Carnival Hill (The Harlequin Crew Book 3)

by Caroline Peckham

  “No way, not happening.”

  “I can’t go back, pretty girl. I’ve felt the greener grass,” I said with a smirk. “Your pussy’s my new addiction.”

  “I think I’m getting a little addicktion of my own – get it a-dick-tion? Like addiction but-”

  “I get it, pretty girl,” I chuckled.

  She turned her head to grin at me but our smiles melted away as we just stared at each other and my hand found hers on the bed, our fingers winding together. I felt like that kid again, and for once I didn’t mind that so much. Maybe it was okay to be him sometimes, the boy who loved a girl a thousand miles out of his league. Because that kid had been happy and maybe it was time to claim that happiness for myself again, for however long it might last.

  ***

  I reluctantly headed to Afterlife in the evening, the stack of freshly fucked-on cash stashed back in my nightstand again. Rogue had refused to take it back out of pure stubbornness and I wasn’t gonna keep it out of pure pride, so for now it would just sit in my drawer until I could figure out how to do something with it for Rogue.

  When Fox had returned to the house in the morning, I’d told him me and Rogue were going surfing and technically we had been, only we’d stopped off at the clinic on the way to get Rogue officially on the pill. Girl was as scatter-brained as a dodo though, so I’d set up daily reminders on her phone to take them too. Because I sure as fuck wasn’t going back on this no-condom deal now I’d driven my cock into her bare. Johnny D had ascended to a higher plane of existence which was worth more than all the gold in the world, and he sure as shit wasn’t gonna be convinced to go back.

  I felt so good tonight, the best I’d felt in a long damn time actually. Chase was home, Rogue was no longer angry with me and things seemed to be getting back on track at last. I still had the massive issue of Fox to deal with, but for now I was just gonna appreciate everything else that was going right and figure out how best to handle him later. Because I was out of my mind in love and there really was no more going back for me at this point. There were complications, sure, but what relationship didn’t have problems? Not that I really knew anything about a normal one of those, but this was never going to be normal. Nothing about our group was. Which was why I knew we needed a different kind of relationship that might just solve all of our problems. I mean…Fox was gonna be hard pushed to agree to it, and Chase’s stance was yet to be seen, but if anyone could figure it out, it was me. I was the escort after all. I was open minded by nature. The main issue was that I was dealing with a couple of the most possessive guys I’d ever met. But we’d managed to share in the past, and Maverick clearly still had it in him to do so, maybe the others did too.

  Of course, Rick would also likely shoot me dead if he got bored of our situationship, but I had a feeling he wasn’t inclined to do that considering he’d lose Rogue over it too. So yeah, things weren’t perfect, but maybe they could be, or maybe I was just a lovestruck idiot whose head was clouded by the delusional optimism that came with that love. Either way, I had a badly thought out plan and a lot of motivation, so how far wrong could it really go?

  I used the back door to enter the dressing room at Afterlife and my eyebrows arched as I found Jessie running back and forth between the guys, shaking a bowler hat at them.

  “Lucky dip, the one with my name on it gets a BJ!” she said excitedly, popping a bubble of gum and grinning at Texas as he plucked a condom out of the hat. “No peeking!”

  He kept it in his fist and Jessie ran over to Adam where he was oiling up for the show by his dressing table, shaking the hat under his nose. His cheeks pinked and he shook his head, but she just rolled her eyes and grabbed his hand, pushing it into the hat.

  “Come on, sweetie, I promise you’ll like it if you win,” she encouraged, pushing a condom into his hand then running away again.

  Di laughed, shaking her head at her. “Well this isn’t fair, who’s handing out free pussy licking for the girls? I’ve had a long day.”

  “You don’t need to win a game for that, I’ll eat you out all day and all night, honey,” Texas said, adjusting the towel around his waist and Di tossed her hair.

  “You’d better get a hat and some condoms then, Texas baby,” she purred back and he jumped to his feet, heading to his dressing table to do just that.

  “Okay, has everyone got one?” Jessie asked, bouncing on the balls of her feet then noticing me and running forward with a squeal. “There’s one left, boss, it could be your lucky day!” She batted her lashes at me and I quirked a grin.

