Chapter 222: Disliking a love rival.

Chapter 222: Disliking a love rival.

His hands remained clenched as he waited for her to give Patrick Fawk an answer. If she said yes, how was he supposed to react?

His lips twitched as he prepared himself to smile and play the role of the supportive husband. As much as he tried, somehow, his lips remained stiff.

"I can’t." Sunshine told Patrick. "I have three kids at home and a bear that is still recovering from injuries."

Patrick looked back at Hades and winced. "Hades, my apologies. I was talking to Sunshine and missed the opportunity to greet you."

He extended his hand, greeting Hades.

Hades smiled stiffly, his eyes masking an unfriendliness that had just developed.

"I will leave you two to it then." He said, waving and walking off in the opposite direction.

Sunshine and Hades left as well, going straight to his mother’s home. His siblings and cousins were already there, drinking wine, discussing the mass and the things they missed in the old world.

Lisha was showing those who were interested pictures of the ant colony.

He grabbed a drink while Sunshine went to the kitchen where his mother was.

As he sipped wine and pretended to be listening to whatever Warren was narrating enthusiastically, he thought back on Sunshine’s conversation with Patrick.

Yes, Sunshine and Alfred were friends, but she was also his ex-girlfriend. Between exes, there had to be a limit of some kind. Sunshine had said so herself when they were discussing Amber.

Knowing that she was wife, how could the Fawks expect her spend a night by Alfred’s bedside tending to him as if their relationship was a deep one? Didn’t they know that residents loved to gossip? They had nothing more to do with their time than discuss the meager scandals around them.

If the issue was brought up again, he had to speak up and caution her. She was very generous with the people she considered friends and family. She had turned down Patrick once. If he asked again, she would probably say yes.

His eyes were drawn to the open kitchen and his eyes roamed over his wife. She looked even more beautiful now than she did yesterday. It was amazing how she did not care about her looks and didn’t know how beautiful she was.

If she did, she would not be going around in smudged overalls half the time or baggy jeans with a tool belt around her waist.

But that did not make her any less attractive. Sunshine did not even know how striking she was every time she wielded that hammer with ease and made everyone tremble with only her words.

Like when she stood up there in the church, daring anyone to go against her.

He noticed a little boy rushing into the kitchen and hugging Sunshine. No surprise, it was Castiel.

As he watched her laughing and doing the dishes with his mother in the kitchen with Castiel hanging on to her leg, he wondered how she had grown up to be such a positive person.

Amber would have thrown Castiel off. Also, she would have chosen death over doing dishes or talking to his mother and listening to her outdated opinions on nearly everything.

But not Sunshine. She soaked it all in and balanced it like sand under the sea.

Her laughter echoed through the room, and he smiled, sipping wine slowly as he admired the glow that she exuded without trying. If he walked to her, spun her around and kissed her, would she blush or threaten to turn him into "meat paste" as she did sometimes?

A rush of joy swept through his body at the image of her threatening him. Somehow, their relationship felt real whenever she scolded him. He never thought that he could argue with a woman over things that were not money related.

More than that, he never thought he would argue with a woman that was his wife after divorcing Amber. After she left, he gave up on having a love life. It had been so long since he last had a woman in his life. Longer since he had last been intimate with one.

The day Castiel was sired was the last time. And he and Amber been intoxicated on that night. After that, he did not touch her again until she left. No hugs and kisses too.

Neither one of them could stand to be intimate with the other in any form.

He had needs and the money to avail himself with such services, but he never bothered. He devoted himself to the company and his children. He had worked like a mad man who sought to own every dollar in the world.

Things were different now. He wanted to be close with his wife all the time. Maybe it was because of the apocalypse and the fact that he no longer had to work like his life depended on every dollar he made, or it was because Sunshine was a spirited, bright, happy and focused woman that matched him perfectly.

Maybe it was because the spark between them was so strong it could not be denied.

Maybe it was for all reasons and more that he wanted his wife’s attention on him and only him. He did not want to share her with others, except their children.

He especially did not want her to personally care for Alfred or smile at him. He definitely didn’t want her sleeping at Alfred’s bedside, feeding him or giving him sponge baths!

The idea made his gnash his teeth. For a moment, he wished Alfred had not been saved. Whose bright idea had it been to bring his love rival into the base?

He paused his thoughts when he found himself wishing the eagles had carried the man off. Hades could not believe that he was thinking such a thing. He downed the wine and poured himself some more.

"Oh-oh." Hadrian said as he settled next to him.

He looked away from his wife and glanced dismissively at his brother. "What is that supposed to mean?"

"It means that I am worried about you because you were glaring at your wife’s back for a moment." Hadrian answered. "Trouble in paradise already?"

"Nope, just paradise." Hades replied.

Hadrian was doubtful. "Then why the glare?"

"I was thinking of something else and happened to be looking into the kitchen. That does not mean there is trouble brewing in my marriage." Hades took a sip of wine and smiled at his brother. "I can’t remember the last time we sat down for a talk. Is it just me or have we somehow become busier in the apocalypse than we were when we were running a corporation that was worth billions?"

"No, it’s not you." Warren dropped down slowly on the carpet in front of his cousins. "I thought the same thing. Initially, I thought we would be idle and sleeping all day but somehow, we end up waking up at seven and going to be bed between nine and midnight. This apocalypse is not what I pictured."

"Then what did you picture?" Sunshine joined them.

Hadrian shifted and so did Hades. They both made space for Sunshine on the couch.

Warren meanwhile mentioned the things he had been expecting to experience. "Fire everywhere, broken buildings, running for our lives, helicopters in the air twenty four hours a day, the sound of bullets, starvation, four headless horsemen....."

Sunshine held her hand out, stopping Warren for a moment. "Headless horsemen!!"