Temptation (15 page)

After leaving Gabbie with Viktor the next day, I make my way to the day spa and to the salon. I’m not really sure what to expect from the spa. I’ve never been to a spa before, and I’m sort of nervous about it. I almost called mom and begged her to come with me. I knew I was scheduled for a waxing. The thought of someone seeing my full bush then ripping all my hair off down there makes me cringe.

Of course, traffic is light today, and I kind of wanted it heavy. I secretly pray for a traffic jam as I turn onto the busy streets of Nashville. I’m not looking forward to this. I’m not the type of girl who goes to get their hair, or nails done. Ugh. I wish I had fought Viktor harder on this part of the contract. I understand why he wants all of his girls to look clean and polished, but is it really necessary to rip my vagina hair off? At least I have another two hours before I go through my first waxing. I fear it will end up being torturous.

I turn my radio up loud, trying to get the music to calm my nerves. The more I think about today, the more I get nervous about tomorrow night. It’ll be my first night dancing, and taking my clothes off for money. I’m not worried about dancing in front of strangers. I used to do that all the time when I performed while I was a ballet dancer. What I’m nervous about is dancing naked … or topless. Viktor assured me that being full nude was not a part of it, but still. Men seeing me topless is going to be just as nerve racking. I know I have worked hard these past few months to get my body back in shape, but I would be lying if I didn’t worry about all my skin showing for everyone to look at. At least I don’t have to worry about my boobs leaking milk or anything like that. When I first had Gabbie, I tried to breastfeed her, but when I wasn’t producing enough milk, I started feeding her formula.

“Come on Ava, get your shit together,” I say to myself. It’s sad I have to give myself a damn pep talk.

I pull up at the salon and I sit in my car for a few more minutes looking around. There are a lot of cars parked outside and I see people walking in and out. This place looks really busy. I suppose it would be since it’s attached to five other shopping areas. The salon looks small compared to the other stores. There’s a boutique, a shoe store, a Chinese restaurant, some sort of music store, and liquor store. I find the arrangement of stores sort of random and out of place, but what do I know. Maybe the salon thought you could go buy a fifth of vodka if your hair cut was horrible.

I shrug my shoulders as I reach for my bag and get out of the car. I never called for this appointment and I kind of hope they tell me they don’t have me down. But knowing Viktor, he has everything taken care of. I turn and press the lock button on my keys, and I make my way towards the salon.

I push up my sunglasses on the top of my head when I walk inside. The place smells perfumery and like chemicals from the hair dye. I take a look around when I notice the lady at the desk is on the phone. From first impressions, I actually like this place and the homey feel. There’s a few chairs covered in nice fabric and beside each chair, they have placed tables with magazines and hair books. I take a seat and pick up one of the magazines, even though I’m not really looking at it, I don’t want to look lost like I feel.

“Can I help you, ma’am?”

I look up to see the receptionist talking to me. Did she really call me ma’am? Do I look old enough to be a ma’am? I walk over to her and move my bag to my other shoulder. “Yeah, I think I have an appointment today.”

“What’s the name?”

“Ava Walker. If not, that’s fine. I was told to come here, but I didn’t call to make the appointment myself.”

“Oh no, you’re right here. Viktor took care of everything for you. Come with me and I’ll show you to your stylist.”

I nod and follow her behind the swinging door. Why am I not surprised Viktor took care of it all? I bet he even paid for it. Knowing him, he told them to give me whatever I wanted. I just need a trim. I’ll have to make sure to tell him a thank you for this. I really don’t want to. I feel the more we talk, the more I’ll be tempted to do other things with him. That absolutely cannot happen.

I follow the receptionist through the maze of hair stations and soon she stops me. “This is Cara, she’ll take care of you today. If you need anything just let her know.”

I smile at the receptionist and thank her. She disappears back to the front and I set my bag down. Cara smiles at me and tells me to sit in her comfy chair. I do as I’m told and I look at her in the mirror. Cara is small just like me. She has long black curly hair with blue eyes. I wonder for a minute if she’s one of the dancers at the club. She definitely has the body for it, but then again, why would she cut hair if she did? She doesn’t say anything as she puts the black cape around my neck and then she leaves. I wonder what she’s up to. I look around for her, curious of what she has planned. I mean I haven’t told her what I want, or how I even want my hair cut. Weird.

She returns carrying a bowl and sets it in front of me. I watch her in the mirror while she moves over to roll a cart with drawers on it. She gets out some foil and I turn around.

“Are you going to color my hair?”

Cara looks at me like she’s confused before she says, “I thought your ticket said you wanted highlights?”

“Uh … can I see this ticket?”

She hands me the ticket and as I look it over she says, “I was given very specific instructions on what to do. If you don’t agree, we can do something else.”

“No, it’s fine. I just had no idea he wanted all this done.”

“Oh, you mean Viktor? Yeah, he can be quite demanding.”

“No kidding,” I say as I give her back the ticket.

I turn back around in my chair and I let Cara get back to her job. Viktor really went all out. I’m supposed to have highlights, lowlights, a haircut, and not to mention styling afterwards. Apparently, Viktor wanted me to have the full work up. The only problem is, did he think I needed this, or was he just trying to do something nice? I hate I don’t know which of these is true.

Five hours later, I’m finally on my way back home. I have to admit, I feel so much better after my time at the salon and the spa. My hair looks totally different from before. Gone is the dirty blonde color and now I have beautiful platinum blonde highlights and lowlights. I never realized how much a little bit of color would change my whole appearance. Cara left my hair long, but added tons of layers making it look fuller and healthier. I mean it still looks like me, and not some overdone Barbie doll. And the spa, I over reacted for no reason. My nails, and toes look amazing with their dark red polish. My face feels silky and actually looks healthier. Even the waxing part didn’t go as bad as I thought it would. Every inch of my body is now hairless. It feels different for sure, but I think I can get used to this. Funny how a day of pampering can lift your confidence up. I think I needed this more than I thought I did. Damn, I’ll have to thank Viktor for sure. He did pay for it all. Every time I tried to pay for anything, the receptionist told me my money wasn’t any good there. The salon and spa told me Viktor took care of it all, and when I came back in the future, it would be the same.

