Two walls of muscle pressed in on me as Chase didn’t back down even though Fox looked like he was about to go all Ted Bundy on his ass.
“Stop,” I demanded and they both listened as I looked between them. I was the voice of reason whenever these two butted heads. They were unshakeable brothers ninety nine percent of the time, but Chase liked to test Fox’s boundaries on occasion. And if I wasn’t there to break it up, blood was inevitably spilled. “We have to deal with Fritz. There’s no choice now.” I fixed Fox with a glare and his jaw flexed.
I cupped his rough cheek, keeping his gaze on mine and a grunt of irritation escaped him. He shoved away from me, stalking over to the trunk and popping it open. He reached inside, dragging Fritz out by the lapels of his denim vest and throwing him to the ground.
“Please – god – please!” the weedy little bastard yelled.
Fox drew a gun so fast I wasn’t even prepared when the first shot was fired. Chase moved to my side, his leather jacket grazing my arm as Fritz screamed, blood pooling out over his crotch from where his cock had just been blown clean off. I cupped my junk as I sucked in air through my teeth. I had not been ready for that dicksplosion.
Fox aimed the gun higher, pulling the trigger with a detached coldness in his gaze and Fritz’s screams were cut off as the bullet landed right between his eyes, dead centre. His final scream echoed around the cliffs and my ears rang for a long minute before the sound of the sea reached me once more.
None of us spoke as I walked forward, bending down and lifting Fritz by the arms. Chase moved to lift his legs and Fox leaned back against the car as we carried Fritz to the edge of the cliff, placing him down and shoving rocks into his pockets. I gazed over the edge of the cliff down to the deep, frothing water below and Chase lifted the guy’s legs as I picked him up by the arms once more. Just your average Friday night in Sunset Cove.
We swung him left to right, building up momentum before nodding to one another and launching him over the edge. He flew like a bird. Like a dead bird with rocks in its pockets, but still. Fritz hit the water with a huge splash then slowly sank into its depths. The sharks would destroy the dickless wonder by morning. Nom nom nom. We should really have been given some kind of medal for feeding the shark population around here. There were a few rare species in these waters, but I liked to think they just became a little less rare tonight.
Bubbles fizzed up from the sea as I watched the place his body had gone in. I hadn’t always felt dead inside about killing. The first time hadn’t been like this. The first time had changed me. It had been the catalyst to my heart turning black.
I hadn’t grown up dreaming of being a murdering psycho or anything, but that didn’t mean I felt bad when we wiped people like Fritz from the face of the planet either. I didn’t feel guilty. I didn’t feel much of anything right now except the warm air winding around me and the feel of my brother standing close to me.
Chase lit another cigarette, and I moved toward him, cupping the back of his head, the scent of smoke rising between us.
“Make it up to Fox,” I growled. “Don’t pull this shit again.”
“Yeah, yeah,” he said, smirking, but I knew he would as he clapped my shoulder and we walked back to Fox who looked ready to keep killing tonight.
He strode toward Chase when we got close, snatching the cigarette from his mouth and crushing it in his fist, before punching Chase right in the jaw with the same hand. Chase stumbled back with a growl, then went at Fox like a battering ram, throwing his shoulder into his gut and knocking Fox back several steps.
They started fighting aggressively, cursing and punching one another until Fox went full Fox and knocked Chase on his ass, kneeling over him on the ground and fisting his shirt in his hand. I didn’t step in this time, I could see that they needed to fight it out, but it still made my gut knot watching them getting at each other like that.
“For every rule you break from here on out, I’ll break one of your fingers until you learn your lesson,” Fox warned him.
“Dude,” Chase balked, but Fox just got up, kicking dust over him before tugging the car door open and dropping into the driver’s seat.
I pulled Chase to his feet, dusting him off and a muscle worked in his jaw. He shoved away from me, stalking off down the road and I sighed, getting into the passenger’s seat as Fox started the engine.
Fox was as silent as the grave and I released a long breath as I looked over at him then back to the road as the quiet built in my ears.
