EXILE
The day before the clubhouse party, Zodiac rode down to Baton Rouge to get the guys and town in order. He doubled up on local muscle to guard our locations. I assumed he gave the Black Rainbow members a lecture about behaving like gentlemen around the Crimson Guard female members.
“They will cut you,” was how Zodiac put it the first time we met with the other club. “Then, you will cry, and I will look stupid in front of our allies. You don’t want to see what an insane fucker I become when embarrassed.”
I waited in Little Memphis, feeling overly tense about a party at the Crimson Guard’s clubhouse.
Lula spent the day working from home. She also called Stevie and spoke with Cher, who basically mumbled a song in response. I honestly couldn’t tell if she was drugged up or if her brain was scrambled. Lula seemed relieved, though, so I didn’t ask questions.
Nova had planned to stay home with the girls, but changed her mind once she learned Ivy would be at the clubhouse. At some point, the two of them had bonded over dogs and cooking.
“You never wanted to go to our clubhouse,” I pointed out. “Don’t be fooled by the women in this club. It’ll still be rowdy.”
“Ivy’s like five feet tall. If she can handle it, so can I.”
Though I couldn’t argue with Nova’s reasoning, I wished she’d remain safe at home with the kids.
“What are you afraid of?” Lula asked after our afternoon fuck.
Stretched out on the bed, I wrapped myself closer and muttered, “I don’t know.”
“Do you think someone will attack the clubhouse?”
“Not really. The Void might hear about us all together, but it’s not like they have teams at the ready.”
“Then what’s got you worried?”
“I said I don’t know.”
Lula studied me. “You think if Nova is around your club friends and mine, she’ll find a dick to ride.”
“No,” I grumbled, though I didn’t like the picture she painted. “Nova’s been around my club friends before.”
“In a social setting without the girls around?”
Lula's question dug deep into my gut and made me feel worse. “No.”
“Nova wants to have fun. Why not let her do that in a safe location surrounded by people who will keep an eye on her?”
“Will people do that, or will I do it?”
Pressing her naked body against mine, Lula didn’t challenge my snarly mood. She remained calm and lawyerly, breaking down the problem and finding a solution.
“This party is for our clubs and close friends only. No club sluts or randos off the street. It’ll be easy for my people to know if Nova, or Ivy, for that matter, is in danger. You and I can spend the entire night fondling each other in a booth while my sisters watch out for your sister.”
Grinning at Lula’s sexy wink, I admitted to myself that I had kept Nova locked away at home with the girls for my sake as much as hers. But even her isolated life hadn’t been enough to keep her safe. A simple trip to the store nearly stole her life.
Rather than locking away my sister, I chose to relax and let Nova have a little fun.
However, Lula wasn’t wrong that I worried about Nova dating.
She’d been with one man in her life. Chris was a “fun” guy.
He was “charming.” He seemed “harmless.” These were the words our mom used to describe him.
Yet, I only knew Chris as the guy who punched my pregnant sister in the face.
Putting aside the past, I followed a naked Lula into her giant closet.
By the time the Black Rainbow was thirty minutes outside of Little Memphis, Lula was dressed in black jeans, a white T-shirt, black Converse shoes, and her Crimson Guard vest. I wore my club vest, dark jeans, and a white T-shirt.
“We nearly match,” she murmured and looked ready to pounce on me.
Rather than get tangled up in the sheets again, we found Nova in the kitchen wearing faded blue jeans and Vanessa’s Spinal Tap T-shirt.
“I want to go,” Lyric insisted, seeing her mama wearing makeup.
Skylar shrugged. “Bebe’s ordering pizza. I want to stay here.”
Nova knelt next to Lyric. “This party will be loud and smelly. Bebe’s house has pizza and a playset. Plus, I bet Pax will roll around on the ground with the dogs like a big kid.”
Lyric considered her options before taking Dillon’s outstretched hand. Soon, we walked the three girls and two dogs next door. Bebe welcomed us inside while Pax immediately moseyed over to us adults.
“Stay sharp,” Pax told me. “If the Void wanted to hit the clubs, tonight would be a fan-fucking-tastic time to do it.”