I wonder if he does that for all his girls. But then again, what makes me the special one?

I shake those thoughts out of my head, not liking the sudden anger I feel when I think about it. Why do I care so much about what Viktor does with the other girls? It’s not like him and I are a thing. That’s why I signed the contract three months early. Maybe I did rush it, but I have to remember nothing can come of Viktor. He has to stay my boss. He’s a great babysitter and I know Gabbie loves all the attention he showers on her. But that’s as far as it goes. He has to stay firmly in the friend zone. I trust him with Gabbie completely, but I don’t trust myself around him. I’m not ready for anything other than friendship or him being a boss at this point in my life.

I pull in my driveway and quickly get out, ready to see my little girl. Even though I enjoyed my little day of pampering, I’ve missed Gabbie like crazy. I walk into the house and I can hear Gabbie giggling upstairs. I set my bag down and I follow the sound of her giggling. I look in her nursery and in my room before I find her and Viktor. They’re in the bathroom. Viktor is giving her a bath and from what I can tell, he’s making faces at her. I can’t really see the faces, but the way Gabbie reaches her little hands up to his face makes me think he’s doing something hilarious.

I watch them from the door way as Viktor continues to make her laugh. Seeing them interact makes me smile and makes my heart flutter. I try to stop the feelings that come seeing them together. Viktor doesn’t know how hard it’s becoming to keep my feelings out of our arrangement. Every time I see him with Gabbie, my feelings toward him get stronger. I can’t help that it just feels right. I know I have to work even harder not to act on these unwanted feelings he brings out of me.

Viktor grabs a towel and the wraps Gabbie up. He still hasn’t noticed me as he talks to Gabbie while drying her off. Gabbie hasn’t noticed me either and she’s hanging on to Viktor’s every word. It’s crazy how enamored she is. I still don’t know why she loves Viktor as much as she does. Even when she was an infant, she did things for him that she never did for me.

Viktor gets up and he turns around. He looks up and takes a step back, like I scared him. It’s funny actually to see the surprise look on his face. I bite my lip to keep from laughing. Gabbie sees me too, and she squeals and starts kicking her legs wanting me to hold her. I walk over and grab her from Viktor. I kiss her chubby cheeks and take in her baby smell.

“Why are you looking at me like that?” I ask.

He shakes his head and clears his throat as he says, “Like what? Did you enjoy the spa?”

“I did actually. Thank you. You know, for paying. You didn’t have to do that.”

“I wanted to. No need to thank me. It’s my job to pay for those things.”

My stomach drops when I realize what he means by that. I should’ve known he not only would pay for my makeover, but for the other dancers as well. I don’t know why I’m making such a big deal out of it. He’s my boss. That’s all that he’ll ever be.

“Either way, thank you.” I tell him and I take Gabbie to her nursery and put her clothes on. I try not to think about Viktor and how jealous I’m feeling. Why would I be jealous? I quickly put Gabbie’s clothes on her and I pick her up again. Viktor is standing by the door and I don’t say anything as I pass him and walk down stairs. I put Gabbie in her swing and I sit down to catch up on some reading. I figure now since Viktor isn’t needed anymore he’ll just leave.

“What time are your parents coming tomorrow?”

Guess not. “They’re coming around lunch. They want to spend time with me before they take Gabbie back with them. Why do you ask?”

“I need to know what time you’ll be back. I want you at the club early tomorrow so Margo can show you around and introduce you to the other girls. Plus there’s a few other things you and I need to go over before you take the stage.”

“What time do you need me to be back? I don’t think we’d be gone all day. And who’s Margo? What other things do we need to go over? Can’t we talk about that now and get it over with?” I hate the way my voice sounds so weak. I want to sound strong, and not like the shy girl he thinks I am. I know I have to start being stronger than I am. I cannot let him know he’s my weakness. My temptation.

“I’ll be here at five to pick you up. Margo is the manager over the girls. She takes care of everything you’ll need and will show you how things work. We can talk more about this tomorrow. I have to go. Be ready at five.”

“Whatever.”

“Ava.”

“What, Viktor? Just go. I want to spend time with Gabbie. I’ll see you tomorrow.”

The slamming of the door tells me when he leaves. The sound makes me jump and I want to smack myself for being such a bitch about nothing. I sigh and I slam my book down. There’s no way I’ll be reading anything tonight. There’s only one thing on my mind. The one man that’s driving me mad.

Time seems to stand still while I sit and wait for Viktor to arrive. Mom and dad came earlier, and it was great to see them. But now that they left and took Gabbie with them, I really have nothing to do to pass the time. The more I sit here, the more time I have to think about what I’ll be doing in a few hours. The more I think about Viktor coming to take me to the club, knowing what I’ll be walking into, is making me almost feel like I’m going crazy. My hands are sweating, my legs are bouncing, and my heart is racing. I can hear the loud thump, thump, thump of my heart beat in my ears. I shouldn’t be this nervous. I’ve performed in front of strangers before. But I can’t help thinking about what will happen when I go up on that center stage in Viktor’s club. What if I freeze? What if I fall because I cannot even walk in heels? So many what ifs, and doubt takes a hold of my thoughts. I nervously tuck my hair behind my ear. I decided not to do anything with it, since I’ll be getting ready at the club soon. My new found confidence I had yesterday is absent, and I’m really trying to bring it back.