“He was just trying to take initiative,” I broke the silence at last as we watched Chase’s broad form continue on down the lane ahead of us into the dark.
“And I’m just trying to protect our asses,” Fox growled. “We have the code for a reason, JJ. What the fuck was he playing at tonight?”
I hooked up my phone from where it had fallen into the footwell and twisted it between my fingers. “He doesn’t do well being kept to heel. You’ve gotta let him off his leash from time to time to keep him content. You know what he’s like.”
Fox’s hands gripped the steering wheel, the intricate infinity tattoo on his thumb stretching as his knuckles turned white. “Yeah…I know,” he admitted eventually. And for a stubborn asshole like him, that meant a lot.
He’d go to hell and back for me and Chase. We all would for each other. But Fox was so used to running things that sometimes he forgot that Chase had been ruled by his piece of shit daddy for half his life, and he’d never liked being bossed around since he’d gotten away from him. He let Fox take the lead for the most part, but sometimes, times like this, he fought against that power. Even if it wasn’t what was best for all of us.
“You gotta let him stretch his little penguin wings,” I joked, smirking and Fox rolled his eyes at me, but his mouth twitched at the corner.
“Penguin’s don’t fly,” he muttered and I snorted.
“They do if you throw ‘em hard enough.”
Fox broke a short laugh then flicked on the headlights and pulled away down the road, gaining on Chase within a few seconds and putting his window down.
“Get in, brother,” Fox called, making an effort not to sound like a bossy asshole, not that it particularly worked.
Chase looked to him, scratching at his stubbled jaw before shrugging and pulling the back door open and sliding in.
Silence fell and Fox drove off down the road while I thumbed through music on my phone and picked out It’s Nice to Have a Friend by Taylor Swift. Fox shot me a narrowed eyed glance as I started singing along. Loudly. It was totally not aimed to break the tension and get them to make up. Not at all.
As I turned up the volume and Fox tried to swipe the phone from my hand, a low chuckle escaped Chase. I shoved the phone under my ass just as Chase leapt at me from behind and soon the three of us were laughing like nothing had ever happened between us. It was the way it always was. The way it was meant to be. Nothing could ever rock the foundations of the Harlequin boys. We were as invincible as the moon. Rulers of the night. Three kings of the goddamn world. Or at least, kings of one piece of it. But as far as I was concerned, it was the only piece that mattered. Because it was ours.
N ote to self: sleeping in a car is not fun. Especially the heap of shit I managed to steal down by the boat yard yesterday. I mean, it was all I could really manage with my limited resources. I'd grabbed a screwdriver from a plumber's van when I passed it, tossing him a wink as I pushed it up my sleeve and walked on by with him none the wiser. It probably would have been more effective if my face wasn't such a vibrant shade of purple, but I was still taking it as a win because he didn’t catch me out. Either way, armed only with a screwdriver, my choice of cars to boost had been particularly limited as they needed to be old enough to have no alarm and a key system that I could bypass with my little yellow friend.
So I'd found myself a nice red Jeep which was older than I was and had plastic windows which I could open with no effort at all. Of course the thing wasn't at all comf
ortable and the non-windows had let the cold ocean breeze in all night long. It was also seriously low on gas and had made a weird grinding noise when I changed gears, but beggars can't be choosers and all that.
Still, I was going to need to make some serious improvements for tonight. A blanket at the very least. Maybe some clothes too as my cute bikini and short shorts had lost their appeal while I was shivering my tits off in the dark.
I groaned as I pushed myself upright and yelled a half assed curse at the fucking seagulls who seemed to think that this was the perfect spot to stop and screech at each other for hours on end.
The little mutt, who I refused to name because I was still waiting for him to abandon me, sat up happily and licked my hand as I pushed my knotty hair out of my face. A hairbrush needed to make the top ten list of things I had to obtain today. After being buried alive, swimming in the sea and now sleeping on my hair, my ass length brunette locks were most definitely a hot mess. Good thing I had my trusty Power Rangers baseball cap to hide the worst of it, but whatever way we were looking at this, a brush was definitely a must.
