&n
bsp; A half grin pulled at Blood’s mouth, and he turned back to the Gulf.
“Nice night out here,” Ghost observed, moving to stand next to him.
“Yup. Thanks for letting us stay here.”
“No problem.”
“It’s real calming, listening to the waves. It calms my shit down.”
“Right. Damn, that short fucker tonight had a wicked hook.” Blood turned his head to see Ghost touching his sore jaw.
“I’ve got just the cure for that.” Blood held out the joint he’d been smoking. Ghost reached for it, took a toke and passed it back. Blood took his own long toke, and then slowly exhaled the smoke, his eyes taking in the moon shining down on the water, the waves reflected in its silvery light.
“Skylar’s always been quiet, reserved. You know what I mean?” Ghost said quietly beside him.
Blood looked over at him, cocking a brow.
“I sorta told her she needs to toughen up if she’s going to be with Shades.”
“Why’s that?”
“He’s gonna be our next VP.”
That was news to Blood. “Oh, really. How do you know that?”
Ghost shrugged. “Position’s vacant. It’s gonna be him.”
Blood turned back to the Gulf, his eyes on the surf. “Huh. So, he gets VP, she’s gotta be a bitch?”
“That’s not what she’s doing.”
He let out a huff of disbelief. “Isn’t she?”
“Don’t be an ass, Blood. You’ve both rubbed each other the wrong way since you met. Why is that?”
He shrugged, not willing to admit too much. “She’s my President’s daughter. That makes her our new little chapter princess,” he said with a sneer.
“It’s more than that. So what gives?”
Admitting the truth—that maybe he was interested in her for himself, and it irked him every time he saw her with Shades, and that he baited her just to get a rise out of her—that wasn’t gonna happen. So he threw up a distraction. “Maybe this whole setup rubs me the wrong way.”
“How so?”
“You don’t think it’s odd? She shows up suddenly when the DKs are after her?”
Ghost shrugged. “Don’t know. I just know her and Shades go back a long way.”
“Yeah, so?”
“I’m talking like ten years. Like when she was about eighteen. He knows her. He trusts her. And so do I.”
Blood looked away wondering if he’d misjudged the whole thing. Maybe Skylar and Shades were meant to be together. If Shades was her first love, he’d never be able to compete with that. And that sucked for him, but it wasn’t the first time he’d taken an interest in a woman only to have it dangled in front of him and then yanked away.
****
Shades shrugged out of his cut, tossing it on the bed. Next came his tee shirt. He pulled it over his head and tossed it toward the floor of the closet.