Devil's Pass (The Harlequin Crew #.5) - Caroline Peckham Page 0,22

get the body onboard and the rest of us hopped in the moment Axel's corpse fell to the floor.

The floodlights blared to life again a few moments later and Fox set about untying the boat so that we could leave as Maverick jogged around the jetty and headed over to join us.

Chase took a seat and I dropped down beside him, his arm wrapping around my waist automatically as I leaned in and he released a long breath.

"What's up?" I whispered, peering up at him and making him look around at me too. He had the kind of eyes I could get lost in, so much dark and anguish and pain in them but so much life and hope too. He’d had too much bad in his life and sometimes I felt like every smile I could tease from him was more valuable than anything else in the world.

His chocolate brown hair curled naturally and he’d let it grow out over the last few months – probably in part because he was poor as dirt like me and couldn’t afford to get it cut and his mom just hadn’t bothered helping him out recently – but I found I liked the look on him. I reached up to push a bit of it behind his ear as the wind tossed it across his face, frowning at the fresh bruise on his jaw. I wanted to ask about it but he hated us mentioning the injuries he got at home, so we never did unless he chose to bring it up.

For a moment it looked like he was going to spill but then the boat rocked violently as Maverick leapt onboard and he just shrugged, his gaze moving from me to Rick and narrowing slightly.

"Let's just get rid of this motherfucker," Chase muttered, closing the subject and shutting me out. I hated when he did that, but it almost always had to do with his dad, so I got it.

Maverick took the seat on my other side, grabbing my knees and twisting my legs around so that he could pull them over his lap instead of me having to try and stop my toes from touching Axel’s body.

I gave him a grateful smile and turned fully, laying back in Chase's lap so that I was half on top of both of them, but they never minded me crowding their space, so I liked to do it as often as possible. Maybe it was because I hadn’t gotten enough hugs as a kid or maybe it was just because I could never get enough of my boys. Either way, it felt as natural as breathing to be close to them so that was what I did.

JJ took a seat opposite us and Fox started up the boat, slowly manoeuvring us out of the marina to keep the engine noise to a minimum.

I turned my gaze up to the silvery moon far above us, watching it peek through the clouds as the boat bobbed and swayed beneath us while Chase slowly moved his fingers through my hair and Maverick painted circles around my ankle with his fingertips.

Once the boat upped its speed and we were racing out into the ocean with spray flying up around us, I finally began to relax. We could deal with this. It was gonna be okay. Me and my boys against the world.

Fox kept going until Sunset Cove was just a twinkle of lights on the horizon and then cut the engine, getting to his feet as the boat bobbed on the waves.

"Maybe we should have brought some chum to attract the sharks," JJ muttered as he stood too and I pushed myself upright in my seat.

"He's plenty bloody, the sharks will sniff him out anyway," Chase reasoned.

"We've gotta stick holes in him so he doesn't float," Maverick announced, getting to his feet and unwrapping the tarp.

"That doesn't sound right," I muttered, my nose wrinkling at the sight of the body as I sat up.

"It is, beautiful, trust me." Rick gave me a wide grin and then snatched the metal poker from within the bloody towels while I tried not to look at Axel's face which still looked kinda shocked in death. Like he couldn’t believe that some big bad gangster could be taken out by some nothing girl he just wanted to fuck and forget. Well fuck him for underestimating me and I seriously hoped he was burning in hell right about now.

"Don't," JJ protested, reaching out