"Okay, so what's the story here? Why are we going in?" I asked. We were parked a quarter mile away from the salon along a neighborhood side street where no one would recognize my car.
"You can tell them whatever you want," Colby said.
"Right, I can tell one person whatever I want at a time. I can only Urge one person at once. If there happens to be a group in there, I need a story," I said.
"Okay, say that you want to buy more bullets and find a way to get Axel alone from that. Or just ask if you guys can talk in private. Are you sure you don't want me to come in with you?" Colby asked.
"Yes, I'm sure. I can go in there on my own but I want you close by for backup in case I need it," I said.
"Okay, but you have to promise to Summon me the second you need help, okay?" Colby asked. I looked over at him, his blue eyes shimmering in the yellow streetlight that was shining through my windshield. There was a look in them that I hadn't seen before. Was it fear?
"I promise, Colby. I'm going to be okay, really. I know these people," I said. I wasn't lying, I did know these people, but didn't know how they would react to seeing me again after just kind of abandoning ship like I had. But there was no way in hell I'd tell Colby that.
"Okay," he said uneasily.
"I'm going to go in first, okay? You stay as far as possible but still close enough to teleport inside if I need you. If there's more than one of them in there, I'm not going to want to use my powers. These people are smart and deadly. At the end of the day, the only ones I can use for certain that will affect all of them are invisibility and speed. Mind reading will help, too," I said to him. I didn't want to completely sugar coat it, but I knew Colby wasn't predictable when his emotions ran too high. He nodded in response and I took a deep breath before opening my car door.
"Jupiter, wait," Colby said, grabbing my hand before I could get out. I looked over and waited for him to continue. "I love you, baby," he said. He pulled me toward him and gave me a kiss.
"I love you, too. Now let's go kick some ass," I said, winking before I got out of the car. The plan for tonight was to sort of re-friend Axel and get him to let his guard down, but if the opportunity presented itself to kill him, I'd take full advantage.
I walked down the dimly lit street, the only audible noise being my boots on the cement. I decided I'd go in through the back since they would be more alert after hearing someone come in through the front like the clients did. I made it to the back of the building and saw several cars in the back lot. Shit. There were definitely multiple people here. I didn't recognize all of the cars, either. I knew most of them, but there was a black Jeep parked up near the salon door. Where I used to park.
I went up to the back door and took a deep breath. Here goes nothing.
I pushed the door open and walked through the small hallway into the salon. I heard a group of people laughing in one of the back rooms and made my way over to it. I uneasily peeked around the corner of the doorway and immediately made eye contact with Trixie, who was standing in a circle with a bunch of other people who had their backs turned to me. A huge smile broke out on her face and she pushed through the two guys in between us to give me a big hug.
"Jupiter! Hi!" she said excitedly, pulling back after a moment to look at me. "How have you been, sweetheart?"
"Good! I've been really good," I said, giving her a warm smile.
"If it isn't Little Red," Axel said, walking up to stand next to Trixie. That's what Axel had called me before I decided to go by Saturn since I wouldn't tell him my real name at first. I stepped over and gave him a side hug. "You doing okay, kiddo?"
I really did love them. They were both at least 10 years older than me and sometimes it felt like they were my aunt and uncle or something. Which is why it sucked so much that Axel would have to die and I'd be the one who had to be at least partially responsible for it.
"Yes, yes, I'm doing good. How are you two? Holding up okay?" I asked. I knew they hadn't loved it when it was just the two of them in charge after Blaze had died.
"Oh, yeah. We're doing great. Got some new management around here," Axel said with a small smile. What? They'd already replaced me with someone that wasn't themselves?
"Let me introduce them to you!" Trixie said excitedly. She turned around and pulled two guys out of the circle and over to Axel and me. One of them was tall with brown hair, the other short with light brown ringlet curls swept over the side of his face. They both had a lot of tattoos on their arms, but looked like nice guys.
"Lawley," the tall one said, holding his hand out to shake.
"Jason," the other one said. I shook both of their hands and gave them a smile.
"Oh, drop that. Kian and JC, this is Jupiter. Better known as Saturn," Trixie said, letting them know that we could all trust each other enough to use our real names. A sly smile slowly crossed Kian's face and he crossed his arms. I couldn't help but read into what that look meant.
Her? She was the boss? This cute little thing?
"So, you're the one who's been running this show, huh?" he asked.
"I was, yes," I said.
"Why'd you leave?" asked JC. I stared deep into his eyes and focused on his pupils.
"New career path. Don't want to talk about it," I said, feeling the color glint off of my eyes.
"Oh, right on. I'm glad you've managed to find somewhere else you can fit in," JC said, smiling at me warmly. Kian narrowed his eyes at me and looked me up and down a few times. He didn't seem to like me like JC did.
"You're back. Why?" asked Kian.
"Hey, man, cool it. She's a longtime friend. Family. She's welcome whenever," Axel said, giving Kian a look that told him to back off. Kian rolled his eyes and looked back down at me.
"What, threatened?" I asked, stepping closer to him. I might not be in charge anymore, but I belonged here more than he did. Kian smirked and let out a short laugh.
"By a pretty little girl like you? Not really, angel," he said confidently.
"Oh, I'm no angel," I said. Literally, I was not an angel. The polar opposite, in fact.
"I guess you'll have to prove that sometime, huh?" he asked, winking at me.
"Kian, dude, really? This is still a normal thing?" JC whined about him flirting with me. Kian looked over at JC and pointed at me.
"There's nothing normal about this one," Kian said. JC looked at me and bit his bottom lip to hold back whatever he wanted to say to Kian. JC was Kian's partner, but it was clear that Kian was in charge.
"Good luck with that, man," Axel chuckled. "Jupiter here isn't really one for romantics."
"Actually, Iâ," I started. But wait, did I want them to know that I was dating Colby? Well, okay, 'dating' wasn't really the correct term, but it was what a human would understand. I decided I didn't want to tell them about my relationship. Having a significant other was a sign of weakness, a vulnerability. It could be used as leverage against me if it came down to that. "I... don't mind the romantics, just don't tend to reciprocate," I said, completing the sentence I'd started.
"There's a first time for everything," Kian said. It was actually sort of making me uncomfortable that he was flirting with me like that, knowing that he wasn't Colby. I wouldn't have given a shit before, but knowing that I had Colby made me feel different. I guess my soul was bonded to his now, which affected my feelings with other people.
I didn't want to flirt back, but I had to at least slightly encourage it for Axel to not think anything unusual or new was going on.
"That there is," I agreed. "And I was just here to say hi. Check back up on you guys. I know I had to dip out pretty quick, just wanted to see how you're doing."
"We're doing just fine," Axel said.