Sinners' Playground (The Harlequin Crew #1) - Caroline Peckham Page 0,165

“Let’s see how long it takes to break the skin.”

I reached for my nightstand with a grunt, trying to force back the flashes of memory in my mind that sliced through my head like a knife. I took out the revolver that lay in the drawer and slipped out of bed, heading onto the balcony where the warm night air wrapped around my flesh like it was drawn to the cold in me.

I emptied the rounds into my hand, placing just one bullet back into the revolver, spinning the cylinder and loading it with a jerk of my wrist. Then I drew in a long and ragged breath before placing the barrel against my temple. The metal was bitingly cold like death itself.

My heartrate didn’t increase, my breaths coming evenly as I gazed across the water in the direction of Harlequin territory. My old home. My enemies.

I pulled the trigger with a blind confidence and the click confirmed everything I already knew. Like it did every night. The odds were always the same. Six cylinders, one bullet. I’d done this every night since I’d left prison. And death hadn’t taken me yet. So I knew with an unfaltering certainty that life would reside in my veins until I’d ripped every Harlequin from this world. Death was my only friend. And he’d given me another day. Another chance to make them bleed. And bleed they would.

I t was late and I was distracting myself from thoughts of Rogue by messing around with my boys. JJ had made sangrias and I swear him and Chase were trying to drink each other under the table. I’d decided to remain sober since Rogue’s tracker had gone offline and she hadn’t responded to any of my texts. If it wasn’t for JJ and Chase insisting I give her space, I’d have tracked her ass down by now and she’d be firmly in my sights. But as I was trying this new thing called being ‘reasonable’, I’d promised myself I’d give it until two am before I went hunting. Just fifteen more minutes though and I’d be out looking, so she’d better hide well if she didn’t want me to find her. I had the willpower of an army of men, but when it came to her I was rendered weak. Because it was her. And that was really all there was to it.

Chase’s phone kept blowing up and I finally swiped it up and muted it. Rosie Morgan kept calling and Chase kept ignoring her. It was irritating as fuck.

“At least text her to shut her up.” I tossed the phone at Chase who sat across the table from me on the patio.

He caught it and switched it off. “Problem solved.”

“You’re such an asshole,” JJ said as he dropped down beside him, dripping wet from his dip in the pool. “Just cut her off if you don’t wanna fuck her anymore.”

“Yeah, the girl annoys the fuck out of me anyway so you’d be doing me a favour,” I said. I’d already banned her from being around when I was there. Her voice made my brain hurt.

“She’s less annoying with my cock in her mouth,” Chase reasoned, lighting up a cigarette. “And I kinda enjoy seeing how long I can keep her quiet for. Though when she comes it’s like a siren going off.”

“I know, man, I heard her when you fucked her in the restroom at that club on New Year’s.” JJ tipped his head back and started doing an impression. “Chasey, Chasey-pie! Oh surf and turf me!” He made a noise like a sealion, clapping his hands and bouncing in his seat and Chase roared a laugh while I chuckled.

“Dude, I thought she was right in front of me for a second,” Chase said. “But you can’t exactly complain about the noise after that fucking sex contest you held in the room next to me in that hotel we stayed in in Lantern Bay. It sounded like you were fucking a whole pod of dolphins.”

I chuckled. I had a strict no orgies rule in the house which had had to be implemented because when JJ and Chase got drunk together, shit got weird. But so long as they kept their weird elsewhere, I didn’t give a fuck.

JJ smirked. “I just had to know if I could make an entire bridal party come in under an hour. The bride was a squealer. And I did her twice ‘cause I’m generous like that.”

I swiped up my