Page 40 of Sunshine & Ink

I realize as I go that the coffee shop is in Souls MC territory.

I feel an uneasy twinge in my gut. Souls MC territory is the most dangerous for me to go into. Did Sunni know that?

But nothing could keep me from finding her, no matter what territory she’s in. I just wish I’d thought to bring weapons beyond my knife with me.

Since the Souls are the least favored MC, I’m riding through much poorer areas. Ever since Seek, the Souls MC, got caught trying to rig some kind of contraption to collect dew, their water restrictions have been punitive. Water runs through the Elders, and to try to get water without their permission is a sin.

I haven’t been in their territory in a while, so I didn’t remember how fucking dogshit it looks. The coffee shop is not in thereallyshitty part of town, but an older part of Souls territory that used to be more prosperous. A lot of the businesses have left or been forced to close. However, it looks like there’s some trying to revitalize it, the block with Sunni’s coffee shop also has a school with colorful art pasted in the windows, and a few other store fronts, including a little fresh market and pizza place.

My skin is buzzing when I pull up outside and shove my motorcycle into park. The coffee shop is in an old, soft-red brick building, and I hear the clink of coffee cups inside.

There’s some rickety-looking stairs on the side, and I assume they’re the ones that go to Sunni’s apartment.

She shouldn’t be here, though. Withmeshe has access to the best of everything. This neighborhood doesn’t get half the water that mine does.

Sweat breaks out on the back of my neck.

Finally

There’s even a tremor in my goddamnhand.

I need her and I need her right now.

I open the door and a wave of savory coffee scent hits me. Ducking down because this low ceiling wasn’t designed for a man of my height, I walk inside.

CHAPTER 14

Sunni

Ididn’t have any warning, as usual.

No warning beforehebarged into my life again, unasked for, unwanted, larger than life and impossible to ignore.

It was a warm morning, because what else could it be? We didn’t have any other kinds of mornings in Resurrected.

I was cleaning out the latte machine, as I always did mid-morning.

Carefully, with not one drop of water wasted.

Since water was such a precious commodity, people could not afford to drink more than one cup of coffee a day, so each cup was treasured like the rarest of diamonds.

Actually, diamonds were common as anything compared to water.

So drinking your one allotted cup a day was an experience you tended to savor, and The Desert’s Cup was the perfect place for that.

Not to mention, Willow and Elise, the proprietors and my good friends, had a reputation for generosity, even giving out bottles of water or iced coffees sometimes on particularly hot days.

It wasn’t a very good business practice, but they managed to keep the ledgers right side-up because of how clever they were. Water collection on the ground outside town was allowed at certain times/places, but strictly regulated by the Elders. Willow, however, didn’t mind a few. . .illegalities in the name of finding water.

And she knew all the old myths and legends, too, the old ways of finding water. And she believed them.

According to Willow, there were vibrant, deep wells of water under the baked desert skin, and if we could find a way to get to them, we could break the Elders’ hold over the region.

No one knew where the secret Celestial Abode was, but it was rumored the Elders lived at the base of all the underground rivers.

Sometimes, especially on days like this, it seemed like an impossible dream, that there was abundant water instead of deprivation and want.

But I had a particular reason for holding onto hope.

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