Page 157 of After the Burn

“Who’s the pussy now?” Lucas wiped his hatchet on his pant leg, then twirled it in his hand.

“Just so you’re both aware, calling someone a ‘pussy’ should be a compliment.” I sighed in exasperation. “You can barely thump a set of nuts, and men will drop to their knees. A pussy can give birth then snap back into place like nothing ever happened.”

Lucas’s mouth twitched first.

He pressed his lips together and looked away, shoulders going suspiciously rigid.

Beck noticed, and that was the end.

A strangled sound escaped Beck’s throat, and Lucas immediately lost the battle he’d been fighting. He bent forward with a sharp bark of laughter, bracing one hand on his knee.

Beck folded right after him.

Within moments, they laughed so hard they could hardly catch their breath.

Lucas grabbed Beck’s shoulder to keep himself upright, and Beck shoved at him, which only made it worse.

Then, somehow, they ended up leaning against each other, half-bent over, completely useless, gasping between bursts of laughter like two idiots who had forgotten the rotters were nearby.

I stared at them. “Are you two done?”

That only made Beck wheeze harder.

Lucas tried to answer, but nothing came out.

Perfect.

Adrian came through the doorway and stopped. His gaze drifted around the room. The dead rotter. Lucas’s gore-soaked boots. Beck leaned against Lucas as both still gasped for air… then at me. “What happened?”

I folded my arms. “I educated them.”

Adrian looked at Beck in question.

That was apparently a mistake because Beck took one look at his completely serious expression and lost it all over again.

Lucas followed.

Adrian crossed his arms over his chest and waited patiently. Which somehow made the whole thing worse.

When neither of them managed to pull themselves together, he looked back at me. “Do I even want to know?”

“Yes.”

“No.” Beck wheezed at the same time.

Adrian’s brow lifted.

I pointed at Beck. “He called Lucas a pussy, and Lucas responded by killing the rotter, proving to Beck that he isn’t one.”

Lucas straightened enough to wipe at his eyes. “Don’t encourage her,” he warned Adrian.

I ignored him and kept talking. “I merely pointed out that men have spent centuries using a part of the female anatomy as an insult, even though their own equipment can be incapacitated by an enthusiastic toddler.”

Adrian stared at me… in silence.

Then the corner of his mouth twitched.

“Don’t you dare.” I stared him down.