Devil's Pass (The Harlequin Crew #.5) - Caroline Peckham Page 0,30

her hip against mine.

"Come on, Ace," she begged as I refused to join in, folding my arms as I finished up my cigarette. "I'm trying to forget what happened tonight and I need you to squat and crab dance with me."

"You're not gonna get me acting like a crab," I said, flicking my butt over the edge of the pier and pursing my lips at her.

"Too late for that, you've been Mr Crabs all night," she said, snapping her finger/pincers at me.

"I'm not Mr Crabs," I muttered, frowning.

She stood upright at last, moving forward and reaching up to smooth the crease out of my brow before trailing her fingers down to the bruise on my jaw. "Is this why?"

I tried to push down the lump in my throat as I shook my head stiffly.

"Then what?" she breathed, a V forming between her eyes. "Is it because of...what you did for me?"

"No," I growled, capturing her hand and immediately kissing the tips of her fingers without thinking that move through. But I didn't regret it, because regardless of Maverick and her, and however that shit made me feel, I would never have taken back what I'd done for her tonight. "I'd cast a hundred bodies into the ocean for you, little one."

"You can tell me whatever it is," she swore. "There's nothing in the world we can't share with each other. Remember when I thought I was dying because I got my first period? And you took me to the clinic and brought those maxi pad pee catcher thingys your mom uses and I put like four in my panties?"

I snorted. "Yeah, that was a weird day."

"Totally weird," she agreed, her cheeks colouring a little as she giggled. "And we shall never speak of it again. But I swear I can handle any shit you're going through. Is it a dick thing? I definitely don't have much peen-formation to go on, but I am all ears and zero judgement."

I shook my head, breathing another laugh as she caught my hand and squeezed it. I could feel the words welling up in my throat. Part of me wanted to confront her, to hear her confirm that she'd chosen Maverick once and for all. But I also knew it would be more painful than seeing it with my own eyes. And maybe I wanted to hold onto the peace in our group just a little longer. Until the truth came spilling out like oil and polluted everything we'd built together.

I'd known this day had been coming, but I just hadn't been ready for her to choose anyone other than me. Fuck, should I have acted sooner? Should I have tried to tell her how I felt, shown her how much I cared before Maverick had staked his claim? I'd considered it a thousand times, but I always came back to the same fear. I didn't have shit to offer Rogue. I couldn't buy her flowers or take her to nice places. She was the sort of girl who deserved the good stuff. And I'd hoped that maybe one day I'd have enough in my pocket to treat her right. That maybe I'd have had time to become someone before I lost her. But now it was all fucked and I was out of the running before I'd even had a couple of dollars to rub together. I wanted to hate her for that. But I didn't. I loved her like I loved nothing and no one else. I would've done anything just to fucking...

I pulled her closer, tugging hard enough to make her stumble and cursing myself internally, but testosterone was raging in me and demanding I do something. Anything to just make her see how much she meant to me.

"Woah, watch it Hulk, you're stronger than you realise these days," she teased.

"Do you like that?" I blurted and I swear a fire literally started on the back of my neck. Fuck. My. Life.

"What?" she snorted. "The Hulk? I'm more of a Batman girl myself."

"They're not even the same world. Batman's DC and Hulk's Marvel." Why am I talking about superheroes right now??

"You just spoke Latin to me, dude," she said with a smirk. "So, what's the Green Power Ranger? Is he Marvel or DC?"

"What?" I shook my head, totally losing my line of thought. "He's not either of those fucking things," I snapped, getting angry as I couldn't manage to align my thoughts and say what I really wanted to say. What