Carnival Hill (The Harlequin Crew Book 3)

by Caroline Peckham

  CARNIVAL HILL

  The Harlequin Crew Book 3

  By

  Caroline Peckham & Susanne Valenti

  Table of Contents

  Dedication

  Chapter 1

  Chapter 2

  Chapter 3

  Chapter 4

  Chapter 5

  Chapter 6

  Chapter 7

  Chapter 8

  Chapter 9

  Chapter 10

  Chapter 11

  Chapter 12

  Chapter 13

  Chapter 14

  Chapter 15

  Chapter 16

  Chapter 17

  Chapter 18

  Chapter 19

  Chapter 20

  Chapter 21

  Chapter 22

  Chapter 23

  Chapter 24

  Chapter 25

  Chapter 26

  Chapter 27

  Chapter 28

  Chapter 29

  Chapter 30

  Chapter 31

  Chapter 32

  Chapter 33

  Chapter 34

  Chapter 35

  Chapter 36

  Chapter 37

  Chapter 38

  Chapter 39

  Chapter 40

  Chapter 41

  Chapter 42

  Chapter 43

  Chapter 44

  Chapter 45

  Author Note

  This book is dedicated to Mutt.

  He knows when shit is up and he knows how to pee on a motherfucker when they’re down.

  We love your rage and your furious, unforgiving nature all wrapped up in a tiny little fluffball package.

  We love that you pee in Fox’s plant pots daily, and that you will never, ever forgive him for shouting at you because HOW. DARE. HE?

  And we love that, unbeknownst to Fox, you’ve been using his pillow to scratch your ass whenever you get the chance.

  So we salute you Mutt!

  M y eyes were closed and my head was full of the sound of Otis Redding singing Sittin' On the Dock of the Bay as I imagined the feeling of the sun on my skin and my toes in the water alongside the taste of freedom on my lips.

  Heaven had always been that simple for me. Laughter in the air and warm bodies close to mine while we drank stolen beers and let the tide take our troubles away with it.

  So that was where I was. Out in the sun with my boys, not stuck inside this metal coffin. There wasn't dust clogging my throat and my limbs weren't screaming at me to move from being stuck here for so fucking long.

  I wasn't slumped with my knees half bent and my feet screaming in pain from the stilettos I couldn't reach to unbuckle. There was no agony in my heart as fear for my boys ripped me apart and I kept replaying the last moments where I'd seen Chase before the building came down in my head.

  None of that was real. It couldn't be real.

  Because Otis Redding was singing the chorus and my heart felt light as I laughed.

  "I dare you, little one," Chase encouraged and I groaned, throwing an arm over my eyes as I flopped back onto the hot wooden boards of the little jetty dramatically.

  "You guys pick on me because I'm the only girl," I accused, one eye cracking open as I found JJ grinning at me while he swigged on his beer.

  "Not true," he said. "We pick on you because you're the bravest. Chase didn't dare anyone else because he knew we wouldn't do it."

  I smirked at the idea of that and pushed up onto my elbows as I kicked my toes back and forth in the cool water.

  "Really?"

  "No," Maverick denied. "I'm not scared to do it."

  I snorted because of course he wasn't. Rick wasn't scared to do anything.

  Fox's eyes were fixed on me and he glanced around towards his house before shaking his head.

  "I'll do it," he said. "I won't get in as much trouble if I get caught."

  "Boo," I complained. "Then it's no fun."

  I sank the last of my beer, enjoying the fuzziness it left in my head as I sprang up and looked towards Harlequin House too. Stealing the keys might be the simplest way, but as I looked back towards the fancy speedboat which Luther had just bought, I found I didn't want to go with easy. Besides, creeping into that house while Fox’s scary ass daddy was home did not appeal.

  "I can do it without the keys," I decided, preferring that idea to the chance of Luther catching me in the house.

  "It was just a joke, pretty girl." JJ caught my hand to stop me as I set my gaze on the boat, but I just rolled my eyes.

