Carnival Hill (The Harlequin Crew Book 3)

by Caroline Peckham

  “Touch me,” she panted, looking right at me and my throat jammed up.

  “No,” I growled in refusal.

  JJ withdrew and I dropped my hand from Rogue’s back, feeling how wrong this was no matter how much I fucking wanted her. She circled her hips in a slow, torturous movement as she turned the clippers on and started working on transforming my beard into rough stubble.

  “Little one,” I warned in a growl, my fingers biting into her thigh as she rocked herself over every solid inch of me and I had to suppress a groan. “Why are you fucking with me?”

  “Why’s everything an attack to you, Ace?” she asked in a husky voice that made the head of my cock twitch. “I’m just showing you how your scars make me feel.”

  “Right. So you thought you’d pity hump me?” I clipped furiously, dropping my free hand onto her other thigh and digging my fingers in as I pushed her off of my cock. She took hold of that very same hand, pressing up onto her toes to lift off of me a little. My breathing hitched as she drew it between her thighs, rubbing my fingers over the soaking patch on her panties. I stared at her as an urgent, almost violent need built in me to push those panties aside and drive my fingers into her wet pussy. But then I remembered this was a cruel game of piggy in the middle and I was the stupid little piggy who wasn’t going to get his hands on the ball.

  “What the fuck is this?” I snarled, snatching my hand back as the rage that lived in me reared up and tried to take over. But then Rogue settled herself back on my lap and continued working on my beard, trimming it down and rocking her hips to the beat of the music like she was totally fucking innocent.

  “Rogue,” I rasped, looking over at JJ, but he’d just leaned himself against the wall and was watching the show with heat in his eyes and his cock fully hard inside his shorts.

  When she was finished with my beard, she finally stood up and stepped back to admire her work, brushing the hair from the shirt she was wearing before frowning at the remaining ones stuck there and pulling the whole thing off. A jagged lump rose in my throat as she stood in front of me with her perfect tits on full display and her rainbow hair tumbling all around her. My cock throbbed with need and the urge to grab hold of her built in me like a billion gallons of water against a dam. I needed her with a primal intensity that made me furious and thirsty at once. She was dangling herself in front of me like the juiciest fruit on earth and my upper lip peeled back in rage as I tried to shove out of my seat. JJ’s hand landed on my shoulder, keeping me down and he slid a cigarette between my lips, lighting it up in the next second.

  “Don’t tell Fox,” JJ said in my ear with a low laugh before looking to Rogue. “Dance for us, pretty girl.” The music changed to Lost Cause by Billie Eilish and Rogue smirked as she did as he asked, her hips swaying and her eyes closing as she lost herself to the seductive beat.

  JJ suddenly sprayed water on my hair and ran a comb through it casual as fuck as he started cutting it. I dragged in a lungful of smoke and the hit of nicotine made my head spin as I stared at Rogue and refused to blink. This was something straight out of my filthiest fantasies. Her in my room, topless, moving like that. It was enough to drive me fucking insane.

  “It looks good a little longer, don’t take too much off,” Rogue told JJ and I drew in another deep drag of my cigarette, unable to even absorb those words as my gaze travelled over her tight, gold kissed body which I thirsted to wreak havoc on.

  She awoke a beast in me that had never been tamed, but I was sure she had the charm to do it, she might just end up with a few claw marks along the way. Because if I ever got to own her body, I’d fuck her breathless and make her work for every second of pleasure I offered her. There was ten years of tension living between us and I could feel it making the air thicker now. It made me angry, hateful, maybe even a little vengeful. And I had no doubt she felt it too. We were perfectly designed to destroy each other and I longed to know what it would be like to burn in her fire.

  JJ worked to fix my hair as I smoked and Rogue palmed her breasts and tugged on her nipples, making me harder than I’d ever been in my life. There wasn’t anything sexual about hair cutting and yet JJ’s hands being on me while I felt like this made it seem like we were crossing some line. I wasn’t entirely fucking against it either. Man, it was good to just be touched at all. Like I still meant something to the people in this room. Something important.

