raised an eyebrow as she grabbed Winter’s hand and tugged her away from me before cupping her hands around her mouth and whispering into her ear.
I tried to listen in but I couldn’t hear what she said. I could only watch as Winter’s eyebrows went up and her cheeks heated. She bit her lip as she looked me up and down then turned to Sloan, murmuring in a low voice that took me utterly by surprise.
“I want to try that.”
I tried to cover my surprise as Sloan and Winter both started giggling, and Sloan tugged her away whispering something else as they headed over towards the men on the other side of the open space and she gestured wildly with her hands. That was the first time Winter had spoken to someone aside from me and it lit me up to know she felt comfortable opening up like that with Sloan so quickly. She needed a friend and I knew Sloan well enough to trust her. It was fucking perfect actually. So long as none of us lingered on the weird fact that for a while there me and Sloan had been engaged. But that didn’t even feel like it had been my life anymore, everything had changed so drastically for me that remembering that time in my life felt like looking at a different man.
Sloan started telling Winter all about how the guy with the perfectly styled blonde hair was the best hairdresser in the whole of Sinners Bay and talking about so many products and potions and fuck knows what else that I quickly tuned it out. The other guy who introduced himself to me as Andre turned out to be a barber sent to fix me up. Apparently Winter’s home stylings didn’t meet Frankie’s standards and as Andre gasped and cursed at the state of my of hair, I was given the distinct impression that they didn’t meet his either.
I watched Winter as the hairdresser whose name was Roy began fussing with her hair, inspecting the ends, cooing about the colour and telling her how lucky she was to have the blood of royalty running in her veins which apparently was the reason for her scarlet colouring. He was laying it on a bit thick but she was smiling, listening to Sloan as she chatted about the family, offering out tips on how to wrap each of the Romero brothers around her little finger.
“How would you feel about something edgy?” Roy asked, fiddling with Winter’s hair and murmuring ideas about shaving one side or cutting in bangs while I frowned. He kept touching her face as he made his suggestions, holding her hair at different lengths while Sloan held up a mirror so Winter could see.
“How about you keep your hands in her hair and off of the rest of her?” I muttered, but it came out kinda like a bark.
Roy stilled, dropping the lock of hair he’d been holding and raising his hands in surrender while Winter frowned at me like I was spoiling her fun. I rolled my eyes and agreed to whatever the fuck Andre was suggesting for my own hair.
“I say we just go all in with this great new conditioning treatment I got from Paris,” Roy said as he realised I wasn’t going to make any further comment, his hands resting lightly on Winter’s scalp and staying away from her shoulders as requested. “It’s got colour enhancing properties too which will make this red really pop. And then I’ll just take off these split ends and style it for you. If you want to be more daring next time then we can build up to it.”
Winter nodded her agreement and we were soon having our hair fixed while Sloan and I discussed the things I’d missed in my year away and Sloan filled Winter in on what she deemed to be vital gossip about the Romeros. I had to admit that I was listening to that quite keenly too, wanting to get more of a feel for the men who were my brothers.
Eventually, Winter headed off with Sloan and Roy to wash the conditioning stuff out of her hair and have it styled away from me so that I could be surprised. It sounded like he was basically washing her hair and trimming the ends a bit though so I wasn’t exactly holding my breath to be blown away by the transformation.
Andre finished up with me and packed up his stuff while