Sinners' Playground (The Harlequin Crew #1) - Caroline Peckham Page 0,13

the one to mention her. She was like the Harlequin ghost who haunted us from time to time, summoned by name alone like Bloody Mary. Instead of stabbing you in the back though, she kicked you in the nuts and punched you in the heart simultaneously.

The song ended and Chase unplugged my phone before he lit up another smoke.

Thump.

I stilled at the noise which had definitely just come from the trunk of the car.

Thump, thump.

I swivelled in my seat while Fox sat forward, his eyes pinned on Chase who was acting like he hadn’t heard that shit.

“Chase…” Fox said, his tone filled with warning. “Who’s in the trunk?”

Chase took a long drag on his cigarette, avoiding the question for a few more seconds while whoever was in there started thrashing and shouting against a gag. “Well…remember that guy Fritz? I happened to pass him by on my way over here and figured, what the fuck? Let’s kill two birds with one stone tonight.”

“This isn’t one stone,” Fox snarled. “I had a plan to deal with Fritz, you know we don’t double up jobs, especially when they’re not fucking planned. That’s how shit turns bad. That’s how idiots get caught.”

I groaned, kicking the back of Chase’s chair. Why tonight? When I was riding a high and ready to go to bed with a tube of lube and a smile on my face?

Fritz had raped a girl who worked at my club a few days ago. He was some creep who’d wandered into town last month, but we hadn’t taken any real notice of him until he’d shown his true colours and touched one of my girls. His death was written, but even in Sunset Cove you didn’t get away with murder without a little planning. The fact that Chase had picked him up without okaying it with Fox was as good as pissing on our code. It wasn’t fucking right.

“Jesus, Chase,” I muttered. “Are you outta your mind?”

“I saw an opportunity and I fucking took it,” Chase argued, blowing out a lungful of smoke as he took a turning at high speed. “I don’t see the problem.”

Fox was eerily quiet and that wasn’t good. Not good at all.

“Next left,” Fox bit out after a few more turns. We were taking the cliff roads back to the lower quarter, the winding tracks rarely used since the highway had been finished a few years back. This place was a dead zone and though I just wanted to head home and celebrate our win, it looked like I was gonna have to get my hands dirty tonight.

“Come on, man, we’ll just cut his dick off and drive the message home, what’s the problem?” Chase asked Fox and I scrubbed a hand over my face. Dumbass was gonna pay for this. He never learned.

“The point is, we do shit by the book for a reason,” Fox hissed, his cut-from-stone features twisting into something demonic instead of angelic. “We don’t wing shit. That’s what keeps us out of prison, what keeps your life fucking sweet.”

“It’s no big deal,” Chase growled furiously. “No one’s gonna see us out here.”

“Well you’d better hope not,” Fox said in a low voice. “Pull over.”

Chase slammed on the brake and dust flew up behind the car as it skidded along the track a few feet before jerking to a halt. Fox practically flew out of the car and I dove out just as fast, jumping in between him and Chase as Fox bared his teeth, looking ready to teach him a lesson before we even dealt with the guy in the trunk.

Two walls of muscle pressed in on me as Chase didn’t back down even though Fox looked like he was about to go all Ted Bundy on his ass.

“Stop,” I demanded and they both listened as I looked between them. I was the voice of reason whenever these two butted heads. They were unshakeable brothers ninety nine percent of the time, but Chase liked to test Fox’s boundaries on occasion. And if I wasn’t there to break it up, blood was inevitably spilled. “We have to deal with Fritz. There’s no choice now.” I fixed Fox with a glare and his jaw flexed.

I cupped his rough cheek, keeping his gaze on mine and a grunt of irritation escaped him. He shoved away from me, stalking over to the trunk and popping it open. He reached inside, dragging Fritz out by the lapels of his denim vest and throwing him to