Dead Man's Isle (Harlequin Crew #2)

by Caroline Peckham

  She fought me dance style and I locked the axe around her as she bent over backwards and flipped over it to escape me. I caught her again, my hand on her throat this time as I rolled my hips and the music thundered in my ears as we moved to a fluid, warring beat, and she struggled against me before I threw her to the floor.

  The lights started flashing and I fell over her, resting the axe on the stage and she dragged her hand down my chest like she was trying to stop me. It was filthy and wrong and made every girl in here scream in excitement because it was exactly what all of them wanted from me. The strobe lights started up and I rolled sideways, flipping Di up over my lap and she rolled her body over me, running her hand down her own chest with an expression that said she was in turmoil over what she was doing.

  I whipped the axe around and held it behind her, pulling her down by it before flipping us over again. Then I got to my feet, leaving the axe on the floor and dragging her after me, spinning her around before throwing her over my shoulder to a round of cheers. I let go of her legs and she dropped to the floor and rolled, getting to her feet again before diving onto my back, her arm locking around my throat and making the crowd whoop excitedly.

  When she released me, I swung around and we danced in a furious push and pull that was sexy as hell and had girls reaching for me from beside the stage.

  I lined Di up for the finale of the song, gripping her head in my hands and pretending to snap her neck just as the lights turned off. The crowd called out for more and I felt the movement of my troupe behind me as they joined us on stage.

  When the lights came back on, Di was wearing a mask, standing at the front of my boys as we all fell into a synchronised dance and the crowd went crazy. My boys dropped down with me to grind on the stage while Di moved to grab the axe and swing it around her head, moving into her final pose as all of us guys reached for her from the ground, placing our hands on her body. The final note rang out and the crowd screamed as the song ended and applause poured into my ears as dollar bills were thrown onto the stage in a rain that never seemed to end.

  I found Rogue’s gaze near the stage as my breaths came heavier and exhilaration tore through me at her expression. She looked captivated by me in the exact way I always felt around her. And I wanted her to look at me like that every day of my life for the rest of forever.

  ***

  I sat backstage after the show counting out my money and laughing my ass off from the amount of cash I’d earned tonight. Adam sat beside me counting his own tips and I scruffed his hair, pulling him in for a tight hug.

  “You killed it,” I laughed as I released him. “I knew you’d be a star, Adam. You’re fucking made for this gig.”

  “One of those old gals I pulled on stage stuffed two fifties in my ass crack.” He grinned.

  “You’re living the dream, man,” I told him. “This is it. Can you taste it?” I slapped him around the face with the wad of cash in my hand and he laughed.

  “Heads up, J, Tom Collins wants a word,” Texas called to me and I looked over at him with a frown, finding the middle aged dude who loved attending all of my shows there. He had a shy sort of smile on his face and I pushed to my feet, smiling at him. He tipped me bigger than some of the highflying upper quarter women that blew in here on the weekends. I swear he’d practically kept my whole club afloat when we’d had a dry spell last fall. But I’d never seen him backstage and he barely said two words to me whenever I tried to engage him. The guy was possibly missing a few shillings, but he was a sweet dude and I didn’t really care if he went home and jacked off over me because that was the name of the game.

  “How are you, Tom?” I asked. “Did you enjoy the show?”

  “Yes, I er…” He cleared his throat, looking a little sweaty. “I just wanted to personally congratulate you. It really was a marvellous show tonight.”

  I beamed, my chest swelling. “Well thank you, why don’t you stay and have a drink back here? I’ll get Estelle to bring you a Tom Collins.”

  “No, no.” he waved a hand. “I just want to give you this.” He held out a hand full of cash and I gaped at it. Jesus. How fucking much was that? He placed it into my palm, squeezing my fingers and I suddenly had the fear he was going to ask for some compensation for that money.

