"Oh yeah? So I can just go then, can I?"
JJ pursed his lips and sighed. "We just wanna make sure you're alright."
I rolled my eyes at that false sentiment. "Better late than never, hey?"
"It's not like that," he protested. "We couldn't find you Rogue. You were meant to stay in Fairfax and you ran."
"Oh, so it's my fault that I didn't want to stay living with that controlling old bag? And how long exactly was I supposed to stay there? Because it wasn't like I ever heard from any of you on that issue. Let alone anything else."
"Well maybe if you'd stayed put-"
"Then what?" I demanded because I wasn't going to listen to his shit about this. That place hadn't been a home to me. That woman didn't care. She wanted me to sell drugs to the kids I went to school with and when the cops started sniffing about, she was clearly going to throw me to the wolves. I wasn't going to stay there, especially when I had no reason to think the Harlequin boys even remembered me, let alone might be coming back. It was bullshit. They forgot all about me the moment I left Sunset Cove.
JJ seemed to figure out this wasn't going to get him anywhere and turned away with a sigh, heading through a door at the back of the room and the sound of running water soon reached me.
I glanced at the open door behind me just as Mutt leapt up and made himself comfy on my fancy new bed, but it seemed kinda pointless to try and run again right now. Fox and Chase were blocking the exit and I wanted the chance to look for their keys anyway. But what was the deal with Maverick? Because it was seriously starting to seem like the Harlequin boys were down to three and I just couldn't imagine that. The four of them had been utterly inseparable... Then again, I'd thought the five of us were once, so maybe none of them cared about anyone and the three of them were only still together out of convenience.
I kicked off my dirty white sneakers and trailed after JJ to the en-suite which turned out to be almost as big as the bedroom. The white tiled walls were accented with little blue embellishments and there was an enormous walk in shower as well as a wide vanity, my own toilet - complete with honest to shit toilet paper, might I add - and last, but by no means least, the biggest fucking bath tub I'd ever seen. The white claw footed beast sat before another floor length window with a view of the sea and looked like the kind of thing you only ever saw in movies.
"The balcony runs along the whole back side of the house," JJ explained as he poured way too much bubble bath into the tub and it frothed up like a cappuccino, filling the air with the scent of coconut. "The door in your room leads out to it as well as the one in Fox's and the one in the den. They're all locked right now though."
I didn't comment on that because of course they were, but whatever, I was staying put for now anyway. And when I was ready to run it would take more than a locked door to stop me.
"I'll go find you some clean clothes and I can toss that stuff in the washer for you if you like?" JJ suggested and I shrugged like I didn't care but I did. I really, really did. Clean clothes sounded like heaven right about now.
He headed out of the room and I collected up a bottle of wine with my chips and guac before tossing them all down on a little table beside the tub.
I hadn't had a bath in...probably as long as I hadn't been in this town. And the only times I'd had one back then was if I'd stayed at one of the boys' houses when their families were away. Never in this house though. We never hung out at Fox’s house.
I tugged off the shirt I'd stolen from JJ and dropped it to the floor before shimmying out of the booty shorts with a sigh of relief.
I was just about to tug the strings of my bikini bottoms loose when JJ strolled back into the room like he owned the damn place.
"Don't stop on my account. I've seen more tits and ass this week than you'll see in your lifetime," he said as I stopped what I was doing and narrowed my eyes at him over my shoulder.
"Wow, Johnny James, you really learned how to charm the girls while I was gone, didn't you?" I said. "But as irrelevant as that statement makes me feel, I'd still rather you fuck off before I get naked. ‘Kay?"
JJ grinned at me like I'd just asked him to come closer instead of fuck off. He stalked towards me with his pile of offerings in hand, placing a red wifebeater with black skulls all over it down for me alongside a pair of boxers and a fluffy white towel.
