Page 42 of Priest’s Sunbeam (Renegade Souls MC: Next Generation #2)

Sunshine

The weekend rolled around, and Sunny was glad to have some time off from schoolwork. Her eyes were burning from writing so many essays. Seeing another textbook before Monday would be too soon for her.

She smiled as she climbed out of bed, knowing there were two full days to spend with her husband doing whatever they wanted. And Seb had promised to take some time off, too.

Her weekend mission was distracting Seb.

After a hot shower, she slipped into a lingerie set to burn the eyeballs out of his skull. In high spirits, she danced towards the kitchen, expecting to find a tall drink of water in front of the stove.

However, the kitchen was empty, and worse still, there were no coffee or food smells.

Frowning, Sunny searched each room, out into the backyard and garage, and found his motorcycle gone.

It wasn’t unknown for him to go to work early, especially if he had commissions to catch up on.

His skill was highly sought after. Every biker across the country wanted Seb’s designs on their motorcycles.

But he never went out without letting her know first.

Starting the coffee machine, she pulled out her favorite yellow mug Seb had bought her one birthday years ago, then scrolled to her recently called thread to call him and counted the rings until the voicemail kicked in.

A frown pulled at her forehead. Not altogether worried because he could just be busy. It got noisy in the auto shop, and he wouldn’t hear the phone.

Sunny spent the next few hours doing chores and sorting through her coursework for the upcoming month.

As lunchtime approached, a nervous feeling started to grow in her chest. Deciding not to wait for Seb to come home, she’d meet him at the club compound, so she grabbed the car fob and locked up the house.

Only to realize she’d forgotten her purse with her cell phone and wallet when she was on the corner of their street.

Heading back to the house, she picked up her things and noticed a missed call and a voicemail.

No one ever left voicemails these days, and she nearly swiped to clear it without listening, assuming it was a telemarketer, but some instinct told her to press play as she walked to the front door.

She smiled when she heard her hubby’s sexy voice.

Okay, now she couldn’t be angry with him when she caught up with him in a few minutes.

But then Sunny’s knees buckled, and she didn’t know she’d gone to the ground until the pain radiated through her legs, a hand braced on the cold concrete. It was pain she didn’t acknowledge because her shaking fingers were quickly pressing the button to listen to the message again.

Sunny wasn’t smiling this time and held her breath, so sure she’d heard wrong.

“Sun, it’s me. I’m a coward and couldn’t tell you face-to-face, but you and I aren’t working out. I made a mistake. Don’t be upset, okay? You’ll be golden. Bye, Sun.”

Five times, she listened to it.

The voicemail didn’t last over ten seconds, but it was ten seconds of her life shattering repeatedly.

It had to be a prank, right? Someone was impersonating her man, surely.

When she got her bearings, she instantly hit the call to raze his ass for saying those cruel words, even in jest, and making her world fall apart. But the call went directly to the messaging service, as if he’d switched it off.

And then it hit her in the middle of her belly, a fiery ball of clarity. Like a breath had rushed through her.

Golden.

Golden.

It was like colliding with a brick wall, and it brought Sunny online and back to reality with a thud. She sprang from the floor and all but threw herself into the car.

The journey was on autopilot; she didn’t remember a second of it. Her heart was snatched tight, and her breathing was erratic. Not caring if she ran through every stop sign.

When she got to the compound grounds, the prospects stopped her, and one flashed his charming smile. “Look who’s come to see us.”

“Open this fucking gate right now!” she screamed, and finally, the prospect saw Sunny was serious, and he rushed to press the electronics.

She floored the pedal and drove at a breakneck speed, screeching to a halt, barely putting the car into park before she threw herself out and ran quicker than ever, all but bursting through the double doors.

“DAD!” she yelled once inside and caught sight of the only man she thought to turn to. He heard her distress and came off the stool in a rush.

“Sunny? What is it?”

“Seb,” she sobbed, barely holding her shit together. “Something has happened to Seb.”

That brought bodies in their droves until her biker family surrounded her, all of them talking at once until her father, their VP, yelled for them to shut the fuck up.

“Slow down, sweetheart, and tell me.”

Everyone was there; it was a weekend, and families hung out to cook in the backyard kitchen.