Overhearing her grandfather, Dillon reacted with horror and reached for Lula.
“The best time to fight an enemy is when your forces are together,” Lula said in a comforting tone. “But, in reality, the bad guys won’t know we’re throwing a party. Even if they learn about it, they can’t attack that quickly. It’ll be fine.”
Dillon hugged Lula and nodded. However, her dark eyes also focused on me, searching for a promise from the man who saved her mom. I gave her a reassuring head nod. The fear in her expression disappeared quickly.
I smiled at how much she trusted me to keep Lula safe. Dillon wasn’t looking for a second dad as much as an attack dog. I hoped she understood how I would kill and die to keep Lula safe.
With Dillon reassured, we walked back to Lula’s house.
Nova decided to drive her SUV in case she wanted to leave earlier than the rest of us.
I didn’t mention how she couldn’t travel alone in Little Memphis.
Rather than bring Nova down with reminders of her ugly past, I smiled at Lula, who climbed on her motorcycle.
We watched each other while our bikes idled under us. I’d never imagined having a woman ride at my side rather than behind me. The sight of her in control of her motorcycle made my dick hard.
Sensing my reaction, Lula shook her head. “Holster that thing for now. We should get going so we can meet your bros when they hit the city limits.”
I chuckled at the way she winked at my crotch. Lula rolled out of the garage and past Nova’s idling SUV. Soon, the three of us rode to a street corner, where Clint sat on his bike with Ivy riding bitch. Elle joined us before we headed out of the Sleepy Eye Community.
Within minutes, we met a dozen Crimson Guard members on the highway. Our group lingered in the slow lane until Zodiac and my club came racing down the road. We surrounded the Black Rainbow, keeping pace as we guided them toward the Crimson Guard’s clubhouse in downtown Little Memphis.
The Fire Hooch was located at the corner of two busy streets. A winking pinup girl sign flashed over the front red awning. Lula said the place used to house a strip club. Tonight, we arrived to find the parking lot packed with motorcycles.
The club’s VP, Rock Savo, stood outside with Ben Tooker.
The two men were the sons of the top guys in the Rawlins Heretics Motorcycle Club.
Their moms were members of the Everything Nice Crew.
I was starting to understand how, even if I lived around here for the next few years, I’d always be an outsider.
Most of these people had known each other since they were in diapers.
Rock strolled over to Zodiac and me. His gaze never fell on Lula until she poked him in the belly.
“Don’t ignore me.”
“Hush. Can’t you see I’m trying to intimidate these men?” he asked her while sizing me up with his hazy green eyes.
Rock was a larger guy, built like a wall of muscle. His nearly black hair was cut short, revealing the menacing face of a man unwilling to view us as allies.
Despite Rock’s current aggressive stance, Zodiac claimed the Crimson Guard’s VP showed up at Rowdy’s place with pizza the night before. The three men watched a movie and talked about women. None of that friendliness was on display as we stood in the parking lot.
Around us, members of both clubs warily eyed each other. York had texted me several times over the last week to gently inquire if I’d lost my mind over a woman. No matter how many times I replied with “yes,” he couldn’t accept my new situation.
After taking Ivy inside, Clint poked his head out of the clubhouse’s front doors and gestured at us. “Let’s not stand in the open,” he said as if we were behaving recklessly.
I instantly stood behind Lula, feeling paranoid that someone might take a shot from the road. As the group moved toward the red double doors, I spotted Zodiac zeroing in on Elle as usual.
“Oh, my God, leave me alone!” she cried, spawning laughter from the people around her.
Zodiac, of course, remained undaunted. The man hadn’t gotten to where he was in life by giving up easily. He leaned down and whispered in her ear.
Elle glared at him and muttered, “weirdo” before getting marshaled away from him by Sabrina and other club girls.
“Foxes,” Lula corrected when I mentioned what I noticed. “We’re called foxes.”
“I’m not calling you or them that.”
“Weirdo.”
Chuckling at her taunt, I followed her inside the bar. A few minutes later, the place was filled with people.
