SHADES: An Evil Dead MC Story (The Outlaw Series Book 3) (9 page)

“But?” Slick prodded.

“You think he’d have the vote?”

Slick put his elbows on the table, his hand running over his chin. “Yeah, I do. Why, you don’t?”

Butcher let out a long breath. “VP’s only one shot away from being President.”

“Come on, Butcher. Don’t talk like that.
Who’d want to put a bullet in
you
?” Slick asked sarcastically.

“
Besides
your ex-wife,” Boot added with a chuckle.

A grin pulled at the corner of Butcher’s mouth. “Right.”

“So?” Slick quirked an eyebrow.

Butcher put his head down, studying the table and contemplated. “I think he needs to be given some more responsibility. See how he does with that, before I hand over the VP patch.”

Boot shrugged. “Give him the membership drive.”

Slick leaned back in his chair and crossed his arms. “How about the shit goin’ down on the Gulf Coast?”

“Think he can handle it?” Butcher asked with a frown, looking up.

Slick grinned. “Only one way to find out.”

CHAPTER SIX

Three months later…

Shades sat at the table in the clubhouse meeting room. Church was just about to finish up. All their business had been discussed.

“Oh, one more thing before we adjourn. We’re gonna be having some guests from out-of-town,” Butcher said from his place at the head of the table.

“Yeah? Who’s that?” Griz asked.

“Some of you may have heard in the news about that house fire the other day. Two people were killed.”

Some of the brothers nodded.

“Y’all remember Crash from the San Jose Chapter? He and Cole were out here for Bulldog’s funeral.”

Heads around the table nodded. Shades sat up straighter at the mention of Crash. His mind immediately going to Skylar.

“They were his family. His grandmother…”

Shades looked over when Butcher hesitated.

“And his sister.”

Oh my God, Shades thought, his eyes dropping down to the table. Not Letty. She’d been so full of life. Always laughing and cutting up with his brothers. And then his mind connected the dots.

Skylar. My God, she’d lost her best friend. This would rip her heart out. And then he couldn’t stop the selfish thought from consuming his brain and pushing all the others out. She’ll be returning. She’ll come home for the funeral. He’ll see her again.

“There’ll be a group flying in from his chapter tomorrow,” Butcher continued. He looked over at Boot. “They’ll need someone to pick them up at the airport.”

“I’m on it,” Boot replied.

Butcher nodded and looked around the table. “Whatever they need, I want everyone to accommodate them. We’re gonna make this as easy as possible on them.”

The guys all nodded.

“Of course,” Slick replied. “Damn. Little Letty. I can’t believe it.”

“Yeah. She sure was a sweetheart. A lot of us are going to miss her coming around.”

“We putting ‘em up at the clubhouse?” Heavy asked.

Butcher shook his head. “They’ve got motel rooms lined up. But we’ll be supplying the guys with loaner bikes while they’re out here, and they’re gonna need a car as well.”

“I’ll take care of that,” Slick offered.

Butcher looked around the table. “It’s not mandatory, but I’d like a good show of brothers from this chapter at the funeral.”

“Yeah. Sure. Of course,” Boot replied, speaking for the group. “I’m sure we’ll all be there. Right, guys?”

They all nodded in agreement.

Three nights later…

Shades stood at the back of the viewing room in the funeral home where Crash’s grandmother and sister were laid out. On one side of the room was his grandmother’s casket. A spray of white roses lay across it. Cole and his wife, Angel stood quietly paying their respects to her. On the far side was Letty’s casket, hers covered in pink roses. In front of her casket stood a man he’d heard referred to as Ace. Someone had told Shades that Ace was Letty’s man. Next to him stood Crash, his head bowed in grief. And next to Crash stood Skylar.

As Shades watched, her hand reached out finding Crash’s. Shades saw Crash squeeze Skylar’s hand in return, and then his head turned toward her. Skylar’s shoulders began to shake, and Shades knew she must be crying. Crash’s arm came up, his hand moving to her hair and pushing her head down to his shoulder. She rested both palms on the lapels of Crash’s suit jacket and gave in to her tears. Crash enfolded her in his arms, his head coming down to rest on the top of hers.