  "If I can boost a car, I can boost a boat, JJ. Besides, Luther will never even know we took it. Don't tell me you're all going to go chicken shit on me now?"

  There was a clamour of protests at that suggestion and I grinned as I unbuckled my shorts and dropped them before tossing my shirt down too.

  "Don't laugh," I snapped as they all stared at my stupid lilac bikini which didn't fit right anymore. "My dumb boobs keep growing and I already know it doesn't fit properly. But I tried to steal a new one from that kiosk up on Tide Street the other day and the bitch working there spotted me, so I had to run for it."

  "Yeah, I was just thinking how dumb your boobs are. You look fucking terrible, beautiful," Maverick snorted and Fox punched him in the arm.

  "Yeah, well it would piss you off if your dick just kept growing and growing all the damn time and you had no boxers that fit anymore," I snarked at him.

  "I think JJ's having that problem right now," Chase joked and JJ cursed him out, pouncing on him and punching as they rolled across the jetty.

  "Fuck you guys," I grouched, turning my attention back to the speedboat before diving into the sea and disappearing beneath the waves.

  The water kissed my sun heated skin as I slipped beneath it, swimming for the boat and surfacing on the far side of it before heaving myself up and into it.

  I ducked down low just in case any of Luther's men looked out and spotted me, then popped open the panel beside the wheel and started work on hot wiring this thing.

  I grinned widely as the engine snarled to life and the boys all whooped in triumph as they raced to get onboard too, throwing more beers and snacks to me as Fox untethered the vessel and we were soon racing out towards the horizon with laughter colouring the air.

  I stayed there on that boat with my boys laughing and the sun kissing my flesh.

  I wasn't trapped here.

  I wasn't finding it hard to breathe.

  I wasn't going to die all alone in the dark.

  I was drinking in the sunshine with a smile on my face and Otis Redding was singing again, and that's where I'd stay for as long as I could. In fact, I'd stay there forever if I had a choice in it. Because nothing good ever came of stepping out of that sunshine and back into the shadows of my reality. So I’d stay and stay and there would be love in my heart and laughter on my lips and reality couldn’t catch me because our speedboat was too fast and we were gonna chase the horizon forever.

  “R ogue!” I roared, clawing at the rubble, throwing lumps of huge stone away from me as I fought to dig into the depths of the destroyed Dollhouse. “Call out to me, beautiful, show me where you are.”

  The morning sun was beating down on my back, my shirt discarded and sweat clung to me as I gasped for water. But I wouldn’t stop. I’d worked like a madman through the night trying to get to her, and I wasn’t going to give up until she was back in my arms. I’d barely gotten out of the fucking place when the roof had fallen down, but by some miracle I’d made it to the balcony and dove off of it into the pool. And alright, fucking Fox and JJ had made it too. Not that I gave a shit about th
at.

  A small, desperate voice in the back of my head kept whispering to me that Chase was in the depths of this rubble as well as my girl, and I may have hated that asshole, but somehow him dying here like this didn’t seem right. He was meant to die at my hands, dammit.

  “Here.” Luther appeared, thrusting a bottle of water at me.

  He was shirtless too, a mess of dust lining his tattooed chest as he worked alongside us. The whole of the Harlequin Crew were here digging and I just ignored them, keeping my distance from Fox and JJ who were working on the other side of the building along with half of the town who’d shown up to help. The fire department, police and goddamn sea rescue were here too, everyone battling to get the survivors out as soon as possible. Every time someone was pulled from the wreckage, a cry went up and my eyes went to their hair, my hopes rising only to be dashed to pieces all over again.

  Where the fuck is she?

  I knocked Luther’s hand away from my face with the bottle in it and he grabbed hold of my arm, shoving the water into my grip. I growled, not looking at him, but chugged the water all the same, drinking every last drop and figuring it was best I didn’t drop dead from thirst and heat exhaustion before I found her.

  “That’ll need looking at.” He pointed at the wound on my arm which was clogged up with dust and dirt but I just returned to digging, throwing the water bottle back at him so it bounced off his abs.

