SHADES: An Evil Dead MC Story (The Outlaw Series Book 3) Read Free Page B

from the ceiling spotlighted different pieces haphazardly arranged on upturned wooden crates. Brightly colored scatter rugs lay throughout.
    The smell of incense permeated the place. Skylar had to grin though, knowing what it probably was an attempt to cover up.
    She strolled toward the back, her heels clicking on the wooden floor. She was half way to the back, when she spotted her. Her best friend all through high school, and the closest friend she’d ever had. So close, she felt more like a sister than a friend.
    Although her back was to Skylar, she’d know the shape of her body anywhere—her thin shoulders and arms sticking out of the faded denim overalls she wore. A tube top, all she had on underneath. Her feet—as usual—were bare.
    Her hair—now that was new. Her beautiful long golden brown hair now hung in long dreadlocks to her waist. The top of her head was covered in a blue bandana tied atop her head—the little triangle points falling in the back.
    “Hey, girlfriend!” Skylar watched as she turned, her face lighting up with happiness.
    “Skylar!” she yelled and launched into her arms, hugging her like an idiot. “You’re here!”
    Skylar hugged her back tight. “Letty, it’s been so long. I’ve missed you.”
    Letty pulled back and wacked her playfully on the arm. “Then why did you stay gone so long, dumbass?”
    Both women burst out laughing.
    “Who’s a dumbass?”
    Skylar turned to see a big man standing in the doorway to the backroom.
    Now the dreadlocks made sense.
    The big muscled man had his own long dark dreads hanging to his waist. They were tied back in some semblance of a ponytail—as thick around as Skylar’s arm. His skin was a smooth mocha brown.
    Letty turned to look over her shoulder at the man. “Relax, Ace. Come meet my best friend.”
    He strolled over, if a large muscled man could stroll and extended his hand. “Ace Luther.”
    Skylar studied him. He was bare-chested under his own pair of overalls. His eyes were a golden cat-eyed color. “Hi,” she said, shaking the man’s hand.
    “Doesn’t he have the most beautiful eyes you’ve ever seen, Skylar?” her friend asked, starring deeply into the man’s eyes with adoration and possibly love, Skylar noted.
    “They are nice,” Skylar admitted with a laugh.
    Ace smiled, revealing even white teeth and nodded toward Letty. “Your friend’s a goof-ball, but I guess you already know that.”
    Skylar laughed. “Sure do. It’s why I love her.”
     
     
    Later that afternoon Letty and Skylar were talking near the cash register as Letty closed up. They’d planned to go out and have drinks and catch up on all that they’d missed in each other’s lives. Letty had just changed out of the overalls and into a pair of low riding jeans, biker boots and a halter top that left her belly bare. Both wrists held multiple strands of beaded bracelets, and there were more funky necklaces around her neck. The hippie-child look fit her, Skylar thought with a smile.
    That wasn’t Skylar, though, never had been. Skylar always preferred something a little more subtle, a little more classic. Never wanting to fall into the cliché her upbringing made her feel destined for. Something she’d always fought against. Some things she’d never been able to control in her life, but her wardrobe was one thing she did have control over.
    She, too, had low waist jeans, but instead of a halter top, she had a simple white racer-back tank that hugged her like a second skin. No biker boots for her, though, she wore a pair of black high-heeled sandals. Skylar always strived to have a bit of class to her look. Her jewelry showed it, too. The simple silver hoops in her ears and the matching silver cuff at her wrist.
     
    The bell over the front door tinkled, and booted feet moved through the front of the shop. Skylar turned, as two more faces from her past walked in, Letty’s big brother, Crash and his best friend, Cole. Both were members of the Evil