Devil's Pass (The Harlequin Crew #.5) - Caroline Peckham Page 0,9

tears as I stared after them and she threw me a look that said go.

My throat burned and everything inside me hurt far more than any of the bruises left on my flesh ever could. Sometimes I really did wanna run and never look back. Maybe she'd be better off here without me. Maybe I really was the cause of all their problems.

I released a heavy breath and forced myself to keep my head as I shoved out the back door, hurried around the house and unlocked the gate. I started riding down the road, peddling faster and faster as I worked to put as much distance between myself and that fucking house as I possibly could.

Fuck him. Fuck that deadbeat asshole who dared to call himself my father. He was nothing. Fucking nothing.

I longed to see my friends. The four people who were my real family. Fox, JJ, Maverick and Rogue. Especially Rogue. She was everything. She had always been everything. The centre of our world here in Sunset Cove. I just wanted the sun to rise and to spend the whole day on the beach with her and the others tomorrow. But I had hours to kill before then and I wasn't going back home tonight. So I raced down the quiet roads, past hookers on the streets, the scent of weed and bad deeds on the air as I took off into the night.

I started climbing the hill towards Rosewood Manor where the old lady lived on her sprawling estate. The place was a maze of trees and overgrown weeds and had become a little sanctuary we'd claimed for ourselves. She went to bed every night at ten pm sharp, but she didn’t mind us coming onto her property after she’d found me and Rogue sleeping in her summer house like hobos. She seemed to like us being here to be honest and I was always up for the snacks she gave out. Maybe she was kind, or as dumb as a brick, or maybe she liked seeing life outside her lonely little existence in that big old house. Whatever the reason, it sure as shit benefited us. And I was grateful to her, especially on nights like this when I seriously needed somewhere to disappear to. I’d make sure to pop by and mow her lawn again this weekend.

I turned off of the road up the quiet track that led through the trees, the hoot of an owl calling out somewhere above me. I followed the outer fence and circled the property until I reached the gap in it, dismounting from my bike and parking it up behind a large tree. A smile pulled at my mouth as I found Maverick's motorcycle there already too.

I squeezed through the gap where a bar was missing in the fence which I'd once been able to slip through so easily, but now it took a little more effort. On the other side, I followed the track through the weeds, jogging into the darkened trees before heading up to the old summer house. Mrs Rosewood never used this place anymore. It sat on the edge of an empty swimming pool that had algae growing up the sides of it and an inch of rainwater at the bottom.

The lights were on inside the little building and I grinned as I hurried forward to find Maverick, the relief of escaping my dad and being able to hang out with my friend making this whole shitty night seem miles better already.

But I fell still before I got there, my heart thumping unevenly as I frowned at what I was witnessing through the window. Maverick had his back to me, standing completely naked. My heart squeezed and I shook my head at the sight of Rogue standing just beyond him with her top off, her breasts exposed, her dark hair tumbling messily all over her shoulders. Her expression was full of something I knew well, because I'd felt it for her a thousand times. Lust.

And it hit me with the force of a fucking car crash what I was seeing.

She wanted Maverick. She'd chosen Maverick. After all these years. After me, Fox, JJ and him had all pined after her and she'd refused to see it. Refused to fucking acknowledge it. And here she was, making the choice we'd hope she'd all make for us. But now she was making it for him. For him.

I backed up until I couldn't see them anymore then