Sinners' Playground (The Harlequin Crew #1) - Caroline Peckham Page 0,81

used to rent it and she did it up like this. But then she went and got knocked up and moved out to live in a house with bricks with her baby daddy."

"I love it," I admitted.

"You're all set up," Joe called from the doorway. "Don't forget. I need some kind of payment on Saturday." The look he gave me let me know what kind he was hoping for but that would be a hell no. Cash in his hole would be my go to method, thank you very much.

Lyla laughed at the look on my face and headed out after him. "I'll give you some time to get yourself settled. If you wanna come down to the beach with me in a bit, we can go see who’s hanging out by the fire down there tonight. There’s some pretty hot guys living here if you look hard enough.” She winked at me and I grinned back. “Welcome to the neighbourhood, sweetie."

The moment she closed the door, I turned the lock and looked around at my own little space. I dropped down onto the blue couch and breathed out a laugh.

Mutt jumped up and snuggled into the couch beside me with what I could have sworn was a doggy smile on his face.

Tonight I'd managed to escape the entire Harlequin Crew with hundreds of dollars worth of clothes and shit they'd bought me as well as around two grand in cash without them even seeing me run.

I was set up in their town with my own place and no way for them to figure out where to find me and on top of that, I was freaking loving my new trailer. I wasn't sleeping in a car or wondering whether or not I was going to get caught peeing in a bush.

Shit, I bet they’re freaking out right about now.

A laugh tore from my lips as I imagined it and Mutt jumped up, barking excitedly.

"Home sweet home, boy," I said to him. "I think we're gonna like it here."

“T he Damned Men claimed the old Sailor’s Eye Lighthouse last night,” Draper told me.

His name was actually Dirk, but everyone called him Don Draper on account of the stupid ass suits he insisted on wearing about town and his quaffed dark hair. He fancied himself a businessman because he swindled tourists in the upper quarter to take his overpriced tours to locations in Sunset Cove that had featured in movies. Which of course, they hadn’t. The closest Sunset Cove had ever gotten to fame was the alleged time the Beach Boys had visited back in the seventies and Carl Wilson had gotten food poisoning at the Squid Shack. Suffice to say, if the story even was true, the band had never come back. But the Squid Shack was still a popular as shit destination thanks to Draper’s tours and the cordoned off toilet where Carl had supposedly shat a lung.

“We’ll make a move to claim it back,” I growled, irritation prickling along my skin as I turned to Kestrel who was my best eyes and ears in the cove. He wasn’t much to look at with his small build and washed out looks and he tended to blend right into the background, but that was what made him so good at his job. “I want a report on how many men Maverick is stationing there and how often they come and go.”

“No problem, boss,” Kestrel agreed.

“We won most of Palmview Street at least,” Draper added and a murmur of excitement rippled through the room. The elders were nodding enthusiastically, the old folks my dad had worked with since back in my day including a few of my uncles. My Great Uncle Nigel always had a lot to say, but before he could pipe up about how we should announce our victory by painting the houses on Palmview Street in the Harlequin colours or some other pointless vanity endeavour, I spoke.

“Not good enough,” I snapped and silence fell instantly. I looked to Chase and JJ who were sat to my right, their expressions as dark as mine. “How much more territory have we won this year?”

JJ sighed. “Practically nothing. Whatever we win, they take back. And whatever they win, we take back.”

“The Divide’s always been a push and pull,” Merkle reasoned across the room, the muscly bald guy one of my best arms smugglers. “So long as they’re not gaining territory, it’s serving some purpose as a barrier at least.”

“We should be