Devil's Pass

by Caroline Peckham

  "Hey Dad," Fox said with a tight smile as Luther pressed a hand to his shoulder then looked to me.

  Luther Harlequin always brought a tense energy to a room. I guessed that was what it was like being the big bad wolf in town and I'd always been drawn to that about him, trying to figure out how he managed it. I was pretty sure it came down to two things: his reputation and his unpredictability. I had the unpredictability down but the only thing I had a decent reputation for so far was beating the hell out of assholes who threatened my friends. Though now I guessed I could add disposing of a dead body to the list…

  "We have a problem." Luther moved to stand on the other side of the kitchen island and spread his hands on the surface as he looked calmly between us. But those dark green eyes which were the same shade as his son's weren't hiding anything. There was something wrong and my heart started to thrash in my chest as I waited for him to spill it. "Axel Phillips washed up in the cove this morning with his head caved in."

  Dead, cold silence roared in my ears as he delivered that blow. I fought the urge to look at Fox, keeping my features neutral, making sure there wasn't a single flicker of guilt in my eyes for him to detect. I'd perfected my lying face a long time ago and Fox had it down as well as I did. We could have lied as an Olympic sport, and for Rogue, we'd win the fucking gold medal.

  "Oh yeah?" I asked, sounding vaguely interested but not nearly interested enough for the guy who had personally stabbed that asshole in the gut in an attempt to make him sink to the bottom of the ocean. Why the fuck hadn't it worked? And why hadn't the damn sharks eaten him?

  "Yeah," Luther said, his brows lowering sharply. "So I sent my boys over to his place and they said the house stank of bleach. They asked the neighbours some questions and it turns out one of the kids who lives at that group home down the street from him had an interesting story to tell."

  My pulse was thundering in my ears and my breaths were fighting to come unevenly, but I locked it all down, cocking my head slightly as I showed enough interest. But not too fucking much.

  "What kid?" Fox asked and though he said the words calmly, I could read him as well as I could read myself. He was hiding an inferno inside him and I knew exactly what was gonna happen when it was let out.

  "Clive something." Luther shrugged. "But...funny thing is, he mentioned that girl you like to run with."

  Fuck.

  "Rogue?" I questioned, forcing a frown onto my face like I was confused. But I wasn't fucking confused, I was all too well enlightened. We were heading down shit creek without a paddle towards shit waterfall which would sweep us out to shit ocean. And I was not gonna let Rogue be drowned in shit.

  "Yeah, that's the one." Luther took his time over his words, assessing our reaction. "But no one's seen her all night apparently. So you wouldn't happen to know where she is, would you?"

  Fox shook his head and I did the same.

  "We went surfing with her yesterday morning, haven't seen her since then," Fox said with a shrug.

  "Well maybe you'd do me a favour and give her call. Ask her to come over to the house so I can get her story," Luther said, his eyes cold and murderous. I knew in the root of my soul, that he already knew. That if he got his hands on our girl, she was dead. Just like everyone who crossed Luther Harlequin ended up dead. It wouldn’t matter that she’d been defending herself. She’d killed one of his men and the price of that was clear. A life for a life. No exceptions.

  I was practically holding my breath just so I didn't explode, but every muscle in my body was trying to bunch up while I fought to keep it still. I was a coiling wire of knotted tension that needed an outlet. But I had to keep it together. Had to slow my breathing, uncurl my fists, fight the urge to hit Luther over the head with a damn stool and make a bid to get out of the house and get my girl.

  "She broke her phone," Fox said, the lie smooth and effortless as I fought to maintain my composure.

  My temper was getting to that dangerous point where all reason went out the window.

  Luther's eyes whipped to his son and his lips tightened into a thin line. "Is that so?"

  "We can find her," I blurted, my heart in my fucking throat. "We'll bring her here."

  "You'd better." Luther smiled in a way that wasn't at all friendly then gestured for us to leave.

