Page 52 of The Dallas Dilemma

“Joey?” I ask before they can continue the conversation without me. “You call her that?”

I don’t know why, but something about it tickles the back of my brain. Like there’s something familiar about it even though IknowI’ve never heard a single person call her that. But then again, I haven’t talked to anyone she knows about her except for these two, and they’ve never called her “Josette,” either.

“What do you call her?” Royal asks, snapping me out of my thoughts.

“Josette. That’s what she told me her name is.”

“It is,” he says, “but I’ve never heard anyone call her that besides you. Everyone else calls her Joey.”

“Why wouldn’t she tell me she has a nickname?” I ask, and Royal and Linc both shrug.

“You said she’s been avoiding you?” Royal asks.

“Since yesterday morning,” I say with a dip of my chin.

“Why don’t you tell me what happened, and maybe I can provide some insight,” he offers. “I know her better than Linc does.”

I describe the scene from yesterday morning, even going so far as to quote our whole conversation about the Cackle post before she bolted. Royal’s eyes go wide before he explodes into laughter. Linc and I glance at each other with confused expressions before turning back to Royal.

“Oh, my God,” he says on a rough exhale as he wipes at his eyes. “What are the odds? Oh, shit. I can’t believe Callie didn’t tell me this.”

“What are you going on about?” Linc asks him.

Royal looks right at me instead of his brother, and,with laughter in his eyes, says, “You’re Bodacious Buckaroo.”

My head snaps back. “What? How?What?”

Royal shakes his head. “Josette Barnes is JoeyB.”

I’m…gobsmacked. I don’t know a better word to describe what I’m feeling.

I recall the whole scene in my living room again, this time seeing it through new eyes. Josette––Joeyand I were commenting back and forth while sitting right next to each other. And she darted out of my apartment right after I explained what I was doing.

That was obviously when she figured it out, and now she’s hiding from me. Is she planning to break things off with me tomorrow night? Do I want her to, now that I know who she is?

No. I really like Josette. A lot. Actually, I like JoeyB, too. We may antagonize each other on Cackle, but there’s no interaction on there I look forward to more. And honestly, knowing what I know about Josette, I’m proud of her for standing up for herself online and not taking any shit from me.

I need to find a way to fix this.

“Don’t tell anyone about this. At least not yet. Okay?” I say, looking from Royal to Linc and back again.

“I won’t. I promise,” Linc says.

“Fine,” Royal grumps. “I can wait to call Callie out for keeping secrets until you’re ready.”

“Thanks,” I say.

Josette doesn’t know thatIknow thatsheknows I’m Buckaroo. Hopefully, she won’t try to break thingsoff tomorrow. I need some time to make sure she knows how much I care about her before she figures out we both know what we both know.

God, this is confusing. But I’m going to find a way to straighten it all out so I don’t lose the girl over a silly online beef.

A beef that is nowover.

CHAPTER SEVENTEEN

Joey

DFW@BodaciousBuckaroo211

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