Sinners' Playground

by Caroline Peckham

  Billy cursed me as he headed out the door and I kept the barrel of my gun pressed tightly to his left ball as we took a route which led even deeper into the old hotel.

  We passed through a side door and then took narrow corridors which I was guessing had been designed for staff use instead of guests and we were soon heading up a flight of stairs before emerging on the third floor.

  We walked down another corridor with arching white walls and came to a set of closed double doors with the words, gym and spa printed on them.

  I cocked a brow at Billy, but he didn't hesitate before shoving the doors wide and leading me into a huge, state of the art gym with all kinds of equipment filling the space which opened out onto a sweeping wooden balcony with a view of the sea beyond.

  There were around ten people working out in the space, most of the muscular men making use of the weights, but my gaze caught on the biggest of them all.

  Maverick was in the middle of a set of pull ups, his shirtless back to me as he hoisted himself up and over the bar again and again, sweat gleaming on his inked skin and highlighting the myriad of tattoos covering his body. A huge cow skull with curving horns dominated his back, the dead eyes seeming to look at me knowingly as I locked my gaze on them.

  The silence that fell around the gym in response to the rainbow haired girl marching one of their men in with a gun to his cock was palpable, and suddenly I was faced with a room full of Damned Men drawing weapons and aiming them my way.

  Maverick dropped from the pull up bar and turned to face me as he caught on to what was going on, his cold mask of indifference flickering for the briefest of moments as he took everything in and I was pleased to see that I'd managed to surprise him.

  "Hey, Rick," I said sweetly, purring like a cat for him while secretly sharpening my claws.

  "Out!" he bellowed suddenly, making my heart skip a beat. "Everyone but her."

  "But, boss-" some poor fool began, and Rick turned his glare on him with no more than a shift of his eyes that promised violent retribution for questioning him.

  The guy balked and dropped his gaze even faster than his protests before falling into line.

  Everyone scampered past me after that, more than one of them casting me hateful looks as I kept my gun trained on Billy's balls. Once he was the last one left, I took the gun away from his dick and waved it at the door behind us to indicate that it was time for him to fuck off now.

  Billy cut Maverick an apologetic glance then took his opportunity to run while I twisted the gun between my fingers thoughtfully.

  It seemed kinda dumb to lose hold of my only weapon, but I wasn't going to shoot him whatever happened. So I flicked the safety on and pushed the pistol into the back of my shorts. Please, Lord, don't let me shoot my ass cheek off by accident.

  Maverick didn't say anything else, stalking towards me slowly while I remained rooted to the spot, drinking in the changes in him and trying to figure out what was going on behind those dark eyes of his.

  "You never did know what was good for you, did you, beautiful?" he growled, stopping before me, so close that I could smell the scent of wood and leather on his skin with the underlying roughness of man.

  "It's been a long time since anything was good for me," I tossed back and he arched a brow.

  "What do you want?" he asked, no sign that he was pleased to see me, no flicker of anything but this cold, detachment that had my bravado cracking at the seams.

  I opened my mouth to reply but he took another step towards me suddenly, making me back up and bump against the heavy wooden door at my back. His hands grasped my waist and I sucked in a sharp breath as he ran them up the smooth fabric of my white swimsuit, his grip tight and unyielding as he felt down over my hips, dipping his fingers into my pockets and tugging my cellphone free, dropping it into his own, followed by the gun. His hands explored every inch of my shorts, even pushing between my thighs for a moment that stole my breath from my lungs.

  Then he continued, feeling up the length of my spine over my shoulders, even pushing his fingers into my hair, all while I just stared at him and let him do it. The sensation of his hands on my skin had me frozen and I felt like I was caught in a snare, unable to break free and not wanting to for some reason either.

  I wasn't sure what he was looking for, because the gun and cellphone clearly hadn't been it as he continued his exploration of my body and I just took the time to study his.

