Sinners' Playground (The Harlequin Crew #1) - Caroline Peckham Page 0,131

pissed at me and one of them had a bloody nose, but I didn’t feel bad about it. It wasn’t my problem if they sucked at their jobs and hadn’t made sure Fox was the one driving his truck.

I got off and set Mutt free before striding right up to the man in charge, swaying my hips like I was on a runway wearing something stupidly hot instead of squelching along in a dude’s shirt while looking like a half drowned rat.

"Hey, Badger," I said lightly, brushing past him and heading through the front door.

I didn't stop as I walked inside, heading straight up to my en-suite for a hot shower, tossing my wet, borrowed shirt aside followed by my shorts and cap before stepping in.

I took my sweet time getting dressed in a cute blue sundress and drying my hair before I emerged from my room, And when I made my way back downstairs, I found Fox waiting for me in the kitchen, his jaw ticking and posture tense as he twisted a cell

phone in a shiny pink case between his fingers.

I hopped up to sit on the breakfast bar in front of him, smiling sweetly as I crossed my legs and balanced my toes on the stool beside his.

"This isn't working," he said slowly, his gaze staying fixed on the phone in his hands as I reached out and took an apple from the fruit bowl.

"Don't tell me you're dumping me again, Fox?" I asked with a pout. "Though I can't say I'm surprised."

"Don't talk like that," he muttered.

"Why? Because you've decided you want me back in your life now, so I'm just supposed to forget how disposable I was to you the last time you decided I was too inconvenient to keep around?" I took a bite of my apple and he watched me like he was dying to take a bite too.

A knock at the front door interrupted our glare off and Fox pushed away from me before heading off to answer it.

“We found your truck down by the beach, boss. It’s back in the garage,” a gruff voice said while I stayed where I was, eating my apple and kinda wishing I’d driven his stupid truck straight into the sea.

“Good,” Fox replied before slamming the door again and stalking back in to resume his place sitting beside me at the breakfast bar.

“You’re not even gonna thank that dude?” I questioned and he gave me a flat look that said I was crazy.

“If anyone else stole from me like that I’d cut a piece off of them to teach them a lesson,” he growled and I had no doubts that he meant it.

“Well please don’t take a boob. I’m pretty fond of them and-”

“Do you take anything seriously?” he snapped and I just shrugged, taking another bite of my apple.

“It’d be pretty serious if you cut off my boob.”

The corner of his lips twitched the tiniest bit and I smirked as he huffed out a breath, twisting the pink phone in his fingers again.

“I guess if you chop me up it’ll be even easier to throw me away than it was the last time. You could put me right in the trash and let the garbage guys take me and then-”

“Stop,” he commanded.

“Why? Because it makes you uncomfortable to talk about the time you ruined my life and then forgot all about me?” I challenged.

Fox leaned back in his chair, swiping a hand over his face as it looked like he was choking back against the desire to turn this into a real argument and I had to wonder why.

"I...got you a phone," he said, shoving the shiny pink thing at me, clearly deciding against plunging into that minefield.

I took the cellphone and inspected the pink case. There was a mermaid on it in a seashell bikini top with a little purple dolphin beside her.

"Did you steal it from a twelve year old?" I asked, arching a brow.

"That was the only case they had in the shop," he replied, his lips twitching. "I bought it after I spoke to Chase and he told me that you were okay and you were with him. The guy in there set it up for you. I want you to take it and check in with me regularly so I know you're safe."

"You're letting me go?" I asked in surprise.

"No," he snapped. "I'm just giving you some more freedom. Apparently, it's not okay for me to lock you up all