Page 79 of Exile & Lula
Annoyed by her sister’s unwillingness to dance, Sabrina stalked off toward her friends on the left side of the clubhousenear 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 crewto 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.
LULA
The mood in the Fire Hooch shifted dramatically once alcohol joined the party and the band began to play. The Black Rainbow members went from worrying about saying the wrong thing to yukking it up with Rowdy and Clint. The foxes in the Crimson Guard stopped clinging to each other and began shouting along with the Riot Grrrl songs played by sisters Dali and Jas Tooker with our club brother Graham on the drums.
I tugged Vanessa to her feet and gestured for Nova and Ivy to join us. We stood with the other foxes and bounced to the music. Nova wasn’t sure what to do with herself. She didn’t like the booze, and dancing seemed to embarrass her.
I stuck her between Vanessa and me and had her move to the music. From what I knew about Exile and Nova’s upbringing, they had spent most of their childhood believing they needed to hide their true selves. Exile broke free of that programming, but Nova was still letting it hold her back. She could be silly at the house, yet she became uptight once in public.
I knew she viewed Ivy as fragile. If the little blonde did something, Nova was quick to follow, assuming the activity was safe.
Surrounded by the foxes now, Nova felt safe enough to bounce to the music like Ivy did. She smiled more and even tried an edible from Goldie once Ivy took one. The more my friends included her, the less Nova remembered her South Dakota programming.
For the next hour, liquor flowed freely, music blasted loudly, and the two clubs merged into one. I kept close to Nova, who got the greatest giggles after the edible kicked in. As adorable as she acted, she also kept wanting to climb on everything. Vanessa andI had to follow her around to keep her from standing on tables and the bar top.
As the groups blended, Exile joined me and frowned at his sister.
“She’s happy,” I told him when she stretched out on a table.