  His tanned skin was heavily decorated with tattoos which seemed to each tell a story I was desperate to hear. I looked between the tattoos, unable to stop myself from drinking in the curves of his powerful body too as he stood there fresh from his workout.

  My heart was thundering with a mixture of fear and exhilaration as he touched me, dragging his hands back down my neck and making me suck in a sharp breath as he ran his hands over my breasts without any warning.

  "What are you-"

  His finger dipped between my breasts and he tugged the key I always wore up to hang between us, giving me an unreadable look before moving to tug it over my head.

  I snatched his wrist before he could, glaring up at him as I stopped him from taking it.

  "You have one of your own, Rick," I growled. "You don't need mine."

  A cruel smirk which was all new to this version of Maverick curled up his lips and he leaned in close without releasing my key.

  "You come into my house, threaten my men and stroll in here with something this valuable and you really believe I'm going to let you keep it?" he asked, tugging on the key so that I was forced to step forward as the leather necklace it hung from dug into my neck.

  "You don't even know why I'm here," I growled.

  "I know why you're here. Question is, do you?" His eyes were so dark and full of a void I was aching to dive into. I felt like I could see so much hidden within them, hurt and pain and suffering that he'd endured since we'd lost each other all those years ago. It was a mirror image of the endless emptiness in me and I craved it in a way that I knew could be my undoing.

  "Rick," I breathed, but that seemed like the wrong thing to have done because he tugged the leather necklace securing the key around my neck and yanked it over my head before dropping it around his own neck and stalking away again.

  He pulled the door open beside us and walked out, leaving me no choice but to follow.

  I practically had to jog to keep up with his fast pace and I cursed beneath my breath as he forced me to scurry after him, taking a set of stairs up two more levels until we reached a door marked Penthouse which Maverick shoved through.

  The door almost smacked me in the face as he dropped it again and my fists curled with anger as I chased him into the enormous suite.

  I was momentarily distracted by the place I found myself in. It seemed like this suite took up the entire top floor of the hotel, the luxurious furniture looking decedent and comfortable in tones of white and blue everywhere I looked. A huge balcony, complete with a narrow pool and hot tub opened out beyond the glass wall ahead of me and gazed over the moonlit beach below where I could see the old shipwreck laying on the sand like it always had.

  I followed Maverick through the open space to a large dining table which was laid out with drinks and bowls of food and watched as he poured a pitcher of iced water into a tall glass and lifted it to his lips. He tossed the gun and my cellphone down on the wooden surface without a second thought, not seeming interested in whether I was going to pick them up or not.

  "Take your clothes off then, beautiful, I don't have all night," he said as he placed the glass down, his gaze trailing over me expectantly as I glared at him.

  "What?" I balked.

  "I told you that I was going to take Fox's little plaything and break it for him. So I assume you came here because you want me to do just that."

  "You think I came here to fuck you?" I asked incredulously. "I don't even like you, Maverick, why the hell would I want your dick in me?"

  "I don't like anyone, but I've
put my dick in plenty of them. It doesn't have much to do with it," he replied coldly.

  "Fuck you."

  Maverick's eyes lit with anger and he advanced on me quickly, snatching a fistful of my hair before shoving me down to my knees as I cursed in surprise. "You're forgetting whose house you're in," he growled. "I could just take it from you, and no one here would give a fuck about your screams. So how about you be a good girl and open wide?"

  "And you're forgetting what happened to the last man who threatened to rape me," I snarled before throwing a fist straight at his balls.

  Maverick shoved me away from him before my punch could land and he strode back towards the table with a humourless laugh.

  "Believe me, I can't forget about Axel," he promised as he turned around to face me once more and he pointed out a tattoo on his peck which was made up of a tally with so many struck through sections that I had no chance of counting them all.

  I glared at him as I scrambled back to my feet, trying to figure out what he meant by showing me that.

