Page 27 of Back in the Saddle

Raye looked to Luna and Harlow in order to state, “I’m not sure she understood the shot of Fireball and pinkie promise.”

“Damn straight she didn’t,” Luna agreed, not taking her glare off me.

Of note at this juncture, when Harlow and I became official Avenging Angels, Raye and Luna made us take a Fireball shot and make a pinkie promise to the cause.

It was girlie-crap bonding, but I’d done it, mostly because Fireball was tasty.

And I dug my chicks.

Apparently, it meant something to them.

Who knew?

“Avenging Angels unite so we can find your brother,” Harlow decreed.

Oh shit.

“Word,” Raye agreed.

Luna just nodded. Once.

Crap!

“Listen, guys—” I tried.

Raye shook her head. “No. Unh-unh. No way, Jess. This is bullshit.”

“This is a family thing,” I returned.

Harlow’s brows hit her hairline and her voice could shatter glass when she asked, “And we’re not family?”

I felt Harlow’s offense, because they totally were. Especially Harlow (they were all my besties, but even with Harlow’s cheerleader-on-crack personality, which made us exact opposites, she was the bestest of my besties).

But even if they were, they also weren’t.

Fuck!

How to explain?

Eric’s hand settled warm and reassuringly on the small of my back at the same time I felt his tall frame take said back.

I very seldom felt warm, and never reassured, so it was highly distracting.

And getting distracted was a mistake.

Raye lifted a hand and pointed at me, then Luna, then Harlow, then herself, and back at me, while saying, “Confab. Tomorrow night. I’ll text the deets.”

Harlow did the hand lifting thing too and circled it in Eric and my direction, saying, “And during our confab, we’re going to be talking about whatever this is.”

“You bet your bippy we are,” Luna put in.

They gave me a collective glare, and as if they practiced it, they all turned in unison and stormed out.

Luna was the last one through the door, and she slammed it.

“We really need to lock that door,” Eric murmured.

I turned to him to find he was, indeed, right there.