Chapter Seven
Maeve got to take him to the theater, and they watched a slasher movie.
She ended up hiding behind his arm, as the blood and guts got a little too much.
As for Doc, he was able to watch it without fear.
After the movies, they went for burgers, and she snuck him into her home, where they talked for hours.
She didn’t even know what they talked about. The conversation just flowed between them, and she loved being in his company. She also happened to love being in his arms. A few times throughout the night, she’d wake up and look down at where his hands held her.
It had been a long time since anyone held her, and it had felt even longer since anyone had felt like they needed to protect her. This was so different from everything else she had ever experienced.
This was real.
This was raw.
The following day, Doc had to handle some stuff at the club.
Razor went with him, and she got to spend the day with her sister.
They went for drinks. Eden had some water, and a baked bun, while she had a coffee, making sure the lid was on top.
Her sister had the morning sickness quite bad.
In fact, she had the sickness of any kind of food that didn’t agree with her stomach, and everything was coming back up.
In the middle of the street, someone passed with some kind of chili, and there in the street, Eden was huddled over a trash can, heaving her guts up.
Maeve held her hair in her hand and rubbed her back.
It was not a good look for either of them, but it needed to be done.
Afterward, Eden had been exhausted, so home they went. That was when Razor arrived, because town gossip about Eden’s episode had gotten to him. Maeve saw the relief on her sister’s face, and she wasn’t going to deny that it stung, a lot.
Doc was busy with the club, so Maeve attempted to keep herself busy.
Job after job kept coming, and Maeve gave the companies she adored a different makeup artist to do the job.
She loved being a makeup artist. She loved her clients, but right now, the idea of traveling and working just filled her with sadness.
It had been over a week since she last saw Doc, and her period was long gone. She was walking down the street when the door to Kristin Shaw’s salon opened.
“Maeve, is that you?”
She turned to see Kristin, who happened to be one of the best hairstylists in town. “Hey, Kristin, it feels like it has been a lifetime.” She moved to embrace Kristin. “What’s going on?”
“Business is good. It’s really good. There is only one small snag.”
“And what is that?”
“I kind of need your makeup artistry advice. Please, I have this client inside right now, and she is asking for something and I have no idea what to do.”
Maeve wanted to tell her no, but Kristin was always a nice person. She hated saying no to nice people.
“Sure, you know, why not?” She made her way into the hair salon, and the moment she did, she saw the problem. “Did you do this?” she asked.
“In my defense she wanted purple, and I have all the purple blush and everything.”
Kristin hadn’t pre-blended the blush, so there was a stark, almost clownish stain of purple on the woman’s cheeks. Maeve didn’t recognize the woman, so she must have been from out of town. She also had red eyes, as if she was trying not to cry.
Rolling up her sleeves, she could not handle a woman mid-meltdown. No woman deserved to feel that way.
“Hey, honey, I’m Maeve Summers. I am a professional makeup artist. Would you like me to show you any references or credentials?”
The woman shook her head. “I know who you are. I follow you on social media. I’m not sure I will be able to afford it. I really need to get this job, and I asked her to make me stand out.”
Maeve put her hand on the woman’s shoulders. “Don’t worry about it. This is free of charge. Kristin has always been a big help to me over the years. So, you’ve got a job, and you want to stand out.”
“Yes. I live out of town, and my Ritchie got hurt at work, and he keeps hurting himself attempting to get to work, and I just want him to stop worrying. He has provided for us for over fifteen years, and it’s time for me to take care of him.” She looked ready to burst into tears.
“Don’t worry. You may not think it, but I can fix this.”
“My appointment is in two hours.”
“And you’ll have plenty of time to get there. Let me work my magic. Trust me on this.”
The woman looked at her and then let out a sigh. “Okay, yes, please fix this, because they would just laugh at me looking like this.”
Maeve knew Kristin meant well, but this was a disaster. For the next forty-five minutes, Maeve removed all the previous makeup, prepared her skin, and then got to work creating her a flawless makeup look. This was taking her natural beauty, enhancing it, and giving her a pop of color.
