Sinners' Playground

by Caroline Peckham

  I was going to tear them down and bring them low and leave them bleeding out in the dirt behind me when I ran. Whatever it took, I wasn't going to let them get away with this. Not again. I was done holding back. And the Harlequins were about to find what happened when I decided to fight dirty.

  W e waited and waited until my soul couldn’t take it any longer. An hour. A whole fucking hour and they hadn’t shown up.

  JJ had forced me to get in the car and leave when red and blue lights had flashed further up the street, and I knew in the darkest regions of my heart, my girl was in trouble. Real fucking trouble.

  Chase’s phone went to voicemail every time I called and Rogue’s did the same. I needed to know what was happening. I couldn’t deal with not knowing.

  “We just need to go home,” JJ said firmly. “Maybe they split and headed there. Maybe they couldn’t get back here, maybe they got lost or-”

  “Then why haven’t either of them called?” I snarled at JJ as he drove the car down the roads at high speed.

  He shook his head, worry etched into his features and I dragged my fingers through my hair as I sent text after text, getting no reply from either of them.

  We soon sped through the gates of Harlequin House and I leapt out of the car before JJ had even pulled on the parking brake in the garage, tearing up the stairs into the house and shoving the door wide.

  Before I could take a single step into the hallway, Chase crashed into me, throwing his arms around me, smelling of the sea, his clothes dripping wet and his hair damp.

  “Fox, fuck, I couldn’t help her,” he croaked, clutching onto me and dread seeped through my blood.

  “What happened?” I demanded as JJ joined us, wrapping his arms around Chase too until he was crushed between us.

  “We got split up on the ferry. I had to hide, but I tried to search for her. I couldn’t find her. And when I did…they had her. The guards got her with the bag of watches. Fuck, I’m so sorry.” He pulled away from us, clutching his chest like he was in pain. And I felt that pain too, slicing through my insides like a meat cleaver.

  “She was locked in a room and they had guns. I heard them calling ahead to the cops on the mainland…there was nothing I could do,” he said heavily, shaking his head. “I eventually got back to where my boat should have been, but the rope had come loose. It was fucking gone, so I just jumped and swam for home. I lost my phone. I lost…everything.” His shoulders shuddered and JJ pressed a hand to his back as he shared a horrified look with me.

  My jaw pulsed and a thousand furious thoughts crashed through my head. Rogue. They have my girl. The fucking cops have her and she’ll go down for this. For our crime. A crime she never should have been involved in.

  I launched myself at Chase, tearing him away from JJ and slamming my fist into his gut. I punched and punched, my fury ripping through me like an earthquake as I shoved him against the wall. But then I saw the hurt in his eyes and realised he hadn’t even fought back, like he wanted this. Like he wanted me to make him pay for it.

  “You brought her on that job,” I hissed and he nodded, dropping his gaze from mine.

  “I know,’ he rasped. “I know what I’ve done. I’m sorry.”

  “Leave him, brother,” JJ urged, clutching my arm to get my attention and I looked to him as my world tore apart. “We’ll get her back. We’ll figure it out.”

  “It’s too late,” Chase said darkly and I shot him a glare, venom spilling through my veins.

  “It’s never too late. I’ll fight my way into the underworld for that girl and destroy any demon who tries to keep her from me,” I spat and Chase shook his head at me.

  “Even Fox Harlequin isn’t above the law,” he murmured. “She’s gone.”

  “She’s not gone!” I bellowed, storming away from him, ripping a picture from the wall and launching it down the hall. Glass smashed everywhere and my boots crunched over it as I made it to the kitchen and grabbed one of the stools by the island, throwing it at the wall and smashing it so that it clattered back to the floor in pieces.

  Mutt started barking upstairs and my heart bunched up in my chest, aching with the force of a hammer slamming into it over and over.

  I’ll come for you, hummingbird.

  I’ll bring you home.

  I swear on every tarnished piece of my soul, I will never abandon you again.

  I sat alone in a cell with my gaze on my feet and an echo resounding through my skull that bounced between the hurt of the Harlequins’ betrayal and the pure, fucking fury I was feeling in my soul.

