Sinners' Playground (The Harlequin Crew #1) - Caroline Peckham Page 0,162

"Black Honda."

"Thank you, sweet pea," I mocked, stooping down to claim the keys.

As I expected, she lurched at me like she seriously believed I was dumb enough to take my eyes off of her and I fired a shot that smacked her straight in the thigh too.

Instead of screaming like her buddy, the girl just howled curses at me as I grabbed the keys, calling me as many names as she could think up while swearing at me with promises of death that I ignored. The Grim Reaper had already come for me once after all. And it turned out even that dude didn't want me. Rejection had never felt so good.

I turned away from the bleeding, cursing, crying assholes and fell still as I found a man watching me from the back of a matt black motorcycle.

Maverick didn't say a word, but the corner of his mouth lifted into a dangerous smirk as his dark eyes lit with some decision that made my already pounding heart race.

He lifted a gun of his own and my heart stilled as for some unknown reason I failed to raise mine. Maybe it was because I knew in my heart that killing him would destroy any lingering fragments of the girl I'd once been. Or maybe it was because death at his hands sounded like the sweetest offer of oblivion I'd ever been given.

Two shots rang out, the sound of them echoing right through my body as my eyes closed automatically and I waited to feel the pain of those bullets ripping through me. But instead, silence fell heavily, followed by the roar of a motorcycle. And by the time I peeled my lids open again, I found myself standing alone in an alley with two corpses and the scent of Maverick's exhaust fumes tainting the air.

I lived between two eternal fields of grey with a black sky above. Nothing surprised me anymore. I’d learned a long time ago to expect the unexpected. And when life gave you lemons, you’d better not bust your ass making lemonade. You needed to squeeze the acid out into your enemies’ eyes and gut them while they were blinded.

Rogue showing up in my life again had been unexpected. But I didn’t run to her like the pussy whipped prick I’d been ten years ago. Instead, I inspected her like a cup of poison left on my porch. I’d been thirsty for a long time, so I had to take a sip.

It seemed she was the kind of poison that left me wanting more though and as I drove deeper into Damned Men territory, my tongue felt like a dry lump of tinder in my mouth.

She was Fox’s girl. Of course he’d claimed her the second she’d drifted back into town like a seed looking to plant itself in the dirt of our lives. She’d gotten under his skin just like before and now he owned her. But not for long. The girl was ripe for the picking. And if she didn’t come knocking at my door for a taste of my cock soon enough, then I’d take her myself. It was tit for tat after all. You fuck my life, I’ll fuck your girl, brother.

I didn’t care to lay a claim on her beyond that. My days were filled with a sole ambition to eradicate every single Harlequin from the earth, then I’d walk into the arms of death with a smile on my face and my purpose fulfilled. The nothingness beyond this life was welcoming to me. The only reason I hadn’t tried to catch a bullet with my skull before now was because there were still Harlequins drawing breath. And I’d be damned if I’d die before I saw them all fall.

I’d been curious to see if Rogue Easton had handed her soul over to their crew already, but I’d seen the devil in her eyes looking straight back at me, and I knew what that meant. She was still a lost girl, outcast from even Neverland. And Fox could lay claims on her all he liked, but it was clear she was never going to belong to anyone ever again. Didn’t fucking matter though. Fox was a stubborn asshole and if he’d convinced himself he owned her, then the pain would be the same when I left her ruined at his doorstep.

When I’d gotten out of prison, I’d made a vow to never let that bastard be content. And the only thing that allowed