A frown pulled at his brow and he looked at the point where I held his arm, causing me to tug on him as I let the wall around my heart crumble just a little for him. Enough to show him how much I wanted this.
Without a word, he caught the sheet beside us and hooked it over our naked bodies as he moved to lay beside me. I let him roll me onto my side and he tugged my ass back against his crotch as he wrapped an inked arm around me and held me tight to his broad chest while letting me use his other bicep as a pillow.
I breathed in deeply as I closed my eyes and Maverick's hand slowly trailed down my side until he was sliding his fingers between my thighs where the sticky mess of his cum was coating my skin.
Shit. I hadn't even fucking thought about contraception and that seriously wasn't good.
"See, beautiful?" Maverick growled in my ear and my skin prickled at the scratch of his stubble against my neck. "This is all mine."
Christ, that really shouldn't have sounded so good, and I definitely should have been freaking out about STIs or tiny people coming out of my vagina or just the fact that I'd allowed myself to get so dick blinded that I'd let him fuck me skin on skin without so much as a thought about it.
But in that moment, his words and the possessive growl to them, the way he was holding me so freaking close and acting like he might just want to keep me there forever made my inner animal purr with satisfaction. So I was going to let her purr because she had spent too fucking long pining. And in the morning I'd deal with the reality of what we'd done. Because right now, I wasn't going to be moving from that spot for all the money in the world.
I had every one of my men searching the town from the darkest corners of the lower quarter to the shiniest streets of the upper quarter. And I still had nothing. Not one clue to go on. Not a single sighting. Not a fucking hair. But I did have a final lead I was waiting on and today I was hoping to get some answers.
I had connections with a guy who lived out in one of the rich asshole mansions along the beach outside of Sunset Cove who could get hold of the security footage from the precinct for me. He’d moved here with his family last year and approached me first hand to ensure my gang weren’t going to be an issue for him. I’d promised that his home and his people were safe so long as he greased my palm well enough and I’d been surprised at the balls on the guy when he’d offered me a monthly payment plan and had made it crystal clear that he not only had extensive connections in the black market, but if I needed any kind of intelligence he was the man to go to - so long as I would be equally willing to help him out if he needed my kind of expertise. So far, neither of us had called in those favours, but it was time to change that.
I wasn’t sure how a dude a couple of years younger than me had ended up out here living in a house that looked like a fucking church which he’d named ‘The Temple’, and frankly I didn’t give a fuck to ask. I hadn’t planned on mixing it with him at all beyond taking his money, but then I’d gotten desperate when none of my people had the connections needed to provide me with the south precinct’s CCTV footage. So here I was, waiting on a call from a guy a million times richer than I’d ever be and praying that whatever he found would return my girl to me.
I sat at the breakfast bar while my food went cold and I twisted my phone around on the surface before me. Call me, asshole.
Mutt sat obediently at my feet, his eyes trained on me like he was as anxious for this news as I was. I’d been out half the night again hunting the streets before stumbling into bed at four am for a couple of hours sleep. The clock was just ticking towards seven now and though I knew it was early, the guy I was waiting on had promised me it would be this morning. And that could be any time from now.
JJ appeared in his boxers, rubbing his eyes and moving to join me at the kitchen island, giving me a hopeful look. I shook my head and pushed a bowl of fruit and muesli towards him. He diligently started eating, knowing I’d be pissed if he didn’t keep his energy up, but I wasn’t exactly setting a good example right now.
“Did you see Chase last night?” I asked in a gruff tone.
JJ nodded as he yawned. “We searched a couple of streets together. He’s…not good.”
I ground my teeth for a moment. “He deserves to be not fucking good right now.”
“True,” he said, eating another mouthful of his breakfast.
“Where’s he sleeping?” I asked.
I might have been angry at Chase for losing Rogue on that boat and for bringing her on the goddamn job at all, but he was still my brother. I wasn’t about to get soft on him and let him come home though.
