Sinners' Playground

by Caroline Peckham

  “I don’t know, boss,” Kestrel said. “The lookouts haven’t reported anything. But maybe he came hidden in the back of a van or-”

  “I want our CCTV footage gone through. Every scrap of it. And when we have the vehicle he came in, I want footage tracked through town until we know the path he took and which asshole let him slip through the net,” Fox growled and everyone assented. “In the meantime, we’ll head to Gallows Bridge in The Divide and fight The Damned Men until they’ve paid for daring to do this.”

  “It’s not enough,” Chase snarled. “Maverick needs to pay. He needs to be hit hard. Blood isn’t what he cares about. Our informants have told us that he’s still working with the cartels, storing and helping them transport their cocaine. If we could get into his warehouses beyond The Divide, destroy every ounce of product he has there then he’d be in debt to his suppliers who’d be down hundreds of thousands of dollars. The cartel might finish him off for us, or at least take out a healthy portion of his men for us.”

  “There’s too many eyes there, they’d see us a mile before we got close,” I reasoned. “If Maverick is calling for blood, we’ll answer with it.”

  “There must be a way,” Chase insisted and a few of the crew nodded their agreement.

  Fox considered our brother’s words, rubbing his hand over his chin.

  “Unless we could half the number of men he has at the warehouse or more, we’d stand no chance of getting close,” he sighed. “I want that too, Ace, but I don’t see how we could pull it off while The Damned Men have all the advantages like that.”

  “Well what if we could trick him somehow?” I suggested. “Draw his men away from there by attacking somewhere else?”

  “We could hit The Dungeon?” Draper suggested.

  “He wouldn’t pull men from the warehouse unless it was for something more important to him than that. He’s not gonna risk all of that coke for some shitty illegal nightclub,” Fox muttered distractedly.

  “So we hit him where it hurts,” Chase said firmly.

  “Where?” I asked, with a defeated sigh. “The only place he cares about that much is Dead Man’s Isle itself. And short of us pulling an armada out of our asses and sailing over there to conquer his personal island, there’s no way we could pose a big enough threat to it to make him pull men from the warehouse.”

  “Who has he left guarding the warehouse anyway?” Uncle Nigel asked. “If it’s someone we could outsmart-”

  “It’s Eckles,” Kestrel said with a shake of his head. “And that bastard won’t take his eye off the ball for anything. Short of a direct order from Maverick himself, we won’t be getting him to leave that place unguarded.”

  “So basically, it’s fucking impossible,” I groaned, slumping back in my chair as everyone around the room muttered their agreement and disappointment.

  “Fine. We forget the warehouse then,” Fox said and I could tell how much that pissed him off even though he was trying to hide it. “But if he wants a war then I’ll give him one.”

  A creak sounded on the basement stairs and I jerked my chin at Draper who was nearest to them. He stood, leaning over to look up the stairs then shrugged and sat back down. I was on edge tonight and with everything that had happened, I’d half expected Maverick to be walking down the fucking stairs. But he couldn’t get in here. He could throw blood at the walls, but there was no way for him to break down the gates without a tank. He still never should have gotten that close though.

  An argument broke out over where was the best place we could hit back, the elders all agreeing that targeting The Divide and cutting down as many men as we could – like in the good old days – was a swell idea. While others suggested places in the The Damned Men’s territory we could hit like stores, boats or businesses until my head was hurting and we still didn’t have a clear plan.

  “I’m done with this conversation,” Fox growled at last, rising from his seat. “We’ll head to The Divide and hit them as hard as we can. Gather our men, I want to be heading there in the next thirty minutes.”

  The elders all cheered as we strode through the basement and me and Chase followed Fox up to the main house. My heart beat erratically as he continued up to the next level and knocked on Rogue’s door.

  He was probably going to chain her to an armed guard tonight to keep her safe in this house and I was all for it for once.

  She didn’t answer and I glanced at Chase beside me as Fox pushed into her room.

  My gut clenched as I followed, finding it empty apart from Mutt on the bed who cocked his head with a whine.

