Dead Man's Isle (Harlequin Crew #2)

by Caroline Peckham

  “What did you expect?!” I bellowed, years of pent up rage pouring out of me and Rogue stared at me with pain in her eyes. “For me to just bow down like a good little grunt and do whatever you say? Well I’m not like Fox, never was, Luther. That was why you showed me the dirty work, wasn’t it? Kept your precious Fox innocent a little longer, prolonged his childhood as much as possible until you couldn’t keep the cruel world from him anymore.”

  “It wasn’t like that,” Luther growled. “I knew your strengths, you were made for the dirtier work of the Crew, Fox was made to rule. It’s who you both are.”

  “You don’t know me!” I bellowed. “You’re just a tyrant who wants to dictate his family’s whole lives, it’s no wonder your wife left you. Who’d wanna lay in your bed night after night? Who’d wanna belong to a man who doesn’t allow his people to think for themselves?” I got closer to him, baring my teeth in his face as the poison I’d drunk for so long poured out of me in waves. “And you may have gotten Fox to kneel, but I knew him my whole childhood, grew up under the same roof and you know what Luther? He fucking hated you just like I did. And if you think he holds a scrap of love in his heart for you now, you’re even more crazy than you seem. You may have made a little clone out of him, got him to do exactly what you wanted all along, but if you think he’s grateful for it, you only have to ask her to find out what he really thinks of you. Because that girl there knows us all better than you ever did.” I jerked my head at Rogue and Luther turned his gaze on her as his jaw ticked. “Tell him, beautiful,” I encouraged, not taking my eyes off of my enemy. “Has Fox ever spoken a kind word about his dear old daddy to you? Is Fox grateful that he stole you away from him and forced him into a life he never wanted?”

  Rogue opened and closed her mouth, glancing at me uncertainly as Luther awaited her answer.

  “Well?” Luther prompted.

  She swallowed, looking up at the Harlequin king who could so easily destroy her if he wanted to. Initiating her into his gang was just another game, trying to manipulate us all once more now he’d realised the power she held. We were all just pieces on a chessboard for him, but if he thought even Rogue Easton could bring me home to play house with him and his son, he was going to be in real shock when he found himself on the ground beneath me with my knife in his gut instead.

  “Yeah, I mean…yeah he hates you,” she admitted and Luther swallowed, looking like that was news to him and I relished the way it cut deep into his eyes and made him look weak for the first time in his life.

  He nodded stiffly, turning to me. “Well I never claimed to be a good father,” he muttered. “But I tried to love you both in the best ways I knew how…I suppose I didn’t do such a good job, huh?” He looked to Rogue with a frown carving into his brow. “I guess this ain’t going the way I planned, wildcat. We need to return to town. You’ll come with me.”

  She looked like she was going to argue but he raised his chin and anger rippled through me when she nodded. He was not going to own her. I’d be cutting their ties very fucking soon, and he would pay the price for thinking he could chain my girl to him.

  “Bye, Rick.” She gave me a tight smile and I grabbed her hand before she could leave, yanking her into a rough kiss and not giving a fuck what Luther thought of that as I crushed her against me, and drove my tongue between her lips.

  When I let her go, I gave Luther a look over her head that said I’d murder him soon enough and he inclined his head at me.

  “Goodbye, son. When you change your mind, let me know,” he said and I flipped him my middle finger as he guided my girl away from me.

  I headed back to the road where I’d parked, my hands fisting and unfisting as I went. When I reached my bike, I flipped the seat up to the compartment underneath and smirked darkly at Rogue’s phone sitting in there. I took it out as rage twisted through my blood and the temptation to ruin Luther’s happy little family was far too much to resist.

  I called Foxy boy and leaned back against my bike as I prepared to rain down hell on his life. It had been way too long since I’d made him suffer and today I felt like making the whole world scream thanks to Luther.

  “Rogue, where are you?” he asked frantically.

  “She’s just on her way home with your daddy,” I said and he swore under his breath.

  “What the fuck do you want, Maverick?” he demanded.

