Sex Piston(34)

“I’m starving. I haven’t eaten since lunch.”

“You’ve been snacking on chips and soda; there is no way you are hungry,” Crazy Bitch remarked, rolling her eyes at Fat Louise.

The door opening drew Sex Piston’s attention away from her arguing friends. She was surprised when Lily walked in the door.

“Your appointment isn’t until tomorrow,” was all she could think to say.

Lily grinned at her. “I know. I was nearby, visiting a home with the social worker I was shadowing for my internship. Traffic is at a standstill to Treepoint, so I’m caught in town until it clears. Beth suggested I hang out here with you guys until the road is clear, if that’s okay with you guys?”

“That’s cool,” Sex Piston said softly. With Lily, for some inexplicable reason, she and her crew always toned down their natural abrasiveness.

“We heard the sirens.” Crazy Bitch closed the cash register, placing the night’s deposit in Sex Piston’s purse. “I wondered why there wasn’t much traffic outside.”

“There is a big fire at a house. They’re having trouble getting it out. The radio said that several fire departments from three different counties are there. Police are redirecting traffic to the interstate, but there is no way to go around any of the other counties,” Lily explained.

“I wonder whose place could have caught on fire that needed that many fire trucks,” Killyama said, taking out her cell phone.

“It began at a house next to the railroad tracks,” Lily explained. “If I hadn’t stopped for coffee with my mentor, I would have been home before the fire started.”

Killyama whistled, setting her cell phone down on the counter. “That’s Cracker’s place; he’s the resident hoarder. I bet he has three piles of tires in his backyard. The city has been trying to get him to clean his junk for years. The lumber yard is right behind it. If it spreads, it’s going to take more than three trucks to put that fire out.”

“That should keep our only two cops thrilled. The most they get to do is nab an occasional shoplifter around here,” T.A. remarked. “Anything worse, they call the state police and it takes them a good twenty minutes to get here from Treepoint.”

“Since we’re stuck here, let’s go ahead and get your hair done.”

Sex Piston hoped Cracker and his dogs were all right. He would often come by the club for a beer. He didn’t belong to the club, but no one had the heart to throw him out.

“Sounds good,” Lily agreed.

Lily took a seat at her station while Sex Piston put the broom back in the closet. Putting a cape around Lily, she took a minute to study the beautiful girl. Her hair lay silky against her back.

“Going to let me work my magic?” Sex Piston asked, studying the girl’s reaction closely.

“Go for it. I’m ready for a change. I think short hair is cute,” she said, then added, “Just not too short. About half of what it is now.”

Sex Piston asked herself whose reaction she was worried about most; if cowboys really liked longer hair or Shade saying that he liked short hair.

“I don’t think Shade is ready for your hair to be cut short,” Sex Piston probed.

“He’s just overprotective because Razer and him are best friends. He sees me as a little sister, like Razer does.”

Sex Piston looked deep into her eyes to find that she really believed the shit she was saying.

Sex Piston’s gaze paused briefly over Lily’s hair. The girl was too innocent for her own good. She had seen something else in Lily’s eyes that hurt Sex Piston deep inside her heart, but she didn’t know why.

Her lips tightened. A heads up wouldn’t hurt.

Sex Piston got to work on Lily’s hair by first taking her to the sink and efficiently washing it. When she was finished, she wrapped her head in a clean towel then put her back in the chair in front of her station. Her foot pumped the chair to the height she needed before she combed Lily’s hair out and then began.

“He call you little sis like Razer does?” she asked, grabbing her scissors to begin cutting.

“No.”

Killyama came around to lean against the workstation as the others unobtrusively moved closer to listen. Fat Louise put her bag of chips down and moved to one on the chairs closer to Lily. Crazy Bitch sat down in the chair next to Lily’s, using her foot to move the chair in circles as she listened. T.A. began sweeping, but didn’t get past where Crazy Bitch was sitting.

“You think of him like Razer, a big brother?” Sex Piston took a step back, looked at Lily’s hair for a second and then resumed cutting.