“At Sinners’ Playground,” JJ said, releasing a sigh and my chest tightened. “I think he’s drunk ninety percent of the time and the other ten he’s just…a mess.”
“Why’s he sleeping down there?” I growled. “He could stay with any of the Harlequins, or even Rosie if he wanted.”
JJ shook his head and I frowned at my brother who looked more tired than I’d ever seen him. “I think he’s punishing himself.”
I released a frustrated breath then my heart jerked as the front door opened down the hall. I rose from my seat, my mind hooking on Rogue, praying she’d come back, or that Chase was walking in here right now to tell me he’d found her. But it wasn’t either of those people who appeared.
The air was sucked out of my lungs as my father stepped into the kitchen and immediately dominated the whole room. Luther Harlequin’s shadow always seemed twice the size of anyone else I knew and his aura was laced with pure power. He wore a black shirt with his sleeves rolled back to reveal the ink on his forearms, his hair was unkempt and dark blonde like mine, and his dark green eyes were sharp and focused on me. “Morning, son.”
“I didn’t know you were coming,” I said instantly, rising from my seat to put us on more even ground. I was the same height and breadth as my father these days, but something as simple as sitting down always reminded me of feeling small in front of him when I was a kid. My mind wheeled onto Kenny who’d been working with him up in Sterling who always shot me a message in advance to let me know if my father was coming home. Always. What the fuck Kenny?
“Hey, boss,” JJ said, slapping on one of his easy-going expressions but Luther was dragging his gaze over him in an assessing way, taking everything in.
“You’re up early,” he said. “Why do you both look like shit?”
I glanced at JJ as my heart warred in my chest and I didn’t immediately answer, unsure what my father knew. He never showed all of his cards, I’d learned that the hard way. So I was going to let him reveal a few more before I attempted a lie and got caught out.
“And why’ve you got a load of my men searching high and low across Sunset Cove for some girl?” He arched a brow curiously at me and I could tell he really didn’t understand what was going on. My heart thrashed harder and I fought the urge to look at JJ again, feeling like a couple of teenagers who’d just been caught out. But the consequences of this truth were too high. My dad had sworn to kill Rogue if she ever returned to town, and in all the years I’d known him, I’d never seen him back down on his word.
“She took something from me,” I said, raising my chin as I decided how best to play this.
My poker face was far better these days than it used to be, but I swear my dad had the uncanny ability to see right under my skin. For Rogue’s sake, I had to make sure he couldn’t this time. Technically, I wasn’t lying anyway. She had taken something from me. My fucking heart. And I planned on getting both her and it back as soon as possible.
“I see,” Luther said, resting his hands on the breakfast bar and I eyed his scarred, tattooed knuckles which had seen a thousand fights. “Well this hunt better not affect our takings for the week, kid. What did she steal that was so important? And how did a girl get close enough to my son to take it?” His expression was stern. Luther Harlequin’s number one rule; never let a woman into your house or in your heart. He was too fucked up over Mom leaving him to trust the o
pposite gender, though I hadn’t wanted to hear exactly what had gone down with her. All I needed to know was that she hadn’t wanted us anymore. So now I didn’t want her either.
Mutt padded over to my dad, sniffing his sneakers suspiciously and Luther frowned down at the little animal. “When did you get a dog?”
“I found him outside the club,” JJ said smoothly, which again, technically wasn’t a lie. He had picked up Rogue and Mutt outside Afterlife.
Luther dropped down, picking Mutt up and stroking his head affectionately while the dog stared at him. I swear its little eyes were narrowed as he tried to work out whether to trust my father or not. I doubted he knew he was in the hands of the most powerful man in the state or that those hands had put countless men in the ground.
Mutt distracted Dad for all of five seconds before he put him down and pressed on with his questioning. “So? What did the bitch steal?”