  I strode from the room with Fox at my side and when we made it to the stairs we ran to get dressed, saying nothing as we split off into our rooms. I dragged on jeans and a navy shirt before kicking on my boots, grabbing my backpack which had the clothes I'd worn last night stuffed in it and jogged back out into the hall. Fox was there with an intense look in his eyes and we hurried downstairs together, heading into the garage and running to get into his truck. We didn't say a word until we were on the road and the heavy presence of Luther’s presence was far behind us.

  "Fuck." I punched the dashboard hard enough to make my knuckles crunch.

  "We'll figure it out," Fox said through his teeth.

  "How, Fox?" I demanded. "How the fuck are we going to figure this out?"

  "Just trust me," he pushed.

  "I do," I sighed, pushing a hand through my hair. "But I don't trust what Luther's gonna do. You do realise he's going to kill her if he knows what she did, right? Do you get that?"

  "I fucking get that," he said seriously and I was glad.

  I didn't think Fox would ever side with his dad, but sometimes I wasn't sure if he knew how depraved the guy really was or if he viewed him through rose tinted glasses. I guess everyone wanted their father to be good at the core. But Luther Harlequin was rotten through and through. He may not have shown that side of himself to his son too often, but he'd sure as hell shown it to me.

  "We just have to protect her," I growled.

  "I know," he said, glancing over at me and suddenly offering me his hand. "I swear it, Rick."

  I placed my hand in his, clasping it firmly and feeling the depth of our bond ringing between us. It didn't matter what lengths we had to go to now, me and the rest of the guys would go to them and far fucking beyond for Rogue. Whatever it damn well took.

  I woke up with my head on Chase's chest and JJ pressed up close behind me, playing big spoon in our ménage à snooze and bringing a smile to my lips as I felt safer than I had any right to feel considering our situation.

  "Morning, boys," I murmured, stretching like a cat as JJ tightened his grip on me, mumbling something sleepily and shifting his hips so that I felt something long and hard graze against my ass.

  I gasped and tried to wriggle away but he just held me tighter in his sleep, my wriggling only seeming to draw even more of my attention to the way his dick was driving into me and my mind presenting me with some really weird questions like: Why do I kinda like the way it feels digging into me like that? I wonder if his looks like Maverick’s? Maybe he'd show me. Maybe Chase could show me his too. Would I have to trade them a boob flash in exchange for that? Two boobs had to be a fair trade for two dicks, right? What would they look like when they weren't hard? And why was I suddenly trying to imagine what it would feel like if one of them was on top of me and-

  "JJ, your cock is kinda poking me," I said breathily, cursing myself for my voice going all weird.

  "What?" he slurred and Chase snorted a laugh.

  "Glad I'm not the only one having that issue," he muttered and I sucked in another breath as I tried to shift my weight back off of Chase but as JJ refused to budge again, I was jolted forward, my hand flying out to steady me and landing - directly on another hard dick.

  "Fuck, sorry, shit." I snatched my hand back as Chase groaned in a way that made my gut knot and everything between my thighs clench with a need I wasn't really sure how to process and I wriggled harder to escape before I died of humiliation.

  "The fuck are you doing?" JJ muttered, pulling back a little as he came to.

  "Trying to escape the dick sandwich I've woken up in," I said, sounding a little panicked which was really more to do with the fact that the
re were two of them and it was a lot to be surrounded by than me having any real aversion to their...trouser snakes.

  Okay, yeah, I was curious as fuck, but I was not capable of being cool about it and two at once was a bit much to handle first thing in the morning. Or ever, obviously. Shit, now I was thinking about three ways and where everything would have to go and wondering if I could deep throat like Jessica Smythe claimed she could and if not being able to would make me crap at blowjobs. Not that I wanted any of the dicks around me to end up in my mouth. Obviously.

  "Shit, sorry," JJ gasped, scooting away from me like there was a fire up his ass while Chase covered his face with his hands and groaned.