I pushed the car door open with some difficulty as the door groaned and jammed up a bit and then finally managed to shove my way out of the damn thing.
I rolled my shoulders back and cursed as I squatted down to get a look at my face in the wing mirror. I looked...fucking awful. I was sporting one hell of a black eye, though thankfully it wasn't so swollen that I couldn't see out of it and the finger marks on my neck had turned a mixture of yellow and blue which I was hoping meant they’d be gone within another day or two. At least they didn't seem to be as obviously caused by choking now that the colours were merging anyway. Small wins and all that.
There was a half open pack of gum in the glove box and I was hungry enough to go for it - not to mention the fact that a toothbrush needed to make the list. Fuck.
I'd parked up on the little old road which ran down beneath the pier and I sighed as I chewed on my stale gum and looked up at the wooden boardwalk above my head. When I squinted, I could just make out my name carved into the wood surrounding one of the thick beams which held it up, just beneath the edge of the pier itself. JJ had done that way back when life was peaches and cream and the worst thing I had going on was a neighbour whose eyes followed me a little too often and whose touches lingered a little too long. Back then that had seemed like the end of the world. But give me Axel Phillips to deal with again any day of the week. At least the version of him who hadn't quite decided what to do with me yet. The one who made me uncomfortable when I was thirteen but made no move to take any more than unwelcome looks at me.
JJ's name was up there too of course, right beside Fox, Chase and Maverick as always. I wondered if they ever came down here now? To the boarded up boardwalk and the broken down Ferris wheel that used to mean the world to me. Hell, it used to be my world. I used to dream that one day we'd figure out how to get all the old rides going again and make a home in one of the abandoned casinos. Simple dreams for a sweet girl with no idea how hard life was going to kick her up the ass. Then again, I didn't think I'd want to be that naive now. At least now I knew what the world was willing to throw at me. I didn't have to wonder what if and I didn’t have to waste time on dreams.
I spat the gross gum into an overflowing trash can, ducked beneath the pier to pee like a hobo - which I guessed I was now - then returned to my car, my fifteen bucks, my skateboard and my Power Rangers hat. Nice. Home sweet home.
The mutt was wagging his tail and rolling over on the front seat, seeming to think we had it pretty good, so I was inclined to take his word on it. I had to assume he'd seen far worse than this if he thought this was a step up, and I didn't wish to fall any lower to find out what I was missing.
What I had assumed was the butt crack of dawn was actually mid afternoon if the sun was anything to go by. I guessed dying really took it out of me. Which meant I'd slept in that hunk of shit for fourteen hours or something. No wonder my body was aching and I was gasping for a damn drink. Though the swelling in my throat seemed to have gone down a bit today.
I scrubbed a hand over my face and instantly regretted it as it stung all of my bruises in all the worst ways.
What the fuck was I going to do?
I needed to sort my shit out then work out where the Harlequin boys were now. Maybe once I'd spent a bit of time watching them, I could figure out the best way to get hold of their keys. That was all I needed to do. Five keys and I was set for life. I'd have everything I needed to start over somewhere new and far, far away. Maybe I'd get a flight over to the east coast and find a beach town there. A couple hundred miles had to be far enough to be sure that Shawn would never hear of my miraculous reanimation and I could get away clean and free. Assuming I was cool with letting that motherfucker kill me and get away with it. I was still half certain I wanted to get my hands on a gun and dole out a bit of my own justice to that prick, but right now I'd settle for some freaking toilet paper.
Wow, I really had hit rock bottom. Who knew TP was such a precious commodity? But it was definitely going on the list. I should probably add an actual toilet to the list too, but that seemed to be aiming a little high for today. I was pretty sure public restrooms and living out of my stolen car were on the agenda for the foreseeable.
