Page 68 of Restless (Brazen Bulls Birthright 5)

Petra dropped to thepolished floor beside Keisha and let her arms flop out at her sides. “Whew!”

They’d been dancing nearly nonstop for two hours, perfecting their choreography and finally recording a few takes of the routine, performed to ‘Taki Taki,’ by DJ Snake. It was a really hot dance—currently in both definitions of the word.

Petra’s mind had been entirely focused on the work, for which she was grateful. She’d spent far too much time over the past few days thinking about a certain young, sexy outlaw. And this whole ‘run’ thing worried her. Four men on big bikes and a fifth driving a big cargo truck as well. What were they hauling? Drugs? Guns? Something worse? They were outlaws, so it had to be something illegal and therefore dangerous.

The thing that kept snagging on her conscience: she wasn’t actually as worried about the illegal part as she was about the dangerous part. She considered herself a fairly within-the-lines person, but it didn’t bother her that her ... boyfriend? ... was very much an outside-the-lines person. That scar bothered her a lot more. He’d been shot once, so he obviously did things where people got shot. Who was to say it couldn’t happen again?

Would anybody even know to tell her if it did?

“I think that’s the one,” Keisha panted. “I need to fuck around with it, but that’s the one.”

Petra clutched the chance to focus on dance again like it was a lifesaver floating in the open sea. “You’re the only person I know who edits your Toks like you’re looking for an Oscar.”

“If you think that’s true, you don’t spend nearly enough time on TikTok.”

“I spend plenty of time on it. It freaks me all the way out. Everything moves way too fast, and everybody’s always yelling at each other. And occasionally there are cute animals.”

Keisha slapped at her weakly. “You’re such a Disney princess.”

Petra had gotten similar cracks from a variety of people in her life, starting in high school, when she’d played Snow White in a school production and everybody in the school had had a group epiphany, realizing that, with her dark hair and light eyes, she actually looked like Snow White. These days, Max, the cook at Gertrude’s, called her Snow White whenever Petra had cause to act like the boss.

It always rankled, because it was always said to diminish her in some way. But she knew when it was said in affectionate teasing and when it was not, and her emotional control was sophisticated enough to behave accordingly. Keisha was only teasing, so she slapped her back just as weakly. “Can I at least be one of the M ones?”

“M ones?”

“Moana, Mulan, and Merida. The ones with some spine.”

“Tiana’s got spine, too. She’s my favorite. And I’ve always had Cinderella’s back. It takes grit to be kind in the face of all that fuckery.”

“Snow White took an apple from a stranger, ate it, and passed out. Before that, she cleaned up after a bunch of bros. She’s nothing but a pretty face.”

“Yeah, I get it. You gotta admit, though ...”

The teasing snark dripped from Keisha’s voice. Petra threw her towel at her.

Keisha dropped the towel away as if it were toxic. “Ew! Disney princesses aren’t supposed to sweat!”

“The Ms sweat. That’s what I’m sayin’.”

“Fine. But you’re not a redhead, or Hawaiian, or Chinese, so until they make a Greek princess—oh, wait! Meg! She’s an M, too. And spiny!” Keisha’s expression became thoughtful. “Huh. You think they do that on purpose?”

“Do I think Disney suits sat down at a table and decided that all the best princesses would have M names?” She shrugged. “Why not? Who can understand the mysterious ways of the Mouse?”

“M for Mouse! We cracked the code!” Keisha said and laughed. Then she rolled to her feet. “Come on. Let’s see what we made.”

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~oOo~

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Hey

Petra smiled. He’d told her he’d text when they stopped for lunch, and here it was, lunchtime and a text.

Hi. Where are you?

Truck stop outside Amarillo

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