Carnival Hill (The Harlequin Crew Book 3)

by Caroline Peckham

  The clubhouse was fairly quiet, but Luther was standing up on the balcony above the bar waiting for us, looking like a tattooed demi-god with all that ink and muscle shining in the sunlight that poured through the window. He jerked his chin in a command and Fox took my hand as he led me up the stairs towards him.

  Mutt scampered ahead of us and leapt into Luther's arms, licking his face and wagging his tail like crazy.

  "I can't believe that dog prefers my dad to me," Fox grumbled.

  "Well, Luther doesn't yell at him," I said.

  "That was one fucking time, weeks ago and it was during a pretty intense situation," Fox growled. "I've also spent a small fortune on gourmet dog food and that fancy fucking bed for him and I offer to take him out on my runs with me every morning, but he just pisses in my potted palms and turns his nose up now."

  "Mutt doesn't like a try-hard," I teased. "And he won't be bought either. Me and him bonded when I saved him from certain doom by tossing him a couple of fries for his starving tummy even though my own stomach was damn empty too. There is no bond like a life or death bond. You're just the dude who tries to buy him off then yells at him when you're in a mood."

  "One fucking time," Fox growled again and I laughed.

  "You'll have to do something epic to make it up to him."

  Fox huffed irritably as we made it to the top of the stairs and Luther set Mutt down. My little pooch instantly turned and ran over to the suite where Luther was staying while he was in town, nosed the door open then leapt up onto Luther's bed for a snooze which apparently was totally fine with the leader of the Harlequin Crew as he just smiled affectionately.

  "No need to look so pale, wildcat," Luther teased as we arrived and I forced a smile for him. Of course he didn't think I had anything to worry about here, but he also had no idea what we'd done eleven years ago. That said, neither did the cartel or we would have all been dead a long damn time ago.

  "I ate a dodgy clam," I said.

  "I thought you were vegetarian?" Luther questioned and I was surprised that he'd been paying that much attention to me, but I shouldn't have been really. This dude watched everything, knew everything – that was why he was king.

  "Well, I looked at it and it smelled gross so same difference," I explained and he nodded like he agreed.

  "I need a word with Rogue alone. Our guests will be here in a moment, Fox. Wait for the cartel downstairs and bring them on up to my office once they arrive," Luther ordered.

  I could tell Fox didn't like that but I just shrugged, tiptoeing up to press a kiss to his cheek. He half turned towards me in surprise so I caught the corner of his mouth instead and I sucked in a breath, my lips tingling from the contact.

  "Go," I urged. "Your dad isn't gonna murder me in his office. No one wants that clean up to deal with in their workspace."

  Luther smirked and Fox groaned, shooting his dad a warning look before jogging back downstairs to wait for the cartel.

  I followed Luther along a short corridor to a door with two members of the Crew standing guard outside it, fully armed and looking all menacing and shit. What I wouldn't do for a sharpie to draw fake moustaches on their faces and give one of them a monocle too. He looks like he'd suit monocle life.

  The door clipped shut behind me and I looked around at the fancy office. It was all light and airy, the huge, driftwood desk dominating the space with pale wood bookshelves lining either wall and a long window with a view of the cliffs letting in plenty of light.

  Luther sadly blocked off that view by dropping a blind over it before flicking an overhead light on and dropping down behind the desk.

  "The cartel don't like us talking near open windows in case the FBI or someone equally irritating may be watching," he explained and I nodded.

  Serious law enforcement always seemed so far away from my criminal lifestyle somehow. I knew technically that the things I did to survive weren't legal, but in my reality the cops didn't care about shit like that. I guessed when you were running a multimillion dollar drug ring like the cartel were then you had bigger fish to deal with.

  "I was just hoping for an update on the Maverick situation," Luther explained as I headed over to the bookshelves and started looking at the random things he had sitting there aside from books. There were trinkets and nautical accessories, an old compass catching my eye for a moment before I moved on.

  "Well he's receptive to spending time with me," I hedged. "Though that has been a little difficult with Fox being so protective that he refuses to let me out of his sight, but now that he's backed off a little, I did manage to go see Rick again."

