“You ever tried it?” Ghost asked.
“Nope.”
Ghost passed him his beer, and he took a slug.
“Damn, that’s good.”
“Beats the hell out of that Clydesdale piss you drink,” Ghost advised with a smirk.
Sandman looked down at the bottle in his hand. “Beer with fruit, who knew.”
They all chuckled.
“Get your own.” Ghost grabbed his beer back.
CHAPTER TWENTY FOUR
At nine o’clock they headed toward the state-line. They pulled into the crushed-seashell and gravel lot of the bar that had stood on the beachfront location for more than fifty years. They parked their bikes in a line near the side of the building.
A cool breeze was blowing in off the Gulf, and the sound of the surf crashing on the beach carried to them as they headed inside. Shades led them to the far end of the bar where they all took a barstool.
The brothers they were to meet up with had yet to arrive, but they were half an hour early, as was Shades’ plan.
The bartender headed over and dropped coasters in front of each of them as he eyed their vests, then their faces. The colors they wore may look familiar, but Shades knew their faces were all new to him.
“What’ll you boys have?” he asked.
As Ghost, Blood and Sandman surveyed the room, Shades ordered for all of them. The bartender began pulling bottles of beer from a tub of ice and popping the tops off them as he set them down in front of each man.
“We don’t want any trouble in here,” he said.
Shades looked at him. “We don’t want any trouble either.”
The bartender gave him a nod and walked away.
Ghost leaned into Sandman and nodded toward a skanky blonde. “There’s one for ya. She’s not the best lookin’ girl here, but beauty’s only a light switch away, Bro.”
Blood almost choked on a mouthful of beer.
At ten to ten, they heard the roar of pipes and could see through a window as a pack of bikes rolled in, their chrome gleaming in the moonlight. A few moments later, in trooped seven of their brothers.
Shades straightened from leaning against the bar and moved forward to greet them.
He embraced one after another, as did Ghost, Blood and Sandman.
Shades knew Case, Coop and Deez, but he’d had to be introduced to the other five. There was Moon, the Chapter President. Rocker, their VP, and Brick and Pipe.
He could see by looking at Moon and Rocker that they were both hopped up on something. Coke, maybe. Methamphetamines, more likely.
They moved off to a table, and Shades’ eyes connected with Case. Case joined the five of them at the bar.
“How ya been you furry bastard?” Ghost asked him.
Case stroked his three-inch long beard. “It’s purty, ain’t it?”
“A thing of beauty. What have you been up to?”
“Got my Dyna up and running finally.”