  “Firstly, I wanna tell you how good Rogue’s pussy felt last night when I pounded into it. Oh and then again this morning. God, she can go for gold in the sack, can’t she? Woops, sorry, I forgot she hasn’t fucked you. Or so she says anyway.”

  “Fuck off,” he snapped furiously. “I’m gonna make you regret ever laying a finger on her.”

  “I laid four fingers on her actually. That tight pussy can really stretch out when you put your back into it.”

  “I’m gonna fucking kill you!” he bellowed and I laughed obnoxiously.

  “Are you sure there’s not someone else you’d rather kill today, Foxy boy? Because I’ve just found out a very dirty secret about you and your boys...”

  “What the hell are you talking about?” he spat.

  “A little birdie with rainbow feathers told me you and JJ weren’t actually to blame for Rogue getting left on that ferry and being arrested,” I said in a calm, measured tone as I enjoyed delivering this news. “But your boy Chase who’s so very, fucking loyal to the kingpin apparently isn’t so loyal to you after all, Foxy.”

  “What do you mean?” he growled.

  “I mean, once I was finished making Rogue come and she’d taken my cock as many times as I could feed it to her, me and her had a little heart to heart. Turns out, Chase left her on that ferry on purpose. Planned the whole thing, right down to the cops taking her away. He never did want her back apparently. Seems pretty fucked up even by my standards, but some rats hide their little rodent faces really well, don’t they?” I tutted.

  “You’re lying,” he said immediately, ever the loyal idiot.

  “Am I?” I questioned through a smirk. “Can’t see a reason why Rogue would lie about that. Anyway, if you’re so sure, why don’t you ask him yourself?”

  Silence rang out and I could tell he was in turmoil over this news coming from me, having no idea if he could believe it. But he was sure fucking going to. “It’s so hard for you to believe one of your precious boys could have turned on you like that, isn’t it? But let’s not forget how easily you all turned on Rogue and me. So let’s find out how tight your little family really is, eh Foxy?”

  “Fuck you,” he snarled then hung up and I twirled the phone in my hand satisfactorily before bringing up Chase’s number and hitting dial. The sun broke through the clouds above and I smiled cruelly. Today was a beautiful fucking day for absolute destruction.

  “Rogue?” Chase answered in confusion like she’d never called him once in her life. Probably hadn’t since she’d come back to town.

  “Wrong,” I said.

  “Maverick,” he growled. “What the fuck do you want?”

  “Funny, that’s what your boy Foxy said when I called him a second ago.”

  “So what?” he snapped.

  “Well, I thought I’d let you know I just saved you the bother of telling Fox about your little ferry escapades.”

  A beat of silence. “What?” he asked quietly. Too quietly. I’ve got you in my trap, little rat. How does it feel to be at the end of my gun?

  “You know, the time you abandoned Rogue, let the cops arrest her, lied about it to your boys and hoped she’d fuck off out of your life forever?” I said smoothly.

  His heavy breaths came down the phone and I laughed wickedly, enjoyed every second of his panic as I bathed in it.

  “She told you?” he rasped.

  “Yeah, every ugly little detail, Ace. I’d gut you myself if I could be assed, but I think I’ll let Foxy boy do the honours. It’ll be all the more sweet to know he cut down his own brother in cold blood. Or do you think he might be le
nient?”

  “You fucking bastard,” he growled. “Why? Why would you fucking do this?”

  I laughed loudly. “Don’t go blaming this on me, you fucking rat, you’re the one who left her. I’m just mighty curious to find out how deep Fox’s loyalty runs to his so-called brothers, because it seems to me like you’re gonna be our old crew’s victim number three. So humour me, what are you gonna do? Run for the fucking hills or let Foxy boy gun you down?”

  “Jesus fucking Christ, Maverick,” he said in a panic. “You really hate me that much?”

  “Apparently,” I said, my face falling into a scowl. “Now run away like the little coward you are.”

  “I’m not running anywhere,” he hissed and my eyebrows arched. “Guess I’ll see you soon in hell, Maverick.”

