Devil's Pass: A Sinners' Playground Prequel Novella (A Harlequin Crew Novella Book 1)

by Caroline Peckham

  I released a heavy breath and forced myself to keep my head as I shoved out the back door, hurried around the house and unlocked the gate. I started riding down the road, peddling faster and faster as I worked to put as much distance between myself and that fucking house as I possibly could.

  Fuck him. Fuck that deadbeat asshole who dared to call himself my father. He was nothing. Fucking nothing.

  I longed to see my friends. The four people who were my real family. Fox, JJ, Maverick and Rogue. Especially Rogue. She was everything. She had always been everything. The centre of our world here in Sunset Cove. I just wanted the sun to rise and to spend the whole day on the beach with her and the others tomorrow. But I had hours to kill before then and I wasn't going back home tonight. So I raced down the quiet roads, past hookers on the streets, the scent of weed and bad deeds on the air as I took off into the night.

  I started climbing the hill towards Rosewood Manor where the old lady lived on her sprawling estate. The place was a maze of trees and overgrown weeds and had become a little sanctuary we'd claimed for ourselves. She went to bed every night at ten pm sharp, but she didn’t mind us coming onto her property after she’d found me and Rogue sleeping in her summer house like hobos. She seemed to like us being here to be honest and I was always up for the snacks she gave out. Maybe she was kind, or as dumb as a brick, or maybe she liked seeing life outside her lonely little existence in that big old house. Whatever the reason, it sure as shit benefited us. And I was grateful to her, especially on nights like this when I seriously needed somewhere to disappear to. I’d make sure to pop by and mow her lawn again this weekend.

  I turned off of the road up the quiet track that led through the trees, the hoot of an owl calling out somewhere above me. I followed the outer fence and circled the property until I reached the gap in it, dismounting from my bike and parking it up behind a large tree. A smile pulled at my mouth as I found Maverick's motorcycle there already too.

  I squeezed through the gap where a bar was missing in the fence which I'd once been able to slip through so easily, but now it took a little more effort. On the other side, I followed the track through the weeds, jogging into the darkened trees before heading up to the old summer house. Mrs Rosewood never used this place anymore. It sat on the edge of an empty swimming pool that had algae growing up the sides of it and an inch of rainwater at the bottom.

  The lights were on inside the little building and I grinned as I hurried forward to find Maverick, the relief of escaping my dad and being able to hang out with my friend making this whole shitty night seem miles better already.

  But I fell still before I got there, my heart thumping unevenly as I frowned at what I was witnessing through the window. Maverick had his back to me, standing completely naked. My heart squeezed and I shook my head at the sight of Rogue standing just beyond him with her top off, her breasts exposed, her dark hair tumbling messily all over her shoulders. Her expression was full of something I knew well, because I'd felt it for her a thousand times. Lust.

  And it hit me with the force of a fucking car crash what I was seeing.

  She wanted Maverick. She'd chosen Maverick. After all these years. After me, Fox, JJ and him had all pined after her and she'd refused to see it. Refused to fucking acknowledge it. And here she was, making the choice we'd hope she'd all make for us. But now she was making it for him. For him.

  I backed up until I couldn't see them anymore then pressed my back to a tree and dragged in air as I tried to breathe. But my lungs weren't working and my heart was breaking, falling to pieces like shards of glass as it pierced everything inside me. I'd wanted her before I could even remember I wanted her. She'd been my girl. But she'd been their girl too. I'd been able to accept that when we were younger, it had made things tense now we were older, but it had never affected our loyalty to one another. I'd wanted her to choose me almost as much as I hadn't wanted her to choose me. Because if she had, I would have been responsible for fracturing our entire group. And now that was what was happening. She was choosing Maverick. Offering her body to him. Letting him touch her in all the ways I'd hungered to.

  My head spun and I felt sick, but most of all I felt angry. Rage filled me to the brim until I could sense my father's blood pounding in my veins, and taste some of the fury he'd spewed for so many years. I was blinded by the hurt and I didn't know what I'd do with it. Didn't know how to deal with it.

