Sinners' Playground (The Harlequin Crew #1) - Caroline Peckham Page 0,116

JJ grumbled as we pushed ourselves upright and hurried to look over the edge. Maverick was nowhere in sight, but a long rappelling rope hung all the way down to the ground where he'd jumped.

"Fuck!" Fox roared, scraping a hand through his hair as the wind tore around us. He'd orchestrated this whole fucking thing. Ruthlessly killed eight of our men. "He's dead," Fox promised, like he'd done so a thousand times before. And I knew that this only ended one way. It was Maverick or us. And it was time we made sure it wasn’t us.

W hen the boys stumbled back into the house in the early hours of the morning bloodstained and dark-eyed, I watched them in silence from the top of the stairs with my heart in my mouth.

I knew where they'd gone tonight, even if they hadn't wanted me to know. It was a turf war with Maverick's gang and I could tell from one look at them that they'd paid the price for it in blood.

Chase stalked across the kitchen and grabbed a bottle of rum from the cupboard before heading away again with a curse.

"Do you want me to look at it?" Fox asked, though I couldn't see him from my vantage point.

"Nah. I'm a big boy. A few stiff drinks and a smoke and I'll forget all about it," Chase replied dismissively.

"I'm going to wash the blood out of my hair," JJ said a moment later. "I can't sleep with the stench of death in the air anyway."

My heart leapt at that suggestion and I chewed on my bottom lip as I wondered who had been killed, my mind moving to Maverick, the one piece of my past I still hadn't laid eyes on since returning here. They were fighting his gang and had clearly been on the front lines themselves. Had he been there too? Was he somewhere washing blood from his skin or was there a possibility that I'd just lost any chance to see him ever again? My heart dipped at the idea and I was suddenly breathing far too heavily. I didn’t wanna admit I was panicking, but there were a bunch of kamikaze butterflies in my stomach right now who begged to differ.

I scurried away as JJ approached the stairs, slipping back into my room a moment before I heard him step onto the landing.

My mind scrambled with the need for answers and I tried to decide what I was supposed to do. Should I just get back into bed and pretend I'd never heard them come home? Or let them assume I had and didn't care to find out whether any of them had been hurt or not?

My gut twisted at the mere suggestion of that and I was struck with the desire to check.

I pulled my door open just as JJ closed his and I hesitated, looking towards the stairs where the low murmur of Chase and Fox's voices carried to me. Between the two of them, I was certain Chase wouldn't welcome my concern and Fox would read too much into it. But JJ was different. I knew I should have been just as angry at him as the others, but somehow it was harder to maintain that rage with him. Plus, I trusted him to be straight with me. Or at least just outright refuse to give me an answer instead of placating me with half truths or complete lies.

I crossed the hall in my oversized red band tee which I was pretty sure actually belonged to J anyway and knocked softly on his door.

There was no response and as I leaned closer to the wood, the sound of running water called to me from beyond it. I pursed my lips, knowing I should probably turn back, talk to one of the others instead or at least wait for him to finish showering, but instead I twisted the handle and slipped inside.

JJ's room was dark, a single lamp switched on beside the open door to the bathroom. His curtains were drawn over the view of the mountains and the almond oil scent of him enveloped me as I pressed the door closed behind me and tried to decide what I should do.

The lights weren't on in the bathroom either and for a moment I was almost certain I heard a heavy sigh over the sound of running water.

I padded across the carpet on bare feet and paused in the glow of light from the