Page 27

"Okay, sir. You're done." Jordan cleaned up Riley then ran her fingers through his freshly cut, and wax-primed 'do. "Lookin' good."

"Hell yeah, I am." He grinned and fussed with himself in the mirror before flexing his bicep in a dramatic pose. "All good."

Finnley swatted his shoulder. "None of that macho shit. Let's go change before Eleanor and Olivia get here."

They bid us goodbye and hurried off with spunk in their steps.

"Are Finn and Olivia dating?" I asked Jordan as soon as they were out of earshot.

"We're not quite sure yet. Neither are they, to be honest, if you ask me." Jordan grabbed me in a hug then smooched my cheek. "A proper hello, love."

"Hi." I chuckled and returned her hug. "How are you?"

"Good good. You just missed your endearing sibling—"

"Endearing—"

"After the argument she just had with Cin." Jordan rolled her eyes. "The drama."

"You love the drama. Who are you fooling?" I huffed at her when she spun my chair around. "What did Frankie do?"

"Cin has had her eye on Sylvie." She shook out the smock before wrapping it around my shoulders. "But Frankie fucked her first."

"Come on." I rolled my eyes. "What's with the two of them? Also, pretty shitty to say that. I'm sure Sylvie was a player in all that. She didn't just…get fucked. Rude."

"Sorry. Sorry." Jordan held up her hands. "My bad. Frankie and Sylvie hooked up before Cin could pursue her. Better?"

"Yeah," I settled down after that and watched in the mirror as she pinned up the longer parts of my hair. "Frankie knew Cin liked Sylvie?"

"Yup. Typical. The two of them are ridiculous. I sent Cin home. I think I'm getting too old for the bullshit," she said, her deep ruby-painted lips turning up in a smile. "Maybe."

"Ha. Very funny. You sent Cin home? That's new." I relaxed while she took care of my hair as she always did.

"Frankie at least storms out when she's pissed. Cin was here complaining for half an hour, and stomping around pissed off. She needs to get over her shit. With long-time customers, I don't care, but we get a lot of kids in here now. Baby queers looking for gender-affirming cuts, or anxious kids, or queer parents bringing in their kids. It's supposed to be a safe space, and Cin took it too far. So did Frankie, but no one saw her shit. She was in the back." Jordan's monologue, different for her, showed me a side of her I didn't expect, but rather enjoyed.

"Glad to hear you say that. There are a lot of trans and non-binary kids out there who need safe spaces like this. Haircuts, nails, whatever."

"Oh yeah. Finn and Riley's gang is to thank for all the foot traffic. They brought in all these young people. So much so that Ainsley had the idea to open a juice bar next door. Gonna specialize in smoothies, but lots of vegan and vegetarian dishes, too. We need something like that." She paused chatting when she made the clean lines around my ear.

"Who's gonna run it?"

"You know Hina? She works at Terra's Tea Room."

"Not really."

"She makes all the baked goods there, but she's got time for something full-time, and she's got the experience. She's gonna run it, Terra and Zoie are going to help, and Mercy's funding it."

"Mercy?" My brows lifted. "Seriously?"

"Oh yeah. Her son made friends with Finn's group, and when he heard about the idea, he pitched it to his mom." Jordan smirked. "The kid's convincing as fuck."

"I mean…look who is mother is."

"Yeah." Jordan laughed while brushing my hair off. "How's that? We can go a little shorter if you want, but how do you like the lines?"

"Perfect." I turned my head to look. "Clean."

"Awesome. Let's get you colored and washed so I can fine-tune this beast. My next appointment should be here soon. You cool with a bit of a wait?"