  He hung up and I stared at the phone for a long moment, surprised by that and my heart started to beat unevenly. Was he really gonna choose death over getting out of Sunset Cove? I’d given him a fucking heads up for god’s sake. Not that I gave a shit, but still. That wasn’t the reaction I’d expected.

  I got on my bike, my jaw ticking as I felt the weight of what I’d just set in motion falling over me. But Chase had made his bed, so if that was his choice, I was going to let him lay in it and never think of him again.

  The problem was, I couldn’t get him out of my goddamn head.

  L uther had been silent for most of the drive back but as we started down the familiar streets of Sunset Cove, he spoke up as if we'd been in the middle of a conversation the whole time.

  "I tried to be a good father. Not one who was liked, but a good one. One who taught my boys the things they needed to know to survive in this life. I wanted them to grow up to be powerful men and they have. But I also wanted them to learn the importance of things like loyalty, honesty and strength of character. I thought that by teaching them the lessons I was they'd come to realise that I was giving them the tools they needed to be men of true power. That's all I wanted."

  I looked at him, studying his profile for a moment then deciding to just run with the words that were on the tip of my tongue because fuck it. I was a dead girl walking and toeing the line hadn't done me any favours with Shawn. Men like him and Luther would always be bigger and meaner than me and if Luther was serious about wanting to fix his family, then he was the one who needed to learn a few things. Not that I was convinced that there was any way to fix this shit between him and his boys, but still, my honesty was worth more than me just telling him what he wanted to hear as some kind of ego stroking platitude.

  "Life doesn't always go the way we plan," I said, shifting in my seat so that my new tattoo wasn't pressing to the leather. "All I ever wanted was to stay here with my boys and have a less shitty life. Just one simple thing that seemed so easy to keep in my grasp when I was a kid. I knew I'd always be broke and I was never gonna make it big or be someone important. But I was important to them. Or so I thought. But then you hauled me out of my little slice of paradise and made sure I knew my worth and lost any foolish fantasies of having something more than I was born to."

  "You might wanna remember who I am before you start mouthing off at me, wildcat," Luther growled, turning his bad temper on me and a prickle of fear ran along my skin, but I wasn't going to back down.

  "All I'm saying is shit happens. You think life will turn out one way or you try and orchestrate it to go another but then bam, something slaps you like a wet kipper to the face and you're staggering down some other path which you don't know how to traverse. So you can stumble along it and let yourself fall or you can figure out how to navigate the potholes and survive." I shrugged, tugging my hair over my shoulder and starting to braid it.

  "Well you found your way back here," Luther pointed out. "So maybe I can find my way back to my boys too."

  I held my tongue on that shit show and concentrated on braiding, but he clearly felt my unspoken words filling the space in his fancy ass car anyway.

  "Spit it out."

  "How about you swear to me that I won't be punished for running my mouth before you start ordering thoughts from my mind which you won't like?" I offered because fuck ending up dead over his hurt feelings on my opinions.

  "Fine," Luther huffed. "Speak freely."

  "Kay. You just said I found my way back here like that's all good and dandy now. Like I didn't live on the streets and between questionable homes with some more than questionable men. Like I didn't have to force myself to keep breathing through my misery every goddamn day. Like I didn't fall into some seriously fucked up situations and get stuck there for more fucked up reasons than you can imagine. So no, I didn't just rock back up here with a smile on my face all excited to reminisce about the good times. I'm a broken thing now. Even if my boys might claim to want me like this, I know they don't. Not really. Because I'm not the girl they remember. And I'm not capable of being her anymore either. The things I survived in the last ten years left marks on me which won't wash off. Just like the things you've done to or even for your boys have left marks on them. So I don't think Rick will just get over the fucked up shit you subjected him to when you sent him to prison for a crime he didn't commit. And no, I don't think Fox will just perk up and suddenly decide the decisions you made for him and the life you forced him into were all for the best. Maybe you can do some shit to try and build something new with them, but that's really not on me to say. Mostly I think you just need to take a look at why they hate you and figure out if there's any way to change that. If not, then..." I shrugged because I had to imagine that if not then nothing would change. His boys would go on hating him just like I would go on being this shell of the girl I once was, trying to cling onto something which wasn't really there anymore.

