“Thanks. Am I going to have a better chance today?”
“Sorry, not today.” She smiled. Now and then, he asked her out in the nicest way, not too pushy, and every time, she politely declined.
He shrugged and shot her a smile. “One day, I think I’ll wear you down.”
She didn’t want to break his spirits, not when he must be riding the high of his current win. She heard sports people took that kind of thing seriously. But there was little chance of her dating him.
Or any other man.
Familiar emotions washed over her as she briefly thought about the reason before quickly locking that up. She’d gotten good at it over time.
And there was no reason to put herself into a raging emotional funk, not when she needed all her brains for tomorrow’s exam.
After a hot shower, the hair mask was soaking into her scalp as she wandered into the kitchen, dressed in lounge pants and a tank top, to start the ramen. Sunny scrolled through some texts, answering the most important ones first.
It had been over a week since she’d heard from her sister, Clover, so she shot her another text to ask how things were going at home. They were five years apart, but not as close as they once were as little kids. It wasn’t something Sunny worried about. Not all siblings were best friends. When she noticed the text had been read, the minutes passed, and there was no reply. She shrugged and discarded her phone. Clover was probably going through something drastically important that only sixteen-year-old girls could. She’d get back to her, eventually.
The chopsticks hadn’t even touched the spicy noodles when her phone vibrated with a call. Sunny couldn’t stand being startled by ringtones, so she’d never used them. Missed calls? People called a second time, or they weren’t important.
She smiled, seeing who it was.
“Hi, Mom. How’s things?”
“Things are complicated, honey. I hate to say it,” Gia Hawk started, and it was a different tone she usually used in their daily chats. That serious tone focused Sunny’s attention span.
“Is Dad alright?”
“Yes, baby, he’s fine. But we need you to come home as soon as possible.”
“What’s happened? Is someone else hurt?”
“No one is hurt, but it’s important.”
This wasn’t anything new.
Being a Souls legacy kid, they’d been through a few dangerous times in her life. Times when they’d needed a lockdown within the clubhouse compound to keep everyone together and safe.
They’d never called her home from Texas, though.
“Is someone being targeted?”
“Yes.”
“Us?”
“Yes, honey.”
Sunny’s blood ran cold, and she immediately sprang forward in the comfortable armchair she’d bought on a shopping trip with her mom.
It didn’t matter how far she went, Sunny would always be who she was. A Renegade Souls legacy.
Other people didn’t understand how important that was.
The family worked hard to provide them with the life they live today. Though she didn’t know many details, they’d heard snippets over the years that helped them understand how their fathers had gone through dangerous and gritty things to safeguard their future.
Enemies would always happen. She knew that. She wasn’t so naïve as to believe that the Renegade Souls were on the up and up.
“Mom, I have my exam tomorrow morning.”
