“God damn it!” I kicked the flat tyre on my car and cursed some more inside my head. This day was going to shit very fast. I’d slept through my alarm and then I’d had an argument with Nash on my way out of the house. It had been one of those arguments that should never have even started in the first place. But because we were both tired and rushed, it had escalated pretty quickly and there was no fixing it before I had to leave for work. And now, this bloody tyre. I raked my hand through my hair and blew out a long, frustrated breath. This time of year was so damn stressful and I was all tied up in knots on the inside. The fact Nash was dealing with Storm problems at the moment didn’t help either. Worry for him and the club filled my mind daily.
“Kicking it won’t make it better,” Roxie said from behind me.
I spun around and glared at my boss. “No, but it made me feel better.”
She eyed the tyre. “You got a spare?”
“Yeah, but I have no idea how to change it, and besides, don’t we have customers to look after?” It was the Tuesday before Christmas and I was fairly sure we were both flat out this week.
“Bobby and Tahlia have customers. You and I are blocked out because Madison, Harlow and Layla are coming in today for haircuts and facials. They haven’t arrived yet so we’ve got time to change this now, which beats leaving it until the end of the day. That would be the last thing you’d want to do after working all day.”
I’d forgotten today was the day the girls were all coming in. “I don’t think you heard me, Roxie, I have no clue how to change a flat tyre.”
She put her hand out. “Give me the keys for the boot. I know how to change a tyre.”
I handed her my keys. “Why does it not surprise me that you know how to change a tyre?” I’d been working with Roxie for nearly six months now and she kept revealing parts of herself to me. She blew me away with the shit she knew.
As she walked to the boot of the car, she jerked her chin towards the salon. “Can you go in there and make sure Bobby and Tahlia are okay? Christmas time seems to bring out the bitch in Bobby even more than normal and I think Tahlia has almost had enough.”
I grinned. “I’d like to see Tahlia take on Bobby.” For the past few months, I’d watched those two interact and wondered how long it would be until Tahlia lost it at him.
Roxie groaned and shook her head. “No, you don’t. It happens once or twice a year and it’s nasty. It takes them at least a couple of weeks to get back to normal and those weeks are a living hell.”
“Shit, okay. Will you be right to change that by yourself?”
“Yeah, won’t take me long.”
I nodded and left her to it. God knew what I was about to walk into. As I pushed through the front door of the salon, I was pleasantly surprised by the sound of laughter. Bobby and Tahlia were both laughing at something and gave me huge smiles when they saw me.
“Where’s Roxie?” Bobby asked.
I headed towards the back room to store my bag. “Changing a flat tyre on my car.”
“Nash isn’t gonna be happy about that,” Bobby said.
I dumped my bag and headed back out to where he was. Frowning, I said, “That Roxie changed my tyre?”
“No, that you had one in the first place.”
Shit, he was right. Nash was on at me about getting a new car and I was stalling because I didn’t want to spend the money. We’d had more than one argument about it and I knew this would cause him to bring it up again. “Damn,” I muttered. “You’re right.”
His brows rose and an I-told-you-so look crossed his face. “Tell you what, Velvet, if that man gives you too much grief and you decide you’ve had enough of him, send him my way. I’ll take good care of him.”
Tahlia groaned. “God, Bobby, can you give it a rest? I’m so freaking sick of hearing you ogling every damn man you meet,” she snapped.
Bobby scowled at her. “You’re just annoyed because you haven’t had any cock in months,” he snapped back.
I raised my hands in a placating gesture. “Okay, you two, enough.”
They both scowled at me and went back to getting ready for the day. When the first client arrived a moment later, Bobby walked past me to the front counter and gave me another filthy look. I sighed. Today was going to be a long day.
* * *
Four hours later we were knee deep in haircuts, colours and beauty treatments with Madison, Harlow and Layla. I was engrossed in a conversation with Layla about her ex-business partner when the pop of a champagne bottle caught my attention. I spun around to find Roxie holding the bottle up with a questioning look on her face. “You want some?”
“Champagne on a work day?” I asked.
A smile spread across her face. “Yeah, it’s Christmas week and all the girls are here. We definitely need champagne to celebrate.”