  "And? Is he coming around to the idea of spending some time with the family?"

  "Err." I picked up a weird looking rock thing which had orange crystals inside it and turned it over in my hands. "He is still quite resistant."

  Luther huffed irritably. "If you're not capable of fixing this mess then maybe I need to rethink our deal."

  I placed the rock down with tension prickling along my spine then turned back to face him, raising my chin as I held his gaze. "I didn't say I've made no progress. He let JJ come and visit him on Dead Man's Isle the other day."

  "Really?" Luther asked, perking up. "And what did he and Johnny James get up to?"

  "It was still pretty tense," I admitted. "But I managed to convince them to find some common ground with me so I would call that progress."

  "So they're coming together over you?" Luther asked, looking all smug and shit like his little plan was working out so brilliantly.

  "Yep. They definitely came together," I agreed. I didn't need to mention the fact that I meant that literally or that they'd still been pretty hostile towards each other aside from all the fucking, because that didn't seem too relevant.

  "Perfect. I'll expect another update from you soon. Make sure you keep doing what you're doing with them and hopefully you can get Fox to join in soon too."

  "That would be the dream," I replied, biting my lip and looking away again because fuck yeah, that would be hot as hell. But also, sad times, I just couldn't see Fox being up for it.

  There was a low knock on the door and Luther beckoned me over to him so I strode around the desk to stand on his left then tried to figure out if I was supposed to look relaxed or intimidating.

  The door swung open before I could figure it out and Fox strode in with a woman right behind him who demanded all of the attention in the room.

  She was tall and so well put together that it made me feel like a bug who had rolled through a bag of trash on my way in here. Her cream dress was all sophisticated and shit, hugging her curves and stopping at the neck and knee so that she was at once covered up and sexy. My kind of sexy leaned towards the flesh on show, ass hanging outa my booty shorts style, but this woman looked fucking untouchable. Her dark hair was sleek and twisted into some fancy knot thingy at the base of her neck and her makeup had that whole bare faced perfection thing going for it. My face was actually bare today but hers looked barer. The barest. And yet fucking flawless too. A lot of makeup had gone into her looking so bare. A lot, a lot. I was pretty impressed. So impressed that I was outwardly staring and I didn't even notice that her attention was riveted on me too.

  "So it's true then?" she asked, her words lilted with a sexy Mexican accent. Jesus she was the most fuckable yet untouchable woman I'd ever seen. She was like a black widow spider. If anyone dared get close enough to sink their cock into her, I was sure she'd use them up good then feast on their brains when she was done. And they'd love every goddamn second of it.

  "It's a pleasure to see you as always, Carmen," Luther greeted her, staying sprawled in his chair while she folded herself into hers opposite him. There were two heavily armed goons at her back, but I didn't pay them any attention as they took up position behind her - they weren't the danger in this room. That was all her. "And yeah, I’ve finally taken your advice and initiated a woman into my crew."

  "Does she talk?" Carmen asked, dark eyes on m
e.

  "She does. And she does tricks," I replied. "I can walk on my hands even after sinking half a bottle of rum."

  Fox shot me a look begging me to shut the fuck up, but I was pretty sure Carmen would be interested in my party trick. I was almost certain I could actually pull it off if she wanted me to prove it too.

  "Is that so?" Carmen asked, arching a brow at me, but I got the feeling she wasn't after a demonstration sadly.

  "Rogue is integral to our hunt for Shawn Mackenzie," Luther cut in. "She has insider knowledge of his habits and routines and has been promised the pleasure of cutting his head from his body once we catch up to him."

  “Do you have a fondness for severing heads?” she asked me conversationally.

  “I think I will given some practice on Shawn,” I agreed. “I’m thinking I’ll use a hacksaw.”

  “I’d suggest an axe for less labour. But of course the hacksaw would take longer if you’re aiming to enhance his suffering. However, once he’s dead you can always switch back to the axe to finish off.”

  “Good to know,” I said cheerily though that mental image was seriously gross.