  There was no rainbow haired beauty to be seen.

  And I knew from the emptiness in my chest, Rogue was gone.

  T his was, perhaps, one of the dumbest plans I’d ever come up with in my entire life. But on the plus side, I was the dead girl with nothing to lose already, so how much worse could things really get?

  It had been a long time since I’d captained a boat, but it turned out it was like riding a wave on my surfboard – muscle memory had my back. Though the small speedboat I’d picked out may have been a little less than ideal in hindsight. But I couldn’t resist taking the keys from the jackass who owned it when I saw him swaggering down the dock, thinking he was the shit while they dangled from his back pocket oh so temptingly.

  I'd had to leave Mutt behind for this, knowing my little pooch would be okay enjoying the A/C while hoping he wouldn't get the blame for what I was about to do.

  The wind tossed my rainbow hair around my shoulders and I tugged my white lace kaftan close to my body as I stood at the helm of the speedboat and directed her across the silver crested waves in the moonlight towards Dead Man’s Isle.

  My gaze raked over the once familiar outline of the small island. The compound at the heart of it was backlit by the starry sky with the lights which were on in and around the buildings giving me a little more to go on. I scoured every inch of it hungrily, taking in what I could see of the compound that Maverick had claimed for his own, the huge building at the heart of it housing him out here like he was some high end drug lord. And if the whispers about his links to the cartels were right, then maybe he was.

  It had been a beautiful day in Sunset Cove and even out on the sea, the air was still balmy tonight. There wasn't a cloud in sight as I looked up at the star filled sky and the crescent moon far above and the waves rolled beneath the boat with ease as I cut a path straight into trouble.

  I was playing one hell of a gamble right now, but after my bruises had faded from the night at the club, a couple of things had stuck in my mind. Firstly, that if Maverick had wanted me dead then I would currently be lying in a morgue somewhere alongside those assholes who'd attacked me. And secondly that he had killed two of his own people - I just couldn't decide what he'd done it for. Was it to protect me from them? Or was it to punish them for letting me get the upper hand? Then there was the third theory, the one I would only whisper to myself when I was alone, because it sounded dumb as shit even to me. But what if he'd killed them for hurting me?

  There was certainly a time when Maverick would have done absolutely anything to protect me. When we were eleven, I'd had this dumb glittery rainbow pen that I freaking loved and Tommy Banks had stolen it from me in class. I'd hunted him down after school and punched him in the ear for it, but the asshole had just taken the pen from his pocket and snapped the thing in two like a spiteful little bitch. While I'd stood there with my mouth hanging open in outrage as the bastard laughed at me, Maverick had snatched the sharp end of the pen from him and stabbed him straight in the arm with it. He’d managed to hit a vein too and it had bled everywhere.

  Tommy had screamed so freaking loud that we'd had no option but to run for it, and when we'd made it off campus to a dark alley down the street, Maverick told me that he would never let anyone get away with hurting his girl. And I'd told him that next time I could stab the prick myself. But I'd still kinda loved the fact that he'd had my back.

  So wh
ether I was being utterly delusional or not, I couldn't totally strike the idea of Maverick killing those assholes for me from the list of possible reasons. Which meant two of my theories suggested I would be safe in Maverick's company. And those were better odds than I’d often gone up against in my life, so I was willing to take the risk.

  As I drew closer to the island, my gaze caught on the old shipwreck which lay on the shore, lit up by pale moonlight and surrounded by golden sand and nesting gulls. It had been one of our hangout spots once, where the five of us could run off to when we wanted to be alone. Not that we'd come all the way out to it too often, but if we wanted to put some sea between us and the people on the mainland then we’d had this. Of course, back then the compound Maverick was now living in had been an old hotel which had gone out of business. But the place had clearly undergone a lot of renovations since then.

