“I’m on a break before you say shit to me,” Tanner complained.
He was a good kid and would make a fine club brother one day. But until then, Seb was his superior, and he wouldn’t let him have a free ride to earn his patches.
But this situation was personal, and he wouldn’t sugarcoat Tanner’s feelings.
“I didn’t say shit,” he answered and looked down at Sunny, who was doing her best to ignore him, though the little sunbeam was trembling, and he ached to drag her into his chest, to make the last year go away, to put them right again, because not having her in his life was fucking miserable. He didn’t feel whole anymore.
Dropping a kiss to the top of her head like he’d done a million times before, he looked directly at Tanner. “She’s had a long day. Make sure she doesn’t stay up too late.”
He tugged the end of her braid, dying for her to look at him, guessing she wouldn’t, and he grinned slightly.
He had a lot of work to do to get her to forgive him.
“I’ll be in my room if you need anything, Sunny.”
As he walked through the clubhouse to the bedroom staircase, she huffed. The unfurling of heat became a forest fire in his gut when he glanced back and saw her watching him. She quickly twisted around again, but Seb had seen her unmasked face.
She missed him, too.
And that was something for him to work with.
EIGHT
Sebastian
“How did he get a sweet bottom in during a lockdown?”
Seb switched his gaze toward Dax’s amused question. He was the son of Grinder and Luxe, and the guy had been born with an inner compass for finding trouble.
Regardless of the circumstances, Dax invariably ended up in hot water. Seb’s closest male buddy was a smooth operator; he could always escape any dicey situation. Handcuffs and impenetrable environments included.
Dax just jutted his chin across the yard, where the boys were relaxing around a bonfire Hero had built. Near that bonfire, Alpha, aka Knox, the future leader of the entire club, was getting his dick sucked by one of the current club groupies. Thankfully, it was dark enough that Seb wasn’tgetting an HD view of the act, but the shadows were sufficient, with the girl’s head bobbing up and down and Alpha’s fist in her hair.
Seb looked away. Voyeuristic shit didn’t interest him, but the others were jeering encouragement. Sometimes, because he was the oldest, he felt like their elder and the only one with a mature thought in his head.
Most people were asleep or chilling out with drinks and weed. In Alpha’s case, he was getting a serious case of head.
“Who knows with Alpha? He probably had her climb over the electric fence.”
Dax snorted and pulled from the beer bottle in his hand. “The chick must be crazy. No dick is worth an electric shock.”
Alpha had a lot riding on his younger shoulders. If he kicked back with a willing woman attached to his dick, that was his prerogative. If he were in a better position with Sunny, Seb couldn’t say he wouldn’t be doing the same.
Notin public.
He’d slice eyeballs in half before he let someone see her that way. Nothing had ever happened like that between them. But he was feral in his thoughts—flat-out uncivilized, keeping every scrap of affection Sunny had ever thrown at him like a prize.
He’d been so stupid for so long, ignoring what he’d felt in his bones.
And now he was in an impossible place, fighting against her obstinacy.
No, it was worse than that. He’d been able to wrangle Sunny’s stubborn streak many times before, but she was hurt and embarrassed.
With his legs kicked out in front of him, the beer in one hand resting on his knee, and the half-smoked joint to his lips, he pulled in the smoke slowly, right down to his lungs, hoping it would relax him enough to think straight.
He couldn’t even drag himself home, choosing to bunk at the clubhouse. Where Sunny was, Seb needed to be.
In the morning, they were going out as a crew to follow up on a tip. Seb was ready to crack skulls open and watch the white meat flow out to get answers about why some jerkoff had been taking photos of Sunny’s family.
