Sinners' Playground

by Caroline Peckham

  I shimmied down the rope and dropped to the floor with my pulse jackhammering like mad before running across the small courtyard. I grabbed one of the wrought iron tables and dragged it towards the outer wall, flinching at the sound it made and moving my ass faster as someone yelled something from around the corner.

  I hopped up onto the table, leapt for the top of the wall and just managed to catch hold of it before heaving myself skyward with a grunt of effort.

  I made it to the top, glancing over at the man standing on the lookout post that had been erected at the far end of the wall and breathing a sigh of relief as I found him watching the beach to the east of the island. That was where the boats were kept after all, so it made sense for them to be expecting me there.

  I looked down at the slightly rocky terrain beneath me on the far side of the wall and cursed my luck as I lowered myself over it then had to drop down with bare feet onto it.

  I landed awkwardly, my ankle twisting and I fell back on my ass, my elbow slicing open on the sharp rocks.

  "Motherfucking dick rock," I cursed it as I got up and started running, the pain in my ankle thankfully easing as I went.

  I darted between the shadows beneath the palm trees and took a mostly hidden path that I remembered from my youth which cut down between the rocks to the shipwreck on the north coast. From there, I'd be able to get a look at the docked boats and figure out how the hell I was going to get out of here.

  I sprinted down the little track between the scrubby plants and rocks and raced out onto the little cove where the wreck sat. Thankfully the tide was high so the water was up to my ankles the moment I leapt off of the rocks and the soft sand beneath the surface caressed my bare toes.

  I splashed my way to the shipwreck, climbing in through the hole in the hull and sighing with relief as the shadows engulfed me and I paused to catch my breath.

  I scrambled over rotting wood and barnacles and sent the odd pissed off looking crab scuttling away as I moved to the far end of the wreck. As I made it to the other side, I looked out through a smaller hole that gave me a view of the boats.

  I cursed as I spotted Maverick charging down the closest of the two jetties, barking orders and looking really freaking raging as he hunted for me. I didn't want him to catch me. No freaking way. He looked like a pissed off troll who might wanna eat a unicorn haired girl for breakfast. And not in the perfectly acceptable, head between my thighs way of eating either. Oh no, he was out for blood and guts and brains. So I was good staying away from his teeth for now.

  I bit down on my bottom lip as I tried to think up a way out of this shit and flinched as a phone started buzzing in my back pocket.

  I pulled Maverick's cell out and looked at the unknown number before glancing back at the jetty and spotting him with a phone pressed to his ear. It was utterly insane to even consider answering the super psycho. But then again, I'd never claimed to be sane in the first place.

  "Hey, baby," I taunted, answering the call and smirking to myself at the sound which followed because I swear to shit I could hear his teeth grinding.

  "You'd better hope I don't find you," Maverick snarled, making a shiver run down my spine and my heart thump harder.

  "No chance of that," I agreed. "I'm already half way back to the mainland, but thanks for the key."

  "I'm gonna give you one chance to give that key back to me," he growled. "Or I swear-"

  "Sorry, big boy, gotta go - there's a seagull taking a dump off the side of my boat and I need to shoo him away. Ciao." I cut the call, laughing my head off as I clapped a hand over my mouth to stifle the sound before taking a selfie of me pursing my lips like a basic bitch while flipping him off. I set the phone to loud and popped it on a little wooden ledge for him to find later and hoped he enjoyed the photo.

  While that was fun and all, I still needed to get my ass off of this damn island before one of his goons found me and hauled me back for a spanking. Which would be bad. Obviously. Only straight up crazy bitches would like the idea of some big, muscular tattooed guy bending them over his knee and slapping their ass until they screamed.

  So that left me with one question which I needed to answer if I had any hope of getting away from said terrible fate.

  What would the Green Power Ranger do?

  Red Ranger would run right in guns blazing and try to take on the lot of them. But Red Ranger would also be Dead Ranger if that were the case. Let's not get started on what Pink Ranger would do either because that bitch was not the one to follow in a crisis. No. I needed to think Green.

