Sinners' Playground (The Harlequin Crew #1) - Caroline Peckham Page 0,214

there, but I could hear them around the front of the building, calling out to each other while they hunted for me.

Maybe Maverick would have let me go anyway. But I wasn't counting on it. Especially not with his key. But I'd been prepared for that and perfectly happy to accept the risk when I came here. Who didn't love getting into the kind of trouble that could easily get you killed and then having to figure out some insane way out of it anyway?

I opened the window wider, tied off my makeshift rope then climbed up onto the ledge. I grabbed the top of it then lowered myself over the side, clinging on as my sandals slipped against the brick wall.

I cursed them as I flailed about, managing to kick them off one at a time and wondering why the fuck I hadn't worn sneakers. Rule number one of this shit - make sure you were ready to run the fuck away. Well, doing it barefoot would make it interesting I guess.

I shimmied down the rope and dropped to the floor with my pulse jackhammering like mad before running across the small courtyard. I grabbed one of the wrought iron tables and dragged it towards the outer wall, flinching at the sound it made and moving my ass faster as someone yelled something from around the corner.

I hopped up onto the table, leapt for the top of the wall and just managed to catch hold of it before heaving myself skyward with a grunt of effort.

I made it to the top, glancing over at the man standing on the lookout post that had been erected at the far end of the wall and breathing a sigh of relief as I found him watching the beach to the east of the island. That was where the boats were kept after all, so it made sense for them to be expecting me there.

I looked down at the slightly rocky terrain beneath me on the far side of the wall and cursed my luck as I lowered myself over it then had to drop down with bare feet onto it.

I landed awkwardly, my ankle twisting and I fell back on my ass, my elbow slicing open on the sharp rocks.

"Motherfucking dick rock," I cursed it as I got up and started running, the pain in my ankle thankfully easing as I went.

I darted between the shadows beneath the palm trees and took a mostly hidden path that I remembered from my youth which cut down between the rocks to the shipwreck on the north coast. From there, I'd be able to get a look at the docked boats and figure out how the hell I was going to get out of here.

I sprinted down the little track between the scrubby plants and rocks and raced out onto the little cove where the wreck sat. Thankfully the tide was high so the water was up to my ankles the moment I leapt off of the rocks and the soft sand beneath the surface caressed my bare toes.

I splashed my way to the shipwreck, climbing in through the hole in the hull and sighing with relief as the shadows engulfed me and I paused to catch my breath.

I scrambled over rotting wood and barnacles and sent the odd pissed off looking crab scuttling away as I moved to the far end of the wreck. As I made it to the other side, I looked out through a smaller hole that gave me a view of the boats.

I cursed as I spotted Maverick charging down the closest of the two jetties, barking orders and looking really freaking raging as he hunted for me. I didn't want him to catch me. No freaking way. He looked like a pissed off troll who might wanna eat a unicorn haired girl for breakfast. And not in the perfectly acceptable, head between my thighs way of eating either. Oh no, he was out for blood and guts and brains. So I was good staying away from his teeth for now.

I bit down on my bottom lip as I tried to think up a way out of this shit and flinched as a phone started buzzing in my back pocket.

I pulled Maverick's cell out and looked at the unknown number before glancing back at the jetty and spotting him with a phone pressed to his ear. It was utterly insane to even consider answering the super psycho. But then again,