Sinners' Playground (The Harlequin Crew #1) - Caroline Peckham Page 0,239

their shitty raft sank beneath them and I could see that Chase was getting a kick from that too.

More of the teams were beginning to arrive on the island and music burst to life as a girl in a red bikini climbed up onto a podium and suddenly started up a foam cannon.

I waved my trophy above my head and ran at Chase again, leaping onto his back as more girls started shooting foam everywhere and the winners’ party began.

Chase gripped my thighs and finally gave into the fun, making a game of running towards the cannons so that we were shot over and over again and the fluffy white foam washed over our bodies as we laughed and cheered.

I slid off of Chase’s back and he turned towards me, hooking an arm around my waist and tugging me close again.

“Are we even now then, little one?” he taunted. “Does this make you hate me a bit less?”

“No, I still hate you plenty,” I assured him as I wound my arms around his neck and pushed my fingers into his dark hair. “But the way you knocked that dude on his ass earned you one day of me pretending I don’t.”

“What if I enjoy hating you?” he asked, tugging me a little closer as if we were dancing, but we weren’t moving enough for that to be the case.

“No worries, Ace. I’m a big girl. I gave up on being loved a long time ago and I don’t really care if I’m not liked either.”

His brow pinched and he tugged me even closer, leaning down to say something to me just as the sound of Fox yelling my name drew our attention away again.

I let go of Chase, turning towards the others as they appeared through the press of foam covered bodies and I slapped on a taunting grin as JJ and Fox reached us. I waved my trophy in their faces and JJ congratulated me while Fox muttered about JJ’s shoddy knot tying skills.

They all began bickering and I tried to fight the smile which wanted to work its way onto my lips at the familiarity of the scene. I closed my eyes and started dancing to the music which was thumping out of the speakers now, letting them get on with it and missing Maverick as I imagined him weighing in to announce some reason why he was the real winner and whispering in my ear that we should just run off and ditch these idiots while they argued it out.

The three of them finally fell silent and I cracked an eye open as I found them all just kinda staring at me like I was a crazy person. But seriously, we were in the middle of a dance floor full of foam while everyone around us partied. They were the only assholes not dancing right now.

JJ cracked a grin and announced that he was going to get us some drinks and I decided to stick to my own decision. One day of pretending I didn’t hate them. So I grabbed Chase’s hand followed by Fox’s and gave them a stern look.

“Dance with me,” I commanded and I barrelled on as I saw the start of protests in their eyes. “Let’s just dance like we don’t hate each other and we can go right on back to it tonight. But I really don’t get many days where I smile this much and I don’t want it to end yet. So can you both just take your heads out of your asses and have a fucking drink? We can all get shit faced and pretend none of it ever happened. Just for today.”

Fox looked pained at my words and Chase looked sceptical, but when JJ re-appeared with a tray full of shots which looked suspiciously like he’d stolen them, they all took a couple and seemed to give in to my request. The burn of the alcohol raced down my throat and we all started dancing in the mess of foam, acting like the carefree kids we’d once been.

Before long we were all coated in slick white suds as the girls with cannons continued to coat everyone. I could hardly even see anyone as the white foam built up all around us and the sound of Break My Heart by Dua Lipa pounded from the speakers and I tried to ignore the words and the meaning they could have held for me and these reckless boys.

I might not have