Page 23 of Priest’s Sunbeam (Renegade Souls MC: Next Generation #2)

Sebastian

When Seb had spent his time at college earning a degree in mechanical engineering, it wasn’t because he had visions of working for a high-paying company.

His ultimate goal had always been to become ingrained within the Renegade Souls MC. He couldn’t claim he was a true blue blood legacy, not being born to one of the OG bikers, but he’d more than earned his place and felt good about the patches he wore on his chest.

He knew one day he’d wear his dad’s Road Captain patch once Knox assembled his council. Until then, he’d taken over the running of the garage side of the business.

The compound shop was unrecognizable from how it first looked when he was a little kid.

Back then, it was sizable, the largest garage in Colorado.

Today, it wasn’t just a run-of-the-mill mechanical shop anymore.

Yet, that sector continued to flourish and was managed by civilians.

Some years back, the garage had been extended when Seb’s sideline for custom builds had taken off, and he’d talked to Rider about expanding it outside of Colorado.

He’d had orders from all over the world for his bodywork.

It started as a hobby and became lucrative thanks to one article about him. In the biker world, his name was well known. People sought him out at every rally like a celebrity, wanting to book his services.

The garage was two blocks in size. He had fifteen civilian mechanics working for him, plus patched brothers on staff. It was so vast and busy that it had a separate office from the main office, where work inquiries came through.

Seb had worked with tools ever since he could pick one up, following his dad around, begging for a pair of overalls to look like the other men. He was at home with a power tool in his hands and paint underneath his nails.

He’d always envisioned the Priest brothers making it into a worldwide garage, but Tanner wasn’t interested in body shop work.

His brother was young, but he could turn his hand to anything, including construction, electrical, and plumbing, so he’d put his skills to good use somewhere within the pyramid of the Souls’ businesses one day.

“How’s she looking?” he heard a deep booming voice from the doorway. Seb looked up from the floor where he’d been working on some soldering for a while. He flipped up his protective visor to see his father striding across the cement floor.

Preacher might have years on him, but he still looked the same to Seb as he did the first time he saw the mammoth man in a hospital room.

That had been the day Seb’s life had changed for the better.

Preacher bent at the waist, surveying Seb’s work. It was his fault if he didn’t like what he saw, yet. He wasn’t halfway done, so his Hog wasn’t pretty.

Climbing off his knees, he grabbed his water bottle, downing half. “She’s fine. Take a look at the design on the table. I’ve changed a few things that I thought you might prefer.”

It was weird to still want his father’s approval, even at his grown age. And he got it not long later when Preacher cocked his head, holding the drafted design paper of a sketch he’d drawn earlier for the spray job he’d do on the bodywork once he was finished on the mechanical side.

“This is shit hot. Your mom is gonna love it.”

His ex-army sniper father looked like he could snap entire trees in half. People, still to this day, got out of his way, not knowing Asher Priest was a gentle giant who did most things in his life for his wife’s approval.

It was something Seb had grown up watching: a man truly loving a woman without filter or censor. Like she knew they were talking about her, Ruby Priest strode across the garage floor.

“Is that food for me?” He asked like a starving dog looking at the white paper sack.

“Of course,” she smiled, holding out the baggie from Capone’s sandwich shop. His belly groaned, seeing the footlong meat lover’s sub. “I have to keep my boys fed since they’re incapable of doing it themselves.”

“We know you love doing it, Mom.” He smirked, kissing her cheek.

If Preacher was known for spoiling his old lady, she spoiled her boys in return. And that’s how Seb wanted to be with Sunny.

She’d texted him off and on that day. She’d stunned the fuck out of him by telling him she’d transferred her studies online. That meant he wasn’t moving his ass to Texas like he thought he’d have to do because there was no way he’d suffer long distance anymore.

His parents had long since gone; he’d worked a few more hours until his back ached, and he packed up for the day. After using the club shower room, he dressed and sat at the bar with a beer, watching the game on TV.

Alpha joined him not long later. He had scratches on his neck, and a blissed-out club groupie sashayed by, blowing a kiss Alpha’s way.

“You got marked, my brother.” He commented, pointing to his neck. Alpha checked them out in the mirror behind the bar and hissed as he rubbed the welts. “Damn fucking viper nails. I told her not to do that shit.”

“She wants the others to see. I told you before that Six was laying a claim on you in subtle ways, but you’ve been thinking with your dick and didn’t see it.”

“The day I take an old lady, you can put my ass in a frilly skirt and spank me.” Alpha retorted, grabbing a beer; he cracked open the can and drank most of it in one go.

“What’ve you got against having an old lady? Now I really want to see you in a frilly skirt. I’m counting on it,” laughed Seb.

“Nothing personal, but I’d rather stay free to go where I want, do what I want, fuck who I want when I want.”

“You’re not gonna have kids, brother?”

The other man smirked. “I don’t need an old lady to have a kid.”

“True. I’m sure Six would help you out there. Probably poking holes in the condoms already.”

Alpha grimaced like he thought she’d do that, and Seb swallowed his laughter in the beer bottle. “Fuck that. I’m the only one who handles protection.”

Seb couldn’t wait to see Sunny pregnant one day. But it was a thought he kept to himself.

And over the next few hours, more brotherhood joined them, younger and older. Dax didn’t stick around; he had money to make out of town, but Seb suspected he was spying on someone’s date.

