Carnival Hill (The Harlequin Crew Book 3)

by Caroline Peckham

  “We caught a Dead Dog,” I grunted. “He told us Shawn’s plans for The Dollhouse, so we went there together. I don’t think he cared if he died that night, he would have given anything to get you and the others out.”

  “He kissed me,” she admitted. “Before he died. I went to see him and we argued and…fuck, if I’d just gone with him or fought harder to make Fox bring him home maybe he wouldn’t be dead.”

  The weight of that news washed over me and I scored my thumb along her chin as I realised something that she’d been trying to tell me all along. “You never were gonna choose, were you?”

  She shook her head. “It’s the five of us or nothing. That’s how it always was. And I guess things haven’t changed. Because it can’t be the five of us anymore, Rick, so it’s nothing.” She said it in a way that told me she felt that nothingness down to her core and I dropped my forehead to hers, despising that, wanting to fill that void but knowing I wasn’t enough to do it.

  She was right. I’d felt the absence of my brothers like bloody chunks had been carved out of my heart, but I’d been willing to bear that pain in the pursuit of revenge against them too. I was broken a long time ago, a boy hammered and beaten into a shattered illusion of a man. But that had never mattered before because I’d known destroying them would destroy me in turn. I’d been willing to go down with the ship, but now Rogue was involved and she was on this ship too and the water was already coming in.

  “Tell me what I can do,” I begged. “Tell me there’s a way to mend that hurt in you and I’ll do it. Whatever it is, baby girl.”

  I released her throat, dragging my thumb along her collar bone and hooking her necklace into my grasp before running it down to the key. “Is it this? You want the rest of these keys, you want vengeance?”

  “I don’t know anymore,” she breathed, her tears drying up and a horrible numbness filling her gaze instead as she leaned against the door. She looked like she didn’t care anymore, and that was the worst thing I’d ever faced. Because Rogue Easton was full to the brim with life, she cared about everything and nothing and brought the sunshine with her wherever she went. But this girl’s light was going out and there wasn’t enough fire left in me to rekindle her flame.

  I went to move away, hating that I was failing her and she caught my collar in her grasp, tugging me toward her. Her lips met mine and she spoke between kisses as my heart thrashed with need for this girl. “If the sun rises tomorrow, we’ll watch it together,” she said breathily. “And if it doesn’t, we’ll fall into the dark hand in hand, Maverick Stone. So don’t you dare run away from me.”

  I pushed my tongue into her mouth, pinning her to the crypt and placing my forearm above her head as I kissed her slow and hard, trying to tell her all the words that had abandoned me.

  I would be there so long as she needed me, and I’d break with her if that was her fate. But I suddenly feared the path we were walking on, because once we’d cracked this crypt open and let our secrets out into the light, her words were going to come true.

  But if Fox and Johnny James fell from grace, both me and Rogue were going to fall with them. And nothing I did could save her.

  I didn’t like Kaiser Rosewood all that much, but I did like his summerhouse, and his basement, and his whiskey, and how easily he swallowed my lies. He thought we were the best of friends, thought his finger was firmly in my pie so that when I took over Sunset Cove I’d be real nice to him, let him keep building the little empire he was on a path to ruling.

  But in truth, I was no one’s friend. I just liked this house, I liked it a lot actually. So much so, that I’d decided to make it my own house when the time was right. For now, I’d let him think I was in his pocket while taking his cash, fucking the whores he brought here on the weekends and sleeping in his summerhouse whenever I fancied. He’d said I could stay in the manor, but I didn’t like the stench of his aftershave which lingered in the place or his wife’s boring stories about working as a cabaret girl in Vegas. Maybe I’d bend her over something just before I blew her husband’s head off so I could enjoy the horror in his eyes when I fucked his wife, but I reckoned the only pleasure I’d get out of that would be of the sadist variety.

  Anyways, I’d taken myself for a stroll on Kaiser’s grounds after he’d specifically told me I wasn’t to show my face tonight at the manor. That had rung some alarm bells on my account and curious little me couldn’t help but take a look. So imagine my surprise when I found Fox Harlequin walking in the front door with my girl on his arm and a while later his ex-brother Maverick Stone had appeared too. Interesting that was, very fucking interesting.