  I felt like I was going to burn apart with so much of it consuming me. Like I was teetering on the edge of falling one way or another and there was nothing left in me to give anymore.

  I clawed my hands into my hair and let myself scream.

  I hadn't said a single word since I'd been hauled into the station here on Ballena Island. I wouldn't either. Though they had my prints on record from some crimes I’d committed when I was kid. But as they hadn’t ever arrested me for them, they’d never put a name to those records and they were still working on trying to figure out who the hell I was. But I'd never been caught before and I wasn't planning on giving them my identity.

  They could only hold me for two days without charging me but as they’d caught me red handed with thousands of dollars worth of stolen watches, I was willing to bet they would charge me pretty damn soon. I was going to go down for this. There was no two ways about it. No way out of it.

  There was nothing I could do. It was hopeless. I just had to wait this out. Wait for the inevitable and find out what followed.

  "Rogue Easton?" a gruff voice asked and I flinched upright at the sound of my name.

  How the fuck had they found that out? I was nothing. No one. I didn't even have any forms of ID to link me to my birth name. I'd been a ghost since my boys had cut me loose ten years ago. Hell, I hadn't even used my real surname since I'd run away and left this place.

  I lifted my chin but didn't say anything as I tried to figure out what I was supposed to do.

  "Are you Rogue Easton or not?" the cop asked in a flat tone that said I was pissing him off. "Because some big motherfucker just strode in here saying you're his girl. He paid your bail if that's your name. If not...well, maybe we'll have to keep you a little longer."

  Relief spilled into me before I could help it, quickly followed by outrage as I realised just who would have done that for me.

  Fucking Fox. Of course he’d buy my freedom. It was the perfect way to own me in a real, tangible way. Just another knife to drive into my back before he ripped it free and left me to bleed out for good.

  "I'm not his girl," I snarled and the cop shrugged.

  "I don't give a shit if he's your ballet instructor and the two of you are off to perform Swan Lake naked on the beach. His money says you’re his problem, so you can either confirm your name and fuck off or stay in here pouting. I assume you can't pay your own bail considering you came in here with jack shit on you – aside from the stolen merchandise of course."

  My upper lip curled back at the idea of accepting anything from that asshole, but I wanted out of here and I wanted to know why the fuck they'd abandoned me on that damn ferry.

  I didn't really care what excuses he came up with though. There was a time when we'd made the concept of ride or die seem tame. None of us ever would have left another behind, no matter what the reason. Not willingly. I would have fought tooth and nail for any of them and would have died before abandoning them. So whatever dumb reason they had for leaving me behind, it sure as fuck wasn't good enough.

  Still, if Fox wanted to waste his money on my bail then I wasn't gonna say no. But he'd be losing it when I ran from this fucking town, so I hoped they'd set it damn high.

  "That's me," I grunted, getting to my feet and approaching the doors as the cop unlocked my cell.

  I swiped my hands across my cheeks, hoping to fix some of the evidence of my tears, though I was sure my eyes
were red and puffy enough to give it away no matter what I did.

  "Alrighty then." The cop led me down a long corridor to the front desk and I signed the paperwork he needed to release me while looking around for Fox out in the reception area. But I couldn’t see much through the frosted glass in the doors that divided me from it and the cop kept prattling on about how damn lucky I was which was setting my teeth on edge.

  Once everything was done, the cop led me through to the reception and pointed me towards the darkness beyond the glass doors at the front of the building. Then he turned away to file the paperwork without seeming to give a shit about me anymore at all. I eyed him suspiciously, suddenly free and not entirely sure if I wanted to be.

  How was I even making bail before I was charged? Why hadn’t they charged me already anyway? I may not have been arrested before, but I understood the concept of being caught red handed with stolen goods and the way things went with clear evidence like that. So why was I being cut loose?

  I took the plastic bag of my personal possessions which held my dead cellphone and my necklace with the key on it and quickly looped the leather back over my head before pocketing the pink monstrosity.

