Page 64 of Lash

She looks at me. A slow grin spreads across her face. "Wow. You…it is different, good, but it will take some getting used to." She runs her fingers over my jawline. "I think I will quite like it."

I indicate the clippers. "I will trim it properly once you have finished with my hair. Now, create a ponytail and cut the long part off."

She grabs the comb and pulls it through my hair, straightening and neatening it, and then pulls it into a ponytail in her fist at the top of my head. Another moment of hesitation, her eyes on mine in the mirror, and then she snips through the thick mass of my hair.

I blow out a breath as the remainder falls loose, shapeless and blunt. I run my fingers through it, shaking my head and moving it around in an attempt to come to grips with the newly weightless feeling.

Tatiana covers her mouth with her scissor-holding hand, eyes wide. "Nico." She shakes her head. "It looks awful. I mean, you’re still handsome, but…"

I laugh. "You aren't done, Tati. Now the clippers."

I show her the correct guard—the longest one, since my intention is to leave it long enough that Myka will have length to work with.

“This will give it more shape. Just run the clippers through my hair." I smile at her, hoping to reassure her. "And remember—it is just hair. It will grow back even if something were to happen. Which it will not. So just breathe, alright?"

She nods, sighing nervously, and then turns on the clippers. She runs them over my head from front to back, and chunks of my hair topple to my shoulders and the floor. Top, left side, right side, and back. She shuts off the clippers and drags her fingernails backward over my scalp from forehead to nape.

"So?" she asks. "Okay?"

I nod. "You are doing wonderfully. So good that I think we can continue."

"Continue?" she squeaks. "Nico, I amnotgood at this."

"Sure you are. Look!" I turn my head side to side. "It looks good so far, yes?"

She shrugs. "I mean, yes. I suppose."

I choose the next guard, remembering with painful, bittersweet clarity how Ileana used to do it. "Now this one, but only on the sides. Hold the longer part of my hair to one side and go first down, and then up." I drag my finger along my hair to show her the line. "You want to make a sharp line just here, on both sides and around the back. You see?"

She nods, licking her lips nervously. "Yes, okay."

With a sharp exhale, she wiggles the guard to make sure it's secure and then turns the clippers back on. She does as I instructed slowly and carefully, biting the corner of her lower lip with each pass of the clippers.

"There," she says. "Good?”

I nod, checking side to side, running my hand over the sides and through the length on top. "Perfect. See? We won't even need Myka." I switch to one last, shorter guard for the areas above my ears. "Now, this goes from level with the tip of my ears to about here," I say, drawing a line about halfway up.

This part is quick, and when she's done, she covers her mouth again. "Nico!" She shakes her head in wonder. "You are like a different man! I barely recognize you!"

"But you still think I'm sexy, yes?" I ask, smirking at her reflection.

"Once you get that hair off you, I'll show you how sexy I think you are." She runs her fingertips through my hair and down my jawline. "I can't believe I did this."

“Not as hard as you think, huh?"

She shrugs. “No. But I think anyone with training would probably have some thoughts."

I laugh. "Of course. But I do not need a two-hundred-dollar haircut, Tatiana. This is exactly what I wanted."

In fact, I barely recognize myself. I still need to clean up the shape of my beard, but…I look like Nicolae Dragos once more. Lash is truly and forever gone.

"My god, it feels strange," I say, passing my hand over my scalp, expecting still to feel the long locks slip through my fingers, finding instead the soft fuzz and short locks.

She exhales again, nodding. "It will take some getting used to, that's for sure. You are a beautiful man, Nicolae." She leans on me from behind, arms slinging around my shoulders. "It makes me feel good that you trusted me with this."

"Of course I do, Tati." I stand up and turn in her arms. "Now. I will clean this up. You have coffee and eat."

Once I've cleaned up the hair as well as I can without a broom, I rinse off in the shower, re-washing my newly shorn hair, and then I style it and put oil in my beard. Clean and feelinglike a new man, I sit beside her on the bed, and we drink our coffee and eat our bagels in companionable silence.