Page 9 of Priest’s Sunbeam (Renegade Souls MC: Next Generation #2)

Sebastian

“How did he get a sweet bottom in during a lockdown?”

Seb switched his gaze toward Dax’s amused question. He was the son of Grinder and Luxe, and the guy had been born with an inner compass for finding trouble.

Regardless of the circumstances, Dax invariably ended up in hot water. Seb’s closest male buddy was a smooth operator; he could always escape any dicey situation. Handcuffs and impenetrable environments included.

Dax just jutted his chin across the yard, where the boys were relaxing around a bonfire Hero had built.

Near that bonfire, Alpha, aka Knox, the future leader of the entire club, was getting his dick sucked by one of the current club groupies.

Thankfully, it was dark enough that Seb wasn’t getting an HD view of the act, but the shadows were sufficient, with the girl’s head bobbing up and down and Alpha’s fist in her hair.

Seb looked away. Voyeuristic shit didn’t interest him, but the others were jeering encouragement. Sometimes, because he was the oldest, he felt like their elder and the only one with a mature thought in his head.

Most people were asleep or chilling out with drinks and weed. In Alpha’s case, he was getting a serious case of head.

“Who knows with Alpha? He probably had her climb over the electric fence.”

Dax snorted and pulled from the beer bottle in his hand. “The chick must be crazy. No dick is worth an electric shock.”

Alpha had a lot riding on his younger shoulders. If he kicked back with a willing woman attached to his dick, that was his prerogative. If he were in a better position with Sunny, Seb couldn’t say he wouldn’t be doing the same.

Not in public.

He’d slice eyeballs in half before he let someone see her that way. Nothing had ever happened like that between them. But he was feral in his thoughts—flat-out uncivilized, keeping every scrap of affection Sunny had ever thrown at him like a prize.

He’d been so stupid for so long, ignoring what he’d felt in his bones.

And now he was in an impossible place, fighting against her obstinacy.

No, it was worse than that. He’d been able to wrangle Sunny’s stubborn streak many times before, but she was hurt and embarrassed.

With his legs kicked out in front of him, the beer in one hand resting on his knee, and the half-smoked joint to his lips, he pulled in the smoke slowly, right down to his lungs, hoping it would relax him enough to think straight.

He couldn’t even drag himself home, choosing to bunk at the clubhouse. Where Sunny was, Seb needed to be.

In the morning, they were going out as a crew to follow up on a tip. Seb was ready to crack skulls open and watch the white meat flow out to get answers about why some jerkoff had been taking photos of Sunny’s family.

He couldn’t be sorry that this situation had brought her home, though. He was glad about it.

Toking slowly again, he blew the smoke into the night sky. Finally, the slurping noises had stopped, and now he heard giggling from across the other side of the bonfire.

His mind automatically took him to the place he didn’t want to revisit.

But it had been the same environment that night, too. A raging bonfire in the same spot. And a giggling girl.

With a resounding sigh, Seb let the memory filter into his mind. And went back to when it got fucked up.

* * *

A YEAR AGO

Seb was down four hundred bucks as he met Dax’s smirk from across the poker table. That slick-fingered fucker was cheating. He just hadn’t figured out how yet.

“Put your money where your mouth is, Priest, I’m in the mood to get rich.” Smirking, he taunted Seb, who threw his chips in the middle. Hero dropped out, cursing that it was too rich for his blood. The poor kid was probably still on allowance money.

“I’ll put my fist where your mouth is. How about that?”

“You only wish you could.”

The poker game went on.

Seb won two. Crew won two. Dax won three more.

Damn, he’d lose a grand if he kept going, but he was enjoying himself after a long trip to Utah for some business with the Diablos. After a quick shower and a beer around the bonfire, he’d parked his ass at Dax’s poker table. He was kicking himself for that decision.

“Drinks for my favorite boys,” a husky voice announced, and then a curvy body brushed up against Seb’s shoulder as Sinner carried the tray in one hand and distributed it around the table with the other.

From day one of working behind the clubhouse bar, Sinner had made several not-so-subtle plays for Seb’s attention.

“I got more of that when you need it,” she winked at him.

Seb grunted his thanks. He lacked interest.

Like the club groupies who turned up looking for fun, most sticking around almost nightly, Sinner was a smoke show in every aspect, and if hearsay was anything to go by, she was always up for a good time.

But Seb wasn’t interested in her warming his bed, so her flirting was instantly forgotten as he glanced at his new cards.

