Sinners' Playground (The Harlequin Crew #1) - Caroline Peckham Page 0,74

an attitude problem and started towards the basement once again, but JJ caught my arm to stop me.

"He won't want to talk to you about that in front of all the other members. If you're determined to ask him then I'll get him to come up here." He took his phone from his back pocket and quickly shot Fox a message before I could object and I rolled my eyes at the dramatics involved with asking a simple question before grabbing another beer from the kitchen island and starting on it.

When Fox entered the room it was kind of like that part in Jurassic Park where the T-rex makes his appearance and every other fucker in the vicinity can't help but turn to look in terror. I was surprised my beer wasn’t rippling to mark his approach. He definitely had an aura about him that bred fear. Even if I hadn't known he was the leader of the Harlequin Crew, it would have been painfully obvious that he was someone to be afraid of.

He strode towards us with his black shirt half unbuttoned to reveal the beginnings of the artwork on his chest and the way the fabric strained across his broad shoulders forced me to look at him in all the wrong ways. But fuck that. Being pretty didn't excuse his bullshit.

"What is it?" he asked as he came to stand in front of me, looking down at me with narrowed eyes that said I was in the doghouse. Dickhead.

"I wanna sign up to your little crew," I demanded. "I don't like secrets and I figure the only way you're going to let me in on what you have going on here is by signing up."

"No," Fox said simply and for some pathetic, unmentionable reason, that reaction actually stung.

"Why not?" I growled.

"Firstly, because there’s no women in the Harlequins, it’s in the code. Secondly, because I don't want you running jobs with us and putting yourself in danger. And thirdly, because you're still lying to us about a lot of things. Either way, you're perfectly safe here in the house and you have no need to earn any money, so I don't see any reason to initiate you even if I did decide to bend the code for you."

"Maybe I don't want to live off of your charity," I growled.

"Tough." He folded his arms and gave me a flat look that said I was trying his patience even though his eyes burned with the kind of hunger that said he wanted to eat me up.

JJ stood watching this entire exchange like it was a reality tv show he was engrossed in and clearly had no desire to leave us to it.

"I want to be able to come and go from this place as I like," I pushed. "If I'm a member you'll know you can trust me and-"

"No."

"But if you-"

"If you want to be able to come and go, then you should give my offer more consideration," Fox said in a low voice, taking a step closer to me so that I was distracted by the pure, hard wall of muscle standing before me. "If you're my girl then you'll be safe wherever you go. No one will dare touch you. You could leave the house as and when you please and take the time to remember exactly why you fit here so perfectly. This is where you're meant to be, Rogue. Always has been. There’s a space for you at my side that you've been waiting to step into since we were just a bunch of dumb kids running the streets. Just stop fighting it and you can have whatever you want."

"No," I growled, moving closer to him myself as I refused to be intimidated by him. "I'm not some whore you can command into your bed and I won't let you blackmail me into it either. You don't even know me anymore, Fox. So stop basing your fantasy on the version of me you think you remember and take your head out of your fucking ass. I'm not your girl. I'm not anyone's girl."

"Fine," he replied with a shrug. "But until you realise that you're wrong about that, I think it's best you stay here where we can keep an eye on you."

Fox turned and stalked away from me, leaving me feeling like he'd just sucked all of the air from the room as he went. He barked an order at JJ to follow him and he