The clubhouse hummed with raw energy. Behind the long bar top were several bright neon signs with more pinup girls smiling seductively.
The black walls and glossy red tabletops were likely left over from the place’s stripper days. A half dozen pool tables stretched out to the right of the bar top.
At the far end of the wide space, a raised stage waited for the band with a drum kit, keyboard, and several guitars set up.
To the left of the bar top was a wall of red leather booths nearly blocked by dozens of smaller tables.
Ceiling fans swirled furiously to cool the large space.
The walls were covered in a mix of quirky artwork and black and white photos of club members.
Between the stage and booths was a hallway leading to the back office and bathroom.
The Crimson Guard members stuck close to that end of the clubhouse, while my guys wouldn’t budge from the pool tables.
“It’s like a school dance,” Sabrina muttered, joining us at the bar top. “Exile, dance with Lula, so your people will stop acting like little bitches.”
“Why can’t you dance with your girlfriends?”
“Because it’ll just give your boys raging hard-ons, and no one wants to dance when they’re sporting boners.”
Lula shook her head and sipped her spiked iced tea. “The band will play soon. Just settle down until then.”
Annoyed by her sister’s unwillingness to dance, Sabrina stalked off toward her friends on the left side of the clubhouse near the stage. My people lingered at the pool tables. Meanwhile, Nova sat with Ivy and Vanessa in a booth.
The edginess around us didn’t keep me from kissing Lula. We existed in our own lovestruck bubble.
Eventually, though, the real world forced Lula and me to focus on the problem of two clubs too wary to even speak to each other.
“I’ll need to peel myself from your sexy body,” Lula told me as she backed away. “You go talk to your people, and I’ll calm down mine. This party is only a few hours. You’ll spend far more time than that with me in bed tonight.”
Smiling at how she knew just what to say, I backed away from her and headed toward where my club brothers acted like they’d never seen pool tables before.
“What’s the problem?” I asked my club.
“They don’t know what to do with their boners,” Zodiac said, winning glares from the guys. He pretended not to notice, but I caught a little smirk on his face. “They don’t know how to party with these women without shoving their tongues down their throats.”
“Then don’t party with them,” I said and looked over the grown ass men who stood around like lost kids. “Order beers, eat pub food, and play pool. A band will play soon. People will get drunk. Everyone will settle down.”
“But keep your dicks in your pants,” Zodiac reminded them. “I don’t want Clint giving me any lectures about you boys having no manners.”
I waved off his bullshit and frowned at the men. “You know how Zodiac is. Stop pitching fits and go enjoy the free booze.”
York was the first to get moving toward the bar top.
Ojai followed soon after. The others kept an eye on the club on the other side of the clubhouse.
I suspected they noticed the women glaring at them.
Lula didn’t react to Sabrina rallying her crew to snarl at my club.
Instead, my woman was focused on Nova sitting with Ivy and Vanessa.
“You filled their heads with paranoia,” I muttered to Zodiac.
Shrugging, he strutted over to the bar top. “They should be afraid. Those women are dangerous. Even if our guys manage to dodge the foxes’ blades, they have to worry about their biker daddies riding to the rescue. No need to sugarcoat shit.”
I asked the waitresses to walk over to our guys and get their orders since the men refused to move from their spots near the pool tables. As Zodiac ordered a Mai Tai, Clint, Rowdy, and Rock joined us at the bar top.
Clint smiled casually and explained, “The foxes won’t settle down until they have a few drinks in them.”
“Settle down because they don’t trust us?” York asked, agitated as usual when in a new situation.
“Yeah, but can you blame them? They get taunted by the LM Jokers, so they assume other male bikers are just as pervy.”
“Well, we’re not,” York snapped as his scarred face turned nearly feral with anger.
“This place will become my second home,” I told him while patting his shoulder. “I need my people and Lula’s people to make nice.”
York looked around, trying to view the Fire Hooch as a welcoming place despite how most of the Crimson Guard were very obviously complaining about us. He exhaled hard and shrugged. The other guys weren’t feeling any better.
Fortunately, strong booze could burn through even the iciest tension.