That’s when two arms came around his shoulders from behind, and he got the waft of a vanilla sugar scent that warmed his chest, knowing who it was. Sunny put her head to his cheek, peering at his cards.

“Are we rich yet, Seb?”

Pasha snickered. “He’s about to be homeless. Come and sit with a real winner, Sunny.”

“Not yet,” Seb answered, feeling Sunny’s arms tighten with her laughter in his ear. She’d been gone all day, somewhere with Tanner and Clover, and he hadn’t liked it.

“Can you look at my tablet, Seb? I think an app is making it freeze.”

Then he heard. “Run along, kid. Let the boys play without you whining,” Sinner tried to hip check Sunny out of the way. Seb snapped his head up, his eyes meeting the woman’s dirty look aimed at Sunny.

“Focus on your own business and stick to your mediocre talents of serving drinks and showing off your chest,” Sunny snapped back, and Seb’s boys chuckled.

Sinner’s face reddened with anger. “At least I have something to flaunt. These are real tits men want to play with, not flat-chested fried eggs. Isn’t that right, Seb?”

The fuck did she just say?

He could see the groupie’s words had devastated Sunny because she grabbed the tablet from him and hurried out of the back room.

He pushed up out of his chair and rounded on Sinner. His rare temper erupted. His instinct was always to protect Sunny.

“You fucking talk with anything less than respect to Sunny again, and I’ll personally drop your ass at the bus station, and you’ll be banned from every MC east to west.” To Dax, he said, “Keep your mitts off my cards. I’ll be back.

” He stalked off, finding Sunny sandwiched between Tanner and Clover on a couch.

His eyes narrowed, seeing how little space was between them.

“Let me see your tablet.” He said too harshly, and she whipped her eyes up and then dismissed him with a scowl. “Tanner is looking at it for me.” Didn’t that sting?

“Hey, Seb.” Clover offered him a sweet smile, and he returned it to the younger girl.

“How’s school, kiddo?”

“Ugh, I can’t wait for school break.”

“I bet.” He said and then turned to Sunny. “Come with me for a minute.”

“Why?”

He didn’t respond; he hauled her up, holding her hand as they went outside. He didn’t expect Sunny to pull away, glare at him, and point a finger at his chest.

“Shouldn’t you be back in there with miss ample tits?”

It was the wrong thing to burst out laughing because Sunny’s scowl deepened.

“I already warned her what would happen if she spoke to you like that again.”

She scoffed and rolled her eyes. “Don’t do me any favors with your girlfriend.”

Seb’s eyebrows shot high. “She’s not my girlfriend.”

Sunny waved a dismissive hand. “Bed warmer then. I don’t care what that woman says. She’s nothing to me. I’m Teflon.”

She was the least Teflon person he knew, with her sweet little heart. Seb cupped the side of Sunny’s face.

“Of all the women to spend time with, you chose one with a viper’s tongue and a nasty heart.

She’s pretty, Seb, but her soul is like a swamp.

I expected better from you,” she accused.

Her pointed little chin was held high; only the wobble of her lower lip gave away her true thoughts.

As usual, being around her made his heart grow softer.

“Don’t know who you’ve been listening to, but I’ve never touched Sinner,” he shared. He held nothing back from Sunny. It just wasn’t their way. He watched her eyes widen.

“For real?”

“Yeah.”

“Ha. Good. I hope it’s chapped her pert ass that she can’t get you so easily. If I were you, I wouldn’t sleep with her.”

Seb chuckled and rubbed a thumb on her smooth cheek.

“Fine, I won’t.” he’d never planned on it, not with Sinner or any other woman.

He could tell her it had been years since he’d last touched anyone intimately or wanted to.

And even then, it had been so infrequent that he couldn’t be classed as a player like his club brothers were.

It had felt so wrong, like he was cheating on an invisible wife somewhere.

His libido worked fine, but his sex life hadn’t been at the forefront of Seb’s mind.

And last year, the truth had punched him in the face all because of the scowling girl in front of him.

With a sliver of decency left in him, Seb had vowed to wait until Sunny was twenty-one to act on his new feelings.

But the brat never made things easy, and with every flirtatious bat of her lashes, she tested his resolve to the fucking limits.

“Celibate is the new pink.” She said like she thought he understood her sayings. “We can be celibate together, Seb.” She offered with a bright smile, and he turned granite hard in his jeans, so much so he had to set her away from his body, or she would have felt what her words had done to him.

Mashing his back teeth, he tried to remain calm with the sheer will of his ancestors. It was cold out, but he felt sweat dot his forehead.