Dead Man's Isle (Harlequin Crew #2)

by Caroline Peckham

  Fox:

  ??

  Saint:

  Forgive me, my girl got hold of my phone.

  You are quite welcome. Good night.

  I blew out a breath of amusement then built a playlist on my phone from what he’d suggested and headed to my closet, rummaging through all the casual shit I owned until I found one smart white shirt and some nice black pants.

  I took a shower and changed into them, styling my hair and eyeing myself in the mirror. I looked…fucking stupid, but I guessed I was Edward Cullen worthy minus the fangs and glittery skin. I flattened a crease in my shirt which hadn’t seen daylight since my Great Aunt Nelly’s funeral two years ago and kicked on the shiny shoes that went with this outfit.

  I headed downstairs and opened the sliding door onto the patio, turning the fairy lights on around the decked area, then grabbing a new box of them which JJ had planned to put up. I strung them across the ground, making a sort of fairylight pathway from the door towards the table. It looked…shit. But maybe Rogue would like it.

  I fetched a bottle of wine from the fridge that had been left there since the last party we’d had. I inspected the year on it, but I wasn’t sure why as I knew nothing about wine. It was white and looked sort of nice, so I hoped it would taste alright.

  I grabbed a couple of wine glasses from the cupboard and headed outside, setting them up on the table before starting the classical music up through the Bluetooth speakers.

  Okay…now I just need Rogue.

  I shot her a text, wondering if she’d even bother to answer or if I was just going to be left hanging here like an asshole.

  Fox:

  Drink on the patio?

  Rogue:

  Hell yeah, I’ll come drink your booze, Badge.

  I put my phone back in my pocket and stood there like an idiot, wondering what to do with my hands. What would Edward Cullen do?

  I folded them, then unfolded them. Then held them behind my back, but that made me feel like a complete twat, so I just tucked them in my pockets and hoped for the best.

  Rogue appeared in a little pink sundress, her feet bare and her hair wild. She looked perfectly imperfect. My heart raced and I offered her the most awkward smile in the world as she took me in with her brows rising towards her colourful hairline.

  “Err, sorry I think I’ve stumbled onto the wrong patio, does this one belong to the Duke of Hastings?” She bowed to me, backing up into the kitchen where Mutt was staring at me in confusion, his head cocked to one side.

  “Rogue,” I growled irritably as she burst out laughing. Dammit.

  “Excuse me for the intrusion, sire,” she mocked me some more, twisting her hand through the air in a flourish. “I shall take my leave and return to the peasant’s quarters.”

  I ran a hand down the back of my neck, heat blazing up my spine. “Fuck off,” I said through a nervous laugh. God, I didn’t get nervous, what the fuck was I even doing right now?

  “Oh my, what a brash mouth for such an upstanding lord of the land,” she gasped, holding a hand to her forehead.

  “You’re not funny,” I said, but my mouth was betraying me as I cracked a smile at her continuing to bow and curtsy her way through the kitchen.

  “I am not worthy of your liege’s grand eyes!” she said dramatically, covering her face with her hands. “Do not look upon thine face of your lesser, sire!”

  I ran at her while she wasn’t looking, whipping her off her feet into my arms and walking her out onto the patio as she gasped. “This duke wasn’t taught any manners, baby. And I’m afraid he spanks his house staff when they take the piss out of him.”

  “Fox,” she laughed, trying to wriggle free, but she wasn’t going anywhere.

  I flipped her face down onto the table, clapping my hand against the back of her thigh, her dress riding up almost high enough for me to see her panties. She looked back over her shoulder at me with parted lips and my cock twitched excitedly at her flushed expression. Mutt yapped, but one sharp look from me silenced him.

  I took my hand from the base of her spine, pointing her into a seat and she slid off the table, wetting her lips as I moved to sit beside her, her leg brushing mine.

  “Are you wearing cologne?” She leaned in and sniffed my neck and I gnashed my teeth at her, making her jerk back with a laugh.

  “I thought girls liked this shit,” I muttered, opening the bottle of wine and pouring us both a glass right up to the brim. I took a large gulp of mine and sat back in my seat, figuring I just had to balls this out now. Ergh, what the fuck is that after taste about?