  “No thanks, sweetheart. Give Adam double chances.”

  Adam’s throat bobbed as Jessie bounded away to place the final one his hand.

  Bella was sitting on Ollie’s lap, the two of them kissing so filthily I was pretty sure it was gonna descend into a sex fest in here at any second. And that wouldn’t be the first time. I’d only ever accepted blowjobs from Jessie in the past, my dancers needed to respect me as their boss and as I was basically everyone’s pimp too, we’d needed some boundaries that ensured we could keep working together without things getting messy. Now I was a taken man and that felt so fucking good, I wished I could tell everyone in here. But instead, I just had to keep that secret buried down inside me which was just plain sad sometimes. I wanted the whole fucking world to know Rogue was my girl, even if that meant the world knew she was Maverick’s too.

  “Someone gimme a drumroll!” Jessie cried and Texas swung his hips side to side so a slapping noise sounded within his towel as his dick slapped between his thighs.

  “Dude,” I laughed as Ruben cracked up behind him.

  “Look at your condoms,” Jessie demanded, her eyes dancing with excitement as she bit her lip and looked between the guys who had one in their palm. I noticed Kevin the janitor was standing by the wall with a mop in hand and his face fell as he found his condom lacking Jessie’s name.

  “Well? Who has it?” Jessie pushed as Texas and Ruben showed her blank condoms with disappointed expressions.

  My gaze swung to Adam who was being suspiciously quiet and Jessie ran over to him with a skip in her step, peeling his fingers apart to get hold of the two condoms there.

  “Adam has it!” she announced, waving the strawberry condom in the air before grabbing his hand and towing him toward the costume closet.

  He glanced back at me in alarm but the massive bulge in his boxers said he wasn’t fighting that hard to get away.

  “Adam, Adam, Adam,” I started chanting and everyone else took up the chant too, making a shy grin split across his lips as Jessie stole him away into the closet.

  “Right, my turn.” Texas waved a baseball cap around and Lyla and Di plucked a condom out each, giggling together just as Estelle walked into the room. “Grab a condom, Momma Stelle.”

  “Do not do that,” I warned her.

  “Oh are we playing a game?” Estelle asked keenly, pressing a crease out of her buttoned up red shirt.

  “Stelle, don’t do it,” Lyla laughed.

  “Do it Stelle,” Texas urged, a look of mischief in his gaze.

  “You’re a sick, man,” I said with a snort. “I forbid you from offering that hat to Stelle.”

  “Don’t be a bore, Johnny,” Estelle said, waving a hand at me and snatching a condom out of the hat.

  “Don’t look at it yet,” Texas commanded before wafting the hat in the direction of Bella on Olly’s lap, but Olly swatted him away then slid his hand between Bella’s thighs, making her moan and kiss him once more.

  Ruben dove at him, snatching a condom from the hat before Texas could stop him and barking a laugh. “You’d better suck my cock good if I win, Texas.”

  “Shut up, asshole. This is for the girls,” Texas said dismissively, but his gaze lingered on Ruben for a second like he wasn’t entirely opposed to his offer.

  I pulled my shirt off as I headed to my dressing table, grabbing my almond oil and starting to apply it to my skin.

  Texas swung h
is hips again to start up his twisted little drumroll before telling everyone to look at their condoms.

  “I win!” Di cried.

  “Me too.” Lyla frowned.

  “Ooh, what do I get?” Estelle asked, waving her winning condom.

  “Hang on, I won too,” Ruben said, arching a brow at Texas.

  “Did you write your name on all of them, dickwad?” Di demanded, throwing her condom at Texas so it bounced off his chiselled chest.

  “Yup. Who’s first?” He licked his lips and Di and Lyla squealed as he ran at them, running for the door as he chased them down. Ruben tore after them and Estelle frowned in confusion as they sprinted away.

  “Did I just win something dirty?” Estelle asked.

  “Texas is offering out oral,” I told her and her eyes widened.

  “Well damn, if he wasn’t twenty years younger than me I’d take him up on that offer,” she chuckled as she turned, heading back into the bar and I laughed.

  As quiet fell, the sound of Adam groaning came from the closet and I connected my phone to the Bluetooth, playing Peaches by Justin Bieber, Daniel Caesar and Giveon as I got ready for the show.

