Sinners' Playground (The Harlequin Crew #1) - Caroline Peckham Page 0,25

beside me made with fresh fruit and soy milk. I’d started looking after my health around the time I inherited my position in the Harlequin Crew from my dad. His legacy defined my blood, my enemies, my status. But I ran the gang differently to how my dad had. And I prioritised protecting the people closest to me from our rivals for as long as fucking possible. So I would make sure I was always fit and healthy to ensure I was the best I possibly could be at that role, but I couldn’t do much about my ability to dodge bullets. That’s why shooting first and asking questions later was my way of life. I’d seen too many good people hesitate when they were faced with a tough decision and end up dead for it. So I became a bad one to protect those closest to me. I’d take a hundred bullets for JJ and Chase so long as they took none. And I’d fire a hundred into a hundred skulls for the same reason.

My gaze drifted to Chase again as smoke coiled up around him and he rearranged his junk within his black swim shorts. He was making a good effort at pissing me off lately, and it was time to smooth over the tension building between us. I was a strict as shit boss, but I tried to be a fair one too. If he needed to make more decisions to settle this restlessness in him, then I needed to accommodate that. He and JJ were the only people in the world I made allowances for when it came to being a leader in the Harlequin Crew. I didn’t take direction from anyone; I gave the orders, and if they weren’t listened to, there were consequences. But my brothers were family, so I’d had to work on my limited ability to compromise for years to satisfy them within their roles beneath me in the hierarchy. At the end of the day, I’d be lost without them. And I didn’t plan on losing any more members of my family than I already had. So compromise may have been a bitch, but she was a bitch I was willing to be fucked by from time to time for their sake.

I placed down my protein shake and headed to the sliding door, stepping outside where the sun beamed down on my naked chest, making my tattoos gleam. I wasn’t covered in them like some of the Harlequins were, I’d chosen each one because it represented an important moment in my life. The good, the bad, the good that had turned bad, the bad that had gotten badder. It was all there. A story only I knew how to read, though JJ and Chase would have had the best chance at translating my flesh. But not all of it. Some of my marks were secrets. And there was only one girl in the world who knew their meaning. Even though she’d never be around again to see them.

“Hey, brother,” I called to Chase and he pushed his aviator Ray Bans up onto his head, stirring his dark curls as he lodged them into it. His deeply bronzed chest glistened with factor thirty tanning oil, defining his abs even more than usual and making the ink on his arms look like it was poured over him.

He pushed to his feet, draining his rum and coke in one long gulp, before putting the glass down. “Wanna swim with me, Foxy?” He jumped at me, grabbing my arm and trying to wrestle me towards the pool. Fucker was definitely tipsy.

I smirked, tussling with him for a moment then shoving him off and knocking my knuckles against his cheek. “We’ve got a job to plan. I thought you could pick the target this time.” I gave him a sideways grin, folding my arms over my chest and his brows arched.

“Oh yeah?” he asked.

“We have a list of marks.” I shrugged. “Your choice.”

He grinned, clapping his hand to my shoulder as we headed back inside and he took in all the notes I’d laid out on the counter.

I pointed to the list we had of possible marks. JJ’s club attracted the kind of people that spilled their secrets in his ear easily enough, especially when he was making them come for a good price, so we often got a few leads that way. But I always had our crew listening out for opportunities too, and I’d