Page 49 of Petting Penelope
“Me neither,” said Rachel, sighing her relief. “Thank God. Shall we drag in the mattress from the balcony and make a daybed in here?”
“We could just watch tv in our actual bed,” pointed out Penelope.
“Shit, that’s an option isn’t it? Wow, we’re fancy.”
Penelope giggled. “Well, it’s really Rawhide Ranch that’s fancy.”
“It is indeed,” her girlfriend said.
CHAPTER 42
Rachel
They settled on some action movie in the end, all big explosions and various movie stars and professional wrestlers running around, trying to save the world. Rachel was fairly certain that it wasn’t supposed to be hilarious, but they both found it so.
Penelope kept up a running commentary about all the things they’d gotten wrong for the prospective US president.
“You’re not even American,” pointed out Rachel. “How on earth would you know?”
“I’ve watched all seven seasons ofThe West Wingmultiple times,” said Penny primly. “And yes, I know that’s not quite how the American political system works, but it’s how I’d like it to work. Better than the—” and she veered off into a rant that started on crappy politicians with more money than sense, and descended into a vicious diatribe about immigration, fascism, and queerphobic despots who should be deposed.
“Maybe don’t say all this before we’re about to go through Customs,” said Rachel gently, but Penelope was right. And it wasn’t just restricted to the US. The UK had its own far-right politicians decrying immigration, whilst the rest wereseemingly spending all their time arguing in favor of supporting a genocidal regime or going after innocent trans women.
The world was a clusterfuck, and Rachel was tired of it.
But Rawhide felt like a haven, a secret place where they could escape from it all, if only for a little while.
They curled up on the bed, propping themselves up with couch cushions and pillows, and ate pizza and popcorn and laughed when John Cena did a silly thing, and agreed wholeheartedly that Idris Elba would certainly make a better British prime minister than Keir Starmer.
It was cozy and chilled and the perfect way to spend an afternoon. When the film finished, Penelope decided that it was outrageous that Rachel had never seen any professional wrestling—a revelation brought about by her inability to name John Cena—and took them down the most ridiculous rabbit hole of pay-per-views and historic matches.
Watching her light up when talking about Becky Lynch and Rhea Ripley had Rachel deciding to study up so that she could watch the matches with her girl back home.
Back home.
It seemed like their time in Montana was coming to an end all too quickly, but Rachel was determined to make the most of what little time they had left. So she ordered steak salad from the kitchen, for them both to have for dinner, and they ate in bed and discussed the finer points of butt cages.
Butt cages, it turned out, were harnesses for butt cheeks. In all her years frequenting kink clubs, Rachel had never seen such a thing, but there they were, all over wrestling pay-per-views.
She’d had no idea that so many female wrestlers were so attractive.
Eventually, Penny fell asleep against her, and she sat up, surprisingly hooked on the storylines, and watched into the small hours of the morning. Or at least until Penelope woke up,saw what time it was, and told her off for not going to sleep already.
Rachel had never been in a relationship where her sub and girlfriend, had also been a bossy little thing. She kind of liked it. It made her feel special and cared for in a way that she imagined submissives must feel.
When she said as much to Penelope, the other woman looked at her in confusion. “Of course you should feel special and cared for. Otherwise, why be in a relationship? That doesn’t make any sense to me.”
It was going to be an exciting thing, developing this relationship together. Rachel had actually considered how much she was going to personally get out of it. She’d always thought about what she could bring, how she could be of value to her partner, but it hadn’t occurred to her that her partner could enrich her life in different ways too.
“You deserve to be cared for,” Penelope had said, before slipping back into sleep.
She deserved to be cared for.
No one had said something like that, out loud, to her as an adult. And even if they had, Rachel wasn’t sure that they’d have meant it as ferociously as her girlfriend did. Penny had decided to be in a relationship, so she was going to run at it full throttle.
CHAPTER 43
Penelope
