I walked out to find Savvy and Jamie and Hannibal all already gone, a fresh pot of coffee in the carafe, and a plate loaded up with an egg and cheese sandwich... with a side of grapes and bananas because both Jamie and Savea were mom-friends like that.
I ate, showered - though did not accomplish getting much more glitter off - and beat my face for a while, remembering last minute to take out my contacts to rinse them, staring at my blue eyes for a long moment before I slipped the brown contacts back in. Dressed in blood splatter and caution tape leggings and a tee that had half of Pennywise's face next to the words You'll Float Too, I headed out the door to grab She's Bean Around to bring Benny one of his obnoxious caramel mocha more-sugar-and-milk-than-coffee drinks and an extra large coffee with two shots and a dash of sugar for me, I made my way to Kennedy's salon.
Only when I was a foot inside the door did I remember something.
Kennedy belonged to Pagan.
A Henchmen.
And something was going on with The Henchmen lately that meant when one of their women was at work, they had a guard or two there with them. Reese constantly had someone at the library with her. And Kennedy, of course, had people at her salon with her.
It wasn't just my overly tired eyes deceiving me either.
One of the men there was in paramilitary garb, clearly from Hailstorm up on the hill.
But the other, oh, the other was a very newly familiar face in jeans, a black tee, and this time... his cut.
His head had popped up from his phone to look over when the door chimed, seeming as shocked to see me as I was to see him there.
"What? You stalking me now, baby?" he asked, lips curving up ever so slightly.
"Don't flatter yourself Suga Suga; I have a hot date with Benny," I told him, keeping my tone unaffected even if my sleep-deprived body was maybe a bit in overdrive.
"Hot I am," Benny agreed from behind the chair of a woman who had clearly just gotten fresh highlights. "Oh, is that for me, you beautiful thing you?" he asked, doing gimme-hands to the coffee I was holding. "So how do you know Mr. Hottie Mc Sexy Accent over here?" he asked, giving Sugar a smoldering look.
"I gave him a ride home last night."
"Oh, the rave! How was it?" he said, catching Sugar's attention.
"A rave?" Sugar asked, smirk just a bit condescending. "What are you, eighteen?"
"It was a gay rave to help my buddy get nailed," I specified, ignoring the faux shocked look some old lady shot me. If they were in this salon, they knew better than to expect talk about the weather.
"Did you do it?" Benny cut in again.
"Totally. I got a text this morning of them smiling at brunch. Your kind moves fast. I bet they'll be dating by the end of the day."
"My kind," Benny snorted, rolling his eyes. "Honey, if you think gay men move fast, it is only because your weirdo ass has never had a relationship in, what, ever?"
He was right.
It was never.
I was the mystical unicorn.
I had never been in a serious relationship.
Had I been on a few dates before sealing the deal? Sure.
Had I maintained years-long fuck-buddy situations? Yep.
But the whole... I'm your girlfriend, you're my boyfriend thing? God no. Why would I want to do that? So I could have someone to answer to? To tell me what I could or couldn't do? Hell fucking no. Not in a million years. It sounded like a prison. And not the good kind like Oz with all that yummy guy-on-guy fucking. I had spent all my youth under someone else's thumb. I wasn't going to volunteer for more of the same as an adult.
"That's right. Never," I agreed with a nod as I dropped myself down. "Why would my fabulous ass want to do such a boring, normal thing?"
I could feel Sugar's eyes on me as I spoke, but purposely kept my gaze on Benny - or the girls in the seats on my sides. I didn't need more reason to toss and turn at night.
"To have someone to come home to," Benny suggested.
"I have Hannibal to come home to," I said as he moved behind me to separate my hair, inspecting the new growth of blonde. "And my friends who are always crashing. And they make me breakfast... and don't tell me I can't have baby goats."
"You want a baby goat?"
"No, but more importantly, I don't want anyone telling me that I can't have one."
"You're hopeless," Benny declared, spinning me to face the mirror. "So what are we doing? Just touching this up, or something different?"
"Why don't we try half lilac and half a sea-foamy, turquoisey color?"