"I don't happen to keep any women’s clothes here, but Chase thinks a girl might have left her panties around here somewhere the other week if you want me to track them down for you?" he asked, his eyes sparkling with amusement like he thought he knew exactly how I'd react to him baiting me. But it had been a long time since Johnny James had known me and he wouldn't be winning me around with his boyish nonsense either.
I moved right up into his personal space, the scent of sea air seeming to cling to his skin and overwhelming me with a feeling of being home for a few seconds before I shook it off. I didn't have a home, the Harlequin boys had seen to that for me.
I placed my hands on his chest and shoved him back a step, followed by another and another until he was standing outside the door to the bathroom, still smirking like we were playing a game.
JJ reached out and snagged his pink sunglasses from my face while I scowled at him through them and his cocky grin didn't even drop when I swung the door closed in his face and twisted the lock for good measure.
JJ’s laughter called to me from beyond the door and I ground my teeth as I turned back to the tub, dropped my bikini and stepped in.
The hot water welcomed me into it like the best hug I'd ever had and I sank low with a groan of pleasure as I let it envelop me. Today had not gone to plan at all. My little recon trip had ended in capture and I was now firmly within the midst of my enemy. But on the plus side, I was in the prime location to try and find their keys. I just had to endure their company while I searched.
In the meantime, I was happy to use them for their luxuries and reap the benefits of that in the form of clean hair, fresh sheets and as much wine as I could drink before I passed out. Which was actually quite a lot. Hanging around with Shawn and his crew had shown me the benefits of drinking with the aim of blacking out and I just so happened to be a pro.
Two hours in the bath later, a bottle and a half of wine, the entire selection of chips and dips and copious use of their fancy ass hair products and I curled up in the big bed they'd given me wearing JJ's shirt but passing on his boxers. Clean or not, he could keep those.
Oblivion was calling my name and I was happy to join her in the dark.
***
I woke with a groan and a mouth that felt full of cottonwool, blinking up at the unfamiliar ceiling with a rush of panic before remembering where I was.
It was dark, the view beyond the balcony doors showing a crescent moon hanging low over a navy sea and the soft lull of the waves against the shore caressing my soul like no other sound in the world could.
The bed they'd given me was stupid soft and after sleeping in that cold, beat up Jeep, I had definitely reaped the benefits of the upgrade.
A soft whimper alerted me to Mutt as he nosed at the door and I pushed myself to sit up, using the moonlight to take in the room and frowning as my gaze fell on an armchair which I swear hadn't been so close to the bed last night. It was placed in the corner beside the balcony doors, but I could have sworn it had been angled towards the view the last time I'd seen it, not directed at my sleeping place.
I shook my head and dismissed the chair, swivelling around to get out of bed and finding a tall glass of water waiting for me where my half empty bottle of wine had sat the last time I saw it. There was also a couple of painkillers beside a pair of thick socks. I frowned at the idea of one of them coming in here while I'd been sleeping but shrugged it off in favour of taking the pills, draining the water and then pulling the socks on over my cold feet. My feet were always cold, especially at night and one of the things I was saddest about losing back at Shawn's was my collection of fluffy socks. It was a stupid t
hing to miss, but there was something sacred about finding favourite socks that rivalled the love I felt for my lost coffee mug. Cest la vie and all that, but damn, I wished he'd buried me with a few choice items.
One of the boys had clearly remembered the countless times I’d complained about having cold feet though. And I wasn’t sure how I felt about that. On the one hand, it could be seen as kind of sweet, but on the other it just made me wonder even more about all the shit that had gone down between us. If they cared about my feet being cold then how come they’d never cared about where I was or what I was doing with my sorry excuse for a life?
I slipped out of bed and then out of the room with Mutt scampering ahead of me with his focus fixed on the kitchen down the stairs at the far end of the corridor. My gaze skimmed over the three closed doors which housed the sleeping boys and it occurred to me that this right here was the perfect opportunity to start doing some digging.
