I laughed again. I knew shewas trying to cheer me up, and itwasworking. But it was alsoshort-lived.
“All the boys will love me,”I said, grinning at her as I folded my arms behind my head. “Maybe I’ll meet anice one before I go. Maybe he’ll swoop in and save the day for me.”
“Could try your luck withthe hot bodyguard,” Keiko suggested, spreading wax delicately.
A love heart.
Itwouldbe cute, soI wasn’tabout to argue. No one was likely to see it before it grew out, but I’d see itin the mirror.
And it’d make me smile,and think of my friends back home.
Which would also make mecry, but I expected to cry anyway. Might as well be while thinking about peoplewho meant so much to me that leaving them was going to hurt like cutting off myown arm.
There was no other choice,though. Hell, I might have been putting Keiko and everyone else in the salon indanger just by being here.
Stalkers were dangerous.Unpredictable.
I had no idea what thisman—I assumed it was a man—wanted, or what he might be capable of. I didn’t even know whoitwas. Who had I meantso much to that they’d bother to do this to me?
There hadn’t been anyoneserious since I got here, still nursing a broken heart. Just hookups and casualthings, relationships that were all about sex. Men who wouldn’t be seen dead inpublic with me. Men who complained about me getting lipstick on their dick.
No one stood out. A stringof practically anonymous short-term boyfriends didn’t seem like it’d produce astalker.
None of my friends had beenable to point out anyone who seemed weird, either. Not weirder than SanFrancisco baseline weirdness, anyway.
“I don’t want my browsshaped,” Logan’s voice carried into the back room, making me snort.
Keiko laughed. “He should lether do it,” she said. “He’s a beautiful man, but a little better personalgrooming wouldn’t hurt him.”
“I like the natural look.” Ishrugged. “He’s not perfect, and that’s kinda hot. The scars are hot, too.”
“The scarsarehot,” Keiko agreed. “Please.For all of us. Jump on the hot bodyguard’s dick and then come back and tell uswhat it was like.”
“I never kiss and tell,” Isaid.
Keiko laughed as she rippedthe wax off, one hand on my stomach to keep the skin taught. My eyes watered,but I had no doubt the results looked incredible.
“Just gonna trim some strayhairs on your lying ass,” she said. “You drop by here to tell us when you hookup with someone who wasreallygood.”
“Listen,” I said, unable todeny that. “If I’m gonna fall in love with my bodyguard, I’m doing it right.Coffee in the park and candle-lit dinners. Slow lovemaking under the covers. Longkisses in the rain.”
“In July?” Keiko asked,raising an eyebrow as she trimmed a few hairs, pausing to check the lines. Ialways came away from here feeling perfect.
“It’ll rain. Just for me,” Isaid. “But I’m not falling in love with him. He’s straight. I’ve fallen in lovewith enough boys determined to be straight for one lifetime.”
Keiko sighed. “Well, ifyou’renot gonna jumpon his dick, get me his number before you go. It can be a going-away present.”
“I think you’re supposed togive those to the person who’s going away.”
“I am,” Keiko said. “Nocharge for this service. You’ve more than earned a loyalty freebie.”
“Thanks.”
My stomach knotted up allover again.
I was leaving. I wasplanning to leave sosoon.
This was the last time I’d do this.
