Sinners' Playground (The Harlequin Crew #1) - Caroline Peckham Page 0,18

proof, I swear. I’d bet the thing would out live me - though I was also already dead once over so I guessed it already had.

I forgot about the clutch as I forced it into gear, cursing the stick as I swung the wheel around and headed back up the road towards the busy streets of Sunset Cove.

It was funny really that such a beautiful place could hold such dark secrets. The rich assholes who had their vacation homes up and down the beach for miles around never seemed to notice how fucked up this town was. Or maybe they just didn't wanna look too closely. They certainly never drove down these streets where the graffiti was every colour of the rainbow and the potholes had potholes. The cops didn't come down here either and neither did anyone with any kind of sense. Not unless they belonged. And I wasn't convinced it was a good thing that I did.

I took a road to the edge of town, managing to get the radio tuned just enough to listen to Malibu by Miley Cyrus and with the wind teasing through my hair and the sun shining again, I started singing along and smiling. Because I might have been a dead girl, but it hadn't stuck. So fuck it. I was going to be free.

I rolled the windows down and whooped, earning a strange look from the mutt, but I knew he got it. Life was never as bad when you had the wind in your hair.

Like I'd expected, the bait shop on the edge of the little boat yard was packed when I pulled up in the parking lot. There was a cafe next door to it with plastic picnic benches and colourful parasols filled with people who were eating ice cream and drinking beer. They were laughing and smoking and wasting their lives away in the best possible way. There was a half pipe on the edge of the beach beyond the sea wall where people were giving their skateboards and BMXs a workout and even better than that, the surfers were out in full force on the waves. It was a Saturday so even the assholes with jobs were able to come play today.

The ache in my chest was unreal as I watched them, wondering if I could flirt my way into having a go on some dude's board before remembering the fact that I looked like a train wreck right about now so there was no chance of that. But fuck me. That right there was living. Surfing had once been a part of my soul. I’d been free in this town. A girl who knew the tides, always had sand between her toes and four boys at her side who were a perfect balance of dark and light. We’d spent countless days riding the waves, building bonfires on the beach, laughing and playing and being. But nothing good ever lasted. I should have known our life in the sun would eventually be swallowed by the miserable grey cloud called reality.

I grabbed my skateboard, pulled the screwdriver from the ignition and whistled to the mutt as I hopped out. I threw the car door closed behind me, but it resisted and didn't quite shut. I just left it. If anyone here wanted to steal it then a closed door wasn’t gonna stop them and I'd just boost another.

I rounded the bait shop, moving to lean against the railings that stopped people from falling into the deep water this side of the sea wall and I cast my eyes over the boats which were bobbing on the waves for a few minutes before turning back to people watch.

It didn't take me long to spot the muscle hanging around. There were a few guys who fit in with the crowd, but there was also like six dudes in leather jackets looking bored as fuck while they chain smoked.

They weren't going to be the right marks for me though. Sworn in gang members were tight lipped motherfuckers at the best of times. I needed to find the working girls and as I looked around, I spotted them. Three girls chatting and laughing, sitting around one of the picnic benches together while flashing smiles at potential Johns as they walked by.

I headed over to them with my board tucked under my arm and a bullshit smile on my face which they saw through instantly.

"What are you, competition or customer?" the platinum blonde asked.