Page 50 of Claimed By the Cowboys

“We didn’t want you to know because…” My voice trails off.

Because it was hard. That’s the only real response. None of us wanted to tell Piper how bad it really was, because Piper was always something special for us. Something untouched by the shit that we all had to deal with when we went home.

We always managed to keep each other afloat, but Piper was the reason we were floating.

“You didn’t want me to know?” she asks, looking meaningfully at Brent.

He looks away.

My eyebrows raise. “Clearly I’ve walked into this conversation after it’s happened.”

Piper’s lips twist. “Brent shared some other stuff with me that I didn’t know last night.”

“Yeah. Well. It had to be said,” he grumbles.

I shake my head.

Piper straightens. “Okay. I have a new rule.”

Not more fucking?—

“No more secrets. Ever,” Piper says.

Oh, thank God. “That sounds good to me,” I say quickly.

Then, I realize this is another chance to make sure that one of the things I’m fighting against ends up being a little easier.

“And that means that if one of us says something, it’s true, okay?” I smile at Piper.

She narrows her eyes slightly.

“Deal,” Dalton rumbles.

Brent nods. “Fine. No secrets. Truth. Got it. Now can we get the fuck out of the hallway and get something to eat?”

I laugh, tossing my towel over my shoulder. “There’s pancakes downstairs.”

“Pancakes? That’s awfully simple of you, chef,” Piper teases.

I follow her down the stairs, noting how her butt looks so good in Brent’s old pajama pants. “They’re lemon-ricotta pancakes, cooked like Japanese cheesecake so they’re about six inches high and the fluffiest things you’ve ever eaten.”

“Goddamn, Tate,” Dalton groans. “You could’ve just poured some out of the fuckin’ box.”

My smile spreads as I follow my favorite people down the stairs. “What fun would that be, Dalton?”

“Easy, Tate. It would be easy.”

I catch Piper’s eye and wink.

“But easy isn’t fun, my man. Easy is just not fuckin’ fun.”

For all his bitching, Dalton gets four of the pancakes down before he pulls back from the table. “Fuck, man.”

“They’re good, right?” I smile at him.

Dalton just nods.

“Good. Piper, I got some pictures of them, so we can post them?”

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