Page 108 of The Boyfriend Experience

Now, hey there. Wait just a second…

That’s not a bad idea…

In fact, I think I just came up with a plan.

CHAPTER THIRTY-NINE - LAWTON

The week passes so fast, and Sunday—the day of the festival—comes so quick, my head feels like it’s spinning with all the shit that’s happening.

I’m not gonna lie—Oaklee getting offered a TV show instead of me… well, it did sting for a few days. But then I thought about her. How she must feel, being stuck with Hanna all day long for the last three days. Unable to speak her mind. Unable to tell anyone how much she’s been wronged. Unable to find… justice, I guess.

And then I got over it.

Because I realized something important this past week. That I’m not the man I thought I was. That I was never that man. And that my problem wasn’t that I’m dissatisfied with my career, I was dissatisfied with myself.

The TV show was never going to fix me.

“OK,” Oaklee says as we walk up to the festival grounds. “I think I’m ready for this.”

“Ready to lose and take one for the team?” I ask, shooting her a lopsided grin.

“So ready,” she says, squeezing my hand. “I just want to get this over with.”

“Just so we’re clear,” I say. “No matter what happens today, you’re my hero, Miss Ryan.”

“Ah, stop it,” she says. “I’m giving in. I’m not a hero.”

“You might be giving in, but you never gave up.” I kiss her hand as we enter the crowd and make our way over to the beer-tasting stage. The whole competition is live. There’s probably thousands of people here and even though it’s a two-day thing, this competition is the main event. There’s a decent prize attached to it too. The winner gets a trophy, ten thousand dollars in cash, and their beer on tap at all the city concessions. That means Coors Field, that means the Pepsi Center, Elitch Gardens, the zoo, the museums… all of it.

Oaklee is oddly calm and quiet, considering what’s about to go down here today. Everything is on the line. Her future could not be more precarious.

We stop to the side of the stage where the tasters have all taken their seats in front of sample trays of beer.

I see all of her friends from the Opera House tavern last Saturday.

Ace, Rosco, and Beckett are huddled together looking nervous as they talk in low voices. Duke and Cormac just stand next to them saying nothing. Bear and Jack look like they want to throw up. And all the girls are here too. Tallulah, May, Piper, Beatrix, Juniper, and Magnolia. Each of them as solemn-faced, edgy, anxious.

Seeing them so wound up jumpstarts my nerves again too, so I say, “Are you sure—”

“Yes.” Oaklee cuts me off. “I’m sure.”

“But… but Bronco Brews. Your dad. Your whole life, Oaklee. It could go up in flames.”

She swallows hard, but nods her head. “I know. But it will be worth it to end this stupid game she’s playing with me. It will, Law. And if things go that way… then… then I’ll have no regrets. Because it’s the last chance I have to save myself from a life controlled by Hanna Harlow.”

I nod. Understanding her desperation.

Then look around to find familiar, friendly faces.

All our friends are here. Vivi and Chuck. Jordan and his two associates. Even Jordan’s assistant, Eileen, showed up.

“Where’s—”

But as soon as Oaklee says that, we hear them.

A thunderous roar from down the street. It grows louder and more powerful as they come into view, their motorcycles rumbling, shaking everything they pass.

The whole crowd turns to look at the precession, Spencer Shrike, the outlaw patriarch himself, taking up the vanguard, as more than thirty bikers pull up alongside of the park and stop.