  And as Maverick turned and stalked away again down the jetty, I had an idea that had me feeling all kinds of shades of green from moss to grass.

  I slipped back through the wreck, heading for the big hole so that I could climb back out again and pausing to check the coast was clear - literally.

  When I was certain it was, I took off running toward the deeper water, wading out as fast as I could before diving into the cerulean blue depths and swimming into deeper waters as I began to circle around towards the jetties.

  The cut on my elbow stung as my blood tainted the water and I got to experience the joy of wondering whether or not there were any sharks nearby as I swam on and fear crept up on me at the thought. Kinda like a shark would beneath the waves. Fuck.

  I rounded the rocks and paused, glancing between the few guys I could see still patrolling out here as a boat load took off to hunt the sea.

  When I was sure they weren't looking my way, I took a deep breath, dove beneath the waves and swam hard and fast, thankful for my years of spending time in these waters every day as I powered towards the closest jetty.

  My lungs were burning by the time I surfaced beneath it and I had to fight against the inclination to gasp down a huge breath as I clung to one of the wooden beams supporting the structure.

  I took my time moving beneath the boards, eyeing the feet of one of The Damned Men as he walked right above me without even knowing it and I headed for a boat at the end of the dock.

  Once I reached it, I swam beneath it before pulling myself up and into it as quietly as I could manage. The small speedboat bobbed beneath me and I stayed low as I headed for the driver's seat.

  I had in fact stolen a boat or two in my lifetime and hot wiring was pretty much standard practice across all engines. So it didn't take much for me to grab a knife from a box of fishing tackle, prise open the plastic cover beneath the wheel, strip a few wires, connect wire A to wire B and Bob's your uncle, Talulah's your aunt, the engine came to life with a growl.

  A shout of alarm went up and my pulse leapt as I hurried to complete my plan before any of the men on the shore got close enough to see me.

  I quickly spun the wheel towards the mainland, pushed the throttle to full speed and dove over the far side of the boat before the water settled and any of The Damned Men could spot me.

  I swam fast beneath the surface as the boat tore away, completely empty but drawing a whole lot of attention.

  I surfaced beneath the jetty once more and tried not to laugh as the guys all leapt into the only other boat remaining moored up with Maverick at the wheel before they sped away after my decoy.

  The moment I was certain they were far enough away, I pulled my cellphone from my back pocket and quietly thanked Fox for spending stupid money on getting me the waterproof model before texting JJ to tell him to use Fox's stalker skills to come find me. I made sure the tracking software was working, shoved the phone back in my pocket and turned my attention towards the horizon.

  I steeled myself for a long swim, prayed the sharks weren't hungry today and headed off into the blue.

  I wasn't sure if I was happy to be heading back to the Harlequins, especially after finding out they’d been lying to me this whole time. But I was damn proud of myself for my little escape and I was pretty sure the Green Ranger would have been proud of me too.

  I stood steering the speedboat out across the dark sea, my heart in my fucking throat as
I hunted for Rogue in a boat somewhere ahead of us. JJ stood beside me, my phone clasped in his grip as he held it up to track the signal. Chase was waving a heavy duty flashlight out ahead of us as we searched for her.

  “She should be right in front of us, where’s her fucking boat?” I snarled.

  I’d gone from raging to full on panic mode when we’d received her message. I didn’t know if she was being pursued or what, but the little dot in the ocean had kept moving toward us, so I’d prayed to fucking God she was still free. She was moving slow enough that she had to be having engine trouble and worry clawed at me as I hunted for her out here, desperate to find her before Maverick or his men did.

  The bottom fell out of my stomach as the flashlight swung onto her. In the fucking sea.

  “Rogue!” I roared, cutting the engine.

  I kicked off my shoes and dove from the boat, crashing into the water. I swam toward her through the cool waves, tugging her against me and she clung on without complaint, panting heavily.

  “Wow,” she said breathlessly. “I didn’t know badgers could swim.”

  I’d never thought I’d be glad to hear her calling me that as I hugged her against my chest and kissed her forehead. “Any creature would figure it out to save you, baby.”