  Rogue’s eyes opened, but they were hooded as she walked towards me, her hips swaying as she leaned over, her hand on my thigh as she plucked the cigarette from my lips and toked on it, leaving me in a cloud of smoke. Her fingers crept up my leg and I reached for her, my hand curling around the back of her thigh and squeezing hard enough to bruise.

  “You don’t know what you’re doing to me,” I growled.

  I didn’t have entire control of the dark in me and it was taking on a new form now which was cruel and depraved, the kind that wanted to bend her to my will and make her hurt in all the right ways.

  “I know exactly what I’m doing, Chase Cohen,” she said, her eyes locked on mine as she finished the cigarette. She lowered it in her hand and I flinched on instinct as I recalled Shawn stubbing his butts out on me. JJ’s fingers locked in my hair and Rogue’s eyes widened as she realised why I’d reacted like that.

  She went to move away, but I clenched my hand tighter around her leg and snatched the cigarette from her fingers, crushing it in my palm so the fire singed the flesh, proving that I’d happily hurt for her.

  “There’s no pain I wouldn’t weather to have you this close,” I told her, tossing the butt away so ash and soot tumbled from my palm.

  JJ leaned over my shoulder, sliding his hand around the back of Rogue’s neck and sinking his tongue between her lips. I was crushed between his boner and her tits as they came together in a clash of desperation for each other and I growled in frustration, trying to get up, only for them each to press a hand to my shoulders to keep me in place.

  “Go to your own room,” I snarled, shoving them apart as heat pounded up through my chest. “Fuck your games.”

  “It’s not a game, Ace,” JJ growled.

  I managed to get to my feet through brute force and elbowed him back, refusing to believe him. Because no one wanted me like this, and if the two of them had come to some twisted little arrangement to try and feign Rogue’s interest in me then fuck them.

  The words I love you flashed through my mind as I remembered Rogue saying them to me, but I blinked that vision away, knowing she hadn’t meant it that way. That she couldn’t possibly have. Before I looked like this, I was a monster on the inside. And she knew that. She’d seen the worst of it.

  I hobbled across the room and gritted my teeth against the agony in my leg as I made it to the chest of drawers and leaned against it, pointing to the door. “Get out. Go fuck each other like you want to.”

  “She wants you too, man, don’t you-” JJ started but I cut him off.

  “Bullshit,” I snarled. I was just some broken little toy they were trying to pretend was whole, and I wasn’t buying any of it. “Go!” I snapped and Rogue caught JJ’s hand, towing him from the room, throwing me a look over her shoulder that said I was an idiot.

  Sweat was beading on my chest and my cock was still aching, leaving me confused and angry and so fucking turned on I wanted to break something. I wanted to rip this room to pieces if only I had the fucking strength to do it.

  After a few minutes, a loud moan sounded beyond my window and I bit the inside of my cheek, staying rooted to the spot before it sounded again. I resisted a little longer before I grabbed my crutch and moved to the window, propping my shoulder against the side of it as I tucked myself in against the curtain.

  Rogue was spread out on a sun lounger below me on the patio, fully naked with her fingers knotted in JJ’s hair as he went down on her. My breaths came heavier and heavier as I watched, unable to look away and I squeezed my near painful cock in my pants.

  Fuck, she was the
perfect temptation, the way her back arched and she bit her lower lip, it was the hottest thing I’d ever seen in my miserable life.

  Did they even realise this was right outside my window or were they just so caught up in each other that they forgot I could see the whole patio from here?

  Rogue tugged and teased her own nipples as her head tipped back in utter pleasure and I memorised every inch of that expression. I’d always fantasised about how good she’d look when she was coming, and two seconds later I got my wish as she reared up, holding JJ’s head between her thighs as she cried out and her eyes flashed open at the last second, boring right into mine. I wasn’t quick enough to move, so I just owned it and stood there watching as she licked her lips and stared at me like I was the source of her pleasure.