The obvious place to start was Harlequin House where Fox and Maverick used to live and Fox’s dad no doubt still did. But if Luther Harlequin found out I was back in town then I was going to find out how serious he'd been about killing me if I ever came back here. And I was pretty sure he'd been just as serious as Shawn was and was likely more proficient too. He had a reputation for execution killings. Two to the chest and one to the head. Unless he was really looking to send a message and went the mutilation route of course. But I doubted I was worth that much effort to him. Besides, I'd been a skinny kid with way too much fondness for eyeliner when I'd last been in town so I doubted he would recognise me now. I might have spent every waking hour I had with his sons, but that didn't mean he ever paid me much attention.
I was irrelevant to him. Broke, dumb, a girl. Though I kinda took offence to the dumb label because I'd done okay in school. When I showed up. Street smarts were worth more than all that paper learning shit anyway. Of course, killing one of his men had given him reason to pay attention to me, but not for long. I was almost certain he wouldn't know me now.
My boys were another matter. I'd know their souls in the dark from their heartbeats alone...or at least I would have once. Or maybe I thought I would have and it had all just been bullshit.
Whatever. That was why it hurt so fucking much when they broke me.
So as I didn't want to risk Harlequin House or The Oasis – the club where most of the Harlequin Crew hung out when they weren’t breaking laws or killing people was just as risky, the next best bet was the bait shop. Everyone in town knew they were selling way more than worms and tackle in there, so long as you knew the right way to ask for it. There would be gang members there keeping watch, girls for sale too assuming nothing had changed. One of them would probably give up something that I could use to trace the boys. Everyone in Sunset Cove knew who Fox Harlequin was at the very least. They had when he was sixteen anyway, so I was willing to bet they knew a whole lot more now. Daddy’s little protégé was probably a major player in the Harlequin Crew these days.
I hopped back into the car, scooping the mutt onto the passenger seat and tussling his ears before twisting the screwdriver which I'd jammed in the ignition and starting her up. The old Jeep gave a whine and a splutter, but she got there in the end. These cars were nuke proof, I swear. I’d bet the thing would out live me - though I was also already dead once over so I guessed it already had.
I forgot about the clutch as I forced it into gear, cursing the stick as I swung the wheel around and headed back up the road towards the busy streets of Sunset Cove.
It was funny really that such a beautiful place could hold such dark secrets. The rich assholes
who had their vacation homes up and down the beach for miles around never seemed to notice how fucked up this town was. Or maybe they just didn't wanna look too closely. They certainly never drove down these streets where the graffiti was every colour of the rainbow and the potholes had potholes. The cops didn't come down here either and neither did anyone with any kind of sense. Not unless they belonged. And I wasn't convinced it was a good thing that I did.
I took a road to the edge of town, managing to get the radio tuned just enough to listen to Malibu by Miley Cyrus and with the wind teasing through my hair and the sun shining again, I started singing along and smiling. Because I might have been a dead girl, but it hadn't stuck. So fuck it. I was going to be free.
I rolled the windows down and whooped, earning a strange look from the mutt, but I knew he got it. Life was never as bad when you had the wind in your hair.
Like I'd expected, the bait shop on the edge of the little boat yard was packed when I pulled up in the parking lot. There was a cafe next door to it with plastic picnic benches and colourful parasols filled with people who were eating ice cream and drinking beer. They were laughing and smoking and wasting their lives away in the best possible way. There was a half pipe on the edge of the beach beyond the sea wall where people were giving their skateboards and BMXs a workout and even better than that, the surfers were out in full force on the waves. It was a Saturday so even the assholes with jobs were able to come play today.
The ache in my chest was unreal as I watched them, wondering if I could flirt my way into having a go on some dude's board before remembering the fact that I looked like a train wreck right about now so there was no chance of that. But fuck me. That right there was living. Surfing had once been a part of my soul. I’d been free in this town. A girl who knew the tides, always had sand between her toes and four boys at her side who were a perfect balance of dark and light. We’d spent countless days riding the waves, building bonfires on the beach, laughing and playing and being. But nothing good ever lasted. I should have known our life in the sun would eventually be swallowed by the miserable grey cloud called reality.
Sinners' Playground Page 4