  I frowned at the cop’s back as he walked away from me then turned to the door, glancing at the clock and seeing that it was almost one in the morning. I’d been here all day and half the night. But now I was free – or at least free enough.

  I stepped out into the warm night air and looked across the dark space outside the police station. A single figure stood leaning against a motorcycle in the middle of the empty parking lot, the whole world seeming to hold its breath around him.

  The bottom dropped out of my stomach and I fell entirely still as my eyes met the gaze of the man who was waiting for me. The corner of his mouth lifted into a wicked smirk that seemed to say check mate.

  "Hey, baby," he said, his voice cruel and taunting, lilting in a mockery of the way I'd answered his call the night I'd escaped his island. He was wearing a leather jacket and black jeans, his jaw rough with stubble and his eyes dark with a thirst for vengeance.

  “Maverick?” I breathed, glancing around and wondering if there was any chance that I could outrun him because holy fuck, this was bad.

  The last time I'd seen this particular psychopath, I'd been stealing from him and running the fuck away from his wrath while helping to orchestrate the destruction of thousands of dollars worth of stock he'd been managing for the cartel. I'd helped to place a target on his back and had aligned myself with the men he'd made into his enemies. We weren't friends. Hell, I doubted hatred even came close to what he felt for me right about now. And I sure as fuck wasn’t getting on his bike.

  “You didn’t think I just forgot about you robbing me and helping those pricks destroy my warehouse, did you?” he asked casually, pushing himself to stand upright and making a lump form in my throat.

  Shit. This was so much worse than bad. This was catastrophic - an end of the world annihilation of an utterly agonising kind.

  “It was a misunderstanding,” I said lamely and the darkness in his eyes seemed to deepen, but he didn’t grace that bullshit with a response.

  "Hop on, beautiful, I don't have all night," Maverick growled, patting the back of the bike like he seriously expected me to get on it. I’d sooner climb up onto a set of gallows and tighten a noose around my own neck.

  "Erm, I’m cool just catching a bus or something," I hedged, glancing around in the hope of spotting someone who might be able to help me. Shouldn’t this place have been crawling with cops? Where the fuck was everyone? Maybe I should just run back inside the building? But then what? I could hardly explain who Maverick was or why I was certain he’d want to kill me.

  There was a row of palm trees to the left of the parking lot with a low fence just beyond them. A motorcycle couldn’t follow me there. Maybe if I just ran for it, hopped the fence then raced away as fast as I could he wouldn’t be able to catch up. It didn’t seem like the best plan in the world, but it definitely beat going willingly.

  "I already told you once. I'm prepared to do whatever it takes to destroy the Harlequins. And it just so happens that I've got a particular taste for taking down Fox. I plan on destroying him in every way I can.” Maverick smiled callously as he took a single step towards me. “So that means I'm gonna destroy you."

  "I'm not coming with you," I growled, preparing to bolt and his eyes flashed hungrily like he was hoping I would.

  "Yeah,” he purred in a deadly tone which left no room for questions. “You are."

  Murder swam in his eyes and I hunted for the boy I’d once known, trying to find him in the sea of darkness waiting for me there. But as I backed up a step and he stalked forward like a hunter, I was sure there was nothing left of that boy. This man was a monster who bled his enemies dry, and after what I’d done to him, I was now one of them.

  My eyes flicked left and right as he reached for me, knowing I couldn’t let him get his hands on me. That if he did, I was dead. Or worse. Far fucking worse.

  I jerked right to throw him off and he lunged that way as I’d hoped while I spun on my heel and fled in the opposite direction. His heavy footfalls followed as I sprinted across the tarmac, my gaze set on the fence beyond the palms.

  I just had to run. If there was one thing in this world that I was good for then it was fucking running. I could do this. I had to do this.

  I raced over the grass at the edge of the lot into the shadows beneath the trees, but his footsteps said he was getting closer and I cursed as my foot hit a dark ditch hidden in the grass.

  I stumbled, my stomach cartwheeling, my pulse jack-hammering in my skull, screaming at me to keep going and never look back. But the momentary stumble had cost me too damn much.