  I started running toward the fence, squeezing through the gap and grabbing my bike, fighting the urge to kick Maverick's motorcycle to the ground and break it like I wanted to break him in that moment. He was my friend, how could he do this? How could he claim her?

  The truth spoke as a cold voice in the back of my head and I knew I couldn't hate him for this. Because I would have done the same if she'd chosen me. I would have claimed her and kept her as mine for the rest of eternity if she'd wanted me. But she didn't. She'd discarded me. But even now I knew the truth, I wasn't prepared to let go of her. I wanted to fight until my last breath for her.

  Maybe my father had been right. Maybe I was nothing. Maybe she'd seen that too.

  I soared down the hill, having nowhere to go. No home I wanted to return to. I couldn't call JJ or Fox. I couldn't tell them what I'd seen. I wouldn't be responsible for breaking their hearts. That was on Rogue and Maverick now. This clearly wasn’t the first time they’d gotten together like that. You didn’t go from nothing to screwing in one night so there must have been more, stolen kisses, secret meetings – was this why she hadn’t come to meet me in the arcade last week when she said Mary Beth had almost caught her trying to sneak out? Was that a lie? And what about when Maverick had said his bike broke down the week before that? I didn’t think anything of it in the moment, but had the breadcrumbs been there this entire time? Were they just lying to our faces every damn day, hoping we wouldn’t find out? Well if that was how they wanted to play it, if they wanted to keep this as some dirty little secret between them, then fine.

  I made it to the beach, throwing my bike down in the sand as I stalked off to delve into the shadows under the pier. Where the newly awoken monster in me wanted to dwell. And where the darkness could feast on my broken heart.

  F ollowing our way too lengthy, way too naked conversation, I had done the somewhat mortifying and yet seemingly fair thing and flashed Maverick my tits one more time. I gave him a couple of minutes to stare the way I’d been staring while I blushed so savagely that I was certain I must have looked like a beetroot then I snatched the clean t-shirt he'd found amongst Chase's stuff and dragged it on to cover myself up again. It had a skeleton riding a motorcycle on it which had been Chase's go-to look since he'd outgrown the Power Rangers. I however refused to outgrow the Power Rangers ever and Maverick got a look at my Green Ranger panties when I was forced to ditch my paint covered shorts too. I had no shame either. Green Ranger for life. And anyone who didn't agree was wrong. Fact.

  Luckily, Chase was going through a stage where he thought it looked cool to wear shirts like three sizes too big for him so the thing fit me like a dress - a dress my ass was hanging out of a bit, but so long as my tits were covered I was cool with it. Mostly. At this point I was just going to call it a win.

  Maverick had also stolen a shirt and had thankfully put his dick away. Not that the mental image would be leaving me any time soon. I mean, I'd watched some stuff online and seen photos of dicks before but shit, I did not realise they were so big and intimidating. I also hadn't realised how much Rick clearly liked his because apparently he thought that us flashing each other was a great thing and he had subsequently offered to show me his cock again about sixteen times while we hung out and waited for the cops to be gone for good.

  It was probably a good thing that there were no beers stashed in the summer house because a bit of me kinda wanted to see it again. But I was pretty sure admitting that would be like saying I wanted to do something else with it and the thought of that terrified me. And excited me. And terrified m
e again.

  Wow, cocks were scary - good to know. I was probably going to have to work on that at some point, but maybe I'd ease into it with like kissing and hands and stuff... And maybe not with one of my boys. Although the alternative seemed much worse. Strange dick sounded even fucking scarier.

  Fuck that. I was good waiting a bit longer to enter the cock minefield. If I could believe the things half the guys said in the group home, the damn things were basically primed to explode at any given moment anyway and I really wasn't ready to deal with that. Probably. But I was thinking about Maverick's quite a lot now so there was that.

  We headed back through the streets and I didn't even bother trying to make Rick let me drive this time. I was tired and somewhat dick blinded and was happy to just wrap my arms around his waist and close my eyes as he wound through the familiar streets and took me home.

