Sinners' Playground (The Harlequin Crew #1) - Caroline Peckham Page 0,50

think the original owners may have it back now, sweetheart, so you'll have to forget about that one."

I shrugged and let the conversation drop off as I looked out of the windows at the familiar landscape and drank in all the changes that had occurred since I'd left.

JJ took the road which ran up the side of the cliff and I watched the view over the ocean with a deep sense of homecoming filling my chest. Whatever else I had to worry about over returning here, I couldn't deny that my heart belonged to the sea and it was happy to be back by the water at last. I refused to admit that it had anything to do with anything other than the sea though, because Sunset Cove was not and never would be my home again.

As we drove into the upper quarter, the buildings became obviously more expensive. This part of the town was a new addition which the wealthy assholes had claimed for their own, lording it over everyone from their vantage point up on the cliff. They liked to pretend the lower quarter wasn't there at all, forgetting about the people living down in the valley and leaving us to our own devices down there in the dirt. Which was just the way we liked it of course. They could stay out of our business and we could target them for ours.

We passed Afterlife where I'd found JJ yesterday and kept driving until we came up to a boulevard of fancy stores and boutiques called Avalon Row. JJ pulled down a side street and parked up in a spot behind a restaurant that wasn't currently open before getting out and offering me his hand.

I ignored him and tried to open my door, only to find that the damn thing wouldn't budge.

"Child locks, sweetheart. We can't have you running off on us when we've only just found you," JJ explained with a grin and I muttered something about controlling assholes beneath my breath as I scrambled over the seats and hopped down beside him.

Of course, he didn't just let me walk myself wherever we were going, tossing his arm around my shoulders and keeping me close as we walked along behind the stores. I glanced up at him as I tried to maintain my anger despite his casual, easy going attitude and pouted as he grinned back like we were having the time of our lives and I wasn't a prisoner at all.

I reached up and stole his pink sunglasses once more, earning myself a chuckle from him as I pushed them up my nose and let myself relax in his hold just a little. It wasn't like I was looking to run yet anyway. I needed to find their keys and I didn't really have anywhere to go even if I did leave.

“What happened to your face?” I asked, noticing the shadow of a bruise lining the edge of his jaw and reaching out to brush my fingers along it.

“Do you care about me now, sweetheart?” he asked with a disarming smile, meant to make me forget my question.

“Ah, so I’m supposed to tell you where I got my injuries, but you’ll keep your own secrets about yours?” I said, not surprised in the least about the double standards. The three of them clearly thought they ruled the fucking world so why wouldn’t they be utter hypocrites with their own behaviour?

“It’s nothing, pretty girl,” JJ said with a shrug, using the name he’d always used to call me as if no time had passed at all. “But we were all a bit het up after finding out what had happened to you last night, so we went looking for a fight. I wanted to beat some asshole’s face in even if it couldn’t be the motherfucker who hurt you.”

I rolled my eyes at the macho bullshit.

“So some poor innocent idiot had to take a beating to sate your testosterone fuelled crazy?” I asked.

“No. They weren’t innocent. I can promise you that.” He winked at me but didn’t elaborate and I dropped it. Their gang bullshit didn’t interest me much anyway.

JJ drew me over to a door at the back of one of the shops and knocked sharply before a perfectly made up blonde opened the door with a wide smile.

"Hey, JJ," she purred, making a show of checking him out as she moved aside to let us in.

"Hey, Lucy, how's business?" he asked, leading me down a