“Um, Shades, about that…”
“Yeah?”
“My father wants to show me New Orleans.”
“What?”
“New Orleans. When I told him I’d never been here before, he insisted.”
Before Shades could respond to that, Undertaker came down the stairs, Mooch on his heels. He stopped at the end of the bar and called to the one woman—a short blonde—that was bartending with the two prospects.
“Marla, do that thing that calms me down with the glass and the alcohol.”
Grinning at his joke, she set a short glass in front of him and filled it with a shot of whiskey. He slammed it back and set it back on the bar. Then he turned, cleared his throat and called everyone’s attention.
“Got an announcement to make. Listen up, y’all.”
Shades twisted to look back at him as he closed a hand over Skylar’s nape. She had also twisted on her stool to look at her father.
“This pretty gal is my daughter,” he announced nodding toward her. “Her name is Skylar.”
There was a murmur among the crowd, and Shades realized that this came as a shock to most of them.
“Come here, Skylar,” her father ordered.
Skylar’s eyes came to Shades, and he nodded. She slid off the stool and slowly approached her father. When she got within reach he pulled her close, looping his arm around her shoulders. “We lost track of each other, but that’s done now. She’s family, and you’ll all treat her with the respect she’s due. Understood?”
There were murmurings of agreement and approval.
“This is a happy day for me. A real happy day. And my daughter wants to see the Quarter, so that’s what we’re gonna do. We’re all going down to the Quarter to celebrate her homecoming.”
To that there was a roar of approval.
Skylar’s eyes connected with Shades, and he motioned with his head for her to come back to him. She moved to comply but Undertaker’s hand closed over the back of her neck, holding her in place and turning her to face him. As he looked down into her eyes, he said loud enough for all to hear, “You end up with a brother, I’d be happy with that. You end up with the right brother, all the better.”
Shades felt the eyes of every brother in the club bore into him before Undertaker released her, allowing her to return to his side. His meaning was clear, and it said that maybe that ‘right’ brother wasn’t him.
CHAPTER NINETEEN
A couple hours later, they were roaring through the streets of the French Quarter. The sound of the pipes of two dozen bikes made a hell of a noise reverberating off the close-set eighteenth century buildings in the narrow brick paved streets. They pulled down St. Peter Street and stopped in front of a bar on the right. They backed their bikes to the curb in a long line that stretched from the middle of the block all the way to the corner of Bourbon Street, chrome gleaming in the night lights.
The brothers all dismounted, stepping up onto the curb and the narrow sidewalk. Tall narrow green shutters folded open to the street, revealing white French doors that also opened to the street, giving the bar an open air quality. A feature Skylar noticed that many establishments in the Quarter had.
Undertaker led the way inside, taking up a spot at the corner of the bar near the street. Skylar took a spot between him on one side and Shades on the other. The bar was long and narrow with a bar running the length on the left and tables along the right wall. The almost empty bar soon filled shoulder-to-shoulder with tall, leather-clad bikers. The bartenders quickly filled drink orders. Many of the brothers wandered out to stand with their drinks on the sidewalk, taking in the scene. Crowds moved down Bourbon and an occasional horse drawn carriage, horse complete with plumed headdress made its way up St. Peter. The music from the Jazz Preservation Hall half a block down, bled down the street.
After a couple of drinks, Ghost, Shades and Skylar all wandered down Bourbon Street. Skylar dragged them into several souvenir shops. She looked but never bought anything. Shades tried to give her some money, telling her if she wanted something he’d get it for her, but she was content to just window shop. She noticed many of the female tourists strolling down Bourbon Street had souvenir feather boas around their necks. When they passed a store that had a large display of them on the wall, she pulled Shades inside and pointed up at the wall.
“I want one.”
A sexy grin pulled at his mouth and he nodded. “Sure, baby.”
A few minutes later, they continued down the street, a feather boa now draped around Skylar’s neck.
When they passed a club playing some good rockin’ music, Ghost dragged them inside for a drink. They found one available stool at the bar and Shades planted Skylar on it while he and Ghost took a spot standing on either side of her. They soon had drinks in hand. Leaning back against the bar, they surveyed the crowd. The place was packed with a mostly young crowd. There were several tables and a tiny dance floor in front of the band.
Something at the end of the bar caught Ghost’s eye. A moment later he turned back to Shades and said, “Go tell that pretty blonde what a catch I am.”
Shades leaned back to check her out. “I would but I don’t like to lie, Brother.”