  "Babe?" a sultry female voice called and I fell still as a girl appeared from a room beyond Maverick wearing nothing but some seriously transparent black lingerie and the ink on her skin. She had a black pixie cut and looked like a freaking model or something prancing around in next to nothing. "Who's this?" she purred, prowling towards him and winding her arms around his neck as she tiptoed up to place a kiss on the corner of his lips.

  "No one," he said dismissively, turning to meet her mouth and kissing her until she moaned breathlessly.

  Ice ran through my limbs and my gut bunched as I watched her pawing at him, her hand sliding down his powerful body before slipping inside his shorts as he tugged her bottom lip between his teeth and his gaze slid to meet mine.

  I refused to flinch, despite the way my pulse was pounding and my gut was knotting. It wasn't like I wanted him anyway, so he could do whatever the fuck he liked. But why had he just shoved me down beneath him and acted like he'd been expecting me to fuck him if his girlfriend was in the next fucking room? Had he even meant any of that? Or was that just something he did and she didn't mind?

  "Is she just going to stand there and watch us?" the girl asked, looking at me again with thinly veiled dislike, like she was wondering what I was doing here just as much as I was wondering about her. I narrowed my eyes on her as her hand began to move back and forth inside Maverick's shorts and he just kept his gaze pinned on me like he was drinking in my reaction to this fucking show.

  "Fuck no," I snapped. "I came here because I actually thought you might hate the Harlequins as much as I do, Maverick. And I have information that might help you rid me of them for good. But if you don't want it then I'm just gonna go."

  I grabbed my cellphone and the gun and turned away from him and his scantily dressed evening appointment, trying to fight off the flush that was crawling into my cheeks. It wasn’t like I gave a shit anyway. The days when I’d hated the idea of my boys touching other women were long gone and they certainly weren’t my boys anymore.

  "Stop," Maverick commanded and for some fucking reason, I did.

  I looked back over my shoulder at him with my eyes narrowed, my gaze instantly zeroing in on the way his fingers were biting into the girl's ass as he held her close. She was still pumping his cock in her hand and had started kissing her way down his body.

  "I'm not having a conversation with you while your girlfriend plays with your dick," I growled.

  "Well give us a few minutes and she'll be done," he taunted.

  "If you come that quickly then it's no wonder she's using her hands. No point getting her pussy wet for thirty seconds of disappointment," I shot back before turning and walking away again.

  Heavy footsteps followed me across the room and Maverick's hand landed on my shoulder as he whirled me back around to face him.

  "Fuck off, Mia," he said, without looking around at the girl he'd left looking confused by the table.

  "But baby, I want your cock in-"

  "I said, fuck off," he demanded, his mood utterly shifting yet again as darkness and warning filled his tone.

  Mia glared at me as she strode for the door, not even bothering to cover herself up before storming out and slamming it behind her.

  Maverick moved closer to me and I backed up until I was pressed against the wall. I didn't know why I was so on edge around him, but there was something seriously disconcerting about how unpredictable he was.

  He rested his forearm against the wall above my head and leaned in slowly, pinning me in his dark gaze.

  "Speak," he commanded and I wondered if I was really going to go through with this, but as I looked at my key hanging around his neck, I knew that I'd already made this decision.

  I reached out and caught the key in my fist, tugging him even closer to show him I wasn't afraid and tilting my chin up towards his so that our lips were almost touching as I shared this secret with him.

  "I know where the Harlequins are going to strike tonight. Do you think that's something that might interest you, Rick?" I asked seductively, knowing this would tempt him far better than any half naked girl.

  His eyes lit at my words and they roamed over my face as if he were hunting for a lie.

  "Tell me," he demanded and a smile tugged at the corner of my lips as I tugged on the key with a sharp jerk, breaking the knot securing the leather necklace and returning it to my possession.

  "I will," I promised. "Just as soon as you give me your key."

  M y back was to the wall in an alley as we closed in on our target location, breathing steadily as I waited for one of The Damned Men to walk by. The moment he was in sight, I yanked him off of the street, clamping my hand down over his mouth and wheeling him towards JJ who was ready with a blade. He sank it deep beneath his ribs and the guy died in my arms before I laid him quietly on the ground.

