Page 45 of Two Tricks

A shiver of pleasure went up my spine at the intensity in his voice and eyes. There was no doubt in my mind he would indeed come through on that promise.

“Noted, big guy,” I said with a wink, pulling away from him. “Someday I might have to test that, though—you never know what life will bring in this dark world we share.”

“Come on, let’s get out of here before they change their minds and lock you away in the bedroom,” Picasso muttered, heading out.

I gave the guys a girly finger wave and blew a kiss before skipping down the steps of the house. Picasso led me to a small one-and-a-half car garage off to the side of the clubhouse and entered in the code to the keypad. The door lifted, and there was my beautiful baby, the fading sunlight filling the garage with a pink glow.

Running a hand along the hood, I unlocked the door and slid into the front seat. Pushing the start button, the Camaro purred to life, the throaty exhaust music to my ears. After days of being unable to go anywhere I wanted, this was pure bliss. Pulling out of the garage, I found Picasso on his bike, ready and waiting for me. I took a moment to sync up my phone and cranked up the volume as Halestorm’s Love Bites (So Do I) blasted through the sound system.

Let’s see what kind of fun Picasso can have.

I drove at a normal pace out of the compound, seeing as the driveway wasn’t super smooth, but once we hit pavement, I gunned it. The engine roared to life, and I was off like a shot, whooping my joy as I ate up the miles.

The familiar growl of a motorcycle came from behind, letting me know Picasso was up for the challenge. With the sun setting, the sky was cast in warm tones of orange, pink, and yellow, setting the stage for a great drive. Rolling down the windows, I let the warm breeze flow through the car. My bliss was short-lived, though, as my phone started sounding, loading all the missed messages, calls, and notifications from the past few days.

Knowing that most of them would be from Harper, I decided the best thing to do was to just call her back. Rolling up the windows and killing the music, I hit her speed dial, and one ring later, she answered.

“You better have died for you to fall off the planet like that, missy!” Harper screeched. “Do you know how worried I was? Weston wouldn’t even tell me what happened, no matter how much I begged. I got my first gray hair from you, I’ll have you know! Expect a bill from me for the hair salon to fix what you did to me!”

Rolling my eyes, I leaned back as she continued to rant about how I was the world’s worst friend and so on. Fifteen minutes later, when she had ranted herself out, I knew it was safe to try and talk.

“Hi Harper, how are you? The past few days have been hell for me, but let’s not focus on that. I’ll finally be home tonight, if you want to catch up?”

At this, Harper started to laugh like she was the Wicked Witch of the West. “Dax Rose Blackmore, there not a snowball’s chance in hell you are getting away without giving me some kind of explanation.”

I grinned as an idea came to me. “If you want to come over, I will explain everything to you until you’re satisfied. Sound fair?”

“I’ll be there in ten minutes,” Harper said, and the call was cut off.

Should I call her back and tell her that I was still thirty minutes away? Nah, she’d figure it out.

Pulling up to the house, I saw Harper’s cute little red Fiat parked along the street. I smirked as I saw her sitting on the steps to the front door, her lips turned down in a deep frown. I left the door open as Picasso pulled in after me, and I motioned him to put his bike inside.

Seconds later, Harper was all up in my face. “You could have told me that you were going to take that long! Seriously, how inconsiderate can you be, Dax?”

“I was going to tell you, but you hung up before I could say anything,” I defended.

“Ha! You could have texted me, or hell, even called me back to share that tidbit of info. Why do you hate me?” Harper pouted, actual tears welling up in her eyes.

She knew that the one thing I could never win against was her crying. “No, nope, none of that,” I said pointing my finger at her eyes. “This is not serious enough for you to use that on me. This isn’t the first time I’ve been gone for a few days.”

Harper sniffled a few times and used her knuckle to wipe under her eyes, then froze, her eyes widening in surprise. I’d forgotten about Picasso with all her theatrics. Miracle of miracles, her tears dried up, and she was shaking out her hair and checking how many buttons she had open on her button-down silk blouse. Shaking my head at her, I half-turned so she could get a better look at him.

“Oh, hello, Dax didn’t mention she had someone with her,” Harper said, giving me a glare and holding her hand out to Picasso. “I’m Harper, Dax’s best friend.”

He took her manicured hand and shook it gently, looking very out of place with the whole interaction. “Picasso.”

“This is the reason I have been MIA the last few days. We met at the party, and we hit it off so well I went to spend some time with him at his house.” I smiled as I snaked my arm around his waist and slid my hand up under his shirt so my palm was resting on his stomach. “With how crazy things got, I didn’t know where you got to, and I let Weston know not to worry but realized I didn’t give him much to go on other than I was alright. You know how it can get when you’re swept away in the passion of things.”

Picasso froze under my touch, but as I talked, he relaxed and let his arm rest over my shoulders, pulling me closer to him. “She begged me to come back with her since she didn’t want to leave but she already canceled a few days of clients. I just couldn’t let her abandon everything to stay with me.”

Look at this cheeky asshole, making it sound like I’m the desperate one. Game on, my friend. Game on.

“Well, since your brother had to go back to work, it just isn’t the same without both of you involved, you know. It seems I have a sex drive that can wear out two badass biker dudes. Lucky for them, they had some friends who were down to play when they needed naps,” I said, patting his stomach before I started walking for the front door, leaving him gaping at me.

Harper was right on my heels. “You’re telling me that you went missing for a three-day sexcipade?!”

“You told me that I needed to let loose and get some.” I shrugged as I unlocked the door, letting us all into the house. “I’m sorry, did you want to join us?” I asked as I hung my keys on the hook in the kitchen.