Carnival Hill (The Harlequin Crew Book 3)

by Caroline Peckham

  “I’ll be back for you,” I swore as she seemed to fall asleep again, the drugs she’d been giving seizing control of her body and I turned, practically carrying Chase up the stairs.

  His head lolled and I was pretty sure he passed out at some point. He was a heavy motherfucker, but I’d become the strongest man in the room a long time ago and I wasn’t going to let him fall for anything.

  I made it to the top of the stairs and by some miracle there was no one there yet. So I turned left down the hall and dragged Chase along as he mumbled something incoherent and half helped me for a moment before sagging against me once more.

  I made it to a window and forced it open, poking my head out and finding grass below it. I shoved Chase through and he hit the ground with a pained groan which was muffled as he face planted the dirt.

  “Asshole,” he grunted.

  “I’m saving your ass, but I didn’t say I’d be gentle about it, Ace,” I muttered as I climbed after him, shutting the window and heaving him back to his feet.

  His fingers dug into my shoulder as he held on and we managed to move at a fair speed as we headed for a group of trees a few hundred yards away. Shouts went up before we got there and I swore colourfully, moving faster and making Chase hiss in pain.

  “Stop!” some asshole called, but fuck if I was going to listen.

  Chase slumped against me once more, almost taking me to the ground, but I manged to hold us upright, clamping him tight to my side and moving as fast as I could as we made it into the trees.

  Flashlights swung our way, but somehow none landed on us as I moved, my muscles bunching and flexing and sweat trickling down my neck as I worked tirelessly to keep going.

  We reached the walled garden and more shouts went up as I led Chase toward an archway. A bang sounded as a gun went off and a chunk was shot out of the stone wall as we made it through, making my heart jackhammer.

  “Fuck you for being alive,” I hissed at Chase.

  I didn’t have to get him out, I didn’t have to waste my one goddamn chance at opening the crypt. But here I was apparently insane enough to get shot for this prick.

  “Sorry for the inconvenience,” he tossed back, but the strength was failing in his voice again and I tried to ignore the tug in my gut over that.

  We reached the fountain and the sound of pounding footsteps made my adrenaline surge as I half considered drawing my gun and seeing how many I could take out. But that option ended in both of our deaths for sure. So now I was going on the word of an ancient woman who was apparently part of the Not Actually Dead Club she’d formed with Chase and I started looking for the fountain.

  We staggered through another archway and gunshots rattled in my head, somehow defying all laws of the universe and missing us by millimetres.

  I gritted my teeth as I spotted the round stone fountain ahead of us, needing to get into the secret tunnel before a single asshole saw us do it.

  I rounded the fountain, hunting the edge of it in desperation and as I spotted the crest on a brick near my feet, I kicked it hard. The flagstone to my right lowered in the ground, revealing a hidden stairway and I shoved Chase down it as the thump of boots ran this way. He made no sound as he went tumbling into the dark so I was pretty sure he’d passed out again as I dove after him, running down a few steps before shoving the flagstone back into place above me. I waited in the absolute darkness, listening to the men somewhere above us as my pulse crashed against my eardrums.

  “Where’d they go?” one guy barked.

  “Split up!” another shouted. “They can’t be far.”

  I didn’t breathe until the sound of their movements carried away and I rubbed a hand over my face as I accepted what I’d just done. What I’d risked. What I’d lost. For fucking Chase.

  I pulled my phone from my pocket, turning on the flashlight and finding Chase laying on the stairs unconscious. Some piece of me fractured at the sight of him like that and I dropped down beside him, wanting to hate him, but finding something far more dangerous than that making me bleed instead. I knew in some part, I was responsible for this. I’d set in motion the path that had led him here. I’d wanted him punished for what he’d done to Rogue, but not this. Never fucking this.

  I couldn’t examine any of these unwanted feelings too closely as I lifted him to stand and he managed to wake up enough to lean on me for support.

  “Rick,” he murmured. “Tell them I’m sorry.”

