"He's gonna find us," I breathed, exchanging a look of fear with JJ.
"Quick," he said, moving to help the others as they piled the watches into their bags.
I shifted toward them too, but I knew it wasn't going to be enough to just grab the shit faster. The guard was gonna catch us. There was no two ways about it. And for this job to go off without a hitch, we needed to be sure they never knew we were here. My heart drummed against my chest and the thrill in my veins turned to fear for a moment. We needed to do something fast.
Chase finished filling his bag first, tossing it over his shoulder and catching my eye just as I made my decision.
I knew Fox would stop me if I told him what I was going to do, so I just jerked my head away from our group to tell Chase my plan. His eyebrows rose in surprise but that was all I had time for as I turned and scampered away.
I pushed the door open carefully and darted through it, scrambling to the end of the closest row of boxes, my heart leaping as I found Chase right on my heels.
But he only gave me a look of solidarity as we made it far enough from the others to buy them some time and I shoved a tall crate as hard as I could.
The thing began to fall and we sprinted away just as the crash rang out, echoing in the hollow space.
The guard yelled something and my gut plummeted as another guard called out from somewhere ahead of us too.
The distraction would keep them away from the others, but if we didn't move our asses then they were going to find us in about three seconds flat. Fox and JJ were going to have to lock that door and figure out what to do with the keys to cover our asses. It was on them now.
I spotted a narrow space between two huge crates and darted into it, dragging Chase behind me and wriggling into the shadows as the pounding footsteps drew closer.
We fell still, pressed together in the dark while my heart slammed into my ribcage with painful, thundering beats.
Chase's hand found my cheek, his palm cupping it through the material of my ski mask as I looked up into his sea blue eyes.
"It's okay, little one," he breathed, making my throat thicken with the use of that old nickname. "Five more seconds to let them move beyond us and we sprint for the exit. Got it?"
I nodded mutely, not trusting my voice in that moment as the sound of the guards finding the upturned crate reached me and suddenly, Chase's hand had left my face and he was forcing his way back out of our hiding place.
"Can you keep up?" he murmured softly as he caught my wrist and tugged.
"I'm not the one the cops caught stealing those beers from the liquor store when we were thirteen," I hissed, drawing a low chuckle from him in response.
"Let's see if you can still run like the wind then, shall we?"
I threw a glance in the direction the others were then turned to follow him as he broke into a sprint. We couldn't wait for them here. We just needed to get back to the boats and everything would be okay.
We ran on and fear knotted in my gut as we left the others behind. I hated to admit that I even gave a shit about Fox and JJ, but in that moment, I couldn't deny the terror racing through me at the idea of them getting caught. But that was why we had to run. We needed to be ready to draw the guards' attention away again if it was necessary.
I had to believe it would be okay.
And as Chase grabbed my hand while we sprinted up the stairs towards the upper deck, it felt like maybe it really would be.
I kept Rogue’s hand in mine as we ran upstairs and slipped onto the upper deck, my heart thumping against my ribcage. My phone buzzed in my pocket as we rounded the corner and I tugged it out, finding a message from Fox.
Fox:
Get to your boat and get away from here. We’ll meet you at the car.
I shot him a reply agreeing to that then stuffed my phone away and guided Rogue along the walkway out on the deck. The sound of footfalls marched this way and I tugged open the nearest door, shoving her inside it and pulling it closed behind us. We were in some sort of storage closet which was barely big enough for the two of us and Rogue was crushed between my body and the wall.
My heart was thrashing out of control, my gut twisting as I looked down at this girl who had once possessed every inch of my being. She gazed back at me through her ski mask as voices sounded close by and I breathed in the coconut laced scent of her, a scent I had never forgotten in all the time she’d been away. In all the time I’d secretly missed her, drinking and smoking and fucking her out of me. But she’d never really left. No poison on earth could kill the part of me who still adored her.
“Did you see someone up here?” a voice growled just beyond the door and my body stiffened.
I slid the bag of watches from my back, quietly passing them to Rogue and taking a knife from my belt. She clutched my arm as a shadow beyond the door blotted out the light around the rim. Tension coiled in my muscles as I waited to pounce, but then the voices moved away.
I sighed, turning back to Rogue as she shouldered the bag, but I didn’t draw away, caging her in with my arms and resting my forehead to hers. The girl who would never be mine. Who would choose Maverick and JJ before me. And no doubt Fox too. Had I ever even been an option?
I tugged her ski mask off so that I could look at her properly in the dim light that made it into the closet before reaching up to tug mine off too.
I dragged my thumb over her cheek and her lips parted, her sea blue eyes full of light and dark, twisting together. She was the one thing on earth I could never earn myself. And the one thing capable of destroying everything I’d earned besides her.
My cellphone buzzed in my pocket again and I pulled it out to look.
Fox:
We’re back on our boat. Are you clear?
Make sure Rogue doesn’t leave your sight.
It was just down to me and her. I pushed my phone back into my pocket without answering the message, my brain turning over what we needed to do to get out of here. What I had to do.
“I think they’re gone,” she breathed and I nodded, pulling back from her but she wrapped her hands in my shirt, tugging me close again.