  Turned out I wasn’t the only pie in town which Kaiser was diddling. I guessed I wasn’t surprised he was splitting his bets between us to ensure he came out on top either way when the war was over. Problem was, Kaiser didn’t let my men onto his grounds and as hospitable as he was to me most of the time, I knew he wouldn’t hesitate to turn his henchmen on me if my finger got twitchy on the trigger of my shotgun and I accidentally took Fox’s head from his shoulders during his fancy party tonight. So I decided to lay low and gather a little intelligence instead.

  I’d followed Rogue and Maverick out to the graveyard at the edge of the property and now I was hiding in the shadows behind a tall statue of an angel, my gaze fixed on them.

  I’d learned three things while I was standing there:

  There was something hella important in that crypt which I was now exceedingly interested in.

  Maverick was one dirty fuck up of a man and it was delightful to see how broken he was first hand.

  Rogue was a little slut as expected and Fox was not gonna be pleased to learn his girl was fucking the enemy.

  I chewed over these facts and devoured each one slowly. I never acted rashly or emotionally to situations – emotions were for the weaker species. No, I bided my time and waited for things to fall into place for maximum damage and drama. So I’d think on what I’d learned for now.

  Rogue lifted a necklace from her throat, pulling it over her head and my eyebrows arched as she took hold of the key on it. She’d told me it was the key to her grandma’s liquor cabinet but unless that cabinet was located inside that big beasty of a crypt, I had to suspect she’d lied, because as I watched, she slid one of those keys into the lock and it fit like a dream. They spoke for a moment then Maverick shoved his tongue in Rogue’s mouth while she was crying and I half hoped he’d start fucking her so I could make a video which would break poor Fox’s heart. Unfortunately, they broke apart then started walking back to the house and I stared after my little whore with my cock throbbing and a smirk on my lips.

  I might drive into town with some of my men later tonight, round up a few sluts and take ‘em to the woods to be fucked until dawn. Yeah, I needed the outlet and I had a gifted bottle of whiskey from Kaiser that would appreciate being licked off of some perky tits.

  When I was sure they were gone, I headed over to the crypt, taking in the door and running my fingers over the five key holes. Rogue had a key, so where were the other four?

  I started laughing as I realised who might have the answer to that. My little pretty eyed boy down in Kaiser’s basement. When the party was over, I’d pay him a visit and see if I could crack him once and for all. I wouldn’t ask about the keys until he’d started singing about his favourite Fox though. I had to play this right, because Chase would close up tighter than a mollusc’s asshole if I gave too much of this away. Of course, he was already going full mollusc on me, so I really need to crack him open with a knife soon.

  I was a patient man, but we couldn’t play this game forever. I was going to need some information or I’d have to get rid of him. I guessed I was hesitating to do it yet because I really enjoyed being the centre of his miserable world, loved the feeling of power I got when I drove my knife into his flesh and boy did I adore a challenge. Pretty eyes had turned out to have zero regard for himself, which either made him a sad little fool or braver tha
n any man I’d destroyed before. I twisted the leather bracelets on my wrist which I’d stolen from Chase – my Chaselets if you will – as I thought on him.

  I’d slowly been increasing the levels of torture I subjected him to, building to the beautiful crescendo I had planned. When I was finished breaking him and leaving my scars on the inside of his flesh as well as the out, I’d have one of my men record me taping a bomb into his mouth then drive him out to the woods.

  Once we were there, I’d tie him to a tree and send the Harlequins the video, giving them the coordinates and fifteen minutes to find him. They’d discover their sweet friend was alive only to lose him all over again. Because no matter if they got there in time, that bomb was going off. I’d make sure of that. I just really hoped they were there to see his head go boom.

  W e slipped back inside the house and headed to the game room together, Maverick hounding my steps like a dog, his breath brushing the back of my neck and the weight of his eyes on me making my step falter more than once.

