Page 107 of More Tricks

Wes got his command center set up in a spare room just outside the security room they had. He’s been working on helping them upgrade that as well since they already had to replace a bunch of things from the attack. The FBI was long gone and didn’t really reach out to contact us about anything, which allowed that whole event to come to a close. The Mad Dogs were done for, and there was no fear of them coming back. Did that mean there wasn’t still a threat to the compound? No, but for now, we were doing all we could to beef things up.

“Hey,” Void said as he sat down on the coffee table in front of me.

I glanced up at him from the report I was reading from Brian about a situation going on within the Empire. “What’s up, hot stuff,” I greeted with a wink.

We’d been working ourselves hard in training and dealing with everything else. While I slept in someone’s bed each night, we’d been too worn out to do more than cuddle or make out. I wasn’t worried our relationship wasn’t built on sex, no matter how much we all enjoyed it.

“Ruban got back to me about our idea. He took it to a few others in the game, and they had a meeting. He was all fired up about it, but if this is going to be as big of a deal as we need it to be, all four of them need to be in on it,” Void explained.

The four men he was talking about ruled the underground fighting rings. Each had a different area they were in charge of but all worked together to make the money flow and keep the secrets hidden.

“So, what’s the answer?” I asked, sliding the computer off my lap so he knew he had my full attention.

“Good and bad… full of strings and promises we might not want to agree to,” Void admitted, running both hands over his face.

“You’re gonna need to give me more than that, big guy,” I murmured, reaching out to rest my hand on his leg.

“One of them is they want us to each fight a person of their choosing, which we expected.” I nodded as he paused to look at me. “Then, if we both win those fights, they want us to fight each other.”

Now I could see why he was upset. Void might be as ruthless and bloodthirsty as I was, but when it came to me, I was his Achilles heel. There was no way he would be able to fight me the way they would want him to.

“Is there another workaround?” I asked. “There has to be something they would find way more interesting than the two of us going head to head.”

“That’s what I’ve been trying to wrack my brain for,” Void muttered.

I didn’t like seeing Void like this. He was the cold, detached enforcer of the Saints. “Call him back.”

“What?”

“Call the dickwad back. I want to speak to him,” I said slower this time.

Void pulled out his phone, and soon, I could hear it ringing. I reached over and hit the speaker so I could hear everything being said.

“Void? That was fast. Do you have an answer for me already?” the man who I assumed to be Ruban answered.

“Not quite,” I answered, letting the man know it wasn’t who he thought it would be. “Ruban, right?”

“Ah yeah…” he answered hesitantly. “Who is this?”

“That depends. My friends call me Dax. Everyone else refers to me as Two Tricks,” I quipped, trying to make sure this idiot knew exactly who he was dealing with.

There was silence for a moment, then the sound of a door being shut, and the background noise faded. “How do I know I’m talking to the real deal?”

“I’m sorry. Do you think someone else could claim to be me and still be breathing?” I shot back. “Don’t waste my fucking time, Ruby. I want to make a business deal with you and that won’t happen if you’re being a dick.”

“Holy fucking shit,” Ruban blurted. “Void isn’t one to lie or make promises he can’t keep, but I have to admit, when he said he was shacking up with Two Tricks, I was skeptical.”

My gaze flicked up to Void. “Shacking up? Really? Is that what you told him?”

“No,” he bit out. “I said no such thing. Never would I degrade what we have, little demon, to such terms.”

Ah, there he is. Seems like the big guy just lost his footing there a bit.

“Hey now, I didn’t mean any offense. I’m a simple guy with simple logic,” Ruban explained hurriedly.

“You got a woman, Ruby?” I inquired.

“N-no, why does that matter?” he stuttered.