  She chuckled. “Even a pigeon?”

  “Even a wingless, legless pigeon.”

  She grinned at me and I smiled back, my heart pounding out a happy beat as I remembered swimming in the ocean with her when we were kids. We’d been thirteen when her board had once gotten pulled out to sea on a riptide. I swam the fuck after her and waited with her until the coastguard had picked us up. We’d gotten one asshole of a sunburn, but it was still one of my favourite memories. She’d held onto me like it wasn’t her surfboard keeping her afloat, but me.

  “I think we’re still drifting out to sea,” Rogue said, gazing towards the endless horizon as she bit her lip in concern. The shore was becoming smaller and smaller, but the coastguard would get to us soon. We just had to hang on.

  “I’d drift right off the edge of the world if that was where you were heading, hummingbird.” I clutched her hand and she wound her fingers between mine.

  “Is it weird that I don’t care what’s out there beyond the horizon? I just want to stay here in Sunset Cove. With you and the others.”

  “It’s not weird,” I said firmly. “Too many people think travelling the world will make them happy, more fulfilled or some shit. But the real stuff happens right here. On the dirt we grew up on. This place will remember us when we’re gone, nowhere else will. So I want to keep making it ours, brand our names in the earth itself. I like belonging here. And I like that you belong here too. Nothing can ever change that.”

  JJ directed the boat over to us and Chase reached over the edge and lifted Rogue out of the water, hauling her up into it. I caught the edge of it and dragged myself up, moving to the storage box at the back of it and taking out a blanket.

  “Get us back home, J,” I commanded and he took off across the water, turning the boat around. I pulled Rogue down beside me on the bench and helped tug her shirt off.

  “Always looking for an excuse to get me undressed, aren’t you, asshole?” she said as she shivered in the cool air. She dropped her shorts and I wrapped her in the blanket, locking an arm around her shoulders. Chase watched her from the bench opposite, his brows pulling tight together like he had a thousand thoughts on his mind. I had twice as many and it was giving me a fucking headache. But the one that rang out clearer than any other was that she’d been with Maverick. My fucking adopted brother. What had she said to him? What had he said to her? Why was she still breathing? Did his psychotic tendencies not extend to her? The thought of that made me angry. There was nothing redeeming in him. Especially nothing to do with my girl.

  “You don’t need to hug me, Badger,” Rogue said sourly and I frowned at her.

  I had a lot I wanted to say to her considering what the fuck she’d done tonight. But after swimming this far to the mainland, she had to be exhausted. I was biting my tongue as hard as I could. I was just relieved she was back in my arms. The reprimanding could wait.

  She tried to shove me off when I didn’t let go and I gritted my jaw, holding on tighter.

  “Is this because you didn’t get enough hugs as a kid? Or because you miss your sweet dead Daddy hugging you nowadays?” she asked bitterly.

  I frowned at the odd question, narrowing my eyes at her before sharing a look with Chase. Oh shit. She knows.

  “Rogue,” I growled.

  “Don’t Rogue me, assbag.” She elbowed me away again and I snarled in annoyance, not letting go. “You’re all a bunch of liars and you can go to hell. Did you really think I wouldn’t find out the truth?”

  “Well, personally I was planning on you being gone again before you figured it out,” Chase said callously, his hard mask back in place again.

  “Shut up,” I growled at him and he gave me a frustrated look. “We just needed some time to-”

  “To what?” she cut me off, glaring up at me. “To tell me more lies? Is Maverick really your BFF too and you throw cuddle parties together at the weekend?"

  “Don’t be petulant,” I snarled in her face and she snarled right back at me like a wild animal.

  “I had a right to know Luther is alive,” she hissed.

  “So you could run for the hills?” I snapped.

  “I’m not afraid of him,” she said seriously.

  “No, just like you’re not afraid to run off to Maverick’s island and put your life in danger,” I said heatedly. “Just like you’re not afraid to push me and act like no rules apply to you in my town.”