  JJ stood up, scooping her into his arms like she weighed nothing and taking her place on the sun lounger, laying back and settling her over his lap as she faced away from him toward me. She took hold of his thick cock and guided it to her pussy, her eyes still locked with mine as he gripped her hips and pulled her down onto him, sinking in right up to the base. She slid her fingers onto her clit as they started to fuck hard, making her tits bounce as JJ supported her hips and made her ride him to the pace he wanted.

  She looked so fucking edible that my mouth watered and the way her gaze kept clinging to me made it impossible for me not to relieve myself any longer. I pushed my pants down, freeing my hard cock and gripping it tight as I started stroking it firmly in time with JJ’s thrusts, picturing my cock in place of his as I drove it deep into her pussy. I thought of how wet she’d been for me in here and imagined what it would feel like to have her soaked pussy wrapped around every inch of my shaft. I pumped my cock harder, growling deep in my throat as she worked her clit, biting down on her lip as she watched the movements of my arm so she knew exactly what I was doing.

  As I watched her enjoy the deep thrusts of JJ’s cock, I pictured what I’d do if I got that privilege. I had so much pent up energy when it came to her, I knew I wouldn’t be able to be anything but rough. She turned me into a savage and I’d unleash the full force of ten years of rage on her flesh. I’d fuck her like the animal I felt like every time she was close to me, and I’d show her why monsters were best kept in cages.

  I tightened my grip on my cock, rubbing my thumb over the head and slicking the precum across the tip as pleasure rolled through my shaft. I stared at her mouth, her tits, then those sea blue eyes which owned me as I ached to own her in return.

  She shuddered as she came and I fell apart with her, pleasure rocketing along the length of my cock as my cum splashed against the wall and I kept pumping it until she claimed every drop of it from me.

  My breath fogged against the glass and Rogue bit her lip as she watched me, falling back against JJ as he finished with a final hard thrust, forcing her head around to claim a kiss from her lips.

  I grabbed a towel hanging on the chair from my morning shower, mopping up the mess I’d made before tucking my cock away and tossing the towel in the laundry. Then I yanked the curtains shut and used my crutch to get back to my bed. My leg was seriously starting to hurt from how much I’d pushed it today, but I didn’t give a fuck. I was still riding a high. My head spun from the release and a wave of peace crashed over my chest as I fell down on the mattress. I didn’t know what the fuck we’d all just done, but it felt both wrong as hell and seriously fucking right.

  I slid the eyepatch out from under my pillow and twirled it on my finger before mentally shrugging and putting it on. I leaned up in bed to check it out in the mirror, arranging my freshly cut hair around it which was curling as it dried. I took in the new me in that glass and found I didn’t entirely hate what I saw and when the door opened and Rogue stepped into my room in another one of my shirts, her face lit up at the sight of it.

  JJ followed her in with a bundle of snacks in his arms and they both piled onto my bed, acting like we hadn’t just all taken part in some weird fuck fest. Mutt came bounding in too, yipping as he leapt onto the bed and snatched a gravy bone from Rogue’s fingers.

  Rogue tossed a bag of Cheetos at me, curling up next to me and gazing up at my eyepatch with a smirk. “Looking good, Captain Ace.”

  “Yeah, yeah,” I murmured, tearing into the bag of chips while JJ got himself comfy on her other side, his fingers threading between hers.

  I stole a look at them both, unsure how they could be so comfortable with this situation but strangely finding it didn’t bother me all that much either. Maybe it was because I knew I was on a time limit, and I’d take whatever I could get from Rogue while I was still here. One thing I was sure of though, was that we’d just added to the list of things that Fox could never fucking find out about.

  I raced into Chase's room with an excited shriek, throwing the door open so hard that it crashed against the wall and maybe put a hole in it. Whoops.

  Chase cursed from his bathroom where the sound of the shower running filled the air and I clapped my hands loudly.

  "Hurry up, sunshine - we're going to be late."

  "Late for what?" he snapped. "And why the fuck are you in my room? I'm naked."