  “You’ll tell them yourself,” I growled, carrying him along down the damp tunnel that seemed to go on and on forever.

  We eventually reached a hatch that led us out into the woods beyond the Rosewood Manor and by the time we got out, Chase was unconscious again. I panted as I stood over him, resting my hands on my knees as I shut the hatch then grabbed a large rock which was vaguely in the shape of a star and placed it on top of it. Then I leaned down, lifted my ex-friend and threw him over my shoulder, locking my arm around his thighs.

  “Come on then, asshole,” I gritted out, starting to walk. There was only one place I could go and getting there without being shot was going to be an absolute challenge, but I always had thrived on being pushed to my limits.

  It was nearly half an hour before I made it out of the woods and started taking the old route me and the others used to take to get up here when we were kids. The backstreets were mostly quiet and I only passed the odd drunk who didn’t seem lucid enough to recognise me, one of them even making jokes about me taking my boyfriend home for a pounding.

  I was soon deep into Harlequin territory, and I was probably the most fucked I’d been in my life as I carefully picked my way through the streets, waiting for people to clear out before hurrying down them and hugging the shadows.

  I was breathless, gasping for water and my shoulder was ready to drop off by the time I was a street away from Harlequin House. I lay Chase down in someone’s doorway as I sat beside him and kept my head down as I took a break. We probably looked like a couple of hobos at a glance, but anyone looking closer would likely shoot first and ask questions later. So how was I supposed to get him to the Harlequin front door?

  I waited for an opportunity to present itself and it came in the form a pizza delivery driver on a moped. He stopped up the street, jumping off and buzzing the door to a block of flats. I picked Chase up with a grunt of effort, running across the road and snatching the helmet on the handlebars just as the door opened for the guy and someone stepped out to take the food from him. I shoved Chase onto the back of the bike, slapping him to wake him up before forcing the helmet onto his head and sitting in front of him. He sagged against me and I wrapped one of his arms around my waist before kicking up the stand and turning the key to start up the moped.

  “Hey!” the driver cried in panic as he spotted me and I turned the moped around fast, racing down the street and clinging onto Chase’s arm as he started tipping violently to the right.

  “Hold on, you motherfucker,” I demanded, my stomach clenching as I turned down the street towards Harlequin House and loosed the throttle, going as fast as this piece of shit could go. Which was around thirty miles per hour. Fuck.

  I approached the Harlequin gates and eyed the armed guards in front of them. One of them looked me in the eye and I cursed, knowing I should have taken the damn helmet, but it was that or risk Chase’s head cracking open on the pavement when I dropped him off. And seeing as I’d just hauled his ass miles across town with a bunch of gunmen hunting for us, I figured killing him now would be kind of fucking pointless.

  I shoved him off the bike and he hit the road in front of the Harlequin gangbangers with a yell of pain. A gun was fired and I ducked my head, turning down the next street and cursing Chase out as I made my getaway on a goddamn moped through Harlequin territory.

  You’re welcome, asshole.

  G unshots and yells tore through the air outside and I leapt out of my bed as Mutt barked in alarm. I'd been just dozing off with dreams of sinner boys and bad deeds filling
my mind and the sudden buzz of a fight breaking out had my pulse scattering.

  I scrambled to my nightstand in the grey wifebeater I'd stolen from Chase's old room, snatching out the gun Fox had given me and flicking the safety off before kicking on my sneakers as I ran to the door.

  It burst open before I could get there, Fox's eyes wild for a moment before they landed on me. He was only wearing a pair of shorts and he held a pistol in his hand. JJ was right behind him, his gaze meeting mine for a moment before he looked towards the corridor instead.

  "What's going on?" I demanded.

  "Something is happening at the main gate," Fox growled. "I want you to lock yourself in the-"

  "Fuck no," I snapped, shoulder checking him as I made it to the door and pushing my way out into the corridor between him and JJ. "I'm not hiding like some little bitch. Besides, the safest place I can be is with you assholes."