  The white building was surrounded by a circular grey wall which was tall enough to be unscalable and I could make out a couple of men walking along it with guns in hand backlit by the bright lighting within the buildings. Inside the compound, a huge building dominated the centre of the former resort, the balconies and terraces making it look like a palace if I hadn't known it was a hotel. There was a huge swimming pool lit up in blue in front of the building with palm trees planted all around it and a bar set up right beside the water in case you didn't want to get your ass out to order a drink. In short, it was the kind of place that people like me didn't belong. And yet Maverick had chosen to make his home there.

  I killed the engine as I got within range of the island, crouching down as I opened up the fuel tank and poured a cup of seawater into the tank before screwing it up and starting the engine again. I shrugged my kaftan off too because as much as it was total bullshit, I knew the dudes guarding the dock would be more likely to fall for my shit if they could lay their eyes on a nice helping of flesh for their troubles. But there was power in objectifying myself for my own gain and I was willing to wield whatever it took to get the upper hand in the world I lived in.

  For a few minutes the boat carried on quite happily as I weaved across the waves, making sure I didn't appear to be heading for the island and just seeming like I was out for a leisurely boat ride as I moved close enough to be spotted from the shore.

  The moment the acceleration faltered and the engine stuttered I made a show of flapping around and fussing like I had no clue what was happening. Once I’d spent a few minutes doing that, I turned my boat towards the island and started waving as I closed in on the little dock which sat to the right of the beach before Maverick’s compound. There were bigger boats docked off to the right of my destination, but I was just a poor, mechanically challenged girl with boat difficulties, so I ignored the scary men who were shouting at me from the jetty, telling me to turn away and just kept going until I was pulling up right beside them.

  "You can't dock here," the gruff looking bald dude growled as my boat bumped against the wooden boards beside his boots. Who the fuck wore boots in this heat? Oh right, super scary criminal types. Got it.

  "Sorry," I said, flashing an apologetic smile at the dark haired dude who stood a little behind him and seemed less inclined to tell me to fuck off right away. "I'm having engine trouble and I can't get a signal to call for help." I waggled my pink mermaid phone at them and the bald dude huffed in frustration.

  "Hop out then, let me take a look,” the bald guy said, seeming less than happy about it.

  I gave him my brightest smile and raised my hand up to him so that he could pull me out. He'd clearly been expecting me to clamber out on my own and grunted in frustration as he tugged me up onto the jetty, not seeming to fall for my charms one bit.

  I gave up on him as he jumped down into my boat and moved over to start the engine to figure out what was up with it.

  I turned my attention to the other guy who was checking out my white swimsuit and shorts combo with interest and I had to say, this outfit did do wonders for my rack, so I couldn't blame him.

  "Can I be a pain?" I asked him, slipping closer and biting my bottom lip.

  "What is it?" he asked with a slight edge of suspicion to his tone and I took note of the gun tucked into the front of his belt.

  "I really need the restroom," I said with an apologetic smile. "I was about to head back to shore when the boat started acting up on me and-"

  "Come on then," the guy said, making a move to lead me away, but the bald guy looked around with a scowl before I could get more than a step.

  "Frisk her first, Billy. Make sure she's not carrying any weapons," he grunted.

  "Frisk me?" I asked, blinking up at the guy I now knew as Billy. "Do you think I'm hiding something?"

  Billy smirked at me and took a step forward. "We have some important people on this island, can't be too careful."

  "Is it celebrities?" I asked, giving him the wide eyes and looking all dumbly ignorant as Billy took his sweet time running his hands over me, cupping my ass and even skimming his hands up the sides of my swimsuit like the clingy material could possibly be hiding anything. Did he think I had a gun stashed up my ass? Maybe, because he certainly gave it a good squeeze to make sure.

  "That's a secret," Billy replied with a wink before jerking his chin to get me to follow him and we left the bald dude trying to figure out what was up with my boat.

  I made small talk as we circled the pool and its perfectly blue water, taking note of the armed men and women moving around the compound. Some of them seemed to be on watch, but most were just chilling out, enjoying the warm evening, having gangster down time I guessed. It felt kinda like seeing Kim Jong-un on a pool vacation, but I guessed the Harlequins were no different in that regard. If blood didn't wash off so easily, then the whole of Sunset Cove would be painted red by now.