I bristled at that word but didn’t react outwardly. “Money.” Truth again. Rogue had been stealing cash off of me for months. Or at least she had been until she’d realised I was leaving it out for her to take and she’d thrown it back in my fucking face, refusing to take any help from me. Honestly, that girl’s moral compass was so twisted – of course she’d happily steal from the guy trying to give her a home to live in, but no way would she accept the money if it was offered because that made it charity. Her decisions on that shit left me all kinds of irritated, but I kinda loved how much she wanted to hate me too.
“Hmm.” Luther’s eyes darkened. “You never listen to me about women, boy. They’ll fuck you then they’ll fuck you over. JJ’s got the right idea.” He looked to him with a smirk, clapping a hand down on his shoulder. “Make them pay for your time and don’t get attached.”
“Yes, sir,” JJ said brightly, but the emotion in his eyes told me exactly how attached he was to a certain rainbow haired girl who’d come back into our lives like a sea storm. My gaze lingered on him a moment and I hoped that attachment didn’t go deeper than friendship. We’d all adored Rogue when we were younger, but I’d laid my claim on her clearly since she’d returned. I was sure I didn’t have to worry anyway; JJ didn’t do relationships. Sex was a transaction for him, one he enjoyed and made a living out of. That was unlikely to change after ten years.
“So where’s Chase? Still in bed?” Luther asked, before moving to the fridge and helping himself to some orange juice.
“I kicked him out until he finds the girl,” I said honestly. “It’s his fault we lost her, so he can come home when he finds her.”
Luther chuckled. “Good lad.” He drained the glass of orange juice, his muscular bicep flexing against the inside of his shirt.
“So why are you back in town?” I asked casually and he placed the glass down on the side, gesturing for me to sit.
I did so a little reluctantly and he slid into the seat next to mine, resting his forearms on the counter.
“I’m here on business,” he said. “But maybe I missed my son too, huh?” He elbowed me and I withdrew a little, earning me a frown from him. He cleared his throat and went on, “Shawn Mackenzie has gone underground. He’s pissed off the cartel to high hell and they’re hunting his ass like a prime buck.”
“Well that’s good,” JJ said excitedly. “Maybe they’ll deal with him for us.”
Luther pushed a hand through his hair, his brows pulling together. “See, that’s what I thought at first. But then some of my men tracked him south leaving his territory. I figured he’d go east and keep running until he went off the grid. But he didn’t. The last sighting we had, he was on the border of town.”
“This town?” JJ gasped as my gut clenched.
“Yeah,” Luther said, his eyes shadowed. “So why would the leader of The Dead Dogs come all the way out of his homeland and into the heart of enemy territory?”
“He’s planning something,” I growled, my hands curling into fists.
“Exactly,” Dad agreed. “So I’m moving some of my men down here.”
“You’re staying?” I balked, unable to hide my horror at that and Dad’s eyes flickered with hurt for a second.
“Yeah, and don’t worry, I’m not gonna cramp your style, kid. This is still your empire. I gave it to you fair and square. But The Dead Dogs are my domain and I want Shawn Mackenzie’s bloody head in my hands. I’ve been hungering for his death for a long time.”
Shawn was in his late thirties, only ten years or so younger than Dad and he’d been on the scene since back when I was a teenager, causing havoc for my father. He hadn’t been the leader of his gang then, but he’d been a ruthless asshole who’d killed a couple of Dad’s friends and I knew this was about vengeance as much as anything else. Dad had brokered peace with their gang for several years, but as soon as that motherfucker had risen to power it had all gone to shit.
My phone started ringing and my heart nearly burst right out of my chest as I grabbed it. “I’ve gotta take this,” I said, pushing out of my seat.
“Sure thing, I’ll let myself out. And if you’re around for lunch later just let me know…” Luther tried to catch my eye, but I just strode out of the room and kept walking until I was on the back porch, answering the call from Saint Memphis.
“Hey, tell me you’ve got something,” I said in place of a greeting.
“I have something,” he said in that posh north-western accent of his, his tone measured and deep. “But I’m going to need you to do something for me before I give it to you.”
