“Yeah?” he answered, his heated gaze locked on me. “Okay. I’ll come now.”
“You’re such an asshole,” I panted. Fucking panted. Goddammit.
"Say it," he pushed but I shook my head. Because no. Nope. Not a chance. But Jesus, I was tempted to just nod along and let him carry on convincing me.
I had no idea what had gotten into him today. There was a darkness hanging about him, a ruthless kind of determination that was likely to set my panties alight before I figured out what the fuck had caused it.
He was right of course. We had been dancing around this for too long and I couldn't keep stringing him along the way I was. But that meant he needed to know the truth. All of it. And I needed to figure out what the fuck that meant and what I wanted to come from it.
My gaze flicked behind him at a sign of movement and my heart started pounding as I found JJ there, his arms folded as he watched us, though he definitely didn't look as pissed as the last time he'd caught Fox kissing me.
"I need to go meet my dad," Fox said, waving JJ over as he spotted him too. "He insisted. I just have to go meet him by the haunted house so I can hear what he has to say. JJ can take you on something else while I'm gone."
"Oh so I'm not just another lackey after all?" JJ asked, shooting Fox a scowl which earned him an eye roll.
"You know you're not, man. I just needed a bit of time alone with my girl. Isn't that right, Rogue?"
"I just thought you were being an asshole as standard," I said but Fox only gave me a wolfish grin.
"Well it seems like that turns you on. So I'll make a note to do it more often."
I flipped him off, but he strode away from us, not seeming to give a single shit about how aggravating he was.
"You wanna explain what that's all about?" JJ asked me as I fell into step with him and he led the way out into the mess of rides and attractions.
I glanced over my shoulder to check the other Harlequins weren't close enough to listen in then huffed out a breath. But before I could tell him what had been happening since Fox had arrived, a high-pitched voice caught my ear.
“Rogue?” Rosie called, making me wince as I spotted her pushing through the crowd. “Is Chasey with you?”
“Quick, let’s run for it,” I hissed, grabbing JJ’s arm and yanking him away.
“She’s looking right at us,” he laughed, running with me anyway while she yelled for us again.
“I don’t fucking care. I can’t deal with her bullshit. And every time I see her I have to think about Chase fucking her and it makes me wanna stab a bitch.”
JJ laughed louder as I broke into a sprint and yanked him around the side of the teacups, ducking down a walkway between food vendors then turning towards a bunch of the smaller attractions once I was fairly certain we’d lost her.
“Come on then, tell me what Fox did to make you slap him,” JJ said, looking around to make sure Rosie really was gone. I followed his gaze and wasn’t too bummed to realise we’d shaken our Harlequin tails too.
"Apparently Fox is done waiting for me to be his girl," I explained, glancing up at JJ to try and gauge his reaction on that.
"Oh?" he asked, giving nothing away so I went on.
"He err... told me he's ready to force my hand and then went on to prove it by finger banging me on the Ferris wheel until I was about three seconds away from coming - and then he stopped." I scowled and JJ barked a laugh, confusing the fuck out of me.
"So he's trying to push you into making the decision by refusing you orgasms?"
"You're not mad about that?" I asked, arching a brow at him and JJ licked his lips, glancing over my head before jerking his chin towards a tent with a sign for fortune telling outside it. He lifted the flaps and led the way inside just as I spotted a flash of Rosie’s bottle blonde hair again.
A woman dressed in draping shawls looked up at us with a smile as we stepped inside, waving her hands above a crystal ball which sat in the middle of a deep purple tablecloth which covered the table before her. "Welcome to Madame Mystery's cavern of-"
"Two hundred bucks for you to let me and my girl have some alone time in here for a bit," JJ interrupted her, pulling the cash from his pocket in offering.
"Two fifty," she replied, dropping the spooky lilt to her tone and smirking at us.
"Done." JJ tossed her the cash and she snatched it up from the table before grabbing a pack of smokes and heading towards a back exit. “Just don't leave cum stains on my tablecloth," she warned and then we were alone.