  My gaze fell on Sparkle in his tank by the window and I headed over to see how he was doing. There were no more remnants of moustache in the tank now because damn, this little starfish was becoming a hungry carnivore and I was gonna start training him up to devour more than just moustaches soon too. He’d take some fingers next, then a toe, we’d work up to a hand and maybe I’d bring him a few more friends so they could work as a team to destroy human body parts. One day I’d have an army of flesh-eating starfishes and my enemies would fear their tiny gaping mouths.

  “Good boy, Sparkle.” I sprinkled some fish food into the tank as a reward, but he just sat on his rock and didn’t look at me. He had such a sense of humour.

  ***

  The show went off without a hitch and I had women pressing their numbers into my hands on napkins by the end of it, all of which I tossed into the trash backstage without a second glance. Tom Collins had been in tonight, cheering me on from the bar with that bright eyed look he always gave me. I had Estelle ply him with free drinks because he’d tipped all the wait staff fifty dollars each and had left a hundred for me behind the bar too. Damn sweetheart he was. I hoped he went home, lubed his cock up real good and had a happy time thinking about me tonight. I really did. Bless his heart.

  I washed off the oil in the shower, feeling good for the workout as I pulled on a bright pink tank top and black sweatpants, ready to head home. Rogue would likely sleep in with Chase again tonight and I was aching to be with them too. Maybe we could watch a movie and cuddle like idiots, because that was basically all I wanted to do with Ace lately. It might have been weird, but I just needed to be touching him to remind myself he was still here. After thinking he was dead all this time, I needed the reassurance that he was home, alive and safe. So I wasn’t gonna worry about it, because he seemed to like me being a clingy weirdo at the moment.

  Having my pretty girl in a bed with us was just the best feeling in the world. I wished Fox would join us though. I knew he sometimes crept into the room at night and watched us sleep. Whenever I woke up and sensed him there, a smile pulled at my lips because it gave me hope that he was coming around to the idea of Chase staying.

  I’d tried to talk to him about it a couple of times so far but he’d just dismissed me, said there wasn’t a discussion to be made, and that Chase had to go. But surely he didn’t mean that. I could see the way he looked at him, the way he ached to forgive him and let him stay. So why couldn’t he just allow himself to do that and let us all be happy at last? Chase had been through enough as far as I was concerned. And he’d saved Rogue at The Dollhouse. Surely Fox could forgive him now that he knew that?

  I waved goodbye to everyone as I pushed my phone into my pocket and headed out the back door into the parking lot, the night air warm against my cheeks as I headed towards my GT. A whistle caught my hear and I turned sharply, regretting not having a gun on me a moment before my eyes fell on Fox leaning against the side of his truck. Since Shawn had gone quiet after Rogue’s stabbing, I’d gotten a little complacent lately but I definitely needed to stop that, because I didn’t for a second believe that asshole was dead. His men had been sighted on the edge of town, lurking like stray dogs and we knew they’d have moved out by now if their mutt boss had upped and died.

  “Wanna go make some money with me, brother?” he asked and my heart lifted.

  “Yeah, sure, what’s the plan?” I headed over to him instead as he pushed off of the truck and unlocked it. He wore a white tank top with jeans and had a gun stuffed into the back of them.

  “You know that Tatum chick Rogue’s been hanging out with?” he asked and I nodded. “Well one of her boyfriends has a job for us.”

  “One of them?” I asked in confusion. Rogue hadn’t mentioned that part. This girl had multiple boyfriends? Wasn’t that like, my new dream?

  “Yeah,” Fox snorted. “Can you imagine sharing one girl? I’d end up killing all the other boyfriends.”

  I released a nervous laugh as I headed around his truck and got in the passenger side as he got in the driver’s seat.

  “I mean, it’s not the worst idea,” I said and Fox scoffed.

  “Doesn’t make sense to me at all. It’s like that book you leant me, right? The fucking drama of the girl not choosing is great for a story, but she’ll end up with Gabriel in the end and that’ll be that. They’re destined.”

  “What if they’re all destined for her?” I asked with a frown.