  I lowered my voice, leaning in so as not to embarrass him as I purred in his ear, “I’m not taking those kinds of jobs anymore, but thanks for the compliment, big boy.” I placed the cash back in his hand, but he immediately pushed it back into mine.

  “Oh that’s not, um, no I didn’t mean that. It’s just a tip for the show, JJ,” he stumbled over his words then suddenly he was running away as fast as Sonic the Hedgehog and he slipped back out the door into the bar in a flash.

  I ran a hand down the back of my neck. Poor, poor sad balls Tom. He probably hadn’t gotten laid in years. I didn’t usually take on male clients but if I hadn’t been hung up on Rogue, I probably would have given him a freebie handjob for all the cash he’d injected into my club.

  Rogue appeared and all my thoughts scattered as I watched her running over to Di and Lyla to congratulate them on the show. Her eyes wandered to me, a sexy hunger burning within them that my dick held the answer to. She started walking over to me and I felt like I was the only person in the room with a front row seat to the best show of my life.

  I had a dark, dark craving for my girl tonight, and it looked like she had one for me too.

  I leaned back against JJ's dressing table as he finished counting out his cash and he fixed me with a look as he began to walk away. "I need to put this in the safe and I'll be right back. Stay," he commanded.

  "No promises," I tossed after him, my eyes roaming over the room as the other dancers moved around it, coming back from showers and getting themselves dressed without paying me much attention.

  I was getting an eyeful from pretty much every direction as they just strode about with their cocks out, laughing and joking amongst each other and I snorted to myself as I picked up JJ's phone for a dickstraction. I found some music and hit play on MONTERO (Call Me By Your Name) by Lil Nas X, accidentally sending it through the room's speaker system which he must have had hooked up.

  Lyla and Di whooped in excitement, grabbing my arm to yank me up to dance and I laughed as I joined in with them.

  The strippers all started cheering and dancing too and a huge guy leapt up onto his chair and started grinding against a clothes rail wearing nothing but a leather thong. I was pretty certain that hadn't been a part of the set though...were they his day to day underwear choice? Wow. I was impressed. He caught me looking and leapt from his makeshift stage, prowling over to me with a grin.

  "Hey, gorgeous, I'm Texas," he said, offering me a hand which I took with a smile.

  "Rogue," I replied.

  "We know who you are," a blonde guy sitting at the dressing table beside JJ's said, glancing my way with a smile. "JJ mentions you from time to time."

  "Time to time?" Texas boomed a laugh. "More like all the time. You have that boy so whipped I keep expecting him to retire. He's all 'Rogue's so funny' and 'Rogue and me did the cutest thing this morning' and 'I'm so hard for Rogue my balls might explode.' So put us out of our misery, are you gonna lock him down or what?"

  "Leave her alone," Di commanded, waving Texas back. "You can't ask her shit like that. JJ would have to ask her about that himself and none of you assholes would be hanging out to listen in on that conversation, so drop it."

  Texas raised his hands in surrender and backed up, allowing me to escape answering him, but I could feel my cheeks heating a little from his words. My mouth was all dry and I couldn't help but think about how hot JJ had looked out on that stage tonight. Did I like knowing he was all mine? Err, yeah, yeah I did.

  Shit. I needed to pull myself together or I was gonna have to put my vagina in jail.

  I moved back to JJ's dressing table and dropped down, opening the top drawer and looking amongst the tubs of almond oil and tubes of army
paint, glitter, fifteen million condoms and a bunch of other random shit for a stick of gum or something.

  I pouted when I failed to find anything edible and shoved my hand to the back of the drawer, feeling around just in case but sighing when all I felt was more condoms. I pulled my hand back, but the drawer was so full that I knocked my fist against the top of it and through a pause in the music, I heard something metal fall down somewhere in the back of the unit.

  I drew back and looked at the dressing table curiously before closing the top drawer and opening the bottom one. This drawer was much bigger and held a bunch of props like whips and handcuffs, a ball gag and some bunny ears.