She played the message, and they could have heard a pin drop as their eyes bounced around, looking at each other.

They thought Sebastian had left her.

“He’s in trouble.” She shrieked. Angry that they didn’t have Seb instinct like she did and weren’t yet springing into action to find out where he was.

Her dad put his arm around her, using his gentle voice. “Sweetheart, what makes you think that? If you guys have fought…”

“We haven’t had a fight! We’re great. He wasn’t there when I woke up this morning.

I tried calling, but there was no answer.

Then this came just now. Sebastian wouldn’t say those words to me,” she said forcefully when every pair of eyes looking at her held sympathy like they thought one of their bikers had dumped her spectacularly over the phone.

Sunny wanted to scream. The noise was in her throat, raging to get out.

“He called me Sun. He’s never called me that! And he said golden.”

Preacher stepped forward and took Sunny’s cold, shaking hand. “What does golden mean, honey?”

“When I was younger, he gave me a code word to use if I ever felt like I wanted out of a situation but couldn’t talk in front of people.

Golden is that word. Something is wrong, Preacher, I know it.

Seb wouldn’t make a call like that unless to leave breadcrumbs.

I’m the only one who would understand what golden meant. ”

The air shifted in an instant. It was as if a blast of tension swept through the clubhouse. Electricity, raw and open, snapping from the walls.

Then orders started barking out from Rider and Preacher. Everyone grabbed their phones to make calls.

It was all go from there.

A blur of action while Sunny was rooted to the floor, frozen in time without her husband.

Thank god they believed her.

Within the hour, the club had reached out to every known contact they had. Ex-police officers, crooked law enforcement officers, people from the underground, and even escorts who always had their ears to the ground about new shady characters in town.

They traced Sebastian’s phone, although it was now switched off, and received a hit on his last known whereabouts, approximately forty miles outside of Colorado.

Sunny watched the clubhouse mobilize like a well-oiled team.

Orders were given and synchronized.

They geared up fast.

Once in motion, the Renegade Souls moved with haste. It had always been a sight to see, but now she was terrified because it involved the love of her existence.

Hawk wrapped his arms around Sunny and kissed the top of her head.

“Dad, please find him.”

“I’ll bring you right to him when we know something, Sunny girl.”

“Please,” she begged, emotion welling like a tidal wave.

“Baby, let them go.” Gia soothed when she tried to follow the bikers.

Tanner was swinging on his jacket, suddenly looking older than his years. He tracked over to her and stopped in front of Sunny. Though they hadn’t spoken a word in weeks, he cupped the side of her head. “He’s okay, Sunny. I know it. There’s nothing on this earth that would make Seb leave you.”

She could only nod, though her heart was screaming. She knew it to be true, which made the reality even scarier because someone had made him do this. Seb was in danger.

How much danger they didn’t know yet.

Time stopped for her.

There was nothing without Sebastian.

No breath, no heartbeats.

Sunny wouldn’t exist without Sebastian.

She wasn’t strong enough to go on without him. Though that was what he would insist she do. Her happiness. But that wasn’t what she could do.

There was no happiness without Sebastian.

He was every beat of her heart.

It wasn’t an offhand sentiment to say she lived and breathed for his love.

“Mom, I won’t survive without him,” she whispered into her mom’s chest. “I don’t want to be here without my Seb.”

At her side, Seb’s mom, Ruby, squeezed her fingers. She was just as scared for their boy.

Sunny wasn’t a rock. She was never a tower of strength. Crises were not her forte. She was breaking apart at the seams, held together through sheer hope and prayers.

She was a woman who’d lassoed her heart around a boy when she was born, and he’d owned her heart and soul ever since. Sunny wouldn’t be far behind him if the worst likely outcome happened, and he was gone. It was a certainty.

Time was both irrelevant and vital.

She hung on by a thread.

Her eyes were glued to the door like she could see Seb walk through it with his uplifting smile and open arms.

She was empty.

Void of living.

Hanging on with all of her hope that her husband was okay.

And she was surrounded by love from the old ladies, but Sunny had never felt so alone.

Waiting.

All she could do was wait.

And waiting was the worst feeling of all.

As the moments ticked by, it was one step closer to knowing if her soul had been torn out of her body.

And Sunny would never be ready for that.