“We’ve got a honeymoon to get to, sugar,” she taunted and I mustered a laugh, but it came out dark and bitter. My dad had once told me I was good for nothin’ and nobody. And he pitied any woman who might be stupid enough to marry me one day. But it looked like the only one I’d ever wanted was as smart as a whip.
“Fate’s calling, little one,” I growled.
“I thought you didn’t believe in that shit?” she whispered and I shrugged then pushed the door open, tugging her after me. I do when I’m the one paving the path of it.
We jogged toward the back of the ferry, crossing into the cargo area and ignoring the sign that said members of the public weren’t allowed back here. Then we slipped into a maintenance stairway, circling down toward the lower levels so that we could get back to our boat.
Heavy footfalls sounded below us, coming this way and my gut lurched as we turned tail, having nowhere to go but back up the stairs.
“Hey! You’re not allowed back here!” a man barked behind us and Rogue gasped in alarm, her eyes widening as she looked up at me.
“Come on, Ace,” she hissed, making my throat tighten as she tugged me back the way we’d come. We raced up the stairs, taking them two at a time as the sound of pursuit came from below.
Rogue turned off sharply into the corridor to our right. She grabbed my sleeve to pull me after her and I followed for a few steps before she let go as she broke into a sprint, clearly thinking I was following.
I stalled, staring after her, my feet rooted to the spot while the guard’s footsteps pounded up the stairs behind me and I realised this was my chance.
My heart crushed in my chest and I tried to tear out the piece of it who loved her and leave it here to rot. It has to be done. It’s the only way.
I took a deep breath, stealing myself to go through with this shit, then I forced myself to ke
ep running up the stairs. Leaving her behind. Fuck.
My teeth gritted and I fought the nausea in my gut as I made it to the top deck with the guards closing in.
I set my gaze on the railing, the thundering beat of my pulse drowning out the sound of my second thoughts and I gritted my teeth as I forced myself to stick to this fucking decision. It was the only way. She was going to destroy us if she stayed with us. I had no fucking choice.
Do it, motherfucker.
I ran to the edge of the ferry, vaulted over the railing and dove off of it before I had a chance to change my fucking mind, hitting the water and sinking in deep. I held my breath, staying under and swimming beneath the waves in the direction of the speedboat we’d brought here. I came up for air at the rear of the ferry, my heart cleaving in two as shouts of pursuit sounded somewhere on the boat above me. But they weren’t following me. They were following her.
Fuck fuck fuck.
I swam for the speedboat, hauling myself up into it and releasing the rope fixing it to the ferry. My throat thickened as I switched the engine on and took off, turning it around and making a wide arc toward the shore. One glance back at the ferry confirmed JJ and Fox’s boat was already gone and the finality of what I’d done hit me like a tsunami.
My breaths came unevenly and I grabbed my smokes up from where I’d left them on the bench, jamming one between my lips and lighting it up with a shaking hand.
Life was better without her.
I can’t let her fuck with my boys again.
This is the right thing to do.
The cops will take her away.
She’ll never come back.
She’ll never want to come back.
We’ll be okay again.
She won’t tear us apart.
I fisted my hair, hating myself, sickened by what I’d done, but I’d made a vow to get rid of her. Protect my boys from her. I wasn’t going to let her ruin us. Even if I had to break all over again. But it was better it happened now while her claws weren’t in too deep. The longer it went on the worse it would be. This was better. It had to be better.
When I was halfway to shore, I killed the engine, left the keys in the ignition, abandoned my smokes and dove overboard. I kicked off my shoes, swimming for the mainland, my gaze set for home.
I had a long way to go, but I could make it. I just had to figure out what I was going to tell my brothers, because Fox and JJ could never find out what I’d done. I’d have to live with it and let this secret decay inside my chest until it hollowed out my heart and numbed me to the bone.
She was the only girl my heart had been worth giving to anyway. So if it was cast in flame, seared and burned and reduced to ashes after this, who gave a fuck? She’d already done half the job ten years ago, so now I was just finishing off the rest before she got a chance to do it herself.
It hurt like a bitch already, but I’d swallow the pain of my betrayal, let it drag me into the dark and eventually I’d find peace again. Just the three of us and our empire. Never to be torn apart by Rogue Easton ever again.
I raced down corridor after corridor as the sound of thundering footsteps followed me and my heart broke with panic for Chase. He’d been right behind me. What the hell had happened? I’d almost gotten away when I realised he wasn’t with me anymore and now I’d had to turn back for him because I couldn’t leave him behind. There was no fucking way I was going to accept the idea of him getting caught.
This couldn't be happening. There was no freaking way it was happening. We’d been so close to getting away clean.
I turned another corner, pulse racing and fear coursing through my limbs as if I could feel the walls closing in around me.
I’d totally lost track of where I was, let alone where I’d last seen him. I needed to get back to the speedboat and hope he was there, and if not then I’d have to search the whole fucking ferry until I found him. Because even if he was caught he would still be onboard and I’d find a way to break him out of wherever he was being held no matter what it took to do it.
