Chapter 11

Darlene walked into the apartment, dropped her purse on the coffee table and flopped down onto the couch with a sigh, slipping out of her shoes. Rhonda stood in the living room in front of the full-length mirror on the wall, naked, putting on her silver and gold bracelets and anklets. She was getting ready for her shift at the strip club on Pine and 5th.

Darlene glanced at her: the long, expressive white Rabbitkin ears, the fluffy tail, the curve of her hips as she fastened a golden chain around her narrow waist. Her long white wavy hair spilled down to the small of her back, a few silky strands framing her face. “I swear, girl, if you weren’t my best friend, I would totally be hating on you right now.”

They had known each other since they were ten. The first time Darlene had met Rhonda, she was on her way back from getting her mom a pack of cigarettes at the corner store. She had stumbled on her in the alley between the cleaners and the restaurant, kissing the restaurant owner’s oldest daughter, the Squirrelkin’s shirt pulled up, small breasts bare. Rhonda had never cared whether it was a male or female. She always said, “I like pussy and dick, so why limit myself?” The club’s clientele certainly didn’t have a problem with her philosophy. Darlene was pickier and usually kept to men, but Rhonda held a special place in her heart or maybe between her thighs and she wasn’t about to pretend her best friend of fifteen years wasn’t hot.