I’m laughing at the texts when Julian pulls right up in front of the bar. The crowd spills out the front door and the noise filters in—laughter and shouting. Gina looks more pissed off manning the door than usual as she pulls one cosplay cowboy off another. The music from the band echoes into the truck and two Harleys rev their engines and roar past. I forgot how packed the bar would be for a long weekend.
“You head inside. I have to talk to Birdie about something,” he says, glancing from his phone to me. “Going to remind her I’m still done. I meant what I said about this being the last for me.”
So my grandmother was texting him about something new, another person who had crossed too many lines, someone she and my mom would need to deal with. The gray area that all of this lives within doesn’t mean anything, not if someone who had been hurting people got a heavy dose of karma. Whether or not Julian was a part of that wasn’t going to stop Birdie and my mom from doing what they believed they should.
“I support whatever you choose to do, but you told me you wanted to be done with that part of your life to find me,” I say. “It was the last one because you wanted to live a different life than your father...and to find me. But Julian, I’m right here.” I squeeze his hand and pull it to my lips the same way he had done to mine. “You have me. You don’t need to change your whole life just to get the girl.”
He smiles, shaking his head as he mumbles, “Just to get the girl.” I watch his Adam’s apple move up and down, silently working through what I’m telling him. “And I’ve done that?”
I raise my eyebrows, surprised that he doesn’t know.
He clears his throat. “I’ve got the girl? ’Cause I’ve heard some rumors about the oldest Crowne sister.”
I smile at him as he lifts me off the seat and into his lap. “And which one are we repeating this time?” Wrapping my arms around his neck, my fingers draw along the nape of his neck and into his hair. I know he loves it just by his quiet hum every time I do it.
“The one where the prude professor fucks around with her boyfriend in a field.” He looks around and out the window. “Maybe the one where she goes down on him in a parking lot. Or the one where she rides him parked out front of her house inside his truck.”
Chuckling, I smile, tilting my head to the side as he kisses along my neck. “I do really like that last one...”
The little bit of light from the parking lights help me find him when I grit my teeth and say, “Don’t you fucking dare go anywhere.” I smile realizing the choice I’m making—him. “My plans only work if you’re here and in them with me.”
There isn’t anything soft about him on the outside, hard lines and the look of pure intimidation if he really wants to, but right now, in my arms, none of that is present. He feels like a version of home I’ve been trying to find, and then confirms it when he says, “I go where you go.”
His hands roam around my back, one snaking up to the back of my neck, pulling me to him, and I go willing. Julian nips at my lips playfully before kissing me. His tongue rolls with mine as he groans in response to how I kiss him back just as sensually.
“We need to get out of this car, otherwise I’m going to have to have you...” I say as I move across the seat.
He opens the door, and we both get out. Turning my hand over, he kisses my palm first before he steps away, moving toward the path that connects The Whispering Fool to Birdie’s house. “Hey, Crowne,” he calls out.
When I turn and look over my shoulder, I smile as he shoves his hands into his pockets. But he doesn’t say anything.
“What?” I say, laughing, moving closer to the front doors of the bar.
“I love you,” he shouts as he keeps walking backwards, eyes still on me. “I won’t be long.” Then he turns the corner toward my grandmother’s place.
It makes me pause, looking down for a moment. I’ve walked into this bar so many times throughout my life, but never this optimistic, feeling this good.
I smile at the pillars who make up The Whispering Fool’s security team.
“I know that look,” Gina says, shoving her hands into the front of her mustard-yellow jacket. “Someone is gettin’ it good.”
She isn’t wrong.
“Gina, the first rule of watching young people fall like idiots is not to call it out,” Gail says, checking an ID and shoving it back at the girl in front of her.
“Gail, I wasn’t talkin’ ’bout love, but by the look on this one’s face, I think you’re right.”
“I don’t know what y’all are talking about. I’m a Crowne, remember? Falling in love is never a good idea,” I say, teasing. “For anyone.” I stick my tongue out at them.
But it’s Gina who adds, “I’ve never seen anyone love harder and care more than a Crowne, darlin’. Just happy to see it’s your turn now.”
I swallow, lingering in the doorway, but before I can thank her for saying that, Gina is already telling two patched bikers, “Ifyou don’t get your intimidating asses in the back of that line over there, I will run hard and fast into your hogs and tip ’em over.”
The moment I step over the threshold, I practically laugh at myself for thinking I’d be able to steal my sisters away for a minute. It’s a swarm of people. The band is wrapping up a cover of Dolly’s “Blue Smoke,” and the crowd eats it up as both my sisters play a healthy game of tossing bottles to one another. Stevie’s on roller skates, chiming in at the top of her lungs in the center of the bar, while Jo sits perched on the shot swing above. I know they both love the tips and having a good time out here, and a part of me worries they won’t want to bite off something else. But I’ll ask anyway—let them make their own choices.
“Wynonaaaaaaa!” Stevie sings out as I weave through and over to where she’s perched. The band starts another set moments later as she sits on top of the bar. “Move the fuck over, let my sister in here.” When I get closer, she smiles wide. “I’m on the edge of my seat here, what are you telling us?”
“I want you and Jo to hear me out about an idea I have,” I say tapping my hands on the bar. Looking around and seeing the way this place is stacked tonight, I know this conversation will need to wait.