She didn’t allow the woman to look in the mirror.
Maeve preferred to work on her clients without them seeing.
Over the years, she loved to do the reveal at the end.
As she spun the chair around, she watched her client open her eyes, and saw the shock on her face.
This was not terrified shock. She loved the way she looked, and she watched that smile spread across her face.
She was a happy client. During her work, Kristin had several customers come in. None of them had greeted Maeve, but she gave them a wave and nodded at them now. When she got focused on her work, the only two people that existed were her and the client. This is how she did her best work.
It felt good to do someone’s makeup again and not have anyone else bombarding her with commands.
She had a whole list of clients who allowed her to give them the looks they required.
In recent months, she’d taken on a lot of brand work, and company work where she was not the boss.
She’d been told what to do, was shouted at, and that kind of work just didn’t appeal to her.
Makeup was not supposed to be stressful.
It was meant to be calm and relaxing, and enhancing a woman’s beauty.
“You look happy,” Kristin said.
“I am.”
“I will pay you for that today,” Kristin said.
She held her hand up. “No, don’t worry about it.”
“But there is something I would like to talk to you about. How would you feel about working here part-time?”
This surprised her. “I don’t do hair.” Maeve could do hair. She’d taken all the classes, and it was part of what she did, but it wasn’t the fun part.
“No, not hair. There has been more call for makeup, creating certain looks around prom and special occasions, and it is the one service I can’t seem to keep a good makeup artist. They mess up and have gotten bad reviews.
I know you’re a busy woman, and I know you do amazing work.
I’ve seen what you’re like at all the fairs. ”
“Thank you,” Maeve said.
“I know it’s a lot to take in right now. You’ve got your whole career, and this is just a small town, but think about it.”
Maeve agreed to think about it, and she left the shop a little taken aback. Her life was incredibly busy, or at least it had been with work. She never wanted to give up her clients, but her work had started to lose its hold on her. The fun had stopped.
Life had become all about work, and as she made her way back toward her and Eden’s home, she couldn’t help but think about their parents. They rarely saw them. They could go days where all that was left was a note from them. That sucked more than she cared to admit.
She loved her parents, but the saddest part about their death was, her and Eden’s lives had been no different when they were alive. All that changed were the notes. She tried to hide that from Eden.
But work had taken over her life, and that was all she did—work, work, work, work—and it didn’t stop. It was why her cell phone was switched off. The only people to call her or text were from work.
****
Doc was pissed off.
The Bratva had decided to move in, and they discovered the insignia of them on a pocket of white powder being pushed around the fucking strip club.
A couple of the women that worked for them were already hooked on the stuff.
He got them sent to rehab, did a full sweep of the strip club, and removed all temptation.
The women that didn’t take it had no clue how the other women had gotten it.
The past week, he’d killed their lead drugmaker and torched their warehouse where they were creating that shit.
He was not going to let them get away. However, there was someone in town that helped them, and he knew it wasn’t going to be Sheriff Hayes.
Sheriff Hayes didn’t have any fucking idea who it could be attempting to sell drugs in town.
So once again, the club was on its own. He was getting tired of carrying the sheriff.
He wondered if Sheriff Hayes would get off his ass and do some actual work, if he got all the boys to step away.
It was time for it to happen, and that was what he did.
He called all the boys back for a church meeting, and commanded all of them to step down until further notice.
No one was to do anything Sheriff Hayes wanted.
No one responded to their call. They were no longer doing their jobs for them.
All the boys agreed, and as Doc left his office, he stopped to see Razor and Eden sitting together on one of the couches. If they were at the club, that meant Maeve was home alone.
He didn’t say a word as he left the clubhouse.
Climbing onto his bike, he took off, breaking every fucking speed limit there was to get to town.
It wasn’t like Sheriff Hayes and his group were going to help.
Doc had no doubt the good sheriff would come back to him, probably with his tail between his legs, sobbing and begging for help, but he wasn’t interested.