I fell apart laughing and JJ smirked wickedly as he caught my hips and began backing me up towards the table in question.
"So you were telling me about how Fox couldn't get you off," he prompted, his eyes glinting with amusement as my laughter fell away.
"Well, he certainly enjoyed getting me close," I grumbled, my gaze raking over JJ's features as my mood turned more serious. "I think we need to tell Fox about us."
JJ stilled, frowning down at me as my ass bumped against the table and the crystal ball fell from its stand, rolling away from us before falling to the ground.
"I've been thinking about this a lot actually. Especially since you, me and Chase almost hooked up,” he said.
"Chase?" I asked, my mind spinning even more at the addition of his name to the conversation, especially as JJ lifted my ass and placed me on the table beneath him.
"Yeah. And Rick. I mean, it makes sense really, doesn't it? You never wanted to choose between us and I'm pretty sure you liked it when me and Rick both fucked you together." JJ's hand slid between my thighs and he groaned as he felt how wet I was. My panties were fucking drenched between Fox's torture sessions and now him being so fucking close to me and I sighed at the relief of JJ’s touch on my flesh.
"That was seriously hot," I agreed, biting my lip as JJ dragged the material of my panties aside and began lazily stroking his fingers around my entrance, making me shudder for him.
"It was," he agreed. "But that wasn't all it was about, was it? I mean yeah, the sex is fucking mind-blowing and watching you take Maverick’s cock with mine was like living out every fantasy I'd never even known I had. But it's not about us just fucking, is it? It's about all of it. All of us."
"Yes," I panted as he continued to torture me, his fingers drifting up to my clit and teasing it cruelly before he went back to circling my opening again.
"And the more I think about it. You and me and them too, the more right it seems. The more I want it too. I was watching you kiss Fox out there and it turned me on so fucking much, pretty girl. I could see the way he made you feel, and I wanted to keep watching as he made you feel it. I like seeing you with them. When Chase refused to join in with us the other night, I can't tell you how fucking disappointed I was. I don't even really understand it myself, but you and me and them, it just makes sense."
"So you're not gonna freak out on me if me and Fox…"
JJ shook his head, pushing his shorts down so slowly that it could only have been designed to torture me.
"So long as I know you want me just as much," he growled, fisting the rigid length of his cock as he set it free and I moaned at the sight of it.
"You know I do," I panted, gripping the edge of the table and waiting for him to finish this torture.
"Then tonight we'll tell him and we'll make him understand it," JJ said in a deep voice, filled with lust. "But he isn't going to like it."
"I know," I agreed. "But we can't keep lying and-"
"And you can't keep fighting what you have with him," JJ finished for me, pressing his cock to my aching core and making me curse.
"Be rough with me, Johnny," I growled, fisting my hand in his shirt and dragging him closer so that I could reach his mouth.
"Whatever you want, pretty girl," he agreed with a wicked grin, slamming the full length of his dick into me with a savage thrust which had me swearing as the tension in my body was finally rewarded.
He gripped my hips roughly and I moaned as my achin
g pussy got what I'd been dying for as he drove himself inside me with brutal, punishing thrusts and I met every one of them with a demand for more.
"We need to hurry," I gasped, my fingernails biting into the back of JJ's neck as I held on for dear life while he did exactly what I'd asked and slammed his cock into me in the best fucking way.
"I got you, pretty girl," JJ promised and as his mouth captured mine again, I forgot about hurrying or being quiet or any of the things I should have given a shit about. Because the feeling of Johnny James's body taking possession of mine was just about the best feeling in the entire fucking world and I was loving every filthy second of it.
I went to meet my dad around the back of the haunted house and found him leaning against the black wall with a grim expression on his face. He always came here with some of his friends and they drank the afternoon away over in one of the beer tents. He didn’t look particularly drunk, but I often couldn’t tell with him.
