“Is it because I’m a brother? Or a man interested in her?”
“Take your pick,” Hawk scoffed and rubbed his forehead again. Seb hoped he was wiping the notion to kill him. It would be challenging to romance Sunny from the other side.
“Wouldn’t you prefer I were your son-in-law?” Seb asked Hawk. Deadly sincere. Because that was his next step.
“I’d prefer you were on the other side of the fucking planet.”
“If it’s not me, it’ll be some other guy you don’t know. Sunny’s stunning, inside and out, and everyone loves her. Guys are always checking her out, and it makes me fucking postal.”
Each time he caught someone eye fucking Sunny, he’d get the urge to rip out their eyeballs.
“Fair warning. If it’s not me, then prepare for me to turn into the biggest fucking serial killer, Hawk. If I’m not the man she chooses, then I’ll slaughter anyone else who looks at my woman. And as my club brother and still the VP until the new regime takes over, the club would have to step in and clean up the mess I leave behind.”
“For fuck’s sake.” Sunny’s father scraped both hands through his hair and pierced him with a stare. “When Sunny was four, and she’d run to you like you were the best shit, I told Gia I wanted to kill you then. She wouldn’t let me.”
Seb felt the tension in his chest loosen. Given Hawk’s history, Seb would be a decaying corpse if the club’s most effective hitman had wanted him dead.
Holding Hawk’s stare, Seb was prepared to go to war to get what he wanted. What did he have to lose at this point? He went in with more info for the VP to digest.
“I’m gonna be your son-in-law one day soon, Hawk. It would be tomorrow if I could make it happen. But Sunny isn’t my biggest fan right now. I gotta work on that. But my priority is keeping her protected. And I want her at the safe house.”
“So you can get your dirty paws on her.” He curled his lip.
Seb wisely didn’t confirm shit about that. It wouldn’t help his cause.
“Are you gonna try to stop me? Risking getting a fist in my face, I need to tell you I’ll go through you if you try to stop me from being with her. She wants me, Hawk. She might be pissed at me now, but I know this.”
The silence grew like an infectious disease, and Seb sucked on his teeth, waiting for the most critical gavel to fall. Hawk raised his head with a sharp, assessing gaze.
“A long time ago, when I first saw Gia, she was a little bit of a thing, and I was too fucked up in the head to recognize what I was feeling. Ajax threatened me because he saw something between me and his daughter. But I also kept away from Gia because I didn’t think I deserved someone as perfect as her.”
Seb wondered where this was going. If Hawk was gearing up to threaten him to keep away from Sunny, Seb was about to piss off the VP when he ignored the demand. Giving up Sunny wasn’t an option. Ever.
“We missed out on a decade of being together because of that watery threat, but mostly because I didn’t have the balls to go after what I needed. I could only worship my Gia from afar, and for that, I still hate myself for doing that to us. Even if I get a hundred years with my wife, I’ll still think about those wasted ten years.”
“What are you saying, VP?”
He speared Seb with a stare he recognized. The enforcer was in the room.
“I’m saying you hurt my daughter, physical or emotional. If you make her sad, I’ll fucking take you apart like a puzzle. I won’t only break you; I’ll grind you to dust, bake you in a pie, eat the whole thing, and then shit you out.”
An airy laugh burst out of Seb’s chest. Part in relief. “Fuck me, is this what enemies face when you’re the enforcer?”
Hawk shrugged nonchalantly. “Nah, I just put a bag over their head. I rarely go through a monologue. That’s all for you.”
“I’m flattered.”
“And I’m wholly serious. Whatever connection we have, club and family, will mean fuck all to me if you hurt Sunshine.”
“I won’t,” he promised, his smile dropping, promising in his gravelly voice. “I won’t hurt her, Hawk. It was always going to be Sunny. She’s always been special to me, you know this. She’s everything.”
“Christ’s sake. Rider’s gonna fucking love this part two shit. He hasn’t recovered from the bullshit Cain brought over Harper.” He dragged a hand down his face, reared from the desk edge, and headed for the door.
So, no death then? That was a relief.
“Why the fuck can’t my girls just stay little and make me happy?” he muttered almost to himself, and Seb reckoned he shouldn’t laugh at how pissed off Hawk sounded, so he swallowed it and pressed his lips inward. “If she rejects your ass, then I get to maim you. That’ll be my reward.”
“Okay.” He smiled at Hawk’s back, following behind. “But she won’t.”