Something inside Shades twisted. He wanted more than anything to be the one to comfort her. To be the one she turned to in her hour of grief. To be the one to get her through this. But he couldn’t. She’d moved on from him, and he couldn’t blame her. He’d fucked things up so badly with her, he wasn’t sure she’d ever be able to forgive him. And now another man held her, and there wasn’t jack-shit he could do about it.

****

The procession to the cemetery the next day was a long one. Shades was about seven bikes back. Crash followed immediately behind the two hearses, riding one of the bikes that had been provided. Behind him was his chapter brother, Cole and his Chapter President, Mack, also on bikes. Then came Butcher and all their guys. Behind them was a car carrying Angel and Ace and his immediate family. And behind that was a long line of cars containing neighbors, church members, and friends.

The two women were buried beside the three grave stones already standing in a row. Crash’s grandfather, his mother and his brother, Shades learned. And now they would lay his grandmother and sister with them. The graveside was crowded with people. Although there weren’t really any other family there other than a couple distant cousins, there were a lot of people that loved Crash’s grandmother and sister. That was evident by the crowd of people standing around the graveside. Half the old lady’s neighborhood and most of her congregation had turned out, along with many of Letty’s and Ace’s friends from the artist community.

Scanning the faces, Shades searched for Skylar.

Crash sat in the front row of metal folding chairs with Cole, Angel and Mack on one side, and Ace on the other side, whose family took up the second row. Crash’s leg was jumping a mile a minute, his knee bouncing up and down. Shades knew this had to be one of the worst days in the man’s life. He couldn’t imagine the pain he must be in.

Shades eyes moved over the crowd, searching for Skylar, wondering why she wasn’t seated beside her man. And then he spotted her, standing by herself at the back of the crowd. She looked lovely in a pretty little black dress, demure and to the knee, but sleeveless. Her dark hair pulled up in a bun that emphasized her slender neck. To Shades, she’d never looked lovelier, except for the sad expression on her face. Why the hell wasn’t she up there with the family? Christ, Letty and Skylar were more than best friends, they were practically sisters. She should have been up there in the front row with the rest of them.

Once the service started, Shades skirted around the edge of the crowd and made his way over to stand beside Skylar. She looked up at him with surprise and maybe a trace of fear. He supposed he could understand her being afraid of him. Maybe she should be. After all, she’d stolen quite a little sum of money from him. But not today. Today, the last thing he wanted was for her to be afraid.

“Sorry about Letty.”

Skylar nodded. Her eyes flitted over him and returned to the minister. He watched as she sucked her lips in.

“Am I makin’ you nervous, Sky?” He asked softly and watched her chin come up a fraction.

“Not at all,” she whispered back.

He turned from her to look at the minister, but not really hearing a word the man said. Finally, he couldn’t help remarking, “You should be up there. In the front row. You two were like sisters.” When she didn’t answer he turned his head to look at her, and he felt a fist tighten around his heart as he watched a tear slide down her cheek. Reaching up, he brushed at it with the back of his index finger. “Baby-”

“Don’t, Shades. Please. Not here. Not now,” she pleaded softly, her head moving back slightly.

He gritted his teeth and nodded. A moment later he walked away, returning to stand with his brothers.

After the minister said his final words over the gravesite, the mourners began to disperse, some stopping by to give Crash their personal condolences.

Cole, Angel, Mack and Butcher hung back, waiting patiently until the mourners had all trickled off. Shades and several more of his brothers stood off by the paved drive, giving them space, but still within earshot of their Chapter President.

Shades bent his head to light a cigarette and looked over at where Crash and Ace stood alone, saying their own final goodbyes to the women they both loved. Shoving his lighter in his hip pocket, Shades blew a stream of smoke out and watched as Skylar walked up to the graves. She stood next to Crash, her hand sliding over to clutch his. He looked over at her and squeezed her hand in return, trying to offer her a smile, but his heart obviously wasn’t in it.

Shades heard Butcher offer in a low voice, his eyes on Crash, “Maybe it’d do him good to stay in town a while. We’d be glad to give him a spot at the table.”