  Neither of them seemed to have an argument for that fast enough to talk me out of my decision so I took off down the corridor, forcing them to follow.

  Mutt took point as Fox caught my shoulder and pushed me behind him.

  "Stay close," he commanded.

  "Yes, sir," I snarked back and JJ cursed.

  We hurried downstairs where the sound of gunshots had come to an end and someone started hammering on the door frantically before we could reach it.

  "Boss!" one of the Harlequins yelled from outside. "Boss, you need to come see this!"

  Fox moved to the side of the door, checking through the peep hole to make sure it wasn't some trick before wrenching the door open and looking at the man who stood there.

  "What is it?" he barked.

  "Maverick Stone just tossed him from the back of a bike right outside the gates," the dude panted and I peered around Fox to get a look outside.

  My heart was thrashing to a heady beat as I spotted the group of Harlequins who were all crouched around something in the road right outside the gate, an innate sense of need urging me closer to it.

  "What the fuck are you talking about?" Fox demanded but I pushed him aside, the gun falling slack in my hand as I spotted a body between the crowd of Harlequins, a mess of dark curls covering his head.

  A strangled cry escaped me as I shoved my way outside, my heart forgetting to beat at all as I broke into a sprint with Mutt at my side.

  "He's alive," someone gasped as I raced towards the figure laying on the floor. "Holy fuck, call an ambulance."

  I skidded to a halt as I passed through the gates, the gun falling from my hand as I dropped to my knees with a sob escaping my lips. It couldn’t be real. How could it be real? And yet I was looking right at him and that broken, lost piece of my heart seemed to have just come alive inside me once more.

  "Chase?" I breathed, snatching his hand in mine and squeezing it so tight that it must have hurt. But I couldn't help it. I had to be sure he was real. That this wasn't some cruel twist of my imagination and that the boy who owned a piece of my soul really was right here before me.

  Mutt started barking at him, nudging his face with his wet nose and licking his cheek like he was trying to get him to wake up too.

  A groan passed Chase’s lips as he rolled his head towards me and a cry of grief escaped me as I caught sight of his face. He was bruised and battered, a scruffy beard covering his jaw and hair clinging to his sweaty skin. But the mangled destruction of his right eye made my whole body freeze with horror.

  "Holy fuck," JJ gasped as he dropped down beside me and Chase groaned again as he was half lifted from the ground and into JJ’s arms, forcing Mutt to scamper aside.

  Fox threw his arms around them too, a grieved noise escaping his throat as I just kept hold of Chase's hand and his gripped me back like a vice.

  "How is this possible?" Fox breathed.

  Chase made a pained sound and both Fox and JJ released him with apologies, the two of them talking a mile a minute as they asked question after question. But I couldn't hear any of it and Chase didn't seem to be able to give them the answers they needed either. He just met my gaze with his one blue eye, the two of us staring at each other as so much hurt and loss and pain and love passed between us that it didn't even need words.

  "We should gather the Crew and head straight to Dead Man's Isle and kill that motherfucker Maverick for this," one of the Harlequins snarled.

  "No," Chase grunted, the first word he'd managed. "Rick saved me. This was all Shawn."

  A sob caught in my throat at that because we should have known. We should have been hunting for him all this time instead of grieving over a death that had never occurred. I'd been down in the bottom of The Dollhouse with him and Shawn right before it collapsed. We'd known Shawn had escaped, so why the fuck hadn't we ever considered this?

  "I'm so sorry," I whispered while a whirlwind of motion took place around me and I wasn't even sure if he could hear me anyway.

  Red and blue lights flashed as the ambulance showed up and suddenly there were more people moving around us, more questions, more noise.

  Chase was being hoisted up and onto a gurney, but I still held onto his hand with an iron grip which he returned even when he seemed to pass out, his fingers tight around mine like he never wanted to let go.

  I climbed up into the back of the ambulance with him, hardly hearing the EMT who directed me into a seat at his side, Fox and JJ telling us they'd be following right behind us.

