started running away.
I turned back to her. “And Summer. Don’t tell them why. I don’t want people thinking we have a problem here when we don’t.”
She nodded.
I started to yank open the door, and a man’s hand stopped me.