  “It doesn’t work like that. You can only have one star-bound mate in the world of Solaria, and Gabriel can see the future. He already knows it’ll be him.”

  “Well maybe the stars shouldn’t get to choose,” I bit out harsher than I’d intended. “Maybe the girl should get to choose.”

  “She will choose. And she’ll choose Gabe,” Fox said with a shrug.

  “Don’t call him Gabe,” I growled and Fox’s head snapped around to look at me.

  “What’s your problem? Is he not your favourite? Dante’s a good second choice, but he seems too willing to share her with-”

  “Maybe that’s the point, Fox. Maybe they should share her. Maybe fate shouldn’t decide,” I said angrily and a crease formed between his eyes.

  “That’s ridiculous.” He waved a hand in dismissal, starting up the truck and heading out onto the road. “That would never work.”

  “You said yourself that Tatum girl has a few boyfriends. Clearly it can work in real life, or they wouldn’t be together.”

  “Look, don’t get me wrong, they look happy and all. But-”

  “But what?” I asked coolly.

  “Well, how can those guys be genuinely satisfised with that situation? Some of them must get left out, she probably has a favourite and the others are just there to fulfil some group sex fantasies she has.”

  “Why is it so impossible for you to believe she loves them all the same?” I demanded.

  “Dude, I didn’t think you even knew the chick.”

  “I don’t,” I snapped. “But maybe it works.”

  “Yeah, I guess.” Fox shrugged. “It’s just hard to get my head around. I’d rather die than share my girl.”

  “Rogue’s not your girl,” I muttered.

  “What?” he growled and my heart pounded furiously.

  “She doesn’t wanna be owned.”

  “I know that. I’m not trying to buy her,” he said dismissively. “I’m trying to love her.”

  “Well maybe you should ask her what she needs to be loved,” I said, softening my tone.

  I didn’t wanna fight with Fox. And I really didn’t wanna fight with him over Rogue. That was the thing I was trying to avoid most, if only I could figure out how to make him see that her loving me didn’t mean she didn’t love him too. Because I was starting to understand that her wanting Fox didn’t take away from how much she
wanted me.

  “I know what she needs,” he said arrogantly and I took a breath, not wanting this to descend any further into a fight.

  We drove down to a dark street leading to Sunset Beach and Fox got out of the truck, beckoning me to follow him. We walked down onto the sand and my gaze hooked on a bonfire further up the beach which we started walking towards.

  The lap of the waves against the shore tangled with moans carrying on the wind and I squinted out to where some rocks sat in a semi-circle in the water, making a little calm, secluded area in the sea. Some dark shapes moved there and another female moan carried to us as I squinted out at the bodies pressed together in the water.

  One of them peeled away and a large, tattooed guy emerged from the water, heading up the sand as the light of the fire spilled over him and he nodded to us in acknowledgement. He had a pair of white swimming shorts on and holy fuck they were clinging to his monster cock which was currently saluting the moon. I had to smother a laugh as Fox folded his arms beside me.

  “Hey assholes,” he said but in a way that was friendly more than insulting.

  “You could have called to give us the job info instead of inviting us to your beach orgy,” Fox pointed out.

  “Saint’s always bugging my calls, and this has to be kept secret from him,” the guy said seriously.

  “Isn’t he here?” Fox looked towards the water as another loud moan carried from out there. Jesus.

  “He’ll be here later, but he had a business meeting.”

  “I’ve got a relationship to uphold with him,” Fox said. “Is this job gonna jeopardise that?”

  “Naw,” he said dismissively. “He won’t know you guys were involved. It’s just part of a little family joke. Nothing harmful. And I’ll give you three grand for it.” He smirked enticingly.

  I glanced at Fox hopefully, the sound of that green cash making me hungry. “We in?” I asked Fox and he turned to me with a nod.

  “Alright, if Saint gets pissed it’s on you though,” Fox said and the guy nodded.

  “I’ll take the heat if it comes to it. Cross my heart,” he said with a smirk. “Here’s what I want.” He picked up a duffel bag from beside the fire, taking out a phone and showing us a picture on the screen of a white squid statue in a playground in the centre of a grassy park. “They just installed it in the Blue Springs park in the Upper Quarter.”