  Billy led me past the guys guarding the main entrance and into the building. There were more armed men and women sitting at the desk which I guessed was a reception area once, their gaze following me and Billy as we headed past them. I looked around at the white walls, potted palms and tiled floors with interest, taking care to just look like some dumb girl not worthy of their attention.

  Billy led me down a side corridor, all the way to a heavy wooden door with a restroom sign on it.

  "Here you go, sweetie," he said, his gaze trailing over me as I leaned back against the door and bit my bottom lip.

  "You know...I really should thank you properly for helping me out," I said, dipping my voice seductively and letting my gaze move down his muscular body. He actually was pretty hot, with messy brown hair and plenty of ink on his arms and I might even have seriously entertained the idea of hooking up with him if this was some other situation. As it was, I was just hoping he'd fall for my line so I could get him alone.

  "I'm not the one fixing your boat," he said with a smirk and I shrugged.

  "You can always thank your friend for me later..." I backed up, pushing the restroom door open behind me and as I'd hoped he stalked in after me, catching the door as I moved inside the fancy restroom.

  Billy's eyes lit with lust as he closed in on me, boxing me in against the wall and leaning in to kiss me. I placed a hand on his chest to stop him, giving him a heated look before slowly sinking down to my knees with a filthy look on my face.

  "Fuck yes," he groaned, leaning a hand against the wall above me as my knees pressed to the tiles and I looked up at him, licking my lips slowly. "Sweetie, your boat can break down around here any time you like."

  I smirked up at him as I reached out and rolled his fly down before unbuckling his belt.

  Billy groaned with lust, his eyes closing for a brief moment which gave me the opening I needed to snatch the gun that had been jammed into the front of his jeans, flick the safety off and press it to his cock nice and hard.

  "Hey, sweetie," I mocked as he froze solid, gawping down at me like his brain couldn't quite catch up with what was happening right now. "Be a lamb and take me to see Maverick. Let's take a quie
t route, yeah?"

  I rose to my feet again, keeping the gun pressed to his dick and losing a whole hell of a lot of the sweetness from my smile as I let him see exactly the kind of girl I was. And that was not the type to offer out thank you blow jobs to strangers. Was he really dumb enough to believe that girls liked to offer up shit like that on the regular? Or maybe he'd just gotten caught up in the idea of it and accidentally let himself think with his dick instead of his head. Either way, I was now firmly in control of this situation.

  I'd actually figured this trick out a few years back and had been using it ever since gangsters like this motherfucker didn't fear death enough to buckle at the threat of a gun pointed at their head. But point it at the dick and threaten them with life as a eunuch and funny enough they lost their balls - figuratively speaking.

  "Even if I could get you to him, he'll kill you for this,” Billy ground out, seeming afraid to move so much as an inch with his junk in the balance.

  "Don't play chicken with me, asshole," I said. "I can always start by taking one ball out as a warning. I know you can get me to him, and I know you can do it without anyone else spotting us. As for him killing me, I'll take my chances. I was dead long before I walked in here anyway."

  "I'll enjoy watching him gut you, you crazy bitch," Billy snarled as I exerted pressure on his rapidly shrinking manhood to get him moving. Turned out threatening to blast it off was a turn off, who knew?

  "Well, the sooner we get to him, the sooner you can find out if he'll grant that wish or not. My money is on me escaping with my life though, so if you want to make a bet out of it, I'm in." I wasn't sure why I was so certain that the man who I had only seen once in the last ten years and who was clearly at least somewhat deranged if not wholly psychotic, wouldn't kill me, but I was. Our bond may have been broken now, but there was enough of it lingering in the air to at least make me certain of that much. "Now take your belt off and make a loop in it like a good boy.

  Billy glowered at me as he did as I’d instructed and I made him slip his wrists through it behind his back before cinching it tight for him and then realigning my gun with his cock for our little walk.