No, I know I love her. I love her, man. I fucking love her so hard I hurt, and I’m worried about her, and she left her phone at my place and no one knows where she is, and I don’t care if she hates me or blames me—I really should’ve asked Daisy to make sure the gossip rags got the message that anyone who fucked with Muffy would…would… Shit. I don’t even know what Daisy could do to them, but I know Muffy wouldn’t be exposed like this if she was hanging out with anyone else and their family. I just—I just need to know she’s okay. If you’ve seen her, let me know. And can you tell Coach—shit. Never mind. I’ll tell him myself. I can man up. This is all on me.”
I hang up and shove my phone in my pocket, ready to turn around, get my car, and get my ass back to practice, when I realize I’m not alone.
Athena—or is that Cassadee?—is poking her head out of the bunny bar entrance.
Athena. Definitely Athena. It’s the boobs. “You know you’re why the password changed, right?”
“What? Why? What did I do?”
She rolls her eyes, then crooks her finger at me. “One chance, Jaeger. One. Chance.”
I don’t ask questions.
Instead, I silently follow her inside and down the stairs into the glittery silver, gold, and pink club.
But I don’t see the bar. I don’t see the lounge chairs. I don’t see the puck bunny flag.
I see my heart, sitting in the middle of the room, sloshing a pink drink in a martini glass while she talks. “My next client called me to tell me her date needed bail money, because he tried to steal a chicken out of someone’s backyard, and that was it, you know? Then I was like—hic!—Mutzy, I mean, Muffy, you need a pew land. A new gland. A—hic!”
“And that’s when you started signing up for all of the dating apps?” Cassadee asks.
Muffy hiccups and nods.
“You are such a badass.” Another bunny—is that Jami?—clinks her glass to Muffy’s. “Way to stick it to the man and find a way to get what you need. How many matches have you made this way?”
“All of them.”
“Woohoo, you go, girl!” I know that one too. That’s Anni. With an I.
Muffy shakes her head. “I’m done. Washed up. Hic! Mutch Maffers is dead.”
“What? No.” Veda rises. Veda. Veda’s here. Good. “Muff Matchers is not dead. Do you hear me, Muffy Periwinkle? You are doing the women of the world the best fucking service ever in screening out the losers for your clients, and you are not giving up. I forbid you.”
“But I cheated.” Muffy glares at her. “Wheaters don’t chin.”
Athena cocks a brow at me. “And what do you have to say for yourself?”
Jesus. I don’t know how they found her, or why she’s here, but I have zero doubt they’re taking care of her because they knew she needed it, and that will always be what I love most about these bunnies.
In the friend way. Naturally. “Thank you for keeping her safe.”
“Are you kidding?”
“I love her.”
“Hm. I suppose that’s a start.”
I don’t bother wasting my facial expressions on her, and instead step down into the sunken seating area. Muffy looks up at me, her eyes going wide, and she drops her drink in Jami’s lap.
“I love you,” I tell her.
She blinks.
“I fucking love you,” I repeat. The bunnies scatter as I reach her and drop to my knee so I’m at eye level with this amazing, beautiful disaster of mine. “I love you when you’re cuddling your cat. I love you when you’re talking about your job. I love you when you’re naked. I love you when you’re being difficult. I love you when you’re using dating apps to screen assholes for your clients, and I love how much you love them. I love you when your hair’s a mess, and when you’re throwing eggs all over my kitchen, and when you’re taking me to funerals so you can be there for a friend in a place you never wanted to go back to. I love you when you’re happy, and I love you when you’re stressed, and I will never stop loving you, because I’ve been waiting my whole life to love you. You’re the one and only you, Muffy, and you will always be my one and only. It’s you. It’s only you. I love you.”
She blinks again. “What about Amelia Cranford?” she whispers.
It legit takes the