“Let’s get this show on the road already,” Blood growled as he headed toward the door.
Skylar frowned and looked at Shades questioningly. “They’re coming with us?”
Shades eyes moved to Undertaker, and then back to her. “Daddy’s orders.”
She whirled on him. “What? Why?”
“Because you’re my daughter. I’m makin’ sure you’re safe.”
“You don’t need to do this.”
“Don’t give me any mouth about this, baby-girl. You don’t get a say. It’s a done deal.”
Shades bent to grab his pack, apparently already reconciled to this change in plans.
“But—”
“Done. Deal.”
Ghost came up behind her and whispered in her ear, “This world you’re in now, it’s a man’s world, Hotrod. Better get used to it.”
She turned her head and rolled her eyes at him.
Shades turned with his pack over his shoulder and looked at Skylar. “Come on.”
Undertaker stepped in front of her. He took her in his arms and hugged her gruffly. When he released her and looked down at her, he appeared choked up, his jaw tight.
“Skylar?”
“Yes?”
“See ya.” Then he ambled off toward the stairs to his office.
Mooch watched him leave, and then turned to her as her eyes followed her father as he disappeared up the stairs.
“I hope you know how hard that was for him,” Mooch informed her with a grin.
Her eyes came to him and she nodded, the corner of her mouth pulling up at his joking words. Then Shades had her elbow in his gentle hold and was leading her toward the door.
CHAPTER TWENTY THREE
They blasted down I-10 and exited onto the beach expressway. Two and a half hours after they pulled out of Slidell, Louisiana, they were rolling into Gulf Shores on the Alabama gulf coast. Skylar could smell the ocean several blocks before she saw the blue water. The sun was setting as they pulled up at a light behind several cars. They had ridden two by two all the way from New Orleans, and they stopped in the same formation. Shades and Ghost. Blood and Sandman behind them.
Shades looked over at Ghost and shouted over the rumbling engines. “You guys go on, I’m gonna make a stop, pick up some shit. I’ll meet you out there.”
Ghost nodded. “We’ll stop and pick up some beer and ice.”
Shades nodded back.
“This Gulf Coast Chapter you talked about, are we staying at their clubhouse tonight?” Skylar asked Shades over his shoulder.
“No, babe.”
“Then where are we staying?”
“Ghost has an aunt with a beach house out in Fort Morgan.” He nodded toward the road to the right and the road sign above that indicated the turn for Fort Morgan. “She lets him use it once in a while when she’s out of town. Lucky for us she’s at a reunion in Charleston and won’t be back until mid-week.”
When the light changed, Shades went straight, and Ghost and the others made a right turn onto Hwy 180, the road that led out to Fort Morgan. Shades drove down a couple blocks and pulled into the parking lot of a huge souvenir store.