Page 48 of Cowboy Bear's Hope

“What is it?” I asked, patting my head to check for fire or spiders, or I didn’t fucking know what.

“Girl, what are you doing?” Jez asked, mouth agape at her ridiculous shenanigans.

We both glanced at each other, but neither of us had a clue why my bestie was squealing like a newborn piglet and pointing at me like a crazy person.

“Penny? You tell me what is going on right now!” I said, using my best professional voice, and slapping my hands against my thighs.

“You-you did it! You got naked and nasty with Dante! Our Dante? And you didn’t even tell me,” she whisper-screamed.

“Oooh, okay, she did this when Emmet and I got mated. It just makes her a little crazy, like you know, having another woman in the Crew,” Jezebel said to me.

“Spill! Come on, Av, and you better not leave anything out,” she said, landing back on the couch in a huff right next to me.

“Fine, first of all, what do you mean our Dante?” I asked, eyebrows raised.

“Oooh, she’s got a little green monster sitting on her shoulder,” Jez said, chomping on some popcorn.

“He’s Crew. Now, I want to know what happened. Are you going to tell me or not? Are years of our friendship going to be thrown out the window like so much trash? Don’t you remember Girl Club? All our rules?” Penny said, and dear Lord, was she laying it on thick.

“As if I could forget Girl Club, Pen. I’m the one who made it up!”

I sighed and closed my eyes, praying for strength and patience.

“Rule 27, Avery. We share our big D stories! And I know Dante must have a very big D! Have you seen the size of that man?” Penny said and held her hands extremely far apart.

“Geezus, Penny! He’s not that—oh, okay, actually maybe,” I mumbled and tilted my head sideways.

Truth be told, she was pretty on point.

“Oh my God! Is he really hung like that?” Penny asked, her eyes bulging.

Jezebel snorted. Then she choked on a kernel. Spit it out. And snorted some more.

Penny and I turned and watched the pretty woman as she sat there, laughing hysterically at the two of us.

She even covered her face when she started crying, she was laughing so hard.

“I can’t believe I apologized to you,” I said, pretending to be scandalized.

“Y-you shoulda seen your face when Penny held her hands up!” Jezebel laughed and hiccupped loudly.

Then Penny started.

And soon, I joined in.

“You’re both enjoying this, aren’t you?” I said and side-eyed the two of them.

I grabbed a handful of popcorn and tossed a few kernels at Penny first, then Jez next. But I wasn’t an idiot. I ate the rest of the salty, buttery goodness.

“Don’t blame me. You thought my name was Jordan up until recently,” Jez replied, her eyes sparkling with mischief.

“Hilarious. You both are so fucking funny. Now, I am not one to kiss and tell?—”

“BULLSHIT!” Penny replied.

“Fine. I might have done that when we were kids. But I am a mated woman now,” I said, and tilted my head, showing off my claiming bite.

That led to another round of squeals and giggles. Real camaraderie was a rare commodity in my life, but it was a good feeling.

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