Jax's Game: Book 1 of The Checkmate Series

Chapter 13

Harriet woke up with a pounding in her head. Groaning, she wiped her eyes and began to open them. Instantly, she noticed that she wasn't in Cam's flat. Harriet was puzzled. Then she felt a very heavy arm wrapped around her waist.

'What the fuck happened last night?'

Looking around, she noticed the tan male next to her. Mason, Matthew...Mat...Matteo. Fuck. Delicately, she tried to remove the strong grip around her waist. His grunts of annoyance alarmed her. She needed to be swift and sneaky. Harriet tried again, prying the arm from her body carefully. It was a success. The male rolled away from her. She took one last glance at the man as she quickly grabbed her clothes off the ground and headed straight to the door.

It was an expensive apartment, dark and mysterious, like him. However, the sex hadn't been the best. She couldn't care less about him when she left.

Where was she? Opening her phone, she saw another hundred calls from Jax. A groan rolled off her tongue as she began to flaunt her walk of shame to the tube. Looking around the busy street, Harriet stopped when she saw a hair studio. Lux London in bold gold lettering. With a smirk, she opened the door.

"Hi, can you do a walk-in? I need to get rid of this." She motioned to the silver. The man smirked.

"Of course, sweetie. You look like you had a remarkably interesting night," he mused, looking her up and down. Gay, most definitely, Harriet pieced together. Laughing with him, she followed the brunette. He was older and covered in floral tattoos and had multiple piercings, including his nose.

She sat in the salon chair, looking at her dishevelled appearance in the mirror. Rough didn't cover what she looked like. It looked as if she had been to hell and back. The man introduced himself, Toby. He owned the salon.

Toby tried to help remove the knot of an updo she had. The aftermath of sex and partying.

"What are we thinking?" he asked as he raked his fingers through her long locks. "The silver is gorgeous and very well done. Absolutely no breakage! How long have you been dying your hair?" he admired.

"Nine years, but I am ready for a change," she stated. "I am naturally a blonde, but I need a colour that is like 'fuck you, you don't own me.' But I also work an office job, so I can't do colour."

He hummed. "A man?"

She laughed. "Yes, sir."

"And he is attracted to...?"

"Blondes," she flatly replied. The man pursed his lips, humming.

"How do you feel going, brunette? We can do a darker root with some ash lowlights and add some bangs."

"Let's do it."

* * *

Harriet felt like a million bucks. She thanked Toby for the gorgeous hair. It felt good to have something different. It was truly the first step to freedom. Toby wanted to hear everything about what triggered this new look, and of course, Harriet obliged and told the tedious tale of Jax. Toby was in pure shock, responding with 'oh honey, yes, you totally need a 'fuck you' hairstyle', which made her smile.

Pleased with how the day turned out and awfully glad the silver was finally out, she headed to her next appointment. The brunette was in desperate need of some retail therapy.