“Sorry to ruin your day, son, but I just got word Shawn has an arms shipment coming in from the sea,” Luther said as a ghoulish cackling carried from within the haunted house, followed by a scream. “One of my men got a tracker on the boat before it left a dock further up the coast.” He handed me a piece of paper and gave me an intent look. “I want the men on that boat dealt with and the shipment brought home.”
I nodded, scrubbing a hand over the stubble on my jaw in frustration. “Right now?”
“Right now,” he confirmed and I sighed. This was meant to be my day with Rogue, the start of us officially getting on track. I’d wanted to push her into facing what we were to each other before she had to face the reality of Chase’s exile.
For fuck’s sake, couldn’t we have one day of peace in this town? I’d wanted to make a few good memories today before the inevitable bomb went off in my face tonight. Because as soon as Rogue and JJ found out I’d sent Chase away again, they were gonna lose their fucking shit at me. I was already trying to figure out how I was gonna do damage control on what was coming. It wasn’t like I hadn’t been straight with them. From the moment he’d come home, I’d told them all exactly how it was gonna be, but was that gonna make the slightest bit of difference? Hell fucking no.
I turned to leave but Luther gripped my shoulder and turned me back, his features lined with tension. “Take a strong unit, Fox. There’s several men on that boat and I’d rather you went overprepared than got caught off guard. Especially with the amount of weapons I hear is in that shipment.”
“Alright,” I promised, feeling marginally better that at least this would be a decent strike against Shawn. I was going to pack up his guns and take them home to my own army, ready to be wielded against him instead.
Luther took a moment to load a GPS app on my phone and linked it to the tracker that showed the boat’s location still a fair way out to sea.
“I’ll swing by the clubhouse when it’s done,” I said.
He nodded, letting me go and I headed back off into the crowded carnival to look for JJ and Rogue. I knew she’d wanna stay when me and JJ left and would probably be pissed as fuck if I tried to make her go home. The place was swarming with Harlequins so I wasn’t too worried about leaving her here, I’d just make sure there were eyes on her at all times.
I headed back to the place where I’d last seen them, taking out my phone and trying to call JJ, but there was no answer. They were probably on a ride, so I started hunting the exit lanes around me, expecting to see her and JJ appearing from one at any moment. Instead, my eyes locked on Rosie as she jogged out of an exit from the waltzers with Jake and a couple of their dull friends in tow.
“Hey,” I barked at her and her head snapped around, her large eyebrows jumping up. I did not get the eyebrow trend with girls lately, it was like they were competing to see who could balance the biggest hairy caterpillars on their face. She smiled, hurrying over to me like an obedient puppy and I folded my arms, disliking having her this close, especially after how I’d heard she’d reacted to Chase’s scars.
“I’m looking for JJ and Rogue, have you seen them?” I asked.
“Maybe,” she said, fluttering her lashes and reaching out to touch my arm. I looked down at where her hand lay on my skin with a sneer.
“Well have you, or haven’t you?” I bit out.
I realised she was drunk as she swayed a little closer and I scented the cider on her breath.
“You look tense,” she said huskily, running her fingers higher up my arm. “Do you want to go and talk somewhere more private?”
“I’d rather eat rusty nails, sweetheart,” I said dryly, peeling her hand off of me and dropping it so her arm flopped to her side.
She pouted, her lip-glossed lips sticking together. “Well I’m not going to tell you then.”
She tried to turn her back on me and the audacity of this girl made me snarl. I caught a fistful of the god awful frilly dress she was wearing and shoved her against the nearest trashcan which was shaped like a frog. The mouth was wide and gaping, big enough to swallow her whole as her hair cascaded into it and maybe it would if she didn’t spill their location in the next five seconds.
She shrieked like I’d punched her and the noise grated against my eardrums.
“Don’t ever turn your back on me,” I warned and she nodded frantically.
“S-sorry,” she stammered, fear filling her eyes as she finally sobered up enough to realise she’d made a grave mistake in fucking with me.
“And?” I demanded.
“U-um, and I’m s-sorry Mr Harlequin, sir,” she sputtered.