  "If I said I was sorry, would that make any difference to you?" Luther asked as we pulled into the drive at Harlequin House.

  "You're not though, are you?" I asked him and his brow furrowed.

  "Hindsight makes it easy to look back and consider the ways you might have acted differently. But if I'm honest, then at the time I saw no other way. I needed those boys back in line and you were the thing pulling them out of it. A Harlequin should be loyal to the Crew and to me above all else. I couldn't allow them to just throw all of it away over a girl."

  "Well then. It seems to me like fixing this fucking mess is the only option now, and I told you I'd try. Rick came to speak to you today which is something."

  "It is." Luther pinned me in his gaze and I had to fight a fidget. "But don't forget what I require from you. I want my family united once more. And with The Dead Dogs pushing into our territory, we don't have an unlimited amount of time to achieve that."

  I fought an eye roll and just nodded. "Got it." I had no real plan on how the hell I was supposed to reunite Fox and Maverick though. So far, I was just going with winging it which was my usual go to for all things. I didn't even really believe it would work at all, but I was going to keep playing Luther's game because the alternative didn't sound like much fun.

  "Say good morning to Fox for me." Luther unlocked the doors and I got out with a word of agreement, not surprised that he wasn't coming in. He looked like a man on the edge, and I knew that he didn't want to face the reality of Fox's hatred for him right now.

  I swung the door closed and he turned the car away before driving off and leaving me there.

  The new tattoo on the back of my leg was itching and I sighed in anticipation of the oncoming badger meltdown when he saw it. But as tempting as it was for me to just run off and hide for the rest of the day, I was probably best getting it over and done with.

  I strode up to the front door and reached out to ring the doorbell, hesitating when I heard Fox bellowing something furiously from inside.

  I couldn't catch the words, but my stomach knotted and I tried the door handle instead of ringing, finding it unlocked and stepping inside. Mutt shot up to me, looking half terrified as he tore away from the sound of Fox roaring something and JJ shouting for him to e
xplain himself.

  I gave my little pooch a reassuring scratch around the ears then strode into the house. I wasn't an idiot, but I also wasn't afraid of the rampaging badger. He was probably just pissed about me going missing again anyway so I was likely the only thing that could calm him down right now.

  "Honey, I'm home," I called out teasingly, hoping to lighten the mood, but as I stepped into the kitchen, I was almost barrelled right off of my feet as Fox collided with me.

  "Tell me it's not true," he demanded, gripping my biceps and shaking me a little.

  JJ moved in close behind him and my heart fluttered in fear as I wondered if Fox had found out about us. I hated sneaking around behind his back, but I knew that he wouldn't just accept what me and Johnny had easily either. Fox was the big, bad wolf and I was the lamppost he wanted to piss on. He might have loved his pack, but I knew for a fact he wouldn't love knowing his beta had been pissing on his post.

  "What?" I demanded, trying to front him out because I wasn't dumb enough to make a blind confession.

  "You and Chase," Fox demanded, throwing me for six.

  "Me and Chase what?" I tried to push his hands off of me but he held on tight, his eyes wild with a need I didn't understand.

  "I received a phone call from Maverick earlier. He said you told him that Chase fucked you over on that ferry job. That it wasn't an accident - that he left you there on purpose. That he abandoned you."

  Fury and outrage tangled with shock and fear in my gut as I stared into the desperation in Fox's gaze and I found myself wanting to lie. I didn't know why but I didn't want to do this to him. I didn't want to tear apart the love he held for Chase or make him question the bond they all held. But I couldn't force my tongue to bend to the lie either, so I just opened and closed my mouth uselessly instead while I tried to figure out what the fuck to say.

  "We need to know, pretty girl," JJ said firmly, moving up behind me.

  "He...had his reasons," I said lamely, not knowing why I was trying to get that asshole off the hook but as Fox's gaze flashed with fury, I knew it hadn't worked.