Page 50 of Sunshine & Ink

“OK, what are you going to do about the baby? Let her bring the baby here? What’s Elizabeth going to say when she finds out? You know that shit isn’t done.”

“I’ll figure it out,” I said. “Do you trust me?”

Teacher sucked harshly in on his cigarette. “Fuck, I don’t like the sound of that.”

“I want surveillance on her,” I bit out. “On him. On her friends. Hell, on that whole fucking neighborhood. I don’t want her to move a toe out of her apartment without me knowing where she’s at at all times.”

Teacher’s mouth curved up, almost reluctantly. “All right. Shit. I don’t know what you’re up to, Raker, but I’ll go give the orders. I wonder if Seek makes his VP do shit like this.”

“Shut up, motherfucker,” I said. “You owe me.”

“You saved my lifeonegoddamn time,” Teacher said. “How long are you going to hold that over my head?”

“As long as you hold me trying to take on a group of Venerated by myself when we were only prospects over my head,” I retorted.

He grinned. “You were fucking lucky I never told the old Prez that or you’d never have been patched in. And clean your arm, dipshit, I don’t want to be hauling you to the ER.”

He left and I washed and cleaned my wound in one of the garage sinks.

Then I sat down again with a wrench and an old bike that wasn’t running.

I thought that I’d find her just as adoring as she had always been, and finding a cold-eyed, contemptuous Sunni irritated and pissed me off more than I had ever expected.

She had made it very clear she wanted nothing to do with me.

But I couldn’t accept it, couldn’t accept that things were over between us.

I laid out the tools that had always relaxed me as the regret gnawed at me.

Going to jail was one thing.

But losing Sunni? Seeing the light of love in her eyes vanished, replaced with nothing but scorn and hatred? I couldn’t accept that.

How had it gone so wrong with her?

She knew what she was getting into,I reminded myself angrily, working on an old-ass bike that was just a hunk of scrap metal, just to work out my anger, have something solid under my fingers.

Sheknewwhat was expected of her.

Service all of the brothers.

Obey me unquestioningly.

And she hadn’t done any of that. She had been afraid of the brothers. Obeyed me only reluctantly.

So why did I need her so badly? Why was I fucked up inside because of one disobedient whore?

I simmered in my rage, the other brothers leaving me alone. Even Teacher and Builder knew to stay away when I worked like this, on some crumped shitass piece of metal.

But as my grease-stained fingers twisted the wrench, I knew.

I’d also told Sunni she was my angel, my heart, the only woman I loved.

And I’d promised her she wouldn’t have to fuck anyone else.

Disgusted, I threw the wrench down in the corner with a loud clang.

Fuck

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