A growl built in my throat. “I don’t take orders from anyone. We had a deal, now give me the footage.”
“The deal was that I would procure the footage for the right price.”
“So name a figure and I’ll forward it to your account,” I said in frustration.
He laughed coolly. “I don’t want your money, Fox.” He said my name like it displeased him and I had to assume that it wasn’t fancy enough for his tastes.
“So what do you want?” I pressed.
“The neighbour across the street from me has painted a hideous mural on his wall which faces my front gate. It is offensive to my eyes and the eyes of all who see it. Deal with it and ensure he doesn’t repeat the monstrosity, then come to my house and I will show you the footage.”
“That’s it?” I gritted out.
“Yes. See you soon. I’ll have tea prepared.” He hung up and I rolled my eyes, stepping back into the house and tucking the phone into my jeans’ pocket. I returned to the kitchen, finding Luther gone and JJ looking at me with big eyes.
“Anything?” he asked.
“Yeah, get dressed, we’re leaving in two minutes,” I ordered and he jumped up like his ass was on fire, jogging away toward the laundry room.
Mutt barked excitedly and I grabbed a bag of chicken treats from the cupboard, tossing him one before pushing the bag into my pocket and picking him up. I wasn’t going anywhere without this dog since Rogue had vanished. If Chase was right and she was going to try and come back for him then she was going to find him constantly glued to my side when she came looking.
Mutt licked my fingers, his affection for me officially bought by chicken and I headed to the garage just as JJ reappeared in jeans and a bright blue tank top. We hurried downstairs to my truck and I placed Mutt in JJ’s lap as I started it up and we headed off of the property onto the road. Luther’s car was gone so I guessed he’d headed back to The Oasis – the official Harlequin clubhouse where he always stayed during his visits.
I hightailed it towards the hardware store a few streets away then sent JJ inside with instructions to buy two gallons of white paint. When he returned, I drove us out of town, passing the first of the huge properties which lined the seafront out this way, my heart pounding wildly as I told JJ what Saint had said.
I didn’t like being anyone’s fucking lackie, but I’d do anything to get my hands on that footage today. It was a fucking rarity to have the king of the Harlequins himself running errands for anyone, but Saint
Memphis seemed like the kind of guy who got exactly what he wanted from people. He just needed to realise I was not someone to be messed with.
This footage he had better be the key to finding my girl, or he was going to regret having me run around for him like a trained dog.
We drove along quiet streets where the road ran back down over the cliffs to a stretch of clean white sand. Massive houses were interspersed along the beautiful area, getting bigger the further we went and I soon pulled up between two huge, gated properties, one on the beach front and the other opposite it with a hideous mural on the wall of two giant beachballs.
JJ released a low whistle. “That’s one ugly asshole of a painting,” he said, shoving the door open and grabbing one of the paint buckets. I picked up the other one and Mutt dove out after me as I exited my truck and stared at the enormous white walled house that could have fit three Harlequin Houses inside. We strode toward it as the sun beat down on us and I casually pressed the buzzer at the gate as JJ opened up his paint can.
“Hello?” a man answered sharply. “Is that you, Raul? You were supposed to be here fifteen minutes ago. I will have to find a new gardener if this behaviour continues.”
“It’s not Raul,” I said dryly, cracking open my own paint can. “It’s Fox Harlequin.”
Silence. The beautiful, terrified kind.
“E-excuse me? What kind of joke is that?” he stammered.
“The kind that isn’t funny,” I said simply, standing back so he could see me on the camera properly.
“W-what do you want?” he demanded. “I’ll call the police.”
“Go ahead,” I said with a smirk. “But most of them are in my pocket, and do you really want to risk pissing me off? If I have to come back a second time, I won’t be in such a friendly mood.”
“Are you here to rob me?” he asked nervously. “I don’t keep cash in the house. And there’s no way you’ll get inside anyway, there’s-”
Dead Man's Isle (Harlequin Crew #2) Page 9