Page 11 of Priest’s Sunbeam (Renegade Souls MC: Next Generation #2)

Sunshine

The sound of quick gunfire brought Sunny out of a deep sleep, and she all but fell out of bed like she was attached to adrenaline-spiked springs.

An hour later, she rubbed her tired eyes as she discreetly watched Sebastian talking with her father. However, arguing without raised voices was more accurate.

Everyone was up. The older members had been called in, so the clubhouse was buzzing with activity.

From what she could glean from all the back-and-forth conversations, Seb and the other boys had given chase, like thoughtless idiots.

Who gave chase to your attackers? They’d caught the guy, who turned out to be just a young boy, and now he was crying in Rider’s office, being interrogated by Lawless, the enforcer.

Though she was worried they had a shooter in their midst, it wasn’t the detail she was concentrating on, not when the two most important men in her life were having a head-to-head discussion, full-on scowls included.

“That’s not happening.” Her dad insisted, looking like he was seconds away from losing his shit.

“Why not? It makes sense.” Seb stabbed back, hands on his lean hips.

Dax said that while everyone else was beat from running, Seb kept going after the shooter.

And because everyone had been up when Seb dragged the guy through the front doors, she’d witnessed how utterly terrifying and sexy he looked, covered in exhausted sweat as he announced.

“This is the little prick who got happy shooting at us.”

The equally tired boy descended into a litany of half-sobs, insisting he hadn’t wanted to do it, but then Rider had taken the boy into his office.

Now she was tuned into this other interesting conversation as she rested her PJ-covered butt on the edge of a hardback chair.

“Why do they look like they’re in a heated argument?

” she whispered to her mom, who was cuddling Clover.

Her sister hated disruptions to routine; she loved order above all, and being brought to the clubhouse for a lockdown made her younger sister anxious more than usual.

She probably snapped that rubber band on her wrist several times to calm down.

“Because they are.” Her mom replied.

“I want Sunny out of here, Hawk. I’ll take her to the safe house. I’ll take both girls to the safe house until you break that little fucker’s legs and find out who’s pulling the strings.”

Say what now? Her ears perked.

The warmth spreading through her chest was big and bright, and she had to fight to stop smiling. It became clear that he was arguing with her dad about her. And not backing down.

Watching them exchange angry stares, anticipation skipped through her beating heart.

Would Sebastian yield?

That bright warmth swelled until Sunny had to press a hand into her giddy belly button.

She should’ve interjected there and flat-out refused his offer, but she was secretly excited by how sure of himself he seemed.

Some of their conversation was too low to overhear, and she wanted to turn invisible and slink across the floor to eavesdrop without shame.

When her dad glanced her way, his brow folded so low over his crystal blue eyes, making him look grumpier, she smiled at him in return, but he only frowned deeper.

“In the back,” he growled at Seb. “I want words.”

Oh, that sounded ominous. “Mom, I want to listen at the door.” She confessed, watching their retreating backs. The urge caused her feet to shuffle. What could they need to discuss privately when they were already speaking openly?

Her mom chuckled. “You get the nosiness from your aunt Zara. Just leave them be. It’s been a long time coming.”

“I’m not going to a safe house,” Clover said, and Gia reassured her she was staying with them.

Until this moment, Sunny thought the clubhouse was the safest place.

Later, Sunny might think about how serious the threat to her family was—someone wanted to shoot them.

But just then, like always, she was thinking about Sebastian.

He’d insisted on taking her somewhere secluded, just the two of them.

And her weak heart, the heart that loved him with every single beat, was so damn unsteady.

But it all hinged on what on earth he was talking to her dad about.

* * *

Sebastian

“My intentions are clear, VP,” Seb stated as soon as the door closed behind him. His adrenaline surged.

“Are they now?” he asked with a razor-sharp edge to his tone as he pierced Seb with his crucifying stare.

Without looking away, Seb gave his answer. “Yeah, they are. I’ll be the one who protects Sunny. And I want her away from it while you deal with it here.”

He sounded like a good soldier, but his motives were altogether selfish. He had to be the one guarding Sunny. There was no other option. He’d fucking glue her to his side if he had to.

“I’m her father, and I protect my family.” He replied, calmer than Seb expected. His eyes bore into him like he could see to the back of Seb’s skull, could see all the filthy intentions he had for his daughter, and was weighing up the options on how to kill him.

