She’d not spoken to him since their first encounter when he walked through the door. He heard her cleaning, yet she kept a wide berth from him. The rumors about The Skulls clearly frightened her. Was she frightened of him? She was a smart woman if she was. He wasn’t a good man.
“You’ve done a good job,” he said.
Sunshine turned around, offering him a smile.
“Thank you, Alex.” She was still nervous around him.
The shit the Savage Brothers had pulled had given them all more trouble than help. The town doubted their ability to take care of them. The past few years they’d all had to deal with the troubles that had faced them.
“Are you going to eat with me?” he asked.
He didn’t want to eat alone. Cheryl and Michael were either at the clubhouse or the hospital. The club ate when they fancied. For once he didn’t want to be alone while eating. He’d been alone for so long.
“Erm, if you want me to.”
“I want you to.”
She held the towel in her hands. Was she glued to the blasted thing?
“Okay, I’ll, erm, I’ll let you know when it’s ready.”
“Why are you still in Fort Wills?” he asked, wanting to talk to her longer. Alex was willing to use any excuse to keep her talking. He’d paid for her, not that she knew it, and her parents had already told him everything he needed to know about her.
“My family is here. I don’t want to be anywhere else. Besides all the bad problems the town seems to face, I like it here.” She looked at her hands before looking up at him.
He took another sip of his drink, staring at her.
“Why are you called Sunshine?”
Her smile had his gut clenching.
She’s too fucking young.
“My mom and dad were told it would be impossible for them to have children. They’d been trying for years but couldn’t afford to pay for the help of getting pregnant. My mom got sick, and the doctors gave her the news she was pregnant. They told me I was called Sunshine because that is what I was to them. I was their little ray of sunshine.” She turned away, humming as finished drying up the dishes she washed.
Alex thought she was adorable. There was no room in his world for adorable. The women he fucked knew the score. He didn’t do romance or anything else. When they got his attention, they knew to live by his rules or get out of the way.
Sunshine wasn’t like any of those women. She was a small town woman with a normal family life. Not once had she been part of The Skulls or even looked ready to take on that world. Alex wanted her even with the large age gap between them. He was fifty years old and knew the way the world worked. Over the years he’d made his fair share of enemies. Sunshine was young, starting out in the world at twenty-five.
The need coursing round him had to be put to a stop. Sunshine was the last woman he should want, yet she was the one woman who plagued his thoughts. He was screwed either way.
Chapter Five
Whizz sat in the chair beside the bed. Lacey was still sleeping, and he couldn’t bring himself to wake her. Last night after they’d fucked, she’d broken down in the shower. He couldn’t believe he had to break a lock in order to get to her. Resting his elbows on his knees with his chin on his palm, he stared at her. He tried to make her understand, but he didn’t know if she even heard him when he talked about the Savage Brothers. It wasn’t her fault, none of it was. She’d been part of a club who’d been intent on causing problems in order to get their revenge.
Her eyes no longer looked red and puffy. For once she looked at peace, which was something, considering the pain she’d been in the night before. It didn’t take a genius to realize that she was still hurting from the memory of the Savage Brothers. Even before she started talking he’d known exactly what was wrong with her.
Getting to his feet, Whizz left the room, closing the door behind him. Rose was coming out of the room looking sad. Her red hair hadn’t been brushed, but she looked ready to snap at a moment’s notice. She glanced at him.
“Please don’t wake him.”
“Are you leaving?” Whizz asked, walking beside her. They both had a partner they didn’t want waking up.
She shrugged. “I don’t know anymore.”
The rest of the clubhouse was still asleep. They stepped into the kitchen. Whizz moved toward the coffee machine as Rose took a seat at the counter. Out of the corner of his eye, he saw her brushing her red hair. The length went down to her back, long and luscious. “Have you and Lacey made up?” Rose asked.
“I don’t know. We were doing okay, and then, I don’t know if you heard,” he said, pulling two cups down from the cupboard.
“I heard you making up.”
“She broke down in the shower afterward. I feel close to her, and then something snaps inside her, and she withdraws from me.” He leaned against the counter, looking at her.
“It sounds to me like she’s still hurting.”
“What about you?” he asked.
Rose looked up at him. He’d always thought Rose was a beautiful woman when she was fully made up with makeup. The woman before him even vulnerable was totally breathtaking. Why did she wear makeup when she didn’t need it?
“I don’t know about me anymore.”
“Ten years ago Hardy made a mistake.”
Tears filled her eyes as she looked at him. “I know how long ago it was. For so long we’ve been happy. I think we’ve been happy, but I don’t know anymore.” She stared down at the brush in her hand. He was used to seeing Rose smile. This side to her was scary, depressing, and it tore at his heart to see her so sad. Rose was part of the club. He wasn’t in love with her, but he did care about her.
“Is it because of the kids being born?” Whizz asked. “Are they a reminder of what you can’t have and what you’ve lost?”
“Wow, the boys really weren’t lying about you, were they? Since you were taken you don’t beat around the bush.” He went to apologize, but she held her hand up, stopping any apology he would have said. “Don’t bother to say anything. It’s true. You’ve gotten hard since Alan. Everyone sees it.”
Whizz wished he could dispute what she said. He was a different man, a darker man than he ever thought possible. Cutting off the memory of torturing the man Gonzalez had sent to kill Eva, he forced himself to focus on Rose. He’d lost a part of himself with Alan. There was no way for him to ever get that back. This was the man he’d turned into.