  When we arrived at the end of the street where Mary Beth's foster home sat, Rick pulled up and let me off. He couldn't drop me to the door because the old witch would hear the bike and come out screaming bloody murder. Then she'd put me on lockdown for weeks on end and make it really fucking difficult for me to enjoy my damn life.

  "I'll walk you to the door if you wanna flash me again?" Rick teased and I cursed at him, reaching out to ruffle his fancy hair again while he was holding the bike up and couldn't stop me.

  "You'll pay for that tomorrow, asshole," he warned, giving me a dangerous smile that made my stomach knot.

  "I'll just tell Fox you flashed your cock at me and he'll beat your head in for me," I replied and he laughed.

  "Nah. I can take out Foxy boy."

  "I don't think so," I teased, knowing how much it would piss him off. Fox was pretty much the leader of our group but Rick always butted against that idea. "Not when Chase and JJ join in to help him."

  Rick rolled his eyes and shook his head at me. "Let them try. Catch you later, beautiful."

  I watched him ride off with a smirk playing around my lips, waiting for the sound of his motorcycle to fade into the distance as reality came sinking back in and I knew I was going to have to go back to my stupid shared flowery room and be woken up by Rosie snoring all night long. Christ, I couldn't wait until we were all eighteen and we could go rent some place of our own. Chase could escape his toxic family and JJ wouldn't have to listen to his mom screwing random guys all night long. I didn't know if Fox and Rick would come too but even if they stayed with Luther, they would practically live at ours. We were all too tight to stay apart.

  I dragged my feet as I headed up the sidewalk towards the building inaccurately known as home, cutting a glance at Axel's house and releasing a sigh as I saw the lights were off on the porch. I didn't need another awkward invite for beers to fend off from the weirdo, thank you very much.

  My cell phone was in my hand thanks to my lack of pockets and I seriously wanted to text JJ and ask to crash at his tonight. But my skateboard was in my room and his house was on the other side of town so the trip over would be a bitch and it was already past midnight. I should have thought to ask Rick to drop me there but fuck it, Rosie's snores would have to do.

  I headed on towards the group home, spotting movement by the trees to the side of it and pausing for a moment as I wondered whether or not Clive might still be waiting around for me to come back. I was starting to think I might have to give him a clearer message like a black eye or a dick kick to make him fuck off in a more permanent way. The dude needed to stop trying so damn hard and find his own friends. The Harlequin boys were mine and I had no interest in sharing.

  I opened my mouth to call out to him, but before a sound could leave my lips, a sweaty hand landed over my mouth and I was hauled off of my feet as I was dragged back against a large body.

  I screamed against the hand, kicking and thrashing as fear spilled through my veins like lava and my cell phone fell from my hand to clatter down on the sidewalk as I tried to claw at whoever the fuck was holding me captive.

  "I knew you were almost ripe, sweet thing," Axel purred in my ear, his hot breath washing against my neck as he dragged me backwards, around his house and into his yard.

  I screamed louder but the sound was muffled by his fleshy hand and he chuckled darkly. Like my attempt amused him or was getting him off and that was even more terrifying. This guy was a fully fledged member of the Harlequin Crew. They were killers, every last one of them and I knew he had a reputation for being one of the most formidable members of their gang. And I was just some girl with combat boots and someone else's shirt on.

  "Come on now, I let your boy give you your first ride. I was sweet about not taking your innocence away," Axel said as I continued to thrash and fight, but he was so much stronger than me and with my arms clamped to my sides and my feet held off of the ground there was no way for me to strike at him with any real force.

  I bit down on his hand just as he dragged me through the back door to his house and my scream burst loose as he yanked his hand away with a curse.

  "Stop that," he snapped, whirling me around and throwing me down face first over his kitchen side. "God gave you a pussy for a reason. Now you've learned what it's for, it's time to spread the love."