  I didn't hear any of it. See any of it. Because all that was here in this moment with me was the boy who’d held my hand the first time I'd jumped from the end of Sinners' Playground. The boy I'd boosted my first car with. The boy I'd been aching to rescue every single day I'd known him. And the man who had broken me when I thought he was lost.

  ***

  I paced outside the operating theatre, not knowing how long I'd been doing it aside from the fact that the sun was now rising beyond the window and my legs were burning from the constant movement.

  Fox and JJ sat against the wall opposite the door, their faces painted with worry for the man inside that room.

  I hadn't fully taken in the list of injuries that had been reported to us by one of the nurses, but I'd heard her talking about a broken leg and his eye needing major surgery alongside some broken ribs, a lot of wounds which needed stitching and a serious burn.

  The police had showed their faces a few hours back, but one harsh threat from Fox had sent them packing. We didn't need their help with this shit anyway, though I was sure they were lurking in wait to ask their questions again as soon as Chase came out of surgery. But it wouldn't be the cops who would get justice for this. We'd be doing that ourselves just as soon as we were certain Chase was alright.

  The double doors swung open and the various surgeons and nurses strode out, one of them heading over to us to give us an update on what Chase had had done.

  All I took in was the fact that he was still breathing, leaving Fox and JJ to listen to the details of the kind of recovery and aftercare he'd be needing as a bed was rolled out of the room next and my gaze fell on Chase.

  His eye was all bandaged up now, his left leg elevated and in a cast. More bandages and dressings plastered the rest of his bare chest than I could easily count.

  I ran to his side, taking his limp hand from the blankets and keeping hold of it as the porters wheeled him down the corridor. We headed into an elevator and I just kept my eyes on his face, drinking in the sight of him and the feeling of his hand so warm in mine. He was here. He was real. He was alive. And no matter what else had happened to him, I was just going to cling onto those three most important things. Because until he'd been brought back to me, I'd been staring at an eternity without him in it and as much as I'd been trying to cope with the reality of that, it wasn't a life I'd wanted to exist in.

  We arrived in a private room and I just stayed beside him, holding his hand while he was hooked up to all kinds of machines and a drip was attached to his other hand. Fox and JJ arrived not long after, but the nurses warned
us we could only stay for a few more minutes.

  I looked up as the two of them came to stand on the other side of the bed and the door finally fell closed behind all of the hospital staff, leaving us in silence alone with the boy we’d all thought we’d lost.

  "Shawn had him for weeks," I breathed, my voice cracking and guilt warring through me as I stared down at the broken body of the man I'd loved for as long as I could remember. "Weeks and weeks of torture while we were all grieving him like he was already dead and gone and-"

  "Don't do that," Fox snarled, reaching across the bed and taking my free hand in his. "This isn't on you or any of us. Shawn is the one who will pay for this."

  "His fucking eye," JJ murmured, his voice cracking as he reached out to grasp Chase's shoulder. I'd heard the doctors saying he'd been blinded in it, but right now I could only be thankful that he was alive. The horror of his injuries felt like a distant whisper of a problem I couldn't face right now.

  "When we get our hands on Shawn Mackenzie he'll be begging for death," Fox said fiercely. "And we'll make him feel the pain of it ten times over before his wish is granted."

  "That's enough," a nurse barked firmly as she pushed the door wide, looking in at us. "Mr Cohen will be out of it for hours and he needs his rest if he's to start the path to recovery. The police are waiting downstairs to take your statements too."

  She gave us a look that was judgemental as fuck but I didn’t have it in me to take offence. No doubt she was judging us and what we were, blaming us for what had happened here but right now I could only really agree with her on that.

  Fox cursed but nodded in acceptance, leading the way towards the door while swiping a hand down his face like he wanted to wipe the feeling of this day off of his flesh.

  A tear ran down my cheek as I made a move to leave too, despite the hurt in my heart which demanded I stay precisely where I was. But before I could take so much as a step away from him, Chase's fingers locked tight around mine and I jerked to a halt, looking down at him in surprise.