I'd lost my way among the maze of corridors on the middle deck of the ferry, but I knew all I needed was to make it to the speedboat where either Chase would be waiting for me or I’d find Fox and JJ at their fishing boat instead. And if Chase wasn’t there then I knew between me and the others we’d figure out how to get him back.
I snatched my stupid cellphone from my pocket and tried switching it on for the twentieth time, but the damn thing was dead. I hadn’t been bothering to charge it much because Fox kept fucking badgering me on it, but now I wished I’d made sure it had juice more than anything in the fucking world so that I could call on them and figure out what the hell I should be doing…and make sure they were all okay too. Because as much as I knew I should hate them, my heart couldn’t bear the idea of anything happening to them either. And as fucked up and broken and damaged as I knew that made me, I just needed to know they were alright. They had to be alright.
I gasped in relief as I finally found a staircase and I darted up it towards the top deck, the sounds of the guards who were hounding me drawing closer behind me as I ran. But I didn’t have time to waste worrying about them.
The cool morning air kissed my skin as I finally emerged on the top deck, finding myself close to the cargo area of the ferry and sprinting towards the large containers sitting there.
I ran between two of the huge containers, shrouded in the shadows between them with my heart thrumming to the beat of a war drum.
Shit, why didn't I have a fucking gun when I needed one?
The sound of the guards' shouts filled the air and a voice sounded that made my heart leap in terror.
"Stop!" a man yelled from somewhere way too close to my hiding place. “There’s nowhere to run to up here!”
But he was wrong. I could see the railing at the rear of the ferry now. I knew the boys' boats were down there. All I had to do was run and jump and they’d be waiting to pull me to safety.
A gunshot rang out as I failed to slow, but I just ran faster, weaving from side to side and ignoring the yells of the men at my back while the weight of the bag full of watches weighed me down. Not that I was tempted to give up our prize though.
I was almost at the railing now. I could dive over the edge and one of my boys would pluck me out of the water before these assholes ever even got the chance to chase us.
We'd be back on dry land before the cops made it out here.
I just had to jump.
My hands hit the cold metal railing at the rear of the boat and I jumped up onto it, about to do just that - dive overboard and swim to the speedboat lashed to the back of it in a leap of faith.
But as my heart soared in anticipation of the dive, I stumbled to a halt, a breath catching in my throat as my eyes widened in horror.
The boats weren't there.
Neither of them.
There was nothing to the rear of the ferry or the sides or anywhere to be seen in the dark blue water all around us either.
"No," I breathed as the weight of that fact hit me like a tonne of bricks. "No."
Strong hands grabbed me from behind and I cried out as I was wrenched away from the railing and my view of the sea was stolen.
But it didn't matter. I'd seen it clear enough. They'd gone. Left me. Abandoned me all over again when I was relying on them. When I’d put my trust in them like a fucking fool and put myself in the perfect position to be forgotten all over again.
I'd set myself up for this without ever even realising it.
And now I was going to pay the price for ever trusting the Harlequin boys to do anything for me. I'd been so caught up in guarding my heart from them that I hadn't even considered the fact that I'd been placing my life in their hands by agreeing to come on this job with them. They hadn’t needed a fourth member to help them watch their backs - they’d needed a fucking fall guy to sacrifice if everything went wrong.
Pain splintered through my chest as I realised they'd abo
unded me to this. To the guards who had shoved me to my knees and were pushing and pulling at my body, tearing the bag away from me, shoving their hands into my pockets and checking what I had on me.
The guard in front of me reached down and ripped the dark wig from my head, making a cascade of rainbow coloured hair tumble over my shoulders as he released a low whistle of surprise.
"Well shit, she’s a looker," he said and his buddies chuckled as I was tugged upright between them.
I should have been fighting, but what was the point? We were out in the ocean and no one was coming to help me. I had nowhere to go and no hope of getting onto another boat even if I could fight my way out of their hold. I was utterly fucked and I knew it just as well as the men who had abandoned me here to get screwed.
"You wanna tell us where your boyfriend ran off to?" another one asked, patting me down roughly and making me recoil towards the guy holding me.
"He's not my boyfriend," I snarled in response. "He's nothing to me."
None of them are.
The guards dragged me away from the railing towards the front of the ferry, but I could hardly hear the words they were saying or even see where we were going.
My limbs were trembling with hurt and betrayal and fucking rage unlike anything I'd ever known.
I'd let the Harlequin boys force their way back into my life and this was the thanks I got for it. Abandoned again. Rejected again. Forgotten again.
They’d proven every single thing I’d already known they thought about me. When it came down to it, that was just what I was to them.
Disposable.
And it hurt so fucking bad that I could barely even breathe. How had I let this happen again? How could I have been so fucking stupid?
My broken heart was tearing open and haemorrhaging freely in my chest as tears burned my eyes like acid and the hurt of this betrayal carved into me, making my scars crack and bleed again after I’d worked so hard to make sure they never could.
And as I was hauled away to meet my fate with the cops, it was easy enough for me to solidify the oath I'd been aiming to keep since the moment I came back to this godforsaken place.
Sinners' Playground Page 59