  “What shit? You dressing like a duke while playing old people music and drinking fancy grape juice?” She sipped her wine and wrinkled her nose.

  “It tastes like ass, doesn’t it?” I confirmed and she nodded, turning around and spitting it into a potted plant. “Right, fuck this.” I got out of my seat, grabbing both glasses of wine and walking off into the kitchen. I tipped them down the drain, took two bottles of beer from the fridge and ripped the caps off with my teeth.

  I was gonna have some very stern words with JJ about this Edward Cullen bullshit. Read mommy porn to know what women want? He was definitely having me on.

  I re-joined Rogue outside who was going through the Spotify app on my phone and building a new playlist. She started up ily (I love you baby) by Surf Mess and Emilee and I smirked as I passed her a beer.

  “Just one more thing…” She reached out, unbuttoning my shirt and my dick hardened at the slightest scrape of her nails against my chest. If I wasn’t totally shitting myself, I was sure her eyes lingered on my flesh for a second, then she placed her beer down and worked to unbutton my sleeve cuffs and roll them up to my elbows. Finally, she shoved her fingers into my hair and I got fully fucking hard as she clawed her hands through it to mess it up, her tits pressed together as she worked and making me stare like a hungry wolf.

  “There,” she announced and leaned back, leaving me feeling like I’d just been fucked even though she hadn’t done a single sexual thing to me. If I got her beneath me for real, the fire between us would burn us up and I’d die a happy man.

  “Thanks, baby,” I said in a growl, drinking a long swig of my beer as her eyes watched my throat work.

  “Don’t ever try to be fancy again,” she commanded and I smirked, placing my hand on her knee and her pupils dilated as she looked up at me. I ran my fingers in soft circles on the inside of her thigh and a breathy noise left her before she schooled her expression and drank more beer. She didn’t push me off though.

  My gaze dipped to the fading hickie on her neck and a growl built in my throat. I wanted more than anything to lean in and mark her for myself, brand her as mine, and as she saw where my attention was, she cocked her head to give me an even better look.

  “I was never yours, Fox,” she said softly, reading my mind. “I never agreed to anything.”

  “I know,” I bit out, looking away over the rippling blue swimming pool and taking my hand from her knee, despite wanting to push it higher and show her who could really make her scream. She would have forgotten all about Maverick the second I was inside her and she’d remember why we’d always been destined for each other too.

  She took my hand, her fingers sliding smoothly between mine and the feel of her silken palm against my rough one made me turn my head to look back at her.

  “I wanna be friends,” she said. “I can’t say I’m not still angry at you for a lot of things, but I think I’d like to try and move past it.”

  “Friends,” I echoed coolly, my eyes moving from her full lips to her bright blue eyes. “I can’t do friends.” My hand tightened on hers and she pouted.

  “Well you managed it once,” she said. “Or am I just a pussy to you these days?”

  “Don’t say that,” I snarled. “You’re not just anything to me. You’re everything. Don’t you get that yet?”

  She frowned at me, seeming confused by my devotion to her, but it was perfectly sim
ple to me. She was looking for the lie in it all, the scheme. But I wasn’t playing her. I wanted her and that was it. I’d do whatever it took to have that, even if I had to look past the fact that she’d screwed Maverick and fucking Shawn.

  My chest squeezed like a fist and I looked away again. God it was gonna take a lot to get over it, but I could. I could do anything for her. I’d waited ten years to get her back in my life and if she needed longer to figure out that I was meant for her, then fine. I just had to be sure the side-fucking was done, because I already had Shawn and Maverick marked for death, I didn’t need that list growing or my heart breaking any further.

  Rogue sighed and leaned against my shoulder and I released her hand so I could wrap my arm around her and pull her closer. Just see me, baby. I’m right here waiting for you.

  “I miss life being simple,” she murmured and I stroked my fingers through her hair with a sigh.

  “Me too, hummingbird.”

  “Do you remember the time we swam out to that old shipwreck beyond the cove?”

