Sinners' Playground (The Harlequin Crew #1) - Caroline Peckham Page 0,75

tossed me a smirk before turning and following his boss back to the basement like a good little grunt.

I waited for them to head through the door and downstairs, taking note of the two big dudes who moved to stand before the door and block the way down there once Fox and JJ were inside. They were both carrying guns which they'd jammed into the backs of their jeans and the dark expressions on their faces said they meant business. There was no way I'd be snooping in on that little boys’ club meeting.

I cursed Fox beneath my breath, finished up my beer and headed back into the thick of the party, glancing around for a likely looking drinking buddy to take my mind off of the bullshit. I recognised a few people from when I'd lived here before, but none of them were offering up the friendliest of vibes and I was kinda inclined to avoid all of them. I’d only been tight with four people in this town before I’d left and I didn’t want to try and reconnect with people I’d never connected with in the first place.

"Rogue?"

I turned at the sound of my name, grinning as I spotted Di through the crush of bodies in the middle of the kitchen, she was wearing a figure hugging blue mini dress and had half the guys in the place staring at all of the dark skin she’d left on show.

"Hey!" I called with a real smile as I made my way over to her and I found the two other girls who had helped point me in JJ's direction down by the bait shop on my first day back in town with her too. I remembered the blonde was called Lyla, but I wasn't sure I'd caught the redhead's name. "What are you guys doing here?"

"The Harlequin Crew throw the best parties," Lyla shrugged. "Everyone knows that."

"I like your hair," the redhead said as she reached out to tug on one of my rainbow curls with interest. "It looks good enough to eat."

"Just ignore Bella, she's off her tits," Di explained, smacking Bella's hand away from me before she could get any real ideas about having a taste of my cotton candy hair.

"I'll be careful to make sure she doesn't take a bite out of me," I agreed with a laugh.

"I can eat you for fifty bucks if you like?" Bella slurred. "I haven't had a client with a pussy for a while. Make's a nice change from all the D."

I barked a laugh and Di and Lyla joined in.

"I don't have the fifty to spare," I said with a sigh. "But thanks for the offer."

Bella just shrugged then stumbled away from us, heading towards the kitchen island and the booze.

"I guess you found JJ then?" Di asked and I nodded, not offering up any more info on how that bullshit had proceeded.

"You girls wanna drink with me?" I begged. "I'm seriously low on people I like in this place and you guys seem cool. I'm on the hunt for friends in a desperate and needy kind of way, but I'm hoping you'll overlook that flaw because I'm actually pretty cool when I’m not begging people to like me."

Lyla started laughing and Di grinned. "We were just gonna try and drag Bella's ass home before she starts puking and gets herself beheaded by the Harlequins for ruining a rug or something. But there's gonna be a bonfire on the beach tonight which we could hit after we dump her ass back in her trailer. Where are you staying anyway?"

"I'm actually between beds right now," I replied with a groan. "I'm staying somewhere, and I kinda hate it, but I have no other options so I'm stuck."

"You can always crash at mine tonight if you like?" Lyla offered. "Or if you've got two hundred bucks to put down, there's a trailer going just down the row from mine. You could probably get away without paying the deposit if you don't mind sucking Joe McCreevy’s dick though. That said, he's pretty rough and kinda gross so I wouldn't really recommend it."

"I'm gonna sweep right on past the part about sucking gross dick and land on a trailer I could call my own. Because that sounds fucking perfect," I said. I really needed some space from these assholes and I was already giving up on finding their keys just lying about somewhere. I was going to have to think smarter about