I’d meant I wanted the information, but alright. It was actually kind of fun getting a little revenge on this bitch, so I decided to go a bit further with what she’d started. “It’s Prince Harlequin to you. And I think you forgot to bow to me.”
I released her, stepping back and jerking my head in an order to do it.
We’d gathered a pretty sizeable audience and a couple of assholes were recording which just meant her humiliation would spread through Sunset Cove within the hour. Perfect.
She stood upright from the trash can and I noticed a half sucked lollipop stuck in her hair alongside several pieces of popcorn and a grotty looking tissue.
“I’m waiting,” I growled and she bent her knees a little, bowing her head as she trembled. “Lower.”
Her knees continued to bend.
“Lower,” I insisted and she went all the way down, kneeling in the dirt with her head bowed. “Keep going.”
She lay her hands down on the ground, flattening herself to it and a snort of amusement escaped me. But I couldn’t stand around here all day.
“Where’s JJ and Rogue?” I growled.
“They went into the fortune teller’s tent, Prince Harlequin,” she said with a sob.
“Good. Oh and P.S. you have shit in your hair, I’d get that out before someone sees.” I walked away from her, the crowd parting quickly for me as I headed in the direction of the tent and laughter rang out behind me. I hadn’t really had time for that, but Rosie had been asking for it and I was tired of her bullshit.
“Free shot, Mr Harlequin?” a vendor offered me on the strong man game and I grabbed the mallet from his hands, unable to resist as I whacked it down on the target and the puck shot up like a bullet, slamming into the top of the tower so the bell went off.
“Ah perfect!” the guy cried. “Which animal do you want?” He pointed to the row of teddies hanging behind him on a rack and I smirked as I saw a badger. “That one.”
He passed it over and I kept walking, knowing Rogue was gonna fucking love this thing. I passed by a guy with long matted hair and some fishing nets wrapped around him as he waved a jar of seashells at a couple of women. “A dollar for a magic seashell!” he called to them and I frowned as I looked closer at him. Is that Carnival Bill? “It’ll grant your wishes,” he said enticingly and they stepped closer. “Mmm, I can tell you’re wishing for a big juicy corndog, aren’t you lovey?”
/> “I am kind of hungry,” the girl agreed as she plucked a seashell from his jar.
He suddenly opened his arms so the fishing nets parted, revealing his naked cock poking out beneath his ragged brown t-shirt. It had a stick taped to it and it was smothered in ketchup.
“Here’s your corndog!” he cried and the girls screamed, running for their lives as he chased after them, dropping seashells everywhere from his jar.
“Jesus,” I muttered, wishing I could scour that image from my mind forever, but it looked like it was here to stay.
I headed up to the fortune teller’s tent with the badger toy in my grip, wishing I didn’t have to call this day short already. But I’d make it up to Rogue as soon as I could.
A soft moan reached my ears and I frowned, a prickle running up my neck as a horrible feeling of foreboding washed over me.
I pulled the curtain aside and stepped into the low-lit space, my brain taking two long, torturous seconds to catch up to what I was seeing before me.
I came to a halt, staring at JJ as he fucked my girl where she perched on a table, his shorts around his ankles and his face buried in her neck. She was moaning for him, gasping his name and urging him to go harder and he came with a hard thrust as her nails tore into his back and she followed him into ecstasy with a loud cry.
The badger toy slipped from my fingers to the floor as Rogue’s eyes opened and her gaze crashed into mine.
My heart combusted, utterly obliterated just like that. One second I’d been fine, the next I was in the deepest realm of hell that existed.
“Fox,” she gasped.
No.
“Are you kidding me, pretty girl? It’s JJ,” my brother growled as he pulled his dick out of the woman I loved and tugged his shorts up. She stared unblinkingly at me as she shoved her skirt down to cover her legs. “Or Johnny James, the best fuck you’ve ever had, the guy who always rails you into next week, king of the D, you can pick any of those re-” Rogue punched him in the chest to shut him up and shoved his face around to look at me.
Carnival Hill (The Harlequin Crew Book 3) Page 44