VAL, AKA A MAN WITH A PLAN

The hotel is packed with people, most of them being unnecessary for our wedding planning. The real reason the club guys are here is to stimulate bonding between the two crews. For decades, each side viewed the other as rivals. Now, we need to be one big happy family. The best way to make that happen would be through booze.

So, after we finish at the Holiday Inn, we move in mass to Basin Rock. The chicks fill up Mama McGraw’s Diner for food and drinks. The guys head next door to Duke’s Irish-style pub. Inside the Basin Rock Bar, the booze flows and classic rock music plays.

The Basin Rock guys have already begun to warm up to me. They fucking loved how I pushed back against that Mark asshole. I’ve gone from too pretty to be tough to a possible dickhead tyrant aiming to ruin their lives to one of the bros. My goal is a sweet spot where I’m respected like Duke but trusted as one of the guys like I am in Rawkfist.

My brother and cousins attempt to unleash a charm offensive tonight to win over the local guys.

West stands at one side of the bar, telling wild stories. The guys remain wary of his big personality and likely intimidated by his good looks.

Otto has better luck. He’s older and more down to earth but still rowdy. His stories get the guys laughing.

Ike mostly just listens to other people talk. I catch his gaze and silently beg him to become more charming. He watches me for a minute before slowly lifting his middle finger.

Chuckling at his refusal to be bossed around, I look over the crowd to find my pa talking to Duke. I can’t tell if their conversation is friendly or not. Court walks over to them and seems calm enough.

I consider heading that way to ensure my father and uncle aren’t ganging up on Duke. Then, I remember how my future president and father-in-law doesn’t need my protection. Lola’s fears for Duke are rubbing off on me.

As the place remains festive and people gorge themselves on bar food, I receive a text from Lola. She asks to meet me between the two businesses. I assume she wants wet smooches to tide her over until we’re alone together tonight.

Instead, I find Lola pacing around outside the diner. She sees me and begins to cry.

“What’s wrong?” I ask, alarmed by her downer mood when everyone else is celebrating. “Did something happen with your mom?”

Rather than launch herself at me for comfort, Lola remains wary and worried. I know instantly where her head’s gone.

“No curse is keeping us apart,” I say, and she finally wraps her body against mine. “I refuse to lose you.”

“I want to believe.”

“What’s got you rattled?”

Lola looks up at me with wet eyes. “When I was telling Kerrie about you and me, I made us sound like an unstoppable force.”

“All good so far.”

“But what if I’m too certain about things and jinx our good luck by not worrying about the curse?”

“Lola, what exactly is the curse again?”

“That no one from my family can know true romantic love.”

“Look, I have no doubt your great-great grandmother’s coochie angered the wrong woman. I fully buy into the curse. I mean your grandma is smoking hot, and your dad has got stellar moves. The fact that neither of them has found someone to love them right is a sign that the curse is real.”

Lola nods, relieved by how I don’t brush off her concerns.

“But that curse won’t work on me. I already love you. If your dad ended the agreement, I’d still marry you. Even if the clubs dissolve and I became a working stiff, I’d still want to spend my life with you.”

“Because your magic is stronger than the curse?” Lola asks, seeming fragile in a way she rarely is.

“Of course. Besides, that curse is old and likely a little senile. It can’t keep a hold on you anymore.”

Lola smiles at my words before looking up at the star-filled evening. “I’m afraid to let my guard down and not see the end coming.”

“Why would anything end?”

“It always has for everyone else.”

“Not my family. Even when Queen Meemaw Christine left King Peepaw Jared and married my bio grandpa, she never truly let him go. They’re all tied up together inside. That’s why as soon as they were around each other again, everything just clicked. That’s the kind of magic I know, but I understand why you don’t trust in it yet.”

Lola hugs me tighter. “I trust in you. You’ve been a force of nature since we met. That’s why I had to scream like that at the store. You make me lose control.”

“Now that you’re mine, I can never let you go.”

Breathing easier, Lola wears a lovestruck gaze. Now with her certain about us again, I unleash the heat until we’re fighting to see who pins who against the bar’s wall.

“Val?” Ma-Poppy announces from the diner door yards away. “Are you out here, son? We can’t find Lola. Have you seen her?”

I smile at how my ma gently tells me to keep Earl in my pants and get back to my own party. Kissing Lola for another minute, I promise I’ll have her to myself in a few hours.

Until then, I need to behave like Emmett Mercer’s son and get my ass back to the bar, where two clubs are learning to think like allies rather than rivals.