  Strong hands grasped my arms and Maverick’s cold laughter filled the air as he dragged me back against his iron body.

  I tried to jerk free, kicking my legs, throwing my elbows back and screaming despite the fact that no one was here to help me. And no one had ever cared about me enough to come to my aid even if they had.

  Maverick clamped his arms around me tighter, immobilising me with brute strength and his mouth fell to my ear as furious pants left my lungs and tears burned my eyes, desperation, terror and loss tangling inside me.

  He was going to make good on that promise. I knew it like I knew my own shattered soul. I’d seen it in the shadows in his eyes. Ten years ago he’d been broken just as thoroughly as I had, and the ghosts of our past were finally colliding again to fulfil the oaths we’d made in honour of the people we’d once been. Maverick was set on the path of vengeance, his thirst for it as blinding as it was consuming. He’d vowed to destroy the Harlequins and I knew he was going to use me to do it in any and every way he could, no matter what it cost him, no matter what it cost me.

  When he spoke, his voice was filled with dark oaths that crept under my skin and tried to break my will, claiming me in ways I never wanted to be claimed, owning me as surely as he had when we were kids. But that future held promises which could never be fulfilled now. Because now his intentions were anything but good and I’d fallen prey to the monster in him without ever having the chance to escape. “You’re mine now, beautiful. Don’t fight the inevitable. It’ll only hurt more if you do.”

  ___________________________

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  __Author Note__

  Well hello there…how are you doing? Isn’t it nice when you get to start off a series and just get to enjoy all of the nice squishy get to know you vibes? Did you like the way we eased you into this world like you were sinking into a warm bath with a nice relaxing glass of vino?

  I mean, there might have been a teeny weeny bit of heartache there (Washer Pun not intended (btw you can read Zodiac Academy if this means nothing to you and you wanna meet a fun teacher with a penchant fo
r wearing speedos and squeezing into your heart and other interesting places)).

  Anyway, where was I? Oh yeah, we were discussing how Rogue and her boys are living their best lives right about now and it’s all sunshine and rainbows in the cove and you’re praising us for the feel good vibes and errr…

  Okay, yeah, we were dicks with this one.

  But honestly, it wasn’t intentional. We were like oh noooo sad backstory, waaah, what a road to recovery this shall beee, but then, like a wet salmon slapping us on the ass, we were hit with the reality of the Harlequin Crew and the dark, dark world they live in. I mean, who would have thought that being part of a gang run by a monster of a man wouldn’t be fun all the time? Not I, good sir. But, turns out living that kind of life can fuck you up a bit. Or a lot.

  Anyway, we’ve got a few books to go, so I’m sure they’ll figure it out in the end. Fox will suddenly decide that sharing is caring. JJ will realise that the best dick you can give is the dick you give for free. Maverick will stop being utterly awful. And Chase will actually turn out to be really cool and not a backstabbing son of a bitch butt sucker after all.

  Hmm. Seems like a tall order come to think of it so maybe we’ll just focus on Shawn getting what’s coming to him. Fucking Shawn. You haven’t even met him yet and you just know he’s the worst, don’t you? So yeah, let’s hope he dies easily and without causing any drama. Seems reasonable.

  Ahem.

  On a more serious note, we really want to thank you so much for reading this story (as well as any others of ours that we may have hooked you into) and let you know how much we appreciate you. Not just the collective you either. I mean YOU as you’re reading this rambling nonsense that you’ve been sucked into after finishing the actual book. We love you. It’s true. You are the foundation that our dreams are built on and the reason that we are getting to live them every day. Sorry for getting all weird and poetic there, but what I’m trying to say is that by reading our books you are making it possible for us to keep on writing and writing and writing. And I’m sorry that in payment for that we reach into your chest and squeeze your heart a little too roughly and that our characters aren’t gentle when they creep into your mind and shake everything up, but hopefully you’re enjoying the ride – even if it gets a little bit bumpy sometimes. Or all of the time. I blame Shawn. Fucking Shawn.