He places a hand on my shoulder. “I’m sorry about yesterday.” He looks away sheepishly. “How I was on the phone… I was just worried—”
I wrap my arms around him, and his whole body relaxes. “Stop that right now, Ro,” I say sternly. Because if Rowan starts getting emotional I will definitely cry. I step back. “Everything is fine. I’m fine. More than fine.”
“Yeah… we see that,” Rue murmurs, standing a little straighter.
Kaiden’s stomach brushes my shoulder as he steps up behind me.
“Kaiden,” Rowan says with a curt nod. “Good to see you again.”
“You too.” Kaiden holds out his hand, and the two men exchange a firm shake.
“We’ve got units manning the perimeter, undercover in the crowd. Everything’s been fine so far,” Rowan informs, his gaze moving slowly from the left to the right. “Your pack are military?”
I feel Kaiden nod. More hard bodies brush against me from behind.
Kaiden’s response seems to settle something in my brother, the tension in his shoulders dropping.
“Thank you,” Rowan says, sincerely, gaze moving again. “For finding her, for looking after her.”
I groan at the awkwardness. “Okay, enough. Brothers, it’s been great to see you. But if you don’t mind, I need to deal with this...”
I move further into the salon until I see the large crowd we drove past, surrounding the entrance outside.
“This is insane,” I whisper to myself.
“But good insane.” Margret’s beside me, nudging her hip against mine. “Did you end up reading any comments?”
“No,” I say absent-mindedly, still staring. “My PR team said not to.”
“Oh, she’s got a PR team now!”
I scoff, turning to see her teasing smirk.
Margret’s expression softens slightly. “They’re on your side, Revea,” she says. “The comments, the news, all of it. People love what you did.” She nods towards the crowd. “Half those people are holding signs saying the same thing. There’s also a scary number of pink wigs. I think you’ve started a trend.”
“Thank you, Mags,” I say with a grateful smile. “For taking care of the place. The staff. I don’t know what I would have done without you.”
She runs a knuckle under each eye, nudging her glasses. “Don’t make me emotional now. I’ve held it together this long.” She sniffs. “But you know I’ve always got your back, like you’ve always had mine.”
She smiles back.
“Now listen,” Mags says, back to business as she adjusts her glasses. “We’re overbooked. Yeah, I know, reservations out of ourass. We’re talking almost a year in advance,withdeposits already paid. Then we’ve got people offering to pay thousands for a consultation with you. It’s getting a little… crazy.”
And it’s that nervous trill in her tone that has all my anxiety melting away.
I’m good under pressure, always have been, but when people I care about start to struggle, that’s when I really shine.
“Okay. No new appointments. No more bookings. And we definitely don’t accept bribes.”
She nods, making notes on her phone.
“If someone cancels, we don’t replace it. Original clients take priority over new. Tell the girls on reception to colour-code any new clients red. I’ll look through this afternoon and make phone consultations. They can’t all be legit, and that’ll free up some space.”
I glance at the large glass clock hanging above the revolving doors.
An hour until we open.
“Did you manage to get everyone in today?” I ask.
