Page 89 of Playing for Keeps

By the time Worth is born, Lina has started fishing with my dad. Though she has zero interest in holding the pole, she does enjoy staring at the water and screaming, “Fish!”

“I didn’t want to catch anything anyway,” Duke always tells me when they return emptyhanded.

Lina adores her little brother so much that she even dials down the screaming.

“He thinks you’re in danger, and he’s too little to help,” Val explains when Lina’s hollering upsets Worth.

After that, she begins shushing people whenever her brother is sleeping.

Worth looks like a tiny version of Val with thick brown hair and bright blue eyes. He’s a quiet baby and then a nervous toddler.

Worth hides behind Lina a lot when he gets startled. He spends most of his terrible twos on my hips or in my lap. He watches people like they’re too weird for him to even begin comprehending.

Unlike his sister, Worth loves fishing. Quiet suits him. He seems more comfortable at our Basin Rock house where fewer wrestling matches and water pistol fights break out.

Worth quickly bonds with Erin’s new husband, Henry. The mild-mannered man met my grandma when she was having lunch with Christine in Rockwell. Weeks later, the smitten couple were married.

By then, Clover has given up on apartment living. Her friendship with Alexis’s cousin Zelda has also deepened to where they’re rarely apart. They decide to live together as a sexless couple. Clover sticks a two-bedroom prefab house on Duke’s property and builds a fence around it.

Worth finds the adorable cottage-style home to be perfection and often helps with Clover and Zelda’s animals. He flourishes in mellow situations.

“How did we end up with a skittish boy?” Val asks one night. “What if Worth never gets to enjoy water pistol fights? Can you imagine him missing out on the joy of gasping dramatically?”

“He’s still so young. I bet you were a little shy at his age, too.”

“No, not even a little.”

Though I laugh at Val’s certainty, I also worry Worth can’t flourish in our loud, oftentimes aggressive world. He seems so much more delicate than his sister.

That’s why Val looks so relieved the first time he hears Worth gasp dramatically. Our boy’s response comes during a fake argument between Poppy and Justice. Seeing his grandma gasp and stagger theatrically, Worth immediately mimics her. He even swoons and drops on the ground next to where Poppy pretends to faint.

“That’s my boy,” Val says with great pride.

Behind us, Emmett mutters, “And so it begins.”

I can think of nothing better than Worth growing up to be like his dad.

Val Mercer wowed me as soon as I saw him. He’s still the most staggeringly beautiful man. But I didn’t lose my heart because he’s hot. Val is also funny, smart, loyal, and self-sacrificing. There’s nothing the man can’t do. His love was even powerful enough to break a four-generation curse. As a reward, I plan to keep him wrapped in my love for the rest of our lives.

VAL’S EPILOGUE, AKA HAPPILY EVER AFTER

Joining the Blood-Red Suns was always about Lola for me. Yet, I never forget what it means for her family and mine.

The Charleston club isn’t an oppressive force always bearing down on us. For the year after I marry Lola, though, the big city assholes linger in the background. Occasionally, we’ll see a few scouts scoping out our territory. Though they never make trouble, we know they’re considering the pros and cons of challenging the clubs.

Wearing the Blood-Red Suns' patch throws me off more than I expected. However, my dad switched clubs to make a better life for himself. Now, I’m doing the same thing.

“I’m a mini-Emmett,” I tell West. “Your life is stagnant compared to mine.”

My brother always falls for those comments and decides to throw down. Of course, West and I have never needed a reason to wrestle.

To celebrate my daughter’s first birthday, Lola and I choose to throw a party at a Basin Rock park on a weekend when many eyes will be on us. I invite everyone from Rawkfist and the Blood-Red Suns. No one is allowed to refuse my invitation. They’re expected to kiss my ring.

Maybe the party’s timing is perfect or someone local made a call, but a dozen Charleston guys ride up to the park right after we finish with the cake.

They’re a scary bunch. Lola doesn’t hide despite Lina resting on her hip. However, Alexis, who is in full clown makeup, scoots her ginger ass behind my brother.

The Rawkfist and the Blood-Red Suns clubs are a scary bunch, too. That day, three dozen men face off against those Charleston guys. Nothing is said. At one end of our group stands Court, a man never afraid to spill blood. At the other end is Duke, a man no longer afraid of what his future holds.

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