Sinners' Playground (The Harlequin Crew #1) - Caroline Peckham Page 0,6

from between my butt cheeks, but a girl had to do what a girl had to do. And I was sure if the homeowner knew what kind of day I'd had, they'd let me off.

I slipped on the - oh hello baby - designer bikini and quickly adjusted the ties to secure the girls before pulling on the shorts. They were a little snug. Okay, there was probably more cheek hanging out the bottom of them than contained inside, but beggars can't be choosers and at least they weren't wet. I fished my twenty from the pocket of my ruined jeans and slipped it into my bikini top with a smug grin. Lastly, I hooked a fancy, white lacy kimono cardigan thing from the clothesline and pulled it on to complete my outfit change. The look was a bit boho for me, but I was calling it a win.

I grabbed my wet clothes and headed back out of the yard, hopping over the fence before jogging up the side of the house to the little street which backed it.

I kept my pace fast until I'd left the beach house behind then dumped my ruined clothes in the neighbour's trash further up the street, keeping hold of my sneakers and hanging them over my shoulder again just in case I couldn't find replacements.

I walked about another mile before I came up on a house with a car parked up out front with a hassled looking guy throwing stuff in the trunk while his kid yelled abuse at him from the front porch.

The little brat looked about nine and he was kicking his skateboard into the street and letting it roll back to him with a petulant look on his face.

"I don't want chocolate, I want vanilla!" he screamed, face red, glaring at his father who looked like he was in a rush to get somewhere.

"I told you, Benny, I don't have vanilla," the dad said. "How about we stop for pancakes on the way back? Can you give me a hand grabbing your bags from your room?"

"I hate you!" the kid screamed and the dad threw me an apologetic look without really looking at me before hurrying back into his house with a shake of his head while the brat threw a fit.

Just as I got close to him, a little white dog with a brown patch over its eye scampered out of the bushes, wagging its tail hopefully as it approached the kid like it thought it might get some food or something. The thing didn't have a collar on and it was bony enough that I knew it was a stray. There were plenty of those out here; the weather was always nice enough and in the summer the tourists fed them up so they got good and fat. You didn't tend to get so many in the part of town where I grew up because people could barely afford to feed themselves, so they weren't going to be handing out anything to mutts.

The kid spotted the hopeful pup and grabbed his skateboard from the floor, hefting it over his head as he lurched towards it. "Get out of here you mongrel!"

He swung the board at the little pup which leapt away with a whine of fright and I lunged forward, catching the other end of the board and snarling at him.

"Why not pick on someone your own size, you little asshole?" I demanded, holding onto the board and glaring at him as he gaped at me like no one in his life had ever called him out on being the entitled little prick he clearly was.

I yanked the skateboard out of his hands and smirked at him. "I'm taking this because you're a shit human being," I explained. "And if you cry to your daddy about it, I'm gonna wait until you're asleep in your bed and then come and drag you out into the night and dump you out at sea."

"What?" he squeaked and I realised that I was a grown ass woman threatening some kid. Not my finest hour, but he was a dick and he needed to learn a lesson.

"I want your hat, too," I decided, eyeing the baseball cap on his head which he quickly handed over.

On closer inspection I realised it was a Red Power Ranger cap which sucked because everyone knew the Green Ranger was the best, he was just totally underrated. Either way, the cap was mine and the kid had