  I swiped the bunny ears and put them on then grabbed the sides of the drawer and yanked until it came out of the unit.

  The dude beside me was watching me and I flashed him a grin before carrying on with my business.

  I dropped down onto my knees and looked into the back of the dark space, my heart thumping faster as I spotted what I'd been too afraid to hope for. There sat my necklace, key intact with Maverick's right beside it.

  I snatched the two of them with my pulse thundering and quickly threaded Maverick’s key onto the necklace and clasped it around my neck again, sighing at the feeling of the metal against my skin. I'd worn that damn thing every freaking day for ten years and it was sad how much I'd missed the familiar weight around my neck, though it was a little heavier now with the two keys.

  I leaned back and shoved the drawer into place once more, standing up and giving it a kick when it didn't slot back onto the runners right. When I was done it was like eighty percent back the way I'd found it and the dude beside me was looking more inclined to tell tales than ever.

  I didn't bother to hide the necklace. It wasn't really possible in this dress and a part of me wanted to call JJ out and see what happened anyway.

  "We should hit up Bessie's," Di suggested with a groan. "I'd kill for a short stack right about now."

  There was a lot of agreement from around the room about taking a drive out to the twenty-four-hour diner on the far side of town and by the time JJ made it back to us, pretty much all the strippers had agreed to go.

  "Are you hungry, J?" I asked, beaming at him as he strode towards me with the kind of intent that made me feel like the only girl in the room.

  JJ began to smile as he plucked the bunny ears from my head, but it slipped as his gaze fell to my neck and the keys hanging there, his jaw ticking as he took in what I'd found.

  "I was meant to move those somewhere harder to find," he said in a low voice as the rest of the group began to head for the door, laughing and chatting amongst themselves as they discussed what food they wanted at the diner.

  "Yeah, well I tried that, and they still ended up stolen."

  JJ leaned in until he was right in my personal space and I was forced to take a step away so the backs of my thighs were pressed against the edge of his dressing table.

  He reached out and wrapped his fingers around the keys, his gaze meeting mine and a frown lining his brow.

  "You can't really think I'm going to let you take these, do you?"

  "Well, that depends," I replied, raising my chin and holding his gaze.

  "On?"

  "Whether or not you're full of shit, Johnny James."

  "What do these have to do with that?"

  We were alone in the dressing room now, the others having gone ahead to their cars and I wondered if I was about to find out exactly how little I meant to him or not.

  "Because you told me you want me. You told me I mean something to you and I'm wondering if that's true or not. Because if you really think you know me well enough to want me now, then that must mean you think you know me well enough to trust me too. So that's what I wanna know, do you trust me, JJ? Or are all of your pretty words limited?" I watched him as he processed that, his frown deepening while I just waited. I wasn't going to try and fight for them. This was up to him. If he really meant the things he'd said then he'd prove it.

  "Trust is a big thing to offer out, pretty girl," he said slowly.

  "Yeah," I agreed. "I know. I remember how it felt to have my trust broken. So I guess it's up to you. Either you want me, or you want the idea of me. If you think you know me so well then you should be able to decide whether or not I can be trusted with these. So tell me, JJ, will I use them to break all of you? Or do you believe I'm all in?"

  JJ wetted his lips, his free hand moving to my thigh and his fingertips brushing the back of it where my Harlequin tattoo now lay.

  "I believe you think you'll use them," he said slowly, his fingers uncurling from the keys. "But in the end, you'll realise you can't."

  His mouth found mine before I could reply to that and I kissed him openly, bending to his will as he pushed me back, lifting my legs and stepping between my thighs as my ass landed on his dressing table.

  He even tasted of almonds tonight, the scent clinging to him and making me groan as I tugged him closer and his hard cock rutted between my thighs, causing the most amazing friction between my panties and his jeans.