Damn, Shades hadn’t seen that coming. His eyes moved from Butcher to Crash and Skylar, and he felt his heart catch. If Crash stayed, Skylar would stay. Before he had time to digest the ramifications, he heard Cole respond to the offer.

“To tell you the truth, I’m not sure what the right move is for him.” He shrugged. “Might be too many memories lurking around every corner here.”

Shades turned his attention to where Cole, Butcher and Mack stood, knowing Crash’s Chapter President was going to have to sign off on anything that big. Mack looked at Butcher.

“If you want to make him the offer, I’m good with it. Whatever he needs right now, whatever he wants, I’ll back it.”

Butcher nodded.

“Damn, brother, you hear that?” Ghost whispered to Shades. “Butcher brings him to the table, you might have some competition for that VP spot you want so badly.”

Shades took a hit off his cigarette. “
If
he stays, that is. He’s been gone ten fucking years.”

Griz nodded toward the fresh graves. “Yeah, and the last two reasons he had for coming back just got planted in the ground.”

Ghost shrugged. “Just sayin’. Grief and guilt about being gone, who knows where his head’s at.”

“If he stays or goes. Don’t mean shit to me,” Shades growled. Ghost and Griz exchanged a look that told him they didn’t buy his words for a second. He shoved one hand in his pocket, his eyes returning to Skylar, and he wondered if this was good news or bad. Part of him wanted nothing more than to have Skylar here, back home where she belonged. The way she’d run years ago, it had never set well with him. He wanted a chance to mend things between them.

On the other hand, he wasn’t sure if he wanted another brother at the table who could possibly get in his way. And if he was being honest, he sure as hell wasn’t sure he could stand to watch Skylar with Crash. It had gutted him when he found out she was the ol’ lady of a brother. She couldn’t get any more off-limits than that. How the hell was he supposed to stomach seeing them together? Shades knew one thing about himself. He knew his limits. He hadn’t been able to keep his distance from her when he was a prospect ordered to stay away from her. He didn’t think for one fucking minute that he was going to be any better at keeping his distance now.

And one thing he knew for certain, if he ever
did
decide to make a play for her, he wouldn’t care what or who stood in his way. Dropping his cigarette to the ground, he crushed it under his boot.

“I’ll be at the bikes,” he muttered to Ghost and Griz as he stalked away.

****

Skylar looked down at the freshly turned graves covered in flowers, and she felt her heart breaking. Letty had been the best friend she’d ever had, and Mama Rose had been like a grandmother to her. The grandmother she’d never had.

It was so unfair. Life was so unfair. Mama Rose was the sweetest woman she’d ever known, and Letty had been in such a good place in her life. Her shop was taking off and doing so well. And she’d finally found a good man to love, one who loved her back.

Skylar glanced over at Ace. He seemed broken, lost, devastated and her heart bled for him. But it was Crash who really concerned her. Through the entire service, she’d watched him sitting in that front row, his leg shaking a mile a minute, and she knew he was holding on by a thread. He’d had so much loss in his life. His mother, his grandfather, his brother. And now Mama Rose and Letty. No one should have to endure that much.

She knew how he felt though, to have another in a long line of people ripped from your life. She knew what it was like to have to lift your chin and get through it, when your heart was breaking and it hurt to breathe. She’d had everyone in her life ripped from her. Her mother, whom she barely remembered. And then foster home after foster home.

And then along came Shades. And he’d made her believe again that she could have love—that she could open up to someone. That she could let them in. And then he, too, had turned out to be nothing but a lie.

So she’d packed her beat up old car with her meager belongings, and she’d left town to build a life of her own. And she had, with a job she’d loved and co-workers that had loved her, and even a man. But that was all ripped from her, too. And now, to come back home and to lose Mama Rose and Letty, it was just too much.

It just never ended.

Every time she’d let someone in, every time she’d let herself care, they were torn from her again. It all seemed so pointless and useless to get close to anyone.

She turned to Crash and took in his devastated face. He needed her. And she’d be there for him. It was the least she could do, after all the times he’d looked out for her when she was younger. Somehow, she’d get him through this.