Sinners' Playground (The Harlequin Crew #1) - Caroline Peckham Page 0,226

you, Foxy. Maybe I’m planning to slit your throat and leave you here for the reef sharks to devour,” she warned.

I pressed my throat into the blade. “Are you sure they’ll destroy the evidence in time before someone comes looking for me, baby?”

“I’ll be long gone before they find me,” she whispered.

“Is that what you want?” I asked. “Is that what sixteen year old Rogue wanted?”

She paused, her grip on the blade loosening until she let me pull it from her fingers. “She was an idiot.”

“She was perfect,” I growled.

“And now I’m ruined,” she sighed and I twisted around, pulling her against me as my teeth ground in my mouth. I gripped the back of her head, pressing my forehead to hers and looking her directly in the eyes. “Never.”

She melted against me, shaking her head, her mouth grazing mine. “I like pretending we’re them.”

“We are them,” I growled. “Just with scars.”

“We can’t go back,” she whispered, her breath skating against my mouth.

“Pretend,” I insisted and she nodded, water droplets running down her face from her hair.

“Old me wouldn’t have kissed you,” I told her. “He was chicken shit.”

“New you steals kisses I don’t ask for,” she said sternly and I grinned darkly, drawing her closer, her body wrapping around mine as the water lapped against our shoulders.

“But you do ask for them, just not with your mouth,” I said cockily.

“Is that what you’ll tell the court when I press charges for assault?” she teased and I ran my fingers up her spine, making her quiver.

“Nah, I’ll kiss you in front of them and everyone will agree I knew what I was talking about after you melt into a puddle at my feet.”

She smacked my shoulder, her features twisting in anger, but her eyes were glittering.

“Remember the last time we climbed up there and jumped?” I nodded to the stone archway and Rogue looked over at it. Sea birds were circling around it where they were nesting in the rocks.

“Chase fell and nearly dashed his head in on the reef,” she said with a laugh. There was literally only one place the water was deep enough for jumping into and if you missed, it was game over.

“He climbed up after though and still jumped,” I snorted.

“He’d die before he got left out,” she mused.

“It’s a miracle we’re all still breathing after the crazy shit we used to do.”

She bit her lip, still looking at Hell’s Gateway. “Bet I could still climb up there.”

“It’s dangerous,” I growled immediately, even though I knew how hypocritical that was. But I wasn’t an idiot kid now, and I wasn’t gonna risk her hurting herself.

“I thought we were sixteen today,” she challenged and the mischief in her eyes jabbed the boy in me.

She let go, swimming away from me toward the arch and I cursed as I took chase. She started climbing up the craggy rock before I made it there and I hurried to follow, trying to catch hold of her before she could jump, but the girl was fast.

She made it to the top of the archway and I pushed to my feet as I scaled it too. I was about to demand she get down – for all the good it would do – when she offered her hand to me.

She was dripping wet, her toned body dipped in honey by the sun and the glimmer in her eyes made me feel like I was in front of a goddess who possessed every part of me, right down to my soul. I really was a kid again then, standing in front of the girl he’d loved before he’d even known what love was.

I placed my hand in hers and she smiled at me, giving me this look that felt painfully temporary.

“See you at the bottom,” she said, tugging my hand and I jumped over the edge with her, aiming for the darkest water below. My heart soared as we hit the surface and sank deep under the waves, a rush electrifying my body.

When we came up, we swam back to the boat and I climbed up behind her, running my thumb down her spine as I stepped past her to grab bottles of water from my pack. I checked my phone, finding a message from JJ saying all was quiet from The Damned Men, but the fire at Maverick’s warehouse had been put out overnight. I didn’t think it would be long before he hit back at us, but he’d have the