Sunshine & Ink

23. Sunni

CHAPTER 23

Sunni

I couldn’t really blame Leo for hating life in the Saints Clubhouse. All of a sudden, I wasn’t his fiancé anymore. I was the official property of the Saints MC Prez.

But I would have thought even Leo would accept that we were safer here with the Saints than anywhere else.

“We wouldn’t even be in danger if it wasn’t for him,” he said, frowning.

I had no intention of giving Raker an inch. But even I couldn’t let this pass by. “We’re in danger because he’s defied the Elders by refusing to marry Elizabeth and rescuing me,” I said. “He came for me.”

There was a squirmy joyful little movement in my swollen belly, and I felt my baby kick.

No, baby , I thought sternly. That doesn’t mean I love your daddy at all. It’s just. . .setting the record straight, that’s all.

“I am sure I appreciate his. . . dramatic rescue,” Leo said dryly. “But really it was his disrespectful actions at the Ceremony that really put him in the sights of the Elders. He wasted water , Sunni. He’s an evil, immoral man.”

I stared for a moment.

“Of course all of our meetings, all of our work rediscovering the goddess, is disobedient to the Elders!” I hissed at him. “According to you that’s all evil and immoral!”

Leo met my eyes and then looked away.

“Of course, there is really no harm in an academic discussion of the history of our land,” he said. “Or learning about how this land used to worship a heathen goddess instead of the safety and strength of the Elders.”

My skin felt like it crawled with unease.

“It’s not just academic! We want to free the water, break the Elders’ hold on the water sources. And you know Willow believes we are close to figure out exactly where the ancient waterways are.”

“Willow believes a lot of things,” he said.

I stared at him.

“You’re a coward,” I said bluntly.

Leo gripped my arm, a hard, angry pinch on my flesh.

“This is Raker’s baby, isn’t it?” he bit out.

I could have lied. I could have said I didn’t know. I could have said I’d fucked so many men I didn’t know whose baby it was.

But I didn’t.

“Yes,” I said. “It is. Let me go!”

But his long fingers only dug in deeper.

“Maybe you are just a whore,” he hissed, his minty-fresh breath wafting over my face, stepping so close in his boat shoes and khakis that it felt like a menace when he brushed past my stomach.

“I’m a wife, actually,” I said. “And you better not let Raker catch you doing something like this.”

“Why is that?” Leo said scornfully.

“He’ll hurt you.”

“He wouldn’t dare,” Leo replied, with a smirk on his face that made me feel uneasy. “I could make things very unpleasant for you if he did.”

I felt another little stab of fear. What was Leo threatening?

Just then, Willow and Elise arrived to pull Leo away for another strategy session.

“How are you doing?” I asked them, to cover from the uneasy feeling I got now with Leo sitting in on our strategy sessions. There was so much interest in the goddess among the Saints, with my friends Amira and Bridget especially wanting to sit in on every meeting and help where they could.

“Everyone has been very kind,” Willow said, somewhat grudgingly. “And welcoming. Raker must have given an order, because everyone has been surprisingly nice.”

“I thought a motorcycle club would be different,” Elise put in. “Scarier somehow.”

I couldn’t stop a small smile from spreading across my face.

If it wasn’t scary for them, it was because Raker had made sure it wasn’t.

Because I would never forget how he had looked dragging that knife down the Elder’s arm, splitting his flesh open to force him to perform our marriage ceremony.

Scary wasn’t even the word. This level of devotion was terrifying.