Devil's Pass (The Harlequin Crew #.5) - Caroline Peckham Page 0,26
wanted to say something reassuring like the fact that things wouldn't change. But deep down, I knew they would. I just hoped they'd change for the better. I really did plan on having my friends around me forever, but I also planned on me making it big somehow. Getting money and setting ourselves up. But we all knew our little bubble was going to pop eventually. Most likely when Rogue either decided she wanted one of us, or someone else. The idea of her picking anyone was painful, but someone outside of the group was unthinkable. I wanted to keep our bubble unpopped for as long as humanely possible. But time just kept slipping away.
"I'm gonna go grab those snacks we stashed behind the slot machines," Chase announced, pushing the blanket back and getting up.
He headed away and silence fell between us, the heat of Rogue's body calling to me on a primal level. I hated that puberty was being a royal dick to me lately. My friends were shooting up all around me, and though I was the same height as Rogue, I still felt like I was getting dwarfed by Maverick with his bulk, Fox with his height and Chase with his ever-thickening arms. The more I worked out, the skinnier I seemed to get. Though I was the only one of us who could claim to have abs because of it. So there was that. But I'd seen the way Rogue had started appreciating the guy's bodies when we went surfing. And she was growing too. In places I liked fantasising about way too fucking much. I swear we'd all noticed she'd got tits long before she had.
Rogue snuggled down under the blanket and tugged my hand to draw me with her, curling up with her knees brushing mine, our heads angled towards one another.
"Remember when we scared Chase shitless when we hid in the teacups that time?" she said.
I snorted a laugh as I nodded. We'd waited there for over an hour for him to arrive and jumped out, spraying whipped cream all over him. He'd punched me so hard in the nose, he'd almost fucking broken it. But it had been so worth it. We'd tried it on Maverick and Fox the next time and they'd just cocked their heads like they knew we'd been there the whole time. I swear they could telepathically communicate sometimes too. Maverick would just wiggle his eyebrows and Fox would twitch his nose and they'd know exactly what each other meant. They might not have been blood brothers, but their souls were connected in some way that I'd always admired.
We all had our ways with each other like that though, our own special friendships that were as deep as theirs. It had been like that for so many years, that I'd taken it for granted for way too long. Tonight had reminded me of how easily the world could end. One minute you were perving on underage girls and the next minute five kids were throwing you into the ocean as shark bait. Sucked balls for him.
But maybe that was karma or God or divine intervention or some shit. I'd once read a book where the characters had been slaves to the stars and the twinkly bastards just kept fucking with their fates again and again until their lives were destroyed. I hoped real life wasn't like that. I'd seen a lot of miserable shits in my time and I didn't wanna become one of them. Old people just seemed so unhappy all the time in this town. I was never gonna grow into someone who didn't have a smile on their face. No fucking chance. And if fate wanted to fuck me, then it had better bring a rubber and some lube, because I was going to at least make a good time of it.
"We should get him in the morning," I said. "Maybe I can find a spider to put on his face."
She giggled but then her eyes dimmed and she shook her head. "He's had a shit night. Did you see his bruises?"
"How could I miss them?" I muttered, my jaw tightening.
I hated his asshole dad. I'd offered to let Chase stay with me countless times, but my place wasn't exactly a sanctuary, though my mom didn't care who I had over. So long as he could put up with the sex noises and the crack smoke seeping through the walls, I always had an open