  "And where did you get that kind of intimate knowledge on Shawn Mackenzie?" Carmen asked me, cutting to the point of it and making me swallow the lump in my throat. But Luther nodded in encouragement and I was pretty sure I could leap out the window and run for the hills if I had to, so I just went with it.

  "I used to be his girl. He was a cruel, manipulative motherfucker who screwed with my head and tried to kill me. I woke up in a shallow grave wrapped in a fucking potato sack thanks to him. But his sloppy murder tactics really just served to give me a way out and now I'm gonna pay him back in kind."

  Carmen assessed me for a long moment then nodded, her lips curling up at the corner. "There is a certain poetic justice to seeing a man destroyed by a woman he tried to ruin," she said. "I look forward to hearing about your success very soon."

  That very soon held all kinds of 'otherwise I'll come back here and kill you myself' implications but I just nodded, keeping my mouth shut like I'd promised Fox I would as Carmen and Luther moved on to discussing new drug shipments and money and all kinds of boring shit.

  I let my mind glaze over as I thought about Chase. I was always thinking about Chase these days. And I was always hurting over him too. I told him I wished I'd never met him, but that wasn't true. Despite all of the pain he'd caused me and the hurt I'd felt over him, there was a lot of love there too. So much love. He was still my boy even though he wasn't here anymore and I couldn't ever make right what had gone so horribly wrong between us.

  Carmen got to her feet and started heading for the door and I snapped out of my depressing thoughts, slapping a stray tear off my cheek, and muttering a goodbye as she assured Luther that she and her men could see themselves out.

  The door closed behind them and it felt like the room finally filled with oxygen again.

  And I used to think Luther Harlequin was scary. That bitch made him look like a freaking kitten. I was kind of crushing on her though, so what did that say about me?

  "That went well," Luther said firmly. "But I'll have a lot of organisation to manage if I want that new shipment to come in without a hitch, especially while Shawn is still hanging around town. The sooner we kill that motherfucker, the better."

  "Agreed," Fox growled.

  Luther glanced at me with a frown. “Carmen liked you. Which means you’re now filed away in her brain as a potential threat. She’s the most dangerous woman on the east coast and she’ll twist a knife in your back and carve out your spine for good measure if you cross her.”

  “My kind of girl,” I said with a nod.

  “No,” Luther said in a gruff tone. “She’s wolfsbane. Beautiful to look at and deadly poisonous.”

  “You’re only selling her more to me, dude,” I said with a shrug and he shook his head in frustration.

  “That woman is a prime example of why I know women are the far more lethal sex than men. Every member of her cartel would slit any throat she pointed at, including their own.”

  “Are you trying to make me question my sexual orientation, Luther? Seems like a weird thing for my mob daddy to do.”

  “Just stop it,” Fox said in irritation, like even picturing me with a woman was too much for his possessive little badgery brain to handle.

  “He’s the one listing reasons why Carmen’s marriage material, maybe Luther’s the one with the crush,” I tossed at him and Luther just bared his teeth like the idea of that was unthinkable. It made me kinda curious about his sex life – not that I wanted to picture anything like that because he was Fox’s dad which made him as sexy as a rock to me, but like, was he celibate? Or did he just hate fuck women then throw them to a great white shark when he was done?

  “Anyway.” Luther gave me a hard look which told me to zip my lip before looking to Fox. “I've been invited to a poker night at the Rosewood Manor tonight.” He took his phone from his pocket and began typing out a message. "But I need to focus on this, so I'm telling Kaiser that you'll go in my place. Bring Rogue. The two of you could use some fun and I want you gathering information on Kaiser while you're there. He's becoming a big player in our territory and I want to be sure he's not crossing the line with our leniency. He owes me a debt too, so put the pressure on him to fulfil it because I’m getting impatient."

  "Got it," Fox added and I smirked at the idea of whooping a bunch of rich assholes at poker. My game was king. I just grinned and laughed my way through it no matter what way the cards fell, and no one could ever figure out what the fuck my hand was looking like.

