Page 1 of Hat Trick
CHAPTER 1
LABIA WALL
LILIANA
“Clay… a private boat to a private island is a little extreme, don’t you think?” I’m holding my phone to my ear with my shoulder while I finish folding my towels as my future brother-in-law huffs and puffs on the other end. “You know Rocky gets motion sickness. Plus, don’t even get me started on how he would react to you spending money on something so ostentatious.” I don’t mention the fact that I still consider it a miracle that Rocky is even letting a tropical wedding in Turks and Caicos slide. But, we all know he’d do just about anything for Clay.
“Fine,” Clay huffs dramatically.
“You two keep this up and you’ll be getting a therapy invoice from me,” I mock in a serious tone.
“Send them.” I can hear his smirk through the phone. “Oh yeah, before I forget, who do you want to bring as your plus one?”
“I’ve told you both over and over, I don’t need a plus one. Between it being a destination wedding and my maid-of-honor duties, I am not going to have the time to entertain anyone besides you two bridezillas.” As true as that might be, it also may be because Emerson Baker will be there with the rest of the crew since his older brother Jackson, is Clay’s best man. And let’s just say, Emerson and I are…familiar.
Who couldn’t use a good fuck buddy on vacation?
“OH! What about one of the twins?!”
“You cannot be serious. Are the twins even of age, Clay?”
“Yes! They’re eighteen! You could rein in that cougar title.” The line goes silent for a moment. “I’m winking. You just can’t see it.”
“Okay, that’s enough out of you today.” I may be Rocky’s maid-of-honor, but I swear Clay calls me more than he does Jackson. But I love him nonetheless. However, I can wholeheartedly say Ineverwant to do this shit again—not even for my own wedding.
If I ever decide to get married, the courthouse better watch out.
?1 After saying my goodbyes to Clay, but not before I assure him I will arrive in Turks and Caicos on time on Thursday as planned, I hurry through wiping down my suite for my end-of-shift deep clean. I am beyond ready for this day to end and for my vacation to begin. But as fast as I’m going, I still make sure to sanitize all of my facial tools, the table, and every other surfacemy clients may have touched. I may only rent this suite but it’s still my pride and joy. I’ve been an esthetician here in Pensacola for about a year and a half, and the space is finally starting to feel like mine. I painted the walls a deep forest green and hung funky gold decor wherever I could. Last week, I was able to install a light fixture I’ve had my eye on for months. But what truly makes it mine is the labia wall.
Yes. Labia wall.
A fellow local small business owner makes custom wall stickers. And since one of my main services is body waxing, I reached out to her to see if she could make it for me. My god, did she fucking deliver. I’m entirely obsessed with it. The main concern I find vagina owners have in common is their worry that theirs is “weird looking.”
These are their words, not mine.
So, I just point to the wall and explain that they are all different. That I’ve never seen the same shape or size on two different people. And, whatever theirs may look like is completely normal.
All my clients love it. If anything, it never fails to make them laugh… even the men.
I smile to myself as I move about my suite. And I can’t help but think, just like I do every other day—I have the chance to work with my clients—that I’m so grateful that I’m here.
Rocky, my older brother, convinced me to move to Pensacola once he and Clay finally made it official. I was working at a dead-end body waxing chain back home and was utterly miserable. Once Rocky put theidea in my head, it continued to fester. Then, Clay moved into Rocky’s apartment, which just so happens to be above Clay’s favorite artisanal bakery supply shop—whatever that is—meaning Clay’s fancy apartment on the other side of town was empty. Instead of renting it out to a random person, he was all too eager to offer it to me as a rental. So, I pulled the trigger and moved in. Then I found this rental suite to run my esthetician business, and the rest is history.
They had every friend of theirs book any and every service they could. For months, the entirety of the men’s volleyball team had the best-looking skin on campus. Now, a good amount of the school’s athletes come to see me, and most have stuck with me as loyal clients. I will forever be thankful that I made the move and will always be in debt to my brother and future brother-in-law.
Not only is my business thriving, but I’m slowly living out the college years I never got the chance to have, without having to be in college. All of their friends have been so welcoming—especially Emerson.
And with Emerson comes Dominic. They’re best friends, and I wanted nothing more than to stay away from their friendship, but before I knew it, I was fucking around with both of them. All three of us see different people. I’m fine with it, and I know they’re fine with it. As long as everyone is being safe, it’s not an issue for me. We don’t talk about our other relationships. Period. End of discussion. But… the part I find myself wrestling with often is that they know one another, yet neither one of them knows the other knows me.
As guilty as I feel about it sometimes, I’ve never been able to own up to it.
I’m having fun, and nobody is getting hurt.
For the first time in as long as I can remember, my life feels exactly how I want it to.
I don’t want anything to come between that.
1 Jawbreaker - mgk