  He wound an arm around my waist, grasping the door handle as we reached it, his chest pressing to my back as he caged me there for a moment and his stubble grazing the skin right beneath my ear as he leaned in to speak to me.

  "I'm getting tired of waiting around for you, Rogue," he breathed. "And I'm not used to waiting around for what I want. You're starting to seriously test my sanity here. We need to figure this out fast, or I might just go on a Harlequin killing spree to reclaim my queen."

  He swung the door open ahead of me so that I didn't have the chance to respond and I blew out a breath to expel the taste of him from my skin as I walked into the room like nothing had happened.

  But the buzzing feeling he'd left running all over my body only intensified as I lifted my gaze and found Fox staring at me from across the room.

  I swallowed a lump in my throat and raised my chin as I strode straight towards him, refusing to let myself get flustered by these boys. Though as my gaze travelled over the way Fox's muscles bulged against his shirt, I knew I was playing fast and loose with the term boys these days. Still. I could remember when Fox was eight and he fell off the monkey bars and skinned his knees. Granted, he just cursed out everyone who had seen it happen then instantly climbed them again and hung from them upside down to prove a point to anyone who thought seeing him bleed equalled seeing him being weak. But I still remembered his nose being dusted with freckles and his eyes bright with questions before every innocent thing about him had been stripped away. He wasn't going to intimidate me.

  I made it across the room to Fox as he just stood there, waiting for me, but instead of the jealousy or anger I expected to find in his green eyes when I arrived, I found a heat which scorched me from the inside out.

  "Hey," I said, my voice coming out all breathy for some fucking reason and he arched a single brow at me.

  "Been having fun?" he asked.

  "Just checking that our old secrets still remain hidden," I explained.

  "And?"

  "Looks like it."

  Fox nodded then turned away from me and fell into conversation with the mayor. I blinked at the shift in his attitude but slipped closer to him anyway, taking his arm in mine and squeezing his bicep affectionately.

  Fox leaned closer to me and I looked up at his strong profile, not sure what I was expecting him to say though it certainly wasn't what escaped his lips.

  "Grab me another drink, yeah?" He gave me a nudge towards the fancy bar area set up towards one side of the room and I blinked up at him in surprise. "I'll come find you in a minute."

  The mayor gave me a bland smile and I was left with a choice between obeying and causing a scene. One glance at the armed men in the room reminded me that I shouldn't really be looking to make an enemy for the Harlequins here, so I shot Fox a scowl as I was forced to obey him.

  I strode across the room in my stiletto pumps, trying to ignore the way they reminded me of being trapped in that safe for hours on end. But I'd decided I couldn't go my whole life without wearing heels ever again - I mean sure, I could, but if I wasn't going to let all the other shit in my life destroy me then I certainly wouldn't be bowing to the flashbacks of that fucking place. That said, I wasn't likely to pick shoes that buckled around my ankles the way the ones I'd been wearing in that hell had and I could easily kick these babies off if I needed to run or even if I just wanted rid of them for comfort purposes.

  I sat at the bar and ordered myself a shot of tequila, then ordered some girly pink thing with an umbrella for Fox as a fuck you for his bossiness.

  "Drinking alone, gorgeous?" a smarmy voice questioned and a wash of expensive aftershave half choked me as I turned to find Kaiser Rosewood leaning into my personal space.

  Curls of dark chest hair bristled out from beneath an admittedly expensive looking eggplant coloured shirt. But expensive clearly didn't equal nice. I plastered on a smile, waving the bartender over for more tequila.

  "I'm never alone," I assured him. "I have a hundred friends in my head who are always willing to play with me." Not even a lie, I'd made up a whole ton of imaginary friends in my dreams and fantasies over the last ten years when I found the real people I was interacting with to be seriously lacking. The only problem was that they inadvertently all ended up with the face of one of my boys after spending a few hours in their imaginary company, and I had to banish them to the corners of my mind alongside anything else that had reminded me of this place.

  Kaiser laughed like that was freaking hilarious, his clammy hand landing on my thigh just above my knee, but below the hem of my dress. Err, fuck no.