  JJ pulled back with a groan, glancing over his shoulder before looking back to me. "This is too risky here," he said. "I could take you to the supply closet, but that doesn't seem good enough for tonight. So shall we just get out of here?"

  "Are we going to the diner?" I asked hopefully, licking the taste of him from my bottom lip as he forced himself to step back, leaving the keys around my neck.

  "You're hungry?" he asked in surprise and I gave him a flat look which made him laugh. "Okay, dumb question. Hurry up then because they won't be waiting for us."

  I grinned and hopped up, taking his hand in mine and tugging him towards the door.

  JJ looked between our clasped hands and my face then the smirk on his lips grew to all kinds of smug proportions.

  "What?" I challenged as we made it outside.

  The parking lot was empty as JJ had predicted but I was willing to bet that in his car we'd catch up to the others just fine.

  "Sometimes I don't think you're real," he replied. "Like I must have been in an accident and now I'm just living inside my head in a coma because that's the only reality in which I could have predicted this."

  "Wow," I said, moving closer to him and slipping my arms around his waist. "You're so freaking cheesy, J."

  He laughed and shoved me back playfully and I grinned as I retreated, fisting the key to his Mustang in my hand and backing up.

  JJ hounded after me until we were at his car and while he wasted a few seconds hunting his pockets for his keys, I unlocked it and leapt in behind the wheel.

  "No," JJ commanded, but I just locked my door and shrugged up at him.

  "Get in, Johnny James, or I'll leave you behind."

  "Rogue," he growled and I started the engine, driving forward a few feet before stopping again. JJ tried to make it to my door, so I did it again and he growled.

  "Last chance or I'm getting food without you," I called.

  JJ cursed me as he was forced to move around and get in the passenger side and I hit the gas before he'd even managed to close his door.

  Neither of us mentioned the doggy bag in the cup holder as I made it to the road and I hit the gas hard as I turned us towards the highway and started speeding in the direction of food.

  I began listing all the things I wanted to eat, groaning between each option and JJ soon ditched the scowl as he laughed at me and just enjoyed the ride. I considered mentioning the fact that I didn’t officially have a driver’s licence but figured it wasn’t the best time. All the best drivers learned by boosting cars anyway.

  We sped out of town and I let the engine fly as we raced down the highway towards the food.

  The diner was just close enough to town to be an option but also close enough to the highway to grab the attention of the passing traffic, so when we pulled up outside it, I wasn't surprised to find the lot busy with customers.

  I parked up and got out, my
eyes on the brightly lit windows where I could see my girls and a bunch of the other strippers already ordering their food and I began to walk toward them with my stomach growling impatiently.

  JJ made it to my side, but before I could get to the diner, he caught my hand and pointed off towards the trees to the left of the building.

  "Do you reckon the old train car is still there?" he asked me and I paused, remembering the time we'd all jacked a car and driven it out here. The cops had shown up, looking for their own food but they'd clearly had a call about the car already so they came in asking questions. We all ran, dove into the trees and kept going until we found the old train car abandoned out there. We'd hidden inside it and slept in there too, all of us crammed together on the floor to gain some body heat while laughing about stupid shit and calling the cops all kinds of names.

  My gaze slipped from the trees to the diner and my stomach protested a little as my gaze got caught on the mischief in JJ's eyes.

  "Only one way to find out," I hedged and he grinned, winding his fingers between mine and tugging me towards the trees.

  I laughed as I followed, ignoring the shiver that ran down my spine as we stepped beneath the leafy canopy and were enveloped by the dark. I could have sworn there were eyes on us as we walked, but I was pretty sure that was just because of the creepy woodland and my overactive imagination.

  Despite JJ dressing this up to seem like he'd had no idea if the train car was still out here, he seemed to know exactly where to go while I was confused by the dark and the trees. He tugged me along, cutting a direct path through the foliage and before I knew it, we were stepping into the little clearing where the train car lay abandoned just like it had been all those years ago.