Inhaling hard, Seb’s leather jacket creaked as he moved his arms. He was so wired after chasing that guy all the fuck over Armado Springs.

His legs were burning after vaulting wire fencing like he was sixteen again.

Just the thought that one of those bullets might have hit Sunny, and he’d become a one-man hunting machine.

As a lonely kid, Seb remembered following the VP around, fascinated by the quiet guy. Hawk’s unintrusive personality became a safe space for him. Although it must have annoyed the VP, he’d never sent Seb away.

He held a lot of respect for him as a man and as the MC VP. To avoid misinterpretation, he had to be completely honest.

“I know you keep your family safe, Hawk. But this isn’t me talking to you as a club brother. I’m talking about me as a man taking care of Sunny.”

If anything, Hawk’s eyes narrowed even further, and the temperature dropped in the room, with a blast of cold coming from the VP.

“You better be careful what you’re saying right now, son.”

Seb kicked back his chin, his eyes unwavering.

He confessed his thoughts, prepared to die in the clubhouse’s back office.

“I mean what I say. Sunny is mine. I’ve always known it.

Even if you don’t wanna face it because she’s your daughter, you’ve had an idea, too.

This isn’t just a club duty to me, Hawk. It’s personal.”

“I don’t believe this shit,” Hawk muttered, rubbing a hand on his forehead. “You’re gonna add killing you to my ever fucking growing list of shit I need to do, huh?”

Seb let out a laugh. Hawk wasn’t known for his humor, so any threat from him was severe.

“Not if I can help it.”

“Have you been fucking around with my daughter?”

“No.” Not yet . “She’s hardly talked to me all year.”

Hawk slit his eyes again, accusingly.

“You didn’t know?”

“I knew you were the reason she wanted to go out of state to school. We lost seeing our girl every day because of her crush on you.”

Seb’s pumping organ banged in his chest. “It’s not a crush, Hawk.

” He was banking on Sunny’s feelings being stronger.

“And I didn’t want her going that far, either.

” He left out the details of his stalking, figuring a father wouldn’t enjoy hearing the man interested in his daughter was half unhinged.

“Why isn’t she talking to you?” He then waved a hand. “Second thoughts, I don’t wanna know, or I will kill you.”

“It’s a surprise to you. I get that. And if not for the situation, I would have told you differently. I wasn’t gonna hide it, VP.”

Hawk finally moved, but it was only to perch on the corner of the lone desk.

“You know me, Priest.”

“Yeah.”

“I’m not an amiable man.”

“It depends on who you ask.” He half smirked.

“Yeah, that’s fair. With my girls, they walk all the fuck over me, and I don’t give a shit because it’s my girls and I love it. But anyone else, I don’t play right if I think they’re doing something that gets on my wrong side.”

Oh, fuck.

He’d readied his mind for pushback from the VP. Hawk would be the most likely person to object to his relationship with Sunny. He sensed Gia would support him.

“I was in this same position over twenty years ago with Rider’s sister.

There’s an unspoken rule around here, isn’t there?

No touching female relatives. It’s just not the thing to do.

But I did it, and I’d do it every single day of my life to have my Gia.

But here’s the thing, Priest.” Hawk said, holding his stare like a goddamn soulless ghoul.

He felt like Hawk was holding a guillotine to his throat.

But it didn’t matter what Hawk said next.

Short of death, nothing was stopping him from pursuing Sunny and getting his sunbeam back in his life in every way possible.

His spine tightened, and his fists flexed, hanging like tree stumps at his sides.

“Even though I know what that shit is like, bumping up against someone you respect, my instinct is still to put you through the fucking wall because she’s my baby girl. Anyone sniffing around my girls brings out the serial killer in me.”

“I get that. I’ll feel the same when Sunny and I have kids, especially a daughter. I’ll probably come to you for killing tips.”

Hawk’s eyes flashed, the mask of his poker face dropping. “You’re not helping your cause to go on breathing. You are Preacher’s son. Anyone else, I’d be trampling through slops of his blood at my feet.”

“Is it because I’m a brother? Or a man interested in her?”

“Take your pick,” Hawk scoffed and rubbed his forehead again. Seb hoped he was wiping the notion to kill him. It would be challenging to romance Sunny from the other side.

“Wouldn’t you prefer I were your son-in-law?” Seb asked Hawk. Deadly sincere. Because that was his next step.

“I’d prefer you were on the other side of the fucking planet.”