  "You gotta dress up fancy for it. You can take the rest of the day to go buy something to wear and do whatever you kids enjoy doing together,” Luther offered like a doting father. The dude gave me whiplash with his multiple personalities.

  "Subway," I demanded instantly and Fox groaned.

  "You can't be hungry already."

  "Err, yes I can, Fox. I am hungry at all times in fact. And right now I want Subway. So I suggest you feed me."

  Fox rolled his eyes and held a hand out for me and I grinned as I accepted it and let him lead me outside.

  "Come on, Mutt!" I yelled as we went and my little dog raced after us with an enthusiastic yip. "Foot longs are on Fox."

  “M ommy is going to be so excited to meet you,” Mia cooed, rubbing my arm as one of my men drove us to the Rosewood Manor. We were sat in the back of the car, my biceps straining against a crisp white shirt, the sleeves folded up to reveal the ink on my arms. I might have needed to make an effort tonight, but you were never gonna see me decked out for a ball. Kaiser was just lucky I wasn’t showing up bloody.

  “I can’t wait,” I said, my tone light and rehearsed. She always bought it, this side of me which didn’t exist. One that wanted her, was falling for her. It was laughable really. And maybe I’d have given a shit about fucking with her heart if she wasn’t so grating. Nah, probably wouldn’t though.

  “I got you this.” She slid a rough blue rock into my palm and I rolled it over with my thumb, eyeing the pointless thing. “It’s a wish stone.” She leaned closer, the high split in the skirt of her dark green dress spilling open as she spoke breathily in my ear. “Wanna know what I wished for, Rick?”

  I really hope it’s for a month long trip to anywhere I’m not.

  “Tell me,” I urged, placing my hand on her bare knee and squeezing in encouragement.

  I used to just feel plain numb doing this, now it made me wanna heave my guts up. I had no idea why, unless I counted the fact that Rogue had come back into my life and her pussy had made my cock pledge its allegiance to her kingdom. And I didn’t just think about her pussy, I thought about her. The way she felt pressed against me, the way her sharp tongue made me laugh more than I had in years, the way I was able to remember the boy I’d been long before prison had twisted him up into something wicked and black hearted. She made me care what my fucking hair looked lik
e. And that was a long lost memory I hadn’t planned on getting back.

  How did one girl hold the power to make my heart feel as robust as a snowflake? It wasn’t good, all of that distraction. I’d made far too many allowances for the Harlequins because of her already, and I needed to stop letting her trap my balls in a vice and go after their blood like I’d always planned. I couldn’t even let myself think about the fuck fest I’d had sharing her with JJ. Because then I thought about what it meant, and why I sort of liked having JJ around sometimes, and then I started thinking of the past and our little group. And I especially didn’t like thinking of that lately because then I thought of the boy who was no longer around.

  Our old family was one down thanks to Shawn. And yet I didn’t feel happy about that. No, I felt something far worse brewing in me over Chase. In a deep, deep fucking place somewhere in my festered soul, I wanted vengeance for his death. I’d spent the past weeks hollow and lost and fucking furious and I couldn’t shift the ache in me over him. It was stupid, juvenile, linked to some old, forgotten attachment I’d once had to him. But he didn’t deserve a scrap of mourning from me, so I didn’t acknowledge it. I left those unwanted feelings to rot in a place where I never examined them. They weren’t mine. They belonged to a kid who didn’t exist anymore. So they could die with him and eventually the pain would stop.

  Mia’s hand slid onto my dick, caressing to try and coax some life into it, but he was in Rogue’s army now, willing to fight battles for her and die on her hill. Not Mia’s.

  I subtly pushed her hand away then leaned in and kissed her cheek. “Sorry, baby, I’m going through a final course of treatment. It makes everything numb down there.”

  “Oh dear,” she said with a frown. “You can’t feel anything at all?”

  “Nothing,” I said with a sad look. It feels Rogue’s pussy just fine though. Strange that.

  “How much longer?” she asked and I turned away.

  “I don’t wanna talk about it, Mia,” I muttered like I was ashamed and she stroked my arm.