  I rather unsubtly crossed my legs away from him, forcing his hand to fall free as I flashed him a shark's grin which would be his one and only warning with me.

  "Great party," I commented as surprise flickered through his gaze. I was guessing his name and money meant he didn't get the brush off all that often, but he could go suck a dodgy whelk if he thought I'd put up with him pawing at me or worse just because he was dripping money like it was going out of fashion. And speaking of things going out of fashion - were those gold chains dangling on his fancy loafers? Shudder.

  "I do enjoy a little shindig," he replied, clicking his fingers at the bartender like a total douche canoe and pointing at his empty glass. "And you've certainly been cleaning up nicely on the table."

  I flashed him a smile. Because fuck yeah I had. I'd won so much of these rich asshole's money tonight that I'd lost count of it. Okay, that was a lie - I knew exactly how much I was owed down to the dime so that I could be certain they paid the fuck up before I left but yeah, I was killing it as standard. Poker was my game.

  "I like cards," I said with a shrug. "At least if they're going to fuck you over, they tell you to your face and give you plenty of warning about it."

  Kaiser bellowed a laugh and although I was hella funny, it was definitely overkill. I arched a brow at him as he stepped closer and slid a smarmy arm around my back, his hand clamming its way over the material of my dress at the base of my spine.

  "Dude, I'm having fun at your party and all that shit, but I'm not a hooker and I'm not looking to buy what you're selling," I said in a hard voice.

  Kaiser blinked at me, but before he could fully process that, Fox's loud laugh broke the tension and the bartender arrived to offer Kaiser a glass of something from a fancy bottle which smelled powerful enough to catch in the back of my throat even without me drinking a drop.

  Fox's arm slipped around my ribs and he tugged me closer to him, forcing Kaiser to drop his arm as I kept a blank stare on my face.

  "What did you say, sweetheart? It's a little loud in here," Kaiser said, pushing a hand through his slicked back hair and flashing me a set of bleached teeth. The scent of a dead worm clung to his skin beneath the overbearing stench of all that aftershave. I couldn't say I'd ever sniffed a dead worm before, but I just knew that was what he smelled of.

  "Just saying what a great party this is," I replied sweet as pie
.

  Kaiser licked his lips and glanced between me and Fox, his little eyes flaring with a hunger for something far more dangerous than sex.

  I slid Fox’s pink drink towards him and he didn’t even bat an eye as he tossed the umbrella aside and sank it in one hit. Asshole.

  "I had some business dealings I wished to discuss with Luther tonight," Kaiser said to him. "Perhaps we could talk in private? Assuming you really can speak on behalf of the Harlequins and I'm not just wasting my time by not speaking to the man in charge?"

  “Well my father wanted to come, but he doesn’t make a habit out of spending time around men who are late in paying their debts to him,” Fox said in a flat tone. “It makes him a little stabby.”

  Kaiser laughed loudly but his eyes darted left and right nervously like he didn’t want anyone to overhear that. “Yes, yes, that matter is all well in hand. But I actually needed a chat about some other things…”

  "We can talk," Fox agreed, though he didn't look particularly keen to do so. "What are you interested in?"

  "Not here," Kaiser said, knocking his drink back and gesturing towards the door. "We can have a private discussion in my office."

  Fox nodded, urging me along with him as he started to follow Kaiser's lead, but the smarmy asshole cleared his throat, a frown pinching his brow.

  "I'd really rather keep our discussions on this between us," he said. "I'm already allowing a lot of leeway by speaking to you instead of Luther and-"

  "That's fine by me," I interrupted as I felt every one of Fox's muscles bunching in anger, knowing he was about to insist on me being present, but I doubted there was any need for me to attend some stuffy chat with this creep and it sounded like a snoozefest to me anyway. "I need to use the restroom."

  Fox still looked inclined to protest as we stepped out into the garishly decorated hallway, but I just tiptoed up to place a kiss on his cheek.

  Fox wasn't having that and instead of allowing me to pull away again, he pushed me back against the wall, fisted my hair in his hand to force my head back and took my mouth hostage with his.