  “They don’t apply to me,” she bit at me. “Because I don’t belong to anyone, I don’t follow anyone’s rules or laws or demands. I rose from the fucking dead and I’m not ever going to make the mistakes I made in the past by letting assholes like you control my life. But what’s worse than you trying to do that is the fucking lies. I should’ve known I couldn’t trust a thing any of you say.”

  “Don’t be like that, pretty girl,” JJ implored, looking back at her over his shoulder.

  “She’ll get over it,” I muttered.

  “Don’t speak for me.” She rammed her elbow into my gut and I cursed as she wriggled away from me, getting up and heading over to sit on the opposite side of the boat a good foot away from Chase.

  “Maybe we should have left her in the water for the sharks to eat,” Chase chuckled and I stood up, striding towards him and shoving him half over the edge of the boat with my hand wrapped around his throat.

  “Enough. What did I tell you about talking to her like that?” I snarled and he cursed, gripping my arm and ripping my hand away.

  He slammed back into his seat and I glared down at him before shifting my gaze to Rogue.

  “We lied to protect you,” I told her.

  “You do a lot of shady shit to ‘protect me’ that I never ask for. And it always ends up hurting me worse, so how about you go fuck yourself, Badger. Or each other.”

  “A thank you would be nice for picking your ass up out of the sea with a hoard of The Damned Men after you,” I growled, dropping back into my seat as we closed in on the shore. My temper was rising and teaching her a lesson tonight was starting to appeal again. She was a brat who needed to understand her place was at my side and following my orders.

  “A thank you would be nice for giving you an in to hit back at Maverick too, but I don’t hear you singing my praises.” She turned her gaze out to the water.

  “Thank you, pretty girl,” JJ said and I scowled at him.

  “Don’t enable her,” I snapped before fixing her in my stare. “You could’ve gotten yourself killed.”

  “But I didn’t.” She shrugged.

  “That’s not the point,” I gritted out.

  “Isn’t it?” she sang. “Oh and FYI, Rick didn’t kill those guys of yours. He said he was sitting pretty in his castle. So it s
ounds like you have another enemy knocking at your door. You really have a lot of those, Badger, don’t you?”

  I tsked, shaking my head. “He’s lying.”

  “Why would he?” she asked and I frowned, sharing a look with my boys. “He said himself that if he’d done it he’d happily take the credit.”

  “She’s got a point,” JJ said and Chase pushed his tongue into his cheek.

  “Bullshit,” Chase said coldly. “He lied to her face because he wanted to make out he’s not a psycho, most likely to get into her panties.”

  “Right, ‘cause that makes sense,” Rogue deadpanned but it did to me. Maverick had wanted her as much as we had. And he would have said anything to try and take my girl from me. I fought a smirk at the thought of her rejecting him and his head exploding when he found out what she’d helped us do.

  “Well we’ll know for sure once our guys have finished going through the CCTV from tonight,” I said and Rogue shrugged.

  JJ reached the shore, pulling the boat up alongside the small jetty that led out from the beach which backed our property. There was a guard standing on the end of it who helped us moor up then I led the way to the house as JJ and Chase flanked Rogue, marching her inside behind me.

  Mutt came running up to greet us as I opened the door, yapping excitedly, diving past me and licking Rogue’s ankles. I turned, whipping him up into my arms and cursing as his teeth sank into my thumb.

  “Hey, get off of my dog!” Rogue snapped, but I ignored her, heading upstairs and hearing her running after me.

  I walked straight into my bedroom and the second she entered, I turned back, tossing the dog out into the corridor and shutting the door with her inside. I twisted the key in the lock and stuffed it into my back pocket.

  “What the fuck?” She gazed at me incredulously and I yanked the blanket off of her, steering her into my bathroom.

  I caught her elbow as I pushed her along, running my thumb across the cut there with a grunt of annoyance and she hissed in pain.

  “Sorry baby,” I murmured. I hated seeing her bleed. It wasn’t deep, but that didn’t matter. “Did he touch you?” I asked in a growl, inspecting her in the bright light of the room, hunting for more marks.