Page 41 of Two Tricks

It took me a moment to register what Void just said.

“Explain.”

“Eight years ago, when we weren’t as big of a crew as we are now, a guy named Lizard was kicked out of the club because he was pocketing money from drug deals he did. Pissed, he tried to get Eagle caught by setting us up with an undercover cop asking for black market weapons. Normally Eagle always takes the meeting with new people, but I had a bad feeling about it when he brought up knowing Lizard. I pulled my gun on him and got arrested before the deal could go any further. They wanted me to do ten years, but Gaby got it down to four, and I only did three because of good behavior,” Void shared, his icy eyes never leaving mine. “While I was in, he made sure I had everything I needed, whether it was protection or a new toothbrush. Never once did I feel abandoned. Hell, he even sent Picasso to see me twice a month to keep me up to date on what was going on in the club.”

The room was silent as they waited for me to react. I tried to hide how much I was reeling from this new information. My anger and hurt over what happened to my brother wanted me to push back at what he was saying, but I was too good at reading people to think it was all made up.

“Okay, so here’s what I propose. Weston and I will join you at the compound so he can consult on your security. Meanwhile, I will look into Mastiff and the Mad Dogs to see if what you’re asking me to do can even be done. If I think it’s possible, then I will bring this all to Two Tricks and see what he has to say. Once he has made a choice, then and only then will I make good on our side of the bargain,” I said, making sure to look at all of them as I spoke. “Oh, and you have to get this goddamn shock collar off of me or none of this is going to happen.”

Eagle sat back and rubbed his chin, watching me with a critical eye. “So—you want to do this research on your own turf.”

“I’m either truly your partner in this or the deal is off,” I confirmed.

Picasso scoffed. “You want us to extend trust to you with no guarantee you will keep your word?”

“Sorry, did you miss the part where you will have Wes with you at the compound?” I asked. “We are both extending trust here.”

“Hardly. He will be in our security systems; he could do whatever he wants to them to leave us vulnerable to an attack from Two Tricks,” Picasso said, his face scrunched up in a scowl. “You have to leave the tracker on until Two Tricks agrees with the plan and we can talk to him face to face. That’s when you can be free of it.”

I growled at him, taking a step forward, but Wes reached out and grabbed my arm. “Take a moment to actually listen to what he is saying, Dax. It’s a fair deal. You need to go back and show your face and deal with a few things before you can come back to the compound, and I can help you with your dead ends. It shouldn’t take me more than three days to overhaul their whole system. If we need to order stuff in, then it could be longer, but I can still help you along the way.”

My skin crawled at the thought of being tracked everywhere I went and them knowing where I lived. I wanted this thing off of me. The danger of being hit with that kind of shot at any given moment made me feel like this was a bigger leap of trust on my end.

“Fine. BUT if I end up getting shocked or the information you have on me gets out if the deal doesn’t go your way, I will personally hand you over to the Mad Dogs and watch them kill you all. Do I make myself clear?” I snapped.

Eagle nodded, then got to his feet with his hand extended. I studied him for a moment, then took his hand, letting out a yelp as he pulled me forward and slammed his lips on mine. I fought the kiss at first, but then when his grip on my hip and neck felt like they might bruise, I relaxed into it.

When he finally released me, he grinned. “When Two Tricks agrees to the deal, make sure he knows that you will be spending a month living with us, so he’ll have to deal with the commute time.”

I scowled at him and shoved him off me. “There is no telling what Tricks will think of this deal. It’s going against one of his rules, and he doesn’t like it when things fuck with his rules.”

I felt someone step up behind me, molding his chest to my back. “Don’t sell yourself short there, little rebel,” Sprocket said, his lips brushing the shell of my ear. “That silver tongue of yours could talk anyone into doing something they didn’t plan on.”

Something about all these men turned my abnormally high libido into overdrive as my body sang with desire. I glanced out of the corner of my eye at Sprocket, knowing he was trying to do the exact thing he just suggested about me. Leaning into him, I reached up and let my hand sink into his hair that was piled up in a messy bun. He almost seemed to purr at the attention, but just as I was going to get a nice grip on his hair, he grabbed my waist and yanked me away from him as if it was as simple as a dance.

“Oh little rebel, haven’t you learned? Your tricks don’t work on me,” Sprocket teased, his eyes shining with mirth. “You’re going to have to up your game if you want to play with me.”

Shaking him off, I headed for the door of the cabin. “Well, let’s get this show on the road. I’ll drive the ATV back to the compound and then I’ll take my Camaro back home.”

“Looks like Cognac gets to ride bitch to one of us,” Void chuckled as they followed me out the door.

“Wait, you can’t leave the place like this!” Eagle called out, still in the living room.

I looked at Void, who was on my right, and shook my head. “I’ve never met a man who could be more of a neat freak than Weston.”

“You get used to it. Else you end up with a black eye or your hand stabbed with the fork you left in the sink,” Void said with a shrug.

Pausing, I hollered back through the open door. “This safehouse is burned now that you guys know about it. Tricks will probably just sell the place or burn it down, one of the two depending on his mood. So there’s no point in worrying about it.”

Boots clomped to the door, and Eagle glared down at me, holding out his hand. “Then I’ll buy it off him right now. Hand over the keys, this place is the perfect getaway.”

“Yeah, no can do, pres. We have to have a crew come and wipe the place of all our stash and security,” I said as I skipped down the steps to the ATV.

Eagle snarled, giving the place one more lookover and forcing himself to walk out the door, Picasso right on his heels.

“You have to hand it to the guy—he has a great operation. There is no way you guys would have found the place if it hadn’t been for the GPS,” Cognac mused while taking in the forest around us. “Hey, when you talk to Two Tricks about the deal, tell him we will pay market price for this place. I wouldn’t mind spending a weekend out here sometime.”

I rolled my eyes at him, which caused his grin to grow wider. “You guys keep forgetting I have to check out if going after the Mad Dogs is the right move or not. I actually like staying alive, and I’d like to keep doing that for a while longer.”