Carnival Hill (The Harlequin Crew #3) - Caroline Peckham Page 0,4

gonna talk, do it elsewhere.”

“Rogue!” JJ called out as we lifted a large door between us and threw it aside. Okay so maybe it was one percent easier working with them, but that didn’t mean I was any less inclined to shoot them when I was done here.

“Can you hear me, baby?!” Fox yelled. “I’m coming, just hold on.”

“You know Chase is down there too, right?” I muttered. “Though I guess you don’t give a shit about him anymore now he’s not your little bro.”

“Chase?” JJ breathed in horror as Fox stared at me like he was trying to work out if I was just messing with them.

“Me and him came here together.” I shrugged.

“You did?” Luther asked in surprise.

“Yeah, we had some common business to take care of that’s all.”

“Chase!” JJ bellowed in alarm as he put his back into the work. “Rogue!”

“Fuck.” Fox scraped a palm down his face, his terror clear as he continued digging and I clenched my jaw as I helped.

The dog yapped furiously and that was all the encouragement I needed to produce fuel for my muscles. I was either gonna find my girl somewhere here or we were digging our way into a food store which the dog wanted to raid.

I guessed I was going to find out soon enough, because I wasn’t going to stop until I reached the very bottom of the devastation and found my lost girl in its depths.

I coughed as the dust and darkness swirled around me, my mouth unbearably dry and making my tongue swell as every piece of my body ached from the position I was stuck in.

Trapped. Alone. Unable to move and pinned beneath tons and tons of rubble while the sounds of it groaning and shifting above me filled me with fear that it might all come crashing down again.

My breaths came faster, harsher and I started to cough more as the dust lodged in my lungs and panic tried to take hold of me. I was going to die down here alone. Stuck. After I'd sworn to myself I'd never let myself become trapped in any situation ever again, here I was, literally confined to a box smaller than a coffin with no way out.

"We're going out, sugarpie. Clean yourself up. I won't have my girl looking like some freshly fucked slut for all the world to see."

Shawn yanked his dick out of me with a smirk, slapping the side of my thigh as he enjoyed the view from his knees and tugged the condom off.

I just watched him, the fuzziness in my head closing in as I turned his words around in my brain and tried to feel something about them. I was a freshly fucked slut though, wasn't I? His freshly fucked slut. That was exactly how he liked me and yet he hated it too. It was kinda hard to win in that situation.

I rolled off the bed and headed into the bathroom, turning the water on in the shower and waiting for it to heat up as I looked at myself in the mirror. Steam began to cloud my reflection, so I reached out with my finger and painted an X over each of my eyes.

My mind trailed away for a moment as I considered running. I considered running a lot. But where would I run to? I couldn't take anything with me if I ran or Shawn would hunt me down and gut me for stealing from him. So I'd be penniless and friendless and I remembered what sleeping rough tasted like.

It was a constant state of fear, the desperate need to close your eyes and the worry of what might happen when I did. It was hunger and shivering and being even more alone than I was here. Because at least here I had Shawn. And for all his faults, he kept me safe, warm and fed. Out there was a jungle built of concrete and broken dreams where desperation made monsters out of everyone and fear was a way of life.

This was better than that. I had food and running water and a man who wanted me.

This was better than that. I reminded myself of that every time I considered running and I soon forgot the idea.

I stepped into the shower and sucked in a breath between my teeth as the water burned me, but I didn't make a move to turn the dial. I wanted to burn. I needed to feel it on the outside