The sun-filled Thursday started normally.
Nothing unusual happened while she ate breakfast in the kitchen with Seb.
He’d been burning the candle pretty low lately, and she was there to support her husband with her presence, knowing there was nothing else she could do for him while he hunted for a man who’d last seen Seb when he was only a little boy, somehow held a grudge against her man. The sweetest man on earth. Even estranged, she couldn’t figure out why a father would do that.
What he had against Seb, she couldn’t figure out. But it was easy to see howit affected him.
He didn’t even like her going out alone without someone else with her. Several times that week, her dad had driven to the house to run errands with her.
Being a legacy kid, she didn’t question their cautionary tactics, even though it was inconvenient to have her dad there while she went to pick up her birth control pills.
So the day started well.
Even better, when Seb grabbed her around the waist and sat Sunny on his lap to listen to what she was working on that day, he looked tired as she ran her fingers through his hair. She wanted him to hand the case over to the police, to give the burden to anyone else, but that wasn’t who Seb was. And because the danger also touched her, he worked diligently until he fell exhausted into bed every night.
And then a call came to make her husband rush out to the garage and mount his bike.
For the rest of the day, Sunny kept in touch with him via a few texts to let her know he was okay, but he would return by dinnertime.
That time came and went.
Every wife and girlfriend worried like a cop’s wife worried for her man. Dreading the knock on the door to let them know something bad had happened to their partner.
The danger of their job was always there, and Harper, knowing that, too, came to keep her company. Their other friends, Lily and Valentina, joined them later, bringing wine and snacks.
“Did Cain say where they were going?” she asked Harper.
“No, babe.” But Sunny got the sense her friend was holding something back. Cain told Harper everything, as if he were under oath.
Texas’ daughter, Valentina, chimed in next as she poured everyone a glass of white wine. “At least three skilled trackers are in Seb’s troop,Sunny. They’re gonna find the prick father and cut his dick off for the trouble he’s caused.”
“Eww,” Lily said. She was their sweet, delicate dancer friend, though she’d been to so many rough underground fights because of her former champion father, Tag. “Why would they even want to touch his penis? I’d just shoot him. Clean shot and done. Maybe poison, that’s an option, too.”
“Little savage.” Harper laughed.
Val grinned. “It’s symbolic. You mess with me, I mess with you, but in a way, you’ll never forget.”
“You would suit being the queen to a king of the underworld, Val. You have such a hidden thirst for vengeance.” Lily pursed her lips, amused.
“Bad boys are too much trouble,” Val answered, flicking hair over her shoulder. “When I decide I want to date seriously, it’ll be someone I can control. And who wouldn’t know how to commit a crime if their life depended on it. Maybe an investment banker. Or a chef.”
“I bet you fifty bucks you go the complete opposite way.” Lily goaded.
“I’ll go with that bet, too. Our Valentina will fall so hard for a vicious lunatic.” Harper said, half-laughing.
“You hooked the biggest lunatic, babe. You have no room to talk.”
“I did. But yours is out there somewhere, probably lighting the fuse to a bomb as we speak or doing epic fraud. Lil’s, make a note of the bet.”
Val rolled her eyes, and Lily started making a note on her phone.
“It’s done!” she declared.
Half laughing, Sunny reached for her glass when she caught a distinct noise.
Suddenly, the laughter stopped.
Please let Seb be okay.
