Sinners' Playground (The Harlequin Crew #1) - Caroline Peckham Page 0,17

for a damn drink. Though the swelling in my throat seemed to have gone down a bit today.

I scrubbed a hand over my face and instantly regretted it as it stung all of my bruises in all the worst ways.

What the fuck was I going to do?

I needed to sort my shit out then work out where the Harlequin boys were now. Maybe once I'd spent a bit of time watching them, I could figure out the best way to get hold of their keys. That was all I needed to do. Five keys and I was set for life. I'd have everything I needed to start over somewhere new and far, far away. Maybe I'd get a flight over to the east coast and find a beach town there. A couple hundred miles had to be far enough to be sure that Shawn would never hear of my miraculous reanimation and I could get away clean and free. Assuming I was cool with letting that motherfucker kill me and get away with it. I was still half certain I wanted to get my hands on a gun and dole out a bit of my own justice to that prick, but right now I'd settle for some freaking toilet paper.

Wow, I really had hit rock bottom. Who knew TP was such a precious commodity? But it was definitely going on the list. I should probably add an actual toilet to the list too, but that seemed to be aiming a little high for today. I was pretty sure public restrooms and living out of my stolen car were on the agenda for the foreseeable.

The obvious place to start was Harlequin House where Fox and Maverick used to live and Fox’s dad no doubt still did. But if Luther Harlequin found out I was back in town then I was going to find out how serious he'd been about killing me if I ever came back here. And I was pretty sure he'd been just as serious as Shawn was and was likely more proficient too. He had a reputation for execution killings. Two to the chest and one to the head. Unless he was really looking to send a message and went the mutilation route of course. But I doubted I was worth that much effort to him. Besides, I'd been a skinny kid with way too much fondness for eyeliner when I'd last been in town so I doubted he would recognise me now. I might have spent every waking hour I had with his sons, but that didn't mean he ever paid me much attention.

I was irrelevant to him. Broke, dumb, a girl. Though I kinda took offence to the dumb label because I'd done okay in school. When I showed up. Street smarts were worth more than all that paper learning shit anyway. Of course, killing one of his men had given him reason to pay attention to me, but not for long. I was almost certain he wouldn't know me now.

My boys were another matter. I'd know their souls in the dark from their heartbeats alone...or at least I would have once. Or maybe I thought I would have and it had all just been bullshit.

Whatever. That was why it hurt so fucking much when they broke me.

So as I didn't want to risk Harlequin House or The Oasis – the club where most of the Harlequin Crew hung out when they weren’t breaking laws or killing people was just as risky, the next best bet was the bait shop. Everyone in town knew they were selling way more than worms and tackle in there, so long as you knew the right way to ask for it. There would be gang members there keeping watch, girls for sale too assuming nothing had changed. One of them would probably give up something that I could use to trace the boys. Everyone in Sunset Cove knew who Fox Harlequin was at the very least. They had when he was sixteen anyway, so I was willing to bet they knew a whole lot more now. Daddy’s little protégé was probably a major player in the Harlequin Crew these days.

I hopped back into the car, scooping the mutt onto the passenger seat and tussling his ears before twisting the screwdriver which I'd jammed in the ignition and starting her up. The old Jeep gave a whine and a splutter, but she got there in the end. These cars were nuke