“He thinks he’s subtle.” Said Diego, snickering, as they watched Dax hop on his bike. “Speaking of, you still gonna be taking your weekly trips to Texas once Sunny returns?”

Seb whipped his head around and pinned Diego with a surprised stare. No one was supposed to know about that. Diego only smirked and threw peanuts into his mouth from the fistful he was holding.

“Nothing much gets by me. No one else knows, though. Saint might, but he’s a weird little nosy fucker. Well? Are you?”

“No, I won’t.”

“Ah, so your little sunbeam has finally caught your ass. Good for her. I was rooting for her, in all honesty, though she could do better,” he flashed a grin, showing off the small diamond in his incisor tooth he’d spontaneously gotten recently.

“Thanks for the endorsement.”

“Whose endorsement?” Tanner asked, carrying pizza boxes he’d collected from a gate delivery.

He dropped them on the table and pulled up a chair next to Mateo, Diego’s twin, who hadn’t been paying attention for a while, instead being engrossed in his phone.

Tanner had his mouth half-stuffed with a slice when Diego told him.

“Sunny’s finally captured Priest.”

Seb gauged his brother’s reaction, watching for any sign that his hunch was correct and that he liked Sunny. Tanner stopped chewing and threw a glare at Seb.

Yep, there it was, like a fucking neon sign.

It was a given he’d do anything for his brother. Even above club rulings and laws, he’d have Tanner’s back. But there was an exception to that if it included Sunshine.

Pushing back his chair, he jutted his chin at Tanner. “Come with me.”

“I’m fucking eating!”

“Now, Tanner.”

“For fuck’s sake.” He grouched, scraping the chair on the tiled floor. “Don’t eat any of my pie,” He warned the twins and followed Seb outside.

He didn’t mince his words. “You got something to say to me, Tanner?”

“About?”

“Sunshine.”

“What would I have to say about her? If she wants to make a mistake, that’s her choice.”

Seb narrowed his eyes. “I don’t care if this makes shit awkward. I’m just gonna say it. If you have feelings for her, let them go. It’s not happening.”

Tanner had a brilliant brain, but he was also cocky with his age, and he kicked back his chin. Seb expected his sarcasm.

“You think you’re the king of the roost.”

“No, I don’t.”

“But you don’t get to say what I can and can’t do. Whatever I feel or don’t feel for Sunny is my business. She’s been my friend for just as long as you.”

“Never denied that. Just as long as it stays only friends.”

He smirked and rolled the leather cuff around his wrist. “You feel threatened by my place in her life, Seb? Maybe you don’t have such a hold on her as you think you do.”

The hairs on Seb’s nape rose, but he had better control of his reactions because he only smiled as he leaned a shoulder onto the brick wall outside.

He knew his place in Sunny’s life; whatever Tanner wanted it to be, it wasn’t the same as Seb’s and never would be.

It would be something for Tanner to come to terms with.

“Why are you trying to bait me on this, huh? You’re acting dumb, Tanner. You know how things stood for Sunny. Even if she and I weren’t there yet, you still knew if you were her friend.”

Tanner remained silent, but Seb read his tight facial expressions as clearly as if reading a book.

“I’m not gonna drag this out for you. I said what I needed to say. Sunny has always been mine.”

He headed back toward the club entryway.

“Has she, though?”

Seb stopped and looked back. Tanner had the left side of his lip curled with a taunting smirk. Cocky little shit was about to feel a fist in his mouth if he went where his eyes threatened to go.

“Yes, Tanner, she has. Get the fuck over it.”

“She didn’t talk to you for a year. She talked to me, though. And more.”

Seb’s throat burned, and he felt his fingers clench, hanging low by his side. The tension rode across his shoulder blades, holding himself in check, knowing his brother was a dumb kid still, and he couldn’t put him through a wall for firing fucked off bullets.

“I’ll say this, Tanner, only once, but if the next words out of your mouth are insulting toward Sunny, you’ll break her fucking heart, and that means I’ll have to hurt you. I don’t want to hurt my brother. How the fuck would that look at my wedding?”

He saw the news hit like a bomb. And he couldn’t be sorry about it.

Tanner was bristling with all his twenty-year-old bluster, and Seb watched the emotions flit through his stare, deciding what shit he wanted to say to fuck up their brotherly relationship.

He walked off before he could.

It would never be a love triangle. He meant what he told Tanner: Sunny was always his, even when she wasn’t talking to him. Tanner would have to roll up his fucking pout and be a grown-up about it. Seb was confident in how his sunbeam felt about him.

No longer in the mood to hang around the club, he headed home, airing out the place since he hadn’t been there in days; he’d only just finished in the shower when he saw a row of messages from Sunshine.

His lips curled, reading down the wall of them.

SUNNY : Hi, my Seb.

SUNNY : I can’t sleep without you. How dumb is that?

SUNNY : It’s not like we’ve been sleeping together for years.

SUNNY : I mean, actual sleep. Like we’ve been doing at the safe house. The one-bed thing.

SUNNY : You won’t do the other sleeping with me.

SUNNY : I think you must be the shy virgin and not me, the way you act all chaste and restrained. big grin

SUNNY : My bed feels weird, Seb.

SUNNY : I miss you. 3