She had to gather her thoughts for a long minute.
There was only one person she wanted to see, and she found him talking to her new husband in the kitchen.
The fury built in her like an inferno, staring at her brother-in-law. He put down the bottle of beer he’d been holding.
From the look on his face, he knew she knew, “Sunny, look…”
She didn’t let Tanner get further; she marched over to him. She abhorred domestic violence, but her limbs were shaking with rage, and for the first time in her life, Sunny drew her arm back and cracked someone across the face.
“You absolute bastard. How dare you use my sister like that!”
“Sunny!” Seb said, moving forward toward her, but she waved him off with a hand.
“Do you know what he’s done?” she fumed, pointing a finger at Tanner. “This absolute lowlife had sex with Clover.”
Sebastian’s head whipped around, and his curse blistered the air.
Tanner looked riddled with remorse as he scratched around the back of his neck. “Listen…”
“I will never listen to another thing you have to say. My sister! My sister, Tanner! Do you know what you’ve done? You could go to jail. But it wouldn’t get that far because my father will hold your head underwater.”
He was a mess, and she regretted feeling sorry for him before her anger took over.
Tanner had never been a bad guy. He was dependable, friendly, and kind. But this was unforgivable, unthinkable, so unlike him. And she was seething.
“I have no excuses,” he said soberly. Her handprint was evident on his cheek. “I didn’t rape her, Sunny. You have to know that. It all just snowballed.”
“Does that even matter? You shouldn’t have fucking touched her.”
“We were talking, and I lost my head. It just happened. I’m so fucking sorry.”
He’d lost his sanity, and she wanted to rip the skin off his bones.
Each time she remembered Clover’s broken face in her mind, she wanted to attack him, but Sebastian held an arm around Sunny’s waist from behind, holding her back from clawing Tanner’s eyes out. From the look on his crestfallen face, he would have stood there and taken it.
Sunny wanted to go home.
But before she left, she turned to him again.
She knew it was anger speaking, but she couldn’t stop the words.
“You are dead to me. Do you hear me, Tanner? You’re no longer my friend; you’re not my brother-in-law; you’re nothing to me. And if you dare go near Clover, nothing on this earth will stop me from telling my father what you’ve done and then watching him tear you apart.”
His jaw was tight, but he took every vicious word she spat at him. “And when Seb and me have kids, they won’t have an uncle.” She finished.
“Okay, baby, we’re leaving.” Her husband said, drawing her away. He said something to Tanner, but she’d already switched off.
She let herself be led out of the kitchen, saying goodbyes to family and friends. In Sebastian’s truck, she turned to him.
“For tonight, can we forget all that happened and focus on us?”
“Sure, sunbeam.” He brought her knuckles to his mouth and left her hand on his thigh.
And then Sunny let her husband take her home. It wasn’t the exciting end of the night she’d been anticipating forever.
But she was determined not to let Tanner’s stupid actions ruin the first night of the rest of her blissful night.
All she wanted was Sebastian.
