Page 42 of Two Tricks

“Come on, Cognac. You can ride with me,” Sprocket said, slapping his friend on the back.

Void and Picasso followed after them while Eagle watched Wes lock the place up and toss me the keys.

“You know what, I think you should come with me, little hellcat. I don’t trust that you won’t drive off with the two of you in the buggy. Tech wiz over here knows there’s a tracker, and if he’s as good as he claims, he could disable that in no time,” Eagle decided.

“Nah, I’m good going back with Wes. I’m not a girl who rides bitch when she has the option to drive,” I said, turning to hop in the ATV.

Big arms grabbed me around the waist and tossed me over a shoulder.

“What the fuck is it with you assholes and dragging me around like a sack of potatoes! Put me down right now, Eagle, or I swear to god I will make you crash your bike!” I yelled, punching hard against his lower back, trying to hit his kidney.

A hand smacked against my ass, the sound of it echoing through the trees. “Watch what you say. I already owe you punishment for leaving my room a mess, don’t make me add to it.”

Ignoring his warning, I wiggled around, grabbing his boxers to try and give him a wedgie from hell when two more hits on my ass in quick succession left a burn on my skin, which stopped me.

“I can do this all day, it’s up to you when I stop,” Eagle commented as he continued on his way back to his bike.

I pushed up to see Wes standing by the ATV, eyes wide in shock and trying not to laugh. Oh, that fucker was going to pay for not helping me. See if he gets as much as a hand job from me any time soon, the unhelpful bastard. We broke through the trees onto a small side road that was more well used and wasn’t as rough as the one leading to the cabin. Pulling me off his shoulder, Eagle dropped me unceremoniously onto the ground, causing me to sputter as I got to my feet.

“Are you trying to do everything in your power to piss me the fuck off? Because if you are, you’re doing a great job!” I fumed.

Eagle rounded on me, grabbing me once again by the throat. “It seems that there has been a slight miscommunication in all this. You might work for Two Tricks, but you are ours. The Phantom Saints leadership has claimed you. So yeah, I’m fucking pissed that I’m going to bring you back home and then you’re going to get in your car and leave for who the fuck knows how long. I won’t know what you’re doing, if you’re eating, if you’re drinking too much, or getting into trouble!”

Bewildered, I gaped at Eagle, trying to understand what he just said. Then anger washed over me in a tidal wave as his words hit home. How the fuck did they get it into their heads that I was theirs, of all things? I didn’t remember signing up for that job.

Roaring at him, I reached out and grabbed his throat, gripping it far tighter than he was mine. “I. Belong. To. No one! I told you from day one that I was not part of your crew. My loyalties are to myself and no one else. I will not be forced into this, because you made the decision without even TELLING me! This woman cannot be bought or sold like a piece of meat, so get that thought out of your goddamn head this instant.”

We both glared at each other, everyone around us completely silent as they watched to see what would happen next. A flash of pride shown in Eagle’s eyes before he removed his hand from my neck. When I felt confident that he wasn’t going to make another move against me, I pulled my hand away, seeing a perfect impression of my hand on his throat with little crescent moons from my nails biting in.

“We will talk about this later,” Eagle said, walking over to his bike.

I let out a huff, amazed at the sheer hard-headedness of this man. “I’m not riding back with you. Pick someone else.”

“Fine, you’ll ride with Picasso then,” he answered without even looking back at me.

I narrowed my eyes, feeling like that was far too easy of a compromise. Turning, I looked at Picasso as he frowned at his brother’s back, then shifted to me. Jerking his head for me to get on, I took a deep breath and swung my leg over the seat. Once comfortable, I grabbed onto the belt loops on his hips, not feeling welcome to wrap my arms around his waist. Oddly, I felt more comfortable sitting bitch for someone who didn’t actually care for me all that much.

I couldn’t place my finger on why, but the man who made me an egg in a hole hadn’t shown up since. He was far more closed off and untrusting. It couldn’t just be the whole brother complex thing, because other than today, I hadn’t truly meant harm to Eagle. The man was an artist, and I knew from personal experience that we were all fickle bitches. He either needed to get laid or spend the day locked in his art space for a day to get whatever had crawled up his ass to mellow the fuck out.

The feeling of Dax’s chest glued to my back as we drove back to the compound made my skin tingle at the contact. This spitfire of a woman was wreaking havoc in my world, and I loved it and hated it, all at the same time. I was the only one out of the leadership that hadn’t ever had a serious relationship before. My brother and the Phantom Saints were my top priority in the world, and no one had given me a reason to change my thinking. That is, until this tornado landed in our house, tossing everything into chaos. She didn’t care about our carefully laid out rules and the way we did things. Nope, she did what she wanted, damn the consequences.

I thought for sure Eagle would kill her the first time he found her in his room, soaking in his bathtub, no less. The last thing I expected was to hear the sounds of Dax screaming out in pleasure instead of pain. Seeing how fast everyone else was becoming enamored with this spitfire, I knew I needed to figure out who she really was, so I volunteered to keep an eye on her that first day. That had whole-heartedly been a mistake. Now I craved her touch, her attention, anything to get those silvery-blue eyes to look at me.

So what did I do? I pushed her away, of course.

Hearing her reject our claim on her made me feel more confident in keeping her at arm’s length. Our family was known to fall hard and fast when we decided on someone, and it was already happening with Eagle. Out of the group, one of us needed to keep a level head and remember the big picture.

If we were going to survive against the Mad Dogs, we needed Two Tricks’ help, and if he wasn’t willing to give it then we would just have to take it from him. I was a little less certain that Dax would be swayed to our side after the confrontation that just happened, but there was no telling if she would change her mind or not. We couldn’t leave this to chance—it was too important.

Pulling into the compound, I drove right up to the house and parked beside the garage that I had turned into my room/studio. Dax popped off my bike before I could even put the kickstand down, hands on her hips as she watched the others park their bikes in the large garage attached to the clubhouse.

“I thought you said you had a whole group of your guys waiting off a little ways in case you needed backup,” Dax called, cocking a hip in irritation.

Eagle just grinned at her, pleased that she noticed it was a lie after she believed him. “Good thing I didn’t need them in the long run.”

“God, I can’t wait to get out of here and back to my normal life,” Dax sighed, turning on her heel and marching up the steps.

Eagle’s face turned into a storm cloud of anger at her words. He moved to charge after her, but I stepped in front of him, bringing him to a halt.