  “We’ll find her, son,” Luther promised and the little white and brown dog at his heels yipped like it agreed.

  Luther had turned up with the mutt around half an hour after the building had gone down and it had been running back and forth between him, JJ and Fox all night, yapping and sniffing like he was as desperate as the rest of us to find Rogue. She had mentioned she’d taken in a little stray, and I wondered if this was it. The dog didn’t seem to know what to make of me, but sometimes it crept closer to sniff at my heels.

  Luther had been in a rage after Fox had told him Jolene had betrayed him, sold him out to fucking Shawn. His eyes had become steely and murderous, but when Fox had told him she was dead, he’d nodded and the darkness had lifted a little from his gaze. I only knew one bastard savage enough to nod satisfactorily to hear his own flesh and blood had fallen to their death alongside their husband. And that was him. She might have betrayed him, but fuck me he was coldblooded. Not that that was news to me. He hadn’t even blinked when their bodies had been hauled out of the rubble around dawn. He’d just stared at the broken body of his sister for several long seconds then spat at the ground beside her and gone back to digging.

  “You don’t know that,” I snarled at Luther, throwing a huge lump of rock behind me.

  There were men working to clear anything we tossed aside so the piles never got too big, but they stood pretty far back from me because it was a fucking hazard zone.

  “She’s strong,” Luther said firmly. “And she’s smart too. She’ll have found a way to-”

  “Don’t,” I snapped at him. “Stop wasting your energy, old man, and get digging.”

  He nodded, moving closer to me and helping me shift the rubble. I didn’t tell him to fuck off because I needed the manpower and so long as he was silent, I could tolerate him for now. For Rogue.

  We worked like dogs, our hands bloody and blistered, the hours slipping by and making worry burn a hole in my chest.

  Where is she?

  She can’t be gone.

  My girl has to be here somewhere.

  I’d spent too long living in a world without Rogue Easton in it and I didn’t want to go back to it.

  Panic was desperately trying to set in, but if I fell apart I’d be no good to her. I just wished my body was even stronger, wished I could work faster. It reminded me of the helplessness I’d felt in prison and the darkness in my soul spilled out, infecting me everywhere until my mind was nothing but a cage of my worst memories.

  I focused on her, bringing her to the forefront of my mind and tearing my way back through the past until I was riding my motorcycle through town with her on the back, her arms wrapped around me and her chin on my shoulder.

  “Hold on, beautiful,” I called to her, taking a left turn down the street and loosing the throttle.

  She whooped as I drove right over the sidewalk onto the beach and I smirked as I kicked sand all over a couple of lotioned-up lovebirds sucking each other’s faces off. They yelled at us as I drove away and Rogue laughed wildly as I raced towards the vacant end of the beach where Sinners’ Playground’s shadow was cast across the water.

  “Faster!” she cried.

  I gave her what she wanted, flying along the beach and she suddenly let go of me.

  “Rogue,” I growled in alarm, turning my head and finding her with her arms stretched wide and her head tipped back. Her dark hair tumbled around her in the breeze and I was so captivated by her that I lost control of the damn bike.

  We hit a bump and I cursed, slowing us down as much as possible as the wheels skidded out and the bike tilted sideways.

  I twisted around, grabbing hold of her and pulling her off onto the sand before my motorcycle slammed down to the ground ahead of us with an angry crunch that said something had just broken.

  I didn’t give a shit about that though, I rolled towards Rogue in fear of her being injured, but found her laughing her damn head off, making a snow angel in the sand.

  “Fucking hell,” I chuckled, pushing my hand into my hair as relief swept through me.

  “Is your bike okay?” She asked as she propped herself up on her elbows, looking over at it in concern.

  “It’ll live,” I said with a shrug, reaching out to her knee which was reddening with a bruise. I rubbed my thumb over it, a pang going through me at putting her at risk. “Sorry, beautiful.”

