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Sunny and I crashed in a sweaty, tangled pile of sheets and limbs. Something stirred me from sleep in the early hours of the morning.
A distressed sound broke the peace, dragging me out of sleep. Laurel?
I snapped awake, rolling toward the baby monitor. Laurel’s cries poured out of the machine.
“Shh, it’s okay. I’ve got you.”
Sunny?
My eyes adjusted to the dark, confirming Sunny wasn’t next to me.
“We don’t want to wake Mommy.” Laurel faded as she was carried away.
I dressed quickly in the dark, tugging a T-shirt over my head and slipping Sunny’s boxers on. Silently, I tiptoed into the hall, following my cranky baby.
“You must be hungry,” Sunny said. “Not to worry, principessa. I’m all over it.”
Peering around the wall, I was treated to the view of a bare-chested Sunny, bouncing and soothing Laurel with one hand while the other prepared her bottle. He was a whiz filling the bottle, measuring the formula, and mixing it together. The whole time Laurel fussed and fidgeted, making angry sounds.
“Yes, ma’am. Picking up the pace.” He made like he was heading for the microwave, and I opened my mouth to stop him. Sunny veered for the sink and held the bottle under warm water.
Why am I surprised? The only one who beats me out for number one girl in his life is Elizabeth. Of course he knows how to care for a baby.
“Powdered milk. Are you really into this stuff? I’m just saying, I’ve tried the real thing, and this can’t compare.” He gave Laurel her bottle. She drank noisily, sucking it down fast. “Seems you like it just fine.”
Sunny ducked in the fridge, pulling out a beer. A fuzzy, fluttering feeling warmed my heart seeing him drop a kiss on her curls. “All right, you’ve got your bottle and I’ve got mine. As soon as you’re asleep, I get to slide back in bed with Mommy. For now, since we’re both up, we might as well get some work done.”
He settled on the couch, Laurel secure in the crook of his arm. The other balanced his laptop on his knee. I took that opportunity to step out.
“Sunny?”
“Oh, hey. Sorry, I tried not to wake you.”
“I’m afraid Laurel had other plans.” I took my baby in my arms, snuggling her against my chest. She was holding pretty tight to that bottle, so I let her keep it, giving my boobs a break. “What are you working on?”
Sighing, he carded his fingers through his hair. “I’m going over the numbers and reports you got from my crew for the fifth time.”
“Is something wrong with them? I went over it, everything seemed to add up.”
“It does, baby, that’s the problem.”
It did something to my insides hearing him call me baby, but I was getting distracted. “It’s a problem that everything’s accounted for?”
“It is and it isn’t. So far, no one’s taken advantage of my death and stuck their hands in the pot. No money skimmed off the top. No back-alley deals. And no one named themselves King of the Saints, seizing control of the gang. If killing me wasn’t a bid to take my throne, what the hell has all this been for?”
A terrible thought turned my stomach. I held Laurel closer. “What if it stops and ends there, Sunny? He just wanted you dead. You and Liam, and maybe Genny and Bane too. He played games with you for a while—attacking your business, making sure you knew you had an enemy you couldn’t see or fight... then he struck.”
Sunny nodded, fixing off in the distance. “Then we’ve hit the problem, Angel. He could be anyone or anywhere. If we can’t find a money trail or a rat to lead us to him, then we won’t stop him before he tries again.”
“Don’t say that.” I ran my fingers through his hair, massaging his scalp. “I’m not done yet. So far no one in your crew’s stepped out of line, but I have a feeling... Something isn’t right, Sunny. Did you ever tell Makai that he would run the Sons of Saint if anything happened to you?”
His brows snapped together. “Makai? No. Too much of a hothead. Guy’s got a shorter fuse than a birthday candle. He leads the Saints and they’ll be at war with half the gangs of Cinco in a week.”
“That’s not what he told everyone when he, Ryker, and Athena tried to oust me. He was on the edge of tearing up, saying you had a private heart-to-heart and tapped him to rise in place of the king.”
Sunny barked a laugh. “Course he did, the self-serving bastard,” he said fondly. “Gotta love that guy. He’s got a temper, but he ain’t stupid.”
“You don’t care that he lied?”
“Oh, I didn’t say that.” Humor drained out of his tone. “Makai, Ryker, and Athena know that none of them could step up to lead the Saints. We own North Quay. It’s a Merchant borough and a Merchant gang. They couldn’t keep what isn’t theirs. Bane, Genny, or Liam would’ve made sure of that.”