I slipped along the wooden floor, silent in my socks as I headed after Mutt and padded back into the kitchen. The little white dog had made it to the sliding doors which led out to the pool, but unsurprisingly as I tried it, I found it securely locked with no sign of a key anywhere.
I pouted as I looked about, moving through the house to the front door and giving that a fruitless attempt too before returning to a rather desperate looking Mutt with a frown. I could go and wake one of the guys, tell them to let him out before he took a dump on the mat or...
My lips twitched into a smirk as I spotted a huge, potted fern in one corner of the room and I scooped Mutt up before placing him down in the soil surrounding the plant.
The little fella instantly cocked his leg and relieved himself with what I would have called the doggy version of a contented sigh and I grinned at him as I looked around the open space.
The house was still silent and as my gaze fell on a little white tower of drawers which stood to one side of the room an idea occurred to me. No time like the present, after all.
I slipped across the open space, glanced back towards the stairs where the guys were sleeping then opened the top drawer. There was a roll of money inside. More than I'd seen in a damn long time and it was most definitely whispering my name and telling me to take it with me when I ran. Not yet, my love, but soon.
I closed that drawer and found another with random bits of crap including several keys on a ring, but they were big and bulky, not what I was looking for and not the keys to the doors or windows here in the house either.
I moved my search on, rifling through drawers, cupboards, shelves. Anywhere and everywhere that might hold something of interest or most ideal of all, the rest of the keys that matched mine.
I crept from room to room, exploring the house while trying to hunt down anything interesting and coming up short time and again. There was a locked door beyond the kitchen which I couldn’t budge and had to give up on with a frustrated huff and another one before the dining room. When I made it to the big tv room at the back of the house, I even checked down the backs of the sofa cushions. Nothing.
"If there's something in particular you're after, you could just ask, you know," JJ said casually and I almost screamed as I lurched upright and whirled on him, finding him standing in the doorway in a thin pair of shorts and nothing else, his muscular arms folded over his chest as he leaned on the door jam and waited for me to explain myself.
"I want to leave," I said defiantly, folding my own arms while trying not to think about the fact that I was only wearing his wifebeater and had just been bent over the couch with my bare ass in the air aimed right at him. The shirt fell down to my mid thigh while I was upright like this but...yeah, there was no denying the amount of ass that would have been hanging out of it while I was bent over like that. Goddammit.
"So you thought we might keep the keys to the front door between the cushions?" he asked, seeming somewhat amused and I just shrugged. "Maybe I should go and wake Fox and Chase up, see what they think about you searching the house in the dead of night."
"Don't," I said before I could stop myself, but I wasn't sure why I was bothering. JJ had no loyalty to me so there was no reason for me to think he'd keep this between us.
JJ's face split into a knowing grin and he pinned me in his gaze as he considered his options.
"Alright. How about we swap secrets then? I won't tell so long as you explain those bruises to me," he offered.
"That sounds like you'll just own two of my secrets. It’s not a swap," I pointed out and his smile widened in a way that made my stomach knot.
JJ may have seemed like a nice guy on the surface, but there was something about that look in his eyes which told me that was all bullshit. I'd met enough dark souls to recognise the danger of the ruthless streak in them no matter what mask they presented to the world. This was a man who was used to getting what he wanted by one means or another and I wasn't going to forget that. The boys I'd once run with were living the life they'd always been destined for. One of violence and crime and death. Any sweetness they'd once had would be thoroughly corrupted by now.
"Looks like it," JJ agreed. "So what's it to be?"
I rolled my eyes and stalked towards him, slipping past him when he refused to move out of the doorway and ignoring the way my body had been pressed to his in the tight space for that split second before I made my way back to the kitchen.
I helped myself to a glass of OJ, poured a second for JJ because I was a peach like that then dropped down onto a stool before the kitchen island as he came to sit beside me.
