Devil's Pass (The Harlequin Crew #.5) - Caroline Peckham Page 0,7

made me think he might mean something a whole lot bigger of a deal than some dumb tattoos.

Maverick seemed to realise that we shouldn't really be joking about that and dropped the smirk.

"You do know all four of us are in love with you, right?" he murmured, his hand shifting to my cheek. "One day you'll have to choose between us."

"I won't," I disagreed, shaking my head because the mere suggestion of that was unthinkable. Me and the boys would be together forever, it was written into our souls. I couldn't pick between them any more than I could pick between stars in the sky. "All of us belong together. I wouldn't do that."

"You will," he said, a sad smile touching his lips as he pulled his hand back again and I didn't know if I wanted him to keep away or touch me more. "And that will be the end of it all. This little bubble of perfect we're living in dashed to pieces by that choice."

"I love all of you," I said more firmly.

"Yeah," he agreed. "But one day I think you'll love one of us more than the others. And I'm kinda hoping it'll be me."

I winced at the sound of my dad shouting at my momma downstairs and pushed to my feet, kicking on my worn sneakers.

The thing I'd learned from being my dad's kid was that being too small to fight back meant you'd better get good at running fast. I'd filled out more this last year than I had in the past five and shot up half a foot too. Now I looked my dad in the eye, but I still couldn't pack a punch like he could.

"He's a lazy piece of shit, just like you," my dad slurred.

It was late, and he was drunk. Didn't make a whole lot of difference whether it was eight pm or eight am. He was always drinking and when he wasn't drinking, he was either sleeping or crying.

Things hadn't been so bad when I was younger before he got laid off work. Me and Momma would spend time together, play on the beach and build castles in the sand. We didn't do that so much anymore. Now that he was home all the time, he got jealous if she spoke to me more than him. I didn't know what he expected me to do. I was her kid, not her fucking boyfriend. But my dad didn't like it when the attention wasn't all on him and his depression.

We barely scraped by on the occasional jobs Dad took down at the harbour and he refused to let Momma work even though she was far more able than he was. I didn't need his charity anymore though. I got by stealing, taking what I needed to fill my belly and Momma's too whenever I could. But I could never risk bringing food home when he was here. He took it as a fucking insult upon his manhood. But if he was such a man, maybe he should have provided for his damn family.

I grabbed a bag, stuffing some clothes in it along with my phone and keys before pushing out the door and creeping quietly onto the landing. My gut clenched as Dad's voice filled the house once more, his dominating aura seeping everywhere, right down to the peeling wallpaper.

"He's a good for nothin', worthless cunt," Dad growled and my spine straightened, hate inching through my blood. "I shoulda punched you in the stomach to rid us of that burden livin' upstairs, leechin' off of us. We were happy before he came along.”

"Just leave him alone, Michael," Momma urged, a quaver of fear in her voice.

I loved her for those words, but sometimes I hated her for how little she really stood up to him. She talked a good game about loving me, but when it came down to it, she never physically tried to stop him. Once upon a time, I'd begged her to leave him until my throat was raw, even considered running myself. But then I thought of abandoning her to him and I just...couldn't. So I comforted myself with the fact that one day I'd be big enough and strong enough to take him on myself. And one day he'd regret not killing me when he had the chance.

I crept downstairs quietly, praying for the shadows to cling to me and keep me hidden. The house was small, just an old wooden house on the