Page 97 of Spicy Sapphic Christmas

“Well, if I was!” Piper yelled. “You would be happy for me. You’d be congratulating me like it wasn’t your death sentence. I wantthatfriend back. Not whoever you’ve become.”

Bunny sucked in a sharp breath and nodded firmly. “All right. I hear you.”

“Do you?” Piper raised an eyebrow at her. “Because I’m not going to say this again. Your behavior’s been atrocious. And I’m sick of it.”

Bunny nodded again, her head bobbing. “Yes, I hear you, and I agree with you.”

Piper faltered, as if she hadn’t been expecting Bunny to agree so quickly. She reached for Jo’s hand, lacing their fingers. Bunny wasn’t sure it was entirely a setup—she’d seen them pressed together against the wall when they’d gone out to karaoke, and she’d seen the way Piper had been enamored with Jo ever since, the way they’d gotten closer.

She had to fix this.

“I agree with Piper,” Siena said, stepping forward. “And what’s been happening has been ripping through everything, and causing so much strain and hardship where it doesn’t belong.”

Bunny narrowed her gaze at Siena, at a loss for what she was even talking about.

“You’re going to break everyone up if you continue this tirade,” Siena clarified.

“What do you mean break everyone up?” Bunny kept her gaze direct on Siena.

“I’ll stop working with you,” Piper chimed in.

“Bea already has,” Siena added, flicking her gaze toward Jo. “And she’s not working with Jo anymore either.”

“What?” Bunny’s eyes widened. “She abandoned her sister?”

“She thought she was giving me the freedom to find my own way.” Tears silently slid down Jo’s cheeks. “She thought she was doing what was best for me to continue working with you and Piper.”

“Like hell,” Bunny mumbled under her breath. “She broke upSole Sisters?”

“Yes,” Jo confirmed. “She did.”

“Fuck.”

“You need to fix this.” Piper was pointing at her again. “You broke it, you fix it, and I’m not going to help you this time.”

Bunny’s heart sank. She’d used Piper to get her out of a mess last time, but Piper was right. Bunny needed to grovel on her own, and she needed to make it worth it. Running her fingers through her hair again, pulling at the ends, she plopped onto the piano bench defeated.

“I think I need to apologize to all of you first.”

“Hell yes you do!” Piper charged.

Bunny flicked her a warning glance before cowering again. She spent the next hour apologizing to all three of them, groveling, telling them how wrong she was, and by the end of it, she was so drained that she could barely stand upright to give Jo and Piper hugs. But Jo was smiling again, and so was Piper.Siena was still wearing her permanent scowl, but she didn’t seem that annoyed anymore.

“Feel better?” Piper asked as Jo packed up her things to leave.

Bunny gave a half-hearted shrug. “Not really.”

Piper sighed and waited for Jo and Siena to leave. Then she squatted down and put her hands on Bunny’s knees, forcing Bunny to look directly at her. “When are you going to admit it?”

“Admit what?” Bunny whispered.

“That you’re in love.”

Bunny shook her head. “I’m not.”

“Not if you don’t allow yourself to be. Let’s be real here, I’ve seen you like this one other time in all the years I’ve known you, and that was with you know who. Be real. I’m tired of the anger.”

“I’m not in love,” Bunny said, although the words felt like a lie on her tongue. She wanted to be in love. She wanted all those feelings again, but she didn’t want to admit that to anyone but herself at this point.

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