Page 39 of Sunshine & Ink

All the wrong ones. None of them the only woman I wanted to see.

For days

And days

Failure after failure, until I was afraid I would be driven mad with the loss, going back over streets I’d already been down.

What if I’d missed her?

And one day I lit my dozenth cigarette and rubbed my aching head as we looked through possible sightings of her.

And then everything changed.

“Prez, I think we found her,” Tech said and I felt a painful clenching in my gut as I saw her face on the screen.

It’s blurry and the picture quality is shit, with Sunni standing behind a car with a cup of coffee in her hand.

But that bright red-gold of her hair and those pink plush lips are unmistakable.

My stomach tightened with such an immediate raw, painful need that my head throbbed.

Bingo

Found you, baby girl.

And now that I’ve found you, I’m not letting you go again.

“Want backup?” Builder called, scratching his red beard in confusion.

“Stay here!” I ordered.

I had zero hesitation as I strode toward my motorcycle and hopped on.

I was going to find Sunni andapologizefor telling her to suck Apostle’s dick.

I don’t usually apologize. For anything. In fact, I can’t ever remember doing it.

But she is going to appreciate this special gesture.

If she hadn’t called the goddamn feds on me, I would have apologized earlier.

I would never havedoneit if I hadn’t thought she needed a lesson in learning her place, but it was a stupid thing to do. Sunni is delicate. Soft and gentle like a flower, and so in love with me that even the thought of taking someone else in her mouth was repulsive to her.

Well, I cannot wait to see my sweet Sunni again.

Obviously, I appreciate her. I need her. I’ve never needed another woman like this or invited another woman to share my bed.

I will apologize, which is pretty goddamn fucking special, and she will realize it, and she’ll come back with me.

Sunni couldn’t possibly be mad at me for that long. Not with how much she loves me.

I started my engine and headed to the street where one of the prospects had snapped the picture.

Tech relayed his hasty research into the occupants of the street in my earbud as I flew toward her.

According to his information, she rents a room above a coffee shop now and goes by Sunday, not Sunni. But she’ll always be my Sunni.

The day is warm, the sun already baking the land. But after the last few months in the stifled stale air of the jail, I’m just happy to breathe in free air.

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