  “Yeah.” I smirked. “We were so fucking convinced it had treasure hidden on it.”

  “Maybe it did, we just couldn’t hold our breaths long enough to find out,” she insisted and I laughed.

  “Chase nearly made it into the hull, but he got attacked by that fish,” I said and she burst out laughing with me.

  “Oh yeah! It went psycho on him,” she snorted. “Then we named it after his Dad.”

  Her hand pressed to my chest and my laughter stuttered out as her fingers brushed casually back and forth over my abs.

  “Do you think he still lives there? Angry old Dylan down in his shipwreck?” she murmured absentmindedly, probably having no idea what she was doing to me right now. My cock was hard as iron and one look down would show her just how turned on she had me.

  “I don’t think fish live that long,” I said as I struggled to concentrate.

  “I heard goldfish can live up to twenty years,” she countered.

  “But it wasn’t a goldfish.”

  “Coulda been the cousin of a goldfish,” she said with a shrug and I smirked.

  “Well we’ll have to take a boat out there and find out if Dylan lives on then,” I said and she looked up at me with a mischievous smile.

  “Really?” she asked and I nodded.

  “Whatever you want, hummingbird.”

  She leaned in closer and my heart rioted as she wet her lips and my gaze dropped to them, an ache of desire racing through me.

  “I like this,” she breathed huskily.

  “Like what?” I murmured, closing the distance between our mouths by another inch.

  Her gaze dipped to my lips then back up again, her long lashes framing her beautiful eyes. “When you’re this Fox…old Fox…my Fox.”

  My breaths came unevenly at those final two words and I lifted my hand to carve my fingers along her jaw and tilt her head up to line her mouth up with mine.

  “I’m always your Fox, even when you hate me,” I told her and sadness filled her eyes, ten years worth of regret stored right there for me to see. “I’m sorry I fucked up, I’m sorry I broke every promise I ever made to you. I don’t deserve a clean slate, but if you ever decide to give me one I’ll never tarnish it again, baby, I swear it. And I know that’s the word of someone who let you down before and that you don’t have a single reason to trust me, but I plan on giving you some new reasons, and reminding you of the old ones while I’m at it.”

  “Your lies are so pretty,” she whispered, leaning closer, heat blazing in her eyes and the same desperate need I felt in my heart mirrored right back at me within them.

  “That’s because they’re truths,” I swore, tasting her on my lips before her mouth even touched mine.

  “I don’t know what to believe anymore,” she admitted, her fingers sliding up my chest and knotting in my shirt as she drew me even closer, just a single whisper parting us. My cock throbbed and I fought the urge to grab her with everything I had, needing her to come to me, to prove she wanted this as much as I did.

  “Holy mother of a fuck!” Chase barked followed by a thwack.

  Mutt dove into my lap, barking loudly and forcing his head between ours, licking my goddamn mouth as he crushed my dick.

  My phone started ringing loudly in my pocket and the moment dissolved into thin air as I whipped around, finding Chase on the floor of the patio, his feet tangled in the fairylights path and his elbow cut open on the tiles.

  Mutt dove off of my lap, running over to him and peeing on his leg while he was down.

  “Ah no!” Chase cried as he tried to get his feet unlocked from the wire. Mutt turned his back on him, kicking his feet back as if trying to bury his pee and catching Chase in the eye with his foot.

  “Argh, you little bastard.” Chase lunged for him and Mutt scampered away with a yip.

  Rogue laughed as I got up, moving to help him, dragging him to his feet as I got the fairy lights off of him.

  “What the fuck, man? Are you booby trapping the house now? Why’s it so dark out here?” He demanded, then looked me up and down. “And why are you dressed like the Duke of Hastings?”

  “Ha! That’s what I said,” Rogue laughed.

  I clenched my teeth in annoyance then inspected the cut on his arm. It was fine, nothing that would need stitches. “What are you doing back here?”

  “I forgot my phone and figured I should have it when I went out on the hunt later in case I find anything,” he said and I nodded. I couldn’t exactly be angry at him for that, though why he’d chosen that exact moment to come home, I’d never know. “I guess I’ll change my damn pants now too.” He glared at Mutt who blinked innocently out at him from the kitchen.