I took a long swig of my juice, placed the glass down and looked into it as I decided to give him the truth. At least enough of it to get him off of my back. They weren’t going to drop this now that they’d seen the bruises and it was easier to just get this over and done with.
"My boyfriend turned out to be even more of an asshole than I realised he was when we got together. I guess he just got fed up of me or whatever and we got into a fight..."
It had really been more of a ‘him screaming at me for being a dumb, nosy, whore while I tried to escape and then begged for my life when he caught me’ type deal, but I didn't really want to explain the agony of Shawn's fist colliding with my face or the way my head had slammed against the wall as he threw me back against it.
"A fight about what?" JJ asked darkly.
"The kinds of things dumb assholes and their even dumber girlfriends fight about. Money, other girls, the usual," I shrugged but it had been something a whole lot worse than that. I should have just left the moment I realised he had company. If I hadn't been a nosey bitch and lingered there like a cocky asshole, expecting him to be pleased to see me if he caught sight of me anyway then I could have saved myself a whole heap of drama. Though that said, despite the fucked up way I'd ended up here, I couldn't say I was sad to be rid of Shawn. I'd been marked as his for longer than I had really liked, but in the life I'd been living, the alternatives had all been much worse. Besides, I couldn't have been the one to break things off between us if that wasn't what he'd wanted. Not without running a long damn way from him so that he could never track me down. That wasn't how The Dead Dogs worked. So in a way, I was just glad to be done with him.
"And then what?" JJ asked, his voice softening a touch, making me glance up at him.
"I'm not telling you his name," I said firmly. "Not his address, the town he lives in or even the state. I'm not even gonna tell you what colour hair he has or what's tattooed on his ass. This is my fight. I don't want some ghosts from my past charging in like a bunch of tough guys and trying to fix my problems for me. When I deal with him, I'm gonna be the one who pulls the trigger. I'm not looking for your help with this or anything else."
"Just tell me, Rogue," JJ insisted. "Tell me what he did to you and if you want, I'll keep my fucking mouth shut and you can just go right on back to bed. Tomorrow we can act like you never said a word and if you really don't wanna tell me who he is then I'll accept that. For now. But I need to know what happene
d to you, sweetheart."
"I'm not your sweetheart, JJ," I growled, shifting away from him. "I'm not your anything. But if you want to know what he did to me, then fine.”
I got to my feet and moved to stand right in front of him, reaching out to wrap my fingers around his throat as he gazed at me.
"He shoved me up against a wall, wrapped his fingers around my throat like this and squeezed." I tightened my fingers around JJ's neck, his Adam's apple bobbing beneath my palm as he looked into my eyes, watching me relive it while managing to hold his tongue. "He squeezed so hard I couldn't breathe and then squeezed even harder while I fought back with everything I had and found it wasn't even close to enough to stop him. Then he told me he was sorry and that he was really gonna miss my ass and I blacked out somewhere around the moment he delivered those parting words. When I came to, I was in a shallow grave not too far from here and I just walked my ass back to the one place in the world I never wanted to see again and the people I hate most in this world."
"Rogue," JJ growled, catching my waist between his hands as he tried to drag me closer but I just blinked away the prickle in the backs of my eyes, hardened my jaw and shook my head as I refused to let him move me.
"You wanted to know," I said in a hard voice. "And now you do."
"I'll kill him," he snarled, his grip on my waist tightening as a monster danced behind his eyes and I could see the bloodlust pulsing within his veins. "I'll make him suffer a thousand times more than-"
I shoved myself away from him with a snort of dismissal. "You got your answer, Johnny James. Don't blame me if you didn't like what you heard."
I turned and walked out on him, heading back to my room as the sound of his stool scraping back across the tiles followed me. I expected him to come racing after me, demanding a name and ranting about all of the things he was going to do to Shawn in my name. But as I made it back to my bedroom door, the distinctive sound of something wooden breaking filled the air instead and I flinched as a smashing sound followed.
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