  "Of all the ways I imagined you touching my cock for the first time, this was not it," Chase said into his hands. "And fucking JJ was definitely not here."

  I laughed a little hysterically and thankfully the door banged open at the far end of the arcade to draw our attention away from this, er, strange and unexpected development.

  "Guys, we have a problem," Fox said loudly as he strode towards us. He was all clean cut again today, blonde hair pushed back carefully and a white wife beater showing off his golden tan and bulging biceps, but his green eyes were full of concern.

  Maverick was at his side, the two of them standing shoulder to shoulder, not an inch of difference in their height or the breadth of their shoulders, a dark god and a golden king. Luther wanted them to take on his legacy one day, the next generation of Harlequins, ready to rule the world. And in moments like this I could see it. They were destined to become powerful men, it was in the blood that flowed through their veins and the fibres of their souls.

  "Luther knows about Axel," Rick explained. "His body washed up in the cove this morning."

  "What?" I gasped, ice sliding through my veins as I tried to figure out how the fuck that could have happened.

  "I guess he got caught in a current and rode the tide in when it turned," Fox said darkly. "But it gets worse. Some kid from the group home saw what happened - my dad knows you were the one who killed him, hummingbird."

  I was on my feet in seconds, ready to bolt, run, scream, fight, I didn't even know what. But I did know that there was just one punishment for killing a Harlequin and that was death. It didn't matter that I had a valid reason, didn't matter that that motherfucker had been trying to rape me. All that mattered was that he was sworn in to the most ruthless gang in the entire state and I'd taken him out.

  "He's going to kill me," I choked out, fear paralysing me as I looked towards the exits and prepared myself to run.

  Not that I had anywhere to go or any way of knowing what I'd do once I escaped, but staying here was a death sentence and I did know that I didn't want to die. My life might have been seven shades of shitty, but it was mine. I had the sun and the surf and my boys. It wasn't much but it was everything and I wasn't giving it up.

  "We're going to run," Maverick said firmly, striding towards me and gripping my cheeks between his big hands as he peered into my eyes and forced me to listen. "All of us."

  "We have everything we need stashed at the crypt," Fox added calmly, like this wasn't freaking him out - or maybe like he just knew he had to keep his head if I didn't wanna lose mine. "We just need to go get our keys."

  "I've got mine," I replied instantly, gripping the metal key which hung on a leather thong around my neck and relaxing slightly at the feeling of the imprint it was creating in my palm. "I can't leave anything valuable at the home, so I always have it on me."

  "I hid mine at home," Chase muttered.

  "Me too," JJ agreed.

  The five of us had a key each and we needed all of them if we wanted to open up that stone door and get to the stuff we'd stashed inside. There were valuables in there, watches, jewellery, all kinds of shit that we'd stolen over the years and pooled together because it was too hot to try and sell on. There were secrets too and weapons of a kind that couldn't be replicated. Every weakness all of us held and more.

  "We need to keep my dad off the scent," Fox said roughly. "Then we need to wait for cover of darkness, meet at the crypt, take everything and run. I've got a few ideas about where we can go. We can take my truck and Rick's bike and-"

  "Wait," Chase said. "You can't seriously expect the five of us to just up and disappear? We might as well just admit to being guilty publicly. We were all set to join the Harlequins soon anyway so why don't we just come clean, sign up and prove our loyalty by-"

  "I don't wanna join the fucking gang," Fox snarled. "That's the life that was picked for me, not the one I chose for myself. All I want is Rogue. And all of us together. That's it."

  My heart fluttered at that declaration and I felt a blush rising in my cheeks as I locked eyes with Fox and felt exactly how much he’d meant that.

  "You know Luther won't just accept us saying sorry and joining up," Rick added darkly, stepping up in front of me too and twisting his fingers between mine. "He'll make someone pay for this. And I'm not risking Rogue's safety on the unlikely hope that he might grow a fucking conscience."

