Devil's Pass (The Harlequin Crew #.5) - Caroline Peckham Page 0,13

an empty beer bottle on the floor as he reached down and caught my ankle and I swung it at his head. The damn thing didn't even break, it just bounced off of his thick skull with a dull thunk and he snatched it from me before launching it across the room.

I kicked him again but he barely even grunted, picking me up and carrying me over to the coffee table before the fire where he threw me down on my back and pain exploded up my spine.

I was so fixed on trying to reach for something to use to fight him off that I hardly even noticed him forcing his hips between my thighs as he reared over me. But as his hand grabbed at my panties and ripped them aside, I screamed unlike I ever had in my entire life.

He moved over me, unfastening his fly and I launched myself at him, my forehead colliding with his nose as I swung my head forward and spilled his blood over both of us.

Axel reared back with a cry of pain and I lunged towards the fire, grabbing hold of the poker and swinging it towards him as hard as I fucking could with a roar of rage and terror.

There was a sickening crack as it connected with his temple and his eyes went wide as his jaw fell slack, the metal embedded in his skull.

Axel fell forwards and I screamed again as his weight slammed down on top of me, but he wasn't moving anymore.

I cursed and kicked and shoved him off of me, scrambling to my feet and ripping the poker back out of his skull before swinging it down again and again making more blood fly before finally releasing it and staggering back against the bloodstained wall, shaking and crying.

The heavy silence that fell told me he was dead, but I didn't know what that meant. I didn't know what I was supposed to do about it. I couldn’t call the cops. No one in Sunset Cove ever called the cops if they knew what was good for them. Besides, Axel was a Harlequin. I couldn’t let anyone find out I’d just killed one of the members of the most bloodthirsty gangs in the entire state, I might as well sign my own execution notice.

I reached for my pocket before remembering it wasn't there, hunting for my cell phone on instinct to call my boys. They were who I needed. They'd know what to do.

I was trembling all over as adrenaline and shock coursed through me uncontrollably.

I scrambled back outside and hunted around for my cell phone, glancing at the houses down the street and thinking for a moment that I saw a shadow move by the group home again.

I dismissed it as my mind playing tricks on me and went back to my hunt, tasting blood as I realised my lip was busted and the pain of my injuries began to set in.

I spotted my cell phone on the sidewalk and moved to grab it, checking it wasn't broken before stumbling back to Axel's house as I tried to adjust my torn panties to cover me up better.

I was shaking so much that I could barely even open up my contacts as I stepped back into the house with the corpse of the man I'd just killed, the scent of weed and beer and blood hanging thickly in the air.

But I just needed my boys.

The Harlequin boys would fix it for me.

They always had my back.

They'd know what to do.

I woke to my phone buzzing under my pillow and I pushed my hand beneath it, blinking awake and wondering if the guys were out at Sinners' Playground for the night. We hadn’t been up to the abandoned amusement park on the old pier for a few days, so I wouldn’t be surprised to find out one of them had decided to head up there.

I found Rogue's name staring at me with the little surfer girl emoji she'd added beside it and my heart thundered excitedly as I hit answer.

"Hey, hummingbird," I said, my voice rough from sleep.

"Fox," she gasped and I sat up instantly, certain she was crying and my mind slammed into overdrive.

"What's wrong?" I demanded, already pushing out of bed, tugging on the jeans I'd discarded on the floor.

"I didn't mean to - but then I did and - and, it all just happened so fast. And he was hurting me, I just-"

"Who was