  I kicked out behind me blindly, catching his knee with my heavy boot and managing to haul myself up and away from him as he reared back.

  "I haven't," I gasped, scrambling away from him. "I'm a virgin. My clothes just got dirty - I'm just a kid. I-"

  "Well, you've had plenty of time to figure it out. I've been more than patient," Axel said, licking his lips as he advanced on me again, gripping the bulge in his pants and making me want to puke.

  I turned and ran for it, aiming for the front of the house as I screamed again, hoping someone at the home might hear me and come to help. But this house stood alone at the end of the street, we weren't that close to it and people knew not to help anyone out in Sunset Cove. If someone started screaming here you pretended you couldn't hear them just like no one ever admitted to hearing gunshots. But I had to try.

  Axel chased after me, gripping my ponytail and yanking me back so hard that I fell crashing to the ground, my shirt riding up over my hips and making him groan as he looked at my fucking Power Ranger panties.

  I cursed the fact that I'd forgotten my knife in my shorts back at the summer house as I scrambled back on my elbows, hunting for anything that I could use for a weapon as he advanced on me again.

  My hand closed around an empty beer bottle on the floor as he reached down and caught my ankle and I swung it at his head. The damn thing didn't even break, it just bounced off of his thick skull with a dull thunk and he snatched it from me before launching it across the room.

  I kicked him again but he barely even grunted, picking me up and carrying me over to the coffee table before the fire where he threw me down on my back and pain exploded up my spine.

  I was so fixed on trying to reach for something to use to fight him off that I hardly even noticed him forcing his hips between my thighs as he reared over me. But as his hand grabbed at my panties and ripped them aside, I screamed unlike I ever had in my entire life.

  He moved over me, unfastening his fly and I launched myself at him, my forehead colliding with his nose as I swung my head forward and spilled his blood over both of us.

  Axel reared back with a cry of pain and I lunged towards the fire, grabbing hold of the poker and swinging it towards him as hard as I fucking could with a roar of rage and terror.

  There was a sickening crack as it connected with his temple and his eyes went wide as his jaw fell slack, the metal embedded in his skull.

  Axel fell forwards and I screamed again as his weight slammed down on top of me, but he wasn't moving anymore.

  I cursed and kicked and shoved him off of me, scrambling to my feet and ripping the poker back out of his skull before swinging it down again and again making more blood fly before finally releasing it and staggering back against the bloodstained wall, shaking and crying.

  The
heavy silence that fell told me he was dead, but I didn't know what that meant. I didn't know what I was supposed to do about it. I couldn’t call the cops. No one in Sunset Cove ever called the cops if they knew what was good for them. Besides, Axel was a Harlequin. I couldn’t let anyone find out I’d just killed one of the members of the most bloodthirsty gangs in the entire state, I might as well sign my own execution notice.

  I reached for my pocket before remembering it wasn't there, hunting for my cell phone on instinct to call my boys. They were who I needed. They'd know what to do.

  I was trembling all over as adrenaline and shock coursed through me uncontrollably.

  I scrambled back outside and hunted around for my cell phone, glancing at the houses down the street and thinking for a moment that I saw a shadow move by the group home again.

  I dismissed it as my mind playing tricks on me and went back to my hunt, tasting blood as I realised my lip was busted and the pain of my injuries began to set in.

  I spotted my cell phone on the sidewalk and moved to grab it, checking it wasn't broken before stumbling back to Axel's house as I tried to adjust my torn panties to cover me up better.

  I was shaking so much that I could barely even open up my contacts as I stepped back into the house with the corpse of the man I'd just killed, the scent of weed and beer and blood hanging thickly in the air.

  But I just needed my boys.

  The Harlequin boys would fix it for me.

  They always had my back.

  They'd know what to do.

  I woke to my phone buzzing under my pillow and I pushed my hand beneath it, blinking awake and wondering if the guys were out at Sinners' Playground for the night. We hadn’t been up to the abandoned amusement park on the old pier for a few days, so I wouldn’t be surprised to find out one of them had decided to head up there.