  “You’ll have to kiss it better,” she said teasingly and I surprised her as I leaned down and pressed my mouth to it, making her suck in a small breath. She tasted like coconut and motor oil and as I leaned back and my cock started swelling, I guessed that had just become my new favourite scent.

  She twirled a lock of hair around her finger, her eyes darting from me to the sea as a blush lined her cheeks. Did I cause that?

  She drew the hair over her upper lip to make a moustache and pulled a face at me. “Would I make a sexy man, Rick? You could call me Roger.”

  I snorted a laugh, shoving her arm. Stupid ass girl. I was pretty sure I’d still want her if she was a guy though, which was saying something as I had a real fondness for tits.

  I gripped the sides of my chest, pushing my pecs together to try and make some cleavage and put on the most girlish voice I could pull off. “Do I make a sexy girl, Roger baby?”

  She giggled, kicking sand at me. “Yeah, I’d bang you.”

  I grinned darkly at that but then a shout drew my attention down the beach and I let go of my fake tits.

  “Stop right there!” some busy body cop shouted and I swore, dragging Rogue to her feet.

  “Oh shit,” she breathed, running with me toward my bike.

  I picked it up, hoping the thing wouldn’t let me down as I swung my leg over the seat and Rogue jumped on the back. I turned the key in the ignition and it growled in protest, making my heart beat harder.

  “Hey!” the cop shouted as I tried the ignition again.

  The engine rumbled to life and I grinned, shooting away down the beach with my girl at my back and her laughter in my ear. I’d always find a way out of trouble, especially when she was involved. I was her ride or die, and today we were gonna ride, ride, ride.

  “Here - here!” a fireman yelled fifty yards away and people swarmed over to help him dig. I ran with Luther at my side, my heart beating a hundred miles an hour as everyone worked together to move the bricks.

  A girl’s muffled shout came from somewhere in the rubble and it was too distorted for me to tell if it was Rogue’s.

  Fox and JJ arrived, digging furiously, working in perfect synchronisation with each oth
er as they battled to get the girl out. They were covered in dust and dirt and blood, JJ’s shirt half torn from his body while Fox’s was gone completely.

  A hand appeared, reaching through the bricks and a second later, a fireman lifted the girl out of a safe space which looked like it had been forged between two fallen pillars. A spill of blonde hair and a bright blue dress made my heart fall and Rosie Morgan wailed as she held onto the fireman.

  “I’m alive!” she cried dramatically. “I’m aliiiive!”

  “Great,” I gritted out. “Put her back in,” I snarled then strode off back to where I’d been working.

  The little dog followed me, trotting along with determination in his stride and I glanced down at it with a frown.

  “Can you smell her, boy? Where is she?”

  He released a low whine, looking up at me then running away across the rubble, back and forth, back and forth before finally sitting down on a flat lump of rock and yapping loudly.

  My heart beat harder and though it might have just been random, my gut told me to dig where that little pup was. The area was newly cleared, a place where the police department had been working but there was still a long way to go. I moved in front of the dog and started digging while he barked in encouragement and my hope was marginally restored.

  Fox and JJ appeared, followed by Luther and I gritted my teeth as they started helping me, my brow furrowing as I set my gaze on my work and ignored them. My mind hooked on the moment I’d hauled Fox to safety after he’d nearly fallen to his death inside The Dollhouse. I wasn’t even entirely sure how I’d made the decision. One second I’d been ten feet away, the next I’d been flat on my stomach dragging him outa that hole and knowing I wasn’t gonna let him fall. Seemed like a mindfuck I wasn’t gonna explore though.

  “That’s it, boys,” Luther encouraged. “Just keep working together.”

  “Shut your mouth,” I snarled. “If you’re gonna talk, do it elsewhere.”

  “Rogue!” JJ called out as we lifted a large door between us and threw it aside. Okay so maybe it was one percent easier working with them, but that didn’t mean I was any less inclined to shoot them when I was done here.

  “Can you hear me, baby?!” Fox yelled. “I’m coming, just hold on.”