  "So, we're running?" I breathed, feeling like the whole world was crashing down around me. But maybe it wasn't. Maybe this was just what we needed, for the five of us to escape Sunset Cove and the Harlequin Crew and just be free to carve our own path somewhere far, far, away.

  "Yeah," Fox said, leaning down to press a hot kiss to my cheek which made my skin tingle with pleasure. "Be at the crypt at nine tonight."

  "We'll see you there, beautiful," Rick promised, kissing my other cheek and sending the electricity Fox had already started beneath my flesh haywire.

  The two of them nodded to the other guys and turned to stride out of the room. I watched them go with my heart in my mouth.

  The next time I saw them we'd be leaving the only place I'd ever known. Turning our backs on this life and starting a new one. We just had to survive until then.

  ***

  Nine pm came and went as I stood in the darkness beneath the trees where we were due to meet Fox and Rick, shivering a little as a cool breeze raced around us and lifted a lock of my brunette hair to dance across my face.

  Chase and JJ kept exchanging nervous glances and I shifted uncomfortably.

  I'd spent a big chunk of the day alone, my stomach growling and my mouth parched as I hid in the abandoned arcade on the pier and waited for the two of them to sneak home and retrieve their keys.

  Chase had been gone for so long that I'd really begun to worry about him, but when he showed up with a black eye and refused to talk about it, I knew what had happened to hold him up.

  I stayed close to him now, not forcing him to talk about his dad or any of that shit but just showing him that I was here for him no matter what. Maybe we all should have run a long time ago for his sake. Or for all of our sakes. I didn't know and I guessed it was irrelevant now. After tonight, everything was going to change.

  "Where are they?" JJ growled, lighting up his phone in the dark for the hundredth time and showing me and Chase the display.

  It was a quarter to ten and not only were they stupidly late, but neither of them were answering their phones.

  My gut tightened with anxiety and I tried calling Maverick again all the same, cringing as it went to voicemail.

  "Something must have happened to them," Chase growled.

  "They'll be here," I said firmly, refusing to believe anything else. "They promised. They'll be here."

  Chase and JJ exchanged a look but didn't say anything else and the three of us continued to wait in the dark.

  "W hat the fuck is this?" Dad bellowed in my face, my backpack upended at his feet with everything I'd packed to run with. Clothes, food, cash and my key to open the crypt at Rosewood Manor.

  Maverick stood beside me, shoulder to shoulder, his own bag clutched in his arms as our father stood in front of us in the hall, barring our way to the exit. My heart was pounding out a wild beat as I tried to figure out what to do. How to get out of this. He wasn't ev
en meant to be home. When the fuck did he get home??

  "Answer me!" Luther roared and I swear the walls shook as my mouth dried out like a desert.

  Lying wouldn't save me now. My dad knew the truth, I could see it in his eyes. He just wanted me to say it. Wanted me to own up and offer him the final piece of betrayal I was delivering to him.

  Maverick gazed at him with this hopeless fury that dug right into my heart. He looked to me, shaking his head ever so slightly, imploring me not to tell. But he already knew. Couldn't he see that? Dad already fucking knew.

  "I love her," I told my dad the deepest truth I had to offer and Maverick frowned. "And I won't let you hurt her."

  Dad's eyes narrowed and he released a heavy breath, rubbing his eyes.

  "I'll kill you if you do anything to her," Rick gritted out to the most notorious killer in Sunset Cove.

  To the guy who'd raised him, raised me. And I found I agreed with him on it too. My dad might have been family, but he was also an asshole who wanted a life for me I'd never chosen. And if it came down to it, I'd pick Rogue over him every time.

  Dad's eyebrows arched then he laughed darkly as he stared at us. His eyes snapped onto Maverick and his laughter cut off. "You're my boy," he growled at him. "You aim that anger at our enemies, son. Not me." His gaze flashed onto me, softening a little. "You love this girl, then fine. But I'm not letting my prodigy run off for anybody. Especially not some bitch who kills my men."