  My phone stopped ringing then immediately started again and I took it out with a sigh, finding my aunt Jolene calling. I guessed the moment was thoroughly ruined now anyway and my boner was definitely gone.

  Rogue swept past me, picking up Mutt as she headed inside and started rummaging in the fridge. My gaze moved down her tanned legs beneath the fridge door as I answered the call.

  “Hello?”

  Rogue danced on her tiptoes as she hunted the shelves for who knew what, but it was all very distracting.

  “Hi Fox,” Jolene said. “I’m waiting for my man to show up. He might have some information on the whereabouts of Shawn Mackenzie. I think you should get down here.”

  My pulse picked up and my thoughts sharpened in an instant. “You’re at the Dollhouse?” I confirmed.

  “Yes.”

  “Be there soon.” I hung up, looking to Chase. “We gotta go. Grab the emergency bag.” He strode off at my word and Rogue looked to me for an explanation as she shut the fridge door.

  “What’s up?”

  “I need to go see my aunt about something.” I didn’t mention Shawn’s name, I knew she wanted his death but there was no way I was risking getting her mixed up with him. If Jolene really was about to get information on his location, no piece of it was going to reach her ears. I’d deal with this with my boys and hand her his head when I was finished.

  “Fox,” she growled. “You’ve gone all murdery in your eyes, what’s going on?”

  “Crew business,” I clipped, moving into the house and grabbing her arm before pulling her along. I wasn’t going to let her out of my sight until I was sure of Shawn’s location. He could be waiting to sneak in my back door for all I knew, and I wasn’t going to risk leaving her until I had him pinpointed on a GPS with an arsenal of weapons at my back.

  Chase reappeared in fresh pants with the bag and we headed for the garage as Mutt barked at our heels, sensing the change of energy.

  “You don’t have to drag me, I’m coming anyway,” Rogue said, snatching her arm out of my grip.

  “Fine, just stay close,” I commanded and she kicked some flip-flops on by the stairs.

  I noticed Chase flanking her other side before we descended into the garage, sure he didn’t even realise
how protective he was of her.

  I waited for Rogue to get into the middle seat of my truck with Mutt on her lap before getting in the driver’s side and Chase pressed up against her, holding a pistol in his grip. His eyes were shadowed and his jaw set. He was on point tonight, my boy wide awake and without the cloud of alcohol in his head for once. This Chase was lethal, sharp witted and one of the best shots I knew.

  I strapped Rogue’s seatbelt in place before I hit the gas and took off out of the garage, dropping my hand to graze over the gun in my door pocket to reassure myself of its closeness. I was on high alert as we headed out of the gates and pulled up alongside Basset and Eddie, dropping my window and whistling at them to catch their attention. Basset was tall, lanky and blonde and Eddie was a foot shorter but twice as muscly.

  “Get in the back.” I jerked my thumb at the bed of my truck and they jumped in obediently.

  I took a winding route through the backstreets of Sunset Cove for fear of an ambush. I did that whenever I went anywhere lately, making sure I never took the same route too often. I had to be unpredictable, never set a routine that Shawn’s men could be taking note of, working a plan around. Nothing that could get me, my boys, or my girl killed.

  I soon headed up to the cliffs where the Dollhouse was nestled, the shining lights of it glinting from miles away before we made it there. Music pounded through the air and bikini-clad girls were scattered everywhere around the huge pool out front and along the first level balcony of the massive white walled building. Party goers filled the place, dancing and drinking as they stumbled around.

  I parked up on the grass and we poured out of the vehicle, my hand locking around Rogue’s. I wasn’t sure if it was because she sensed the danger in the air tonight or if she just knew how much I needed to hold onto her right then, but she didn’t pull it free. I tucked my gun into the back of my jeans, while Chase kept his in his grip.

  Basset and Eddie jumped out of the back of the truck, moving around me like a shield. I wasn’t exactly expecting Shawn to show up in the middle of the Dollhouse, but you never could be too careful when a maniac was hunting your ass.