  Fox was shrouded in shadows as he stepped past me to the edge of the wall and threw a look around it.

  “How many more?” I hissed.

  “Two,” he breathed, shifting the knife in his grip so that it flashed red in the moonlight.

  My phone buzzed in my pocket and I took it out, checking the group chat. “Draper’s in position with the others,” I murmured as I read the message.

  “Good,” Fox growled. “Let’s get to the end of this street then we’ll be able to see what we’re dealing with.”

  He slipped out onto the road and we followed, hugging the walls as we stuck to the shadows, our dark clothes keeping us covered. Maverick was going to take a serious fucking hit tonight. He wouldn’t see us coming when we landed it. And I was goddamn here for it.

  Fox shrank back against a boarded up store as voices sounded somewhere ahead and he ducked down behind a dumpster while we hurried to do the same.

  “-nah it’s all quiet this way,” a guy’s voice carried to us. “I’m gonna do a sweep though, see if I can find him. He’s not answering his phone.”

  “Alright, I’ll come with you.”

  Heavy boots moved our way and I drew in long breaths to prepare myself for the attack. If we fucked it up and too much noise was made, we were dead meat. So we had to keep it covert for as long as fucking possible.

  The second the first guy stepped into view, Fox lunged upwards, stabbing him straight in the throat to silence his scream. In the same moment, me and JJ dove on the second guy and J clapped a hand over his mouth, muffling his cry as I finished the job this time. We hauled them behind the dumpster and I wiped the blood off of my knife onto my jeans. It was dirty work, but someone had to do it. And if I was being totally honest, it got my damn heart pumping. After what Maverick had done to our men tonight, I was ready to go full attack dog on these assholes. No one killed our guys and got away with it. Least of all Maverick fucking Stone.

  We made more progress along the street, not meeting any more guards as we made it to a tall fence and started following the edge of it. It swung around into a thick group of trees and we made
our way through them, keeping close to the fence until we finally reached an area where we could climb over. On the other side was a little stone building that hid us from view so we could slip inside the perimeter without being spotted. I dropped the pack from my shoulders, taking out the blanket I’d stashed there and throwing it up to lay over the barbed wire topping the fence.

  I gave JJ a boost up while Fox freestyled it, the two of them dropping onto the other side a beat later before I climbed up the bars and clambered over. I dropped to the ground and we all took a moment to swap out our knives for guns. Adrenaline crashed through my veins and I smiled at my brothers as I prepared for what was coming.

  Then we moved up a small hill that overlooked the large building ahead of us and lay down in the long grass side by side, waiting, ready to strike.

  “I love spending quality time with you guys,” JJ whispered and I snorted.

  “Nothing like stabbing up some assholes to warm your cockles, right?” I murmured.

  “Focus,” Fox hissed and I rolled my eyes the same time JJ did, but we both turned our attention back to the building in front of us and the many armed guards who were standing around it.

  A few trucks stood in bays near the gates and a couple of guys were smoking near them, making me crave the kiss of nicotine in my veins before I dove into the fray. I couldn’t risk the cherry giving away our position though and I kinda wished I’d had one on the way here. Because if this plan went to shit and bullets ripped through my body and tore me to pieces, I at least wanted the taste of tobacco on my tongue and a buzz in my veins. And as it happened, I found myself wishing I’d had another last indulgence before we’d headed off on this mission too. I should have looked at Rogue harder, studied every inch of her, brushed my fingers over her heated skin and remembered what it was like to love the girl instead of hate her. The two emotions were so sickeningly similar sometimes I didn’t know which I was feeling at any given moment. But if I ended up dead tonight with nothing but blood and metal pouring out of me, I kinda wished I’d stolen a kiss from her. Just once in my life. And if I was lucky enough to stand in front of her again after this, I’d steal the dirtiest, filthiest kiss I could and make sure she never forgot the name Chase Cohen. Dead or alive.