Page 29 of Sinful Chains

“Bitch, this ain’t Facebook.” She paused to quirk an eyebrow. “One of your men actin’ up? Orallof ‘em actin’ up? Girl, you signed up forthricethe problems. Shoulda seen this coming.”

“Thrice?” I exhaled a laugh. “I can’t with you. But yes, it’s about one of them.”

She turned my chair to get to the other side of my head, but the rat-tail comb sat forgotten in her hand. “Lemme guess,” she said. “The uptight one? The dangerous, silent one? Or my client, the class clown?”

I rolled my eyes. “Storm.”

“Okay, the uptight one.”

“Not as uptight as you think.”

She met my eyes in the mirror. “Don’t keep me in suspense.”

I swallowed hard, wondering how much I should say. Gina was my best friend in the world. She would never judge me. But she might judgehim, and I didn’t want that.

She tapped her foot impatiently. “Santari.”

I sighed. “Okay, so…Storm has this thing.”

Her lips curled into a slow smile. “What kind of thing?”

I shrugged slightly, hesitating again. “It’s something…well, it’s different. Something I wouldn’t have expected.”

Gina picked up the flat iron, waving it in the air. “If you don’t start making sense—”

“Okay, okay.” My eyes drifted to the women at the other stations getting their hair done, paying me no mind as they scrolled their phones.

I took a deep breath, lowering my voice to say, “He likes giving up control.”

Gina blinked. “Okay…”

Heat crept up my neck, and not from the flat iron. “Like,allcontrol.”

Her mouth parted slightly as the realization hit. Then, her whole face lit up like a Christmas tree.

“Oh, San got herself a sub?” She grinned, pumping her fist. “You little freak!”

“Shhh!” I hissed, my eyes shifting wildly around the salon.

She bellowed out a laugh, tossing her braids over her shoulder. “Girl, ain’t nobody listenin’ to you.Wow. Uptight, studious, nerdy professor Storm? A submissive?”

“Well…” I trailed off, bracing myself for the next admission. “One more thing. This one really threw me.”

She waited.

“It turns him on when I…spend up his money.”

“Biiiiiiitch!!!”

This time, all eyes were on us. I whipped my head to the right to give Gina a glare, which she understood loud and clear.

“My bad,” she said, lowering her voice. “I’m just excited. You got a whole paypig over there, bitch.”

“Paypig?”

“That man out here ready to direct deposit his paychecks into your account. I love that for you.”

“No, that’s not…” I trailed off. “Rewind it back to paypig.”

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