  "I'm not interested in seeing your todger, Chase, god. Not everything is about you." I hurried over to his closet and grabbed him a pair of shorts and a white shirt before tossing the shirt back and picking a green one out instead. Perfect. "I would have organised this better, but I only just saw the advert online and we have to move our asses if we wanna make it on time."

  "What the hell are you talking about?" Chase growled, the sound of the water shutting off following his words.

  "He's in town," I said excitedly. "Well not in town. He's in town like six towns over. But that's close enough and I'm not fucking missing it,” I explained.

  "You're not talking sense."

  I huffed irritably, adjusting my baseball cap and folding my arms as I waited for him to hobble his way out here. He still couldn't put any weight on his busted leg, so he took his sweet time hopping on out, one hand clutching the towel which he'd wrapped around his waist and his cast covered in a bag thingy which kept it dry.

  My gaze slid over his bare chest as a few stray beads of water ran down his skin. The cuts were almost completely healed now, only red lines on his flesh remaining and leaving me free to appreciate his muscular body. JJ had taken pity on him and brought a bench and a bunch of weights up here so that he could at least do chest and arm workouts while he was locked away and his muscles were pumped from the workout he'd done pre shower.

  I dragged my gaze up from his bare chest to his face, taking in the black eye patch he now wore to cover what Shawn had done to him.

  Chase noticed where my attention had fallen and dropped his head, letting his wet curls fall forward to obscure his eyes and I huffed.

  "Did I ever tell you about my pirate sex fantasies?" I asked him, making him look up at me again with a frown.

  "What the fuck are you talking about?"

  "I'm just saying, I might have to buy you a parrot. You've got the eye patch and the peg leg going for you. If you teach a parrot to say ‘pretty Polly’ to me then I'll probably drop right to my knees and suck your cock like a good little land wench. It's fantasy law."

  Chase scoffed, taking hold of the back of a chair as he hopped towards me. "Yeah, I'm sure that'll be the case. What girl doesn't want a guy with a fucked up face who can't even walk straight? I'm a real fucking catch these days."

  I rolled my eyes at him dramatically and he scowled at me.

  "Are you gonna fuck off so I can get dressed then?" he asked. Man he was a grump this morning. But when he was a grump it usually meant he was in pain so I couldn’t be too angry with him.

  "No," I replied simply. "I already told you we're running late. I have somewhere to be and you need a round the clock nurse. JJ has shit to do at the club today and Fox is off being all Harlequinish which makes you my problem."

  "I can't leave the house, remember?" Chase muttere
d, making it to the bed and half falling down onto it while clutching his towel tightly in his fist like he was afraid a strong breeze might blow in and steal it. Which was massively unlikely seeing as all the windows were shut and the curtains were permanently closed in here. Supposedly that was to make sure no one saw him here, but I was pretty sure that it was at least half because Chase didn't want anyone to see him period. And I was done with that shit. Especially today.

  "Yeah well, I never was one for the rules. And I have a date today which you're going to chaperone whether you like it or not."

  "What the fuck are you going on about? You and JJ don't need me to-"

  "Err who said anything about JJ? This is a much bigger deal than anything in the damn Cove. This is a live GPR signing event and I'm not fucking missing it because you need someone here to change your diapers all day." I folded my arms to let him know I meant business, but he just seemed more confused than ever.

  "A what?"

  "Green Power Ranger, duh." I flicked him in the forehead and he jerked away from me.

  Understanding dawned and he shook his head with a grunt of irritation. "I'm not going out with you to some dumb signing with a dude from a kids show."

  "That would be where you're wrong." I lunged at him with the green shirt in hand and managed to force it over his head before he could fight me off. He was left with no choice but to jam his arms through the holes and he growled at me as he wrestled me back, catching my wrists and pinning me to the bed beneath him with my hands above my head.

  "I'm not going out," Chase snarled in my face and I sighed, the fight going out of my limbs as I pouted.

  "Fine," I agreed with a sad sniff. "I just thought it might be nice to do something fun for once. I'm so sick of being miserable and afraid all the time. I only wanted to try and have some fun."

  Chase frowned down at me as I gave up like he'd been expecting more of a fight and he drew back, releasing me.