Devil's Pass (The Harlequin Crew #.5) - Caroline Peckham Page 0,39

dragging me towards the bushes where he and Chase had hidden their bikes. "There's an old lodge up on Devil’s Pass that I found last summer. It won't let the rain in and no one knows about it."

I nodded in acceptance as thunder crashed in the distance again and the cold air tugged at my hair. The storm would hit soon and I didn't want to be caught out in it.

JJ got on his bike and waited for me to climb on the back, standing on the pegs which he'd had fitted to his back wheel so that he could take a passenger.

Chase scowled up at the sky through the trees before grabbing his own bike and the three of us took off, me clinging onto JJ's shoulders as he peddled hard and fast down the street, away from the crypt, racing down street after street until we were coming up on the cliffs that overlooked the bay. He swerved left, up the road towards Devil's Pass. No one went that way anymore, the old road which ran right along the edge of the cliff had been closed years ago after a rockslide had sent four cars crashing down to the sea below and taken a chunk of the road out with it. It had been condemned and a new road built to avoid it and no one sane ever went near it.

JJ didn't slow as he approached the concrete bollards which had been placed across the road to stop access to the Pass, weaving between them and standing up on his pedals as the hill began to rise steeply ahead of us.

I looked back at Chase who gave me a tight smile as he concentrated on peddling up the hill. I had no idea how JJ was managing with me on the back, but the two of them had to bike everywhere and they usually ended up cycling for an hour or more a day, so they were used to it I guessed. I usually took my skateboard if Rick or Fox couldn't pick me up but between the four guys, I often had some form of ride from place to place.

No one came this way anymore and the tarmac was pitted and speckled with lumps of grass and moss that were trying to take over. And I couldn't blame people for avoiding it - the higher we rode up the cliffside, the bigger the drop to our left got and with the howling wind from the incoming storm blowing around us I was starting to get seriously concerned about getting swept right over the edge and tumbling down to the rocks that lined the bay below.

JJ lurched to the left and I stifled a scream as he rode us along the chunk of road which had been left behind by the rockslide, a huge crater carved out of the cliff to our right and an impossible fall promising death way too freaking close for my liking.

My fingernails were gouging crescents into JJ's skin by the time we finally made it to the top of the hill and the first fat drops of rain began to spill from the sky.

JJ swerved off of the old road onto an exposed bluff where the wind threw my hair over my face as we rode across the grass and he didn't stop until we came up on a dilapidated wooden shack.

JJ skidded to a halt and I jumped off of the bike before he dropped it to the grass and tugged me over to the shack, giving the swollen door a kick to get it to open.

"It's not much,” he said apologetically, glancing around at the near empty space which reeked of mildew and had graffiti scrawled over the walls.

There was a stool which looked close to collapsing and a few manky looking blankets in a corner which suggested someone had slept here once, but they didn't look clean and I had no plans to touch them.

"It's fine," I said, turning away from the less than appealing surroundings as the rain began to fall harder against the roof. "At least it's dry, like you said. And you'll be back soon. All of you."

"You know it, pretty girl," JJ promised while Chase lingered by the door, seeming lost for words.

I threw my arms around JJ, crushing him against me as I tried not to cry, fear making me imagine all kinds of horrific things that Luther could have planned for them. But Fox