Page 109 of More Tricks

“Respect… I see,” Three mused. “What exactly did you have in mind? We are always interested if it can be made into a profit for us. What do they call it?”

“Mutually beneficial,” I offered, knowing full well he knew the term.

“Hmm, yes, that’s the one,” Three agreed. “Now tell me how you can help us and help yourself at the same time. Don’t think we aren’t aware of your feud with Diego. If you’re going to bring hell down around us, that isn’t going to benefit us in the slightest.”

“Diego and I have never liked each other, but for him to blame me for the son he killed is taking things a little too far. All I want to do is prove I can show up on his turf if I wanted to and leave still alive,” I explained. “As for what I can offer you, that depends on how many bodies you want to clean up after. The bloodier the fight, the more the crowd loves it. They drink, gamble, and fuck their way through the night. So that being said, the only thing I’m not willing to do is fight my own people.”

“You understand how things work here perfectly,” Three complimented. “I wasn’t in favor of you fighting Void as it was. One of you would die, and in my eyes, that would be a lose-lose situation. He is one of the most ruthless and blood-thirsty fighters I’ve ever witnessed, but word on the street is you two are matched in that.”

“My little demon and I are soul mates. We are perfect for each other in every way,” Void stated.

Part of me cringed at him saying that, knowing it would tell them we are also each other’s weaknesses. Men like Three would glean any information they could about people to use against them when the time was right. While it was clear I was with all these men, I wasn’t sure advertising just how far I would go to protect them or avenge their deaths would be wise.

“Delightful,” Three crooned through the phone. “Then let me propose a few different ideas. We still want fights with you two, individually. That will be expected. What I want to change is weapons will be allowed, not guns obviously but knives perhaps?”

I glanced at Void and he shrugged, not caring one way or the other. “Knives would be fine. Is there any other weapon just so we make sure to prepare to give you the best show? You wouldn’t want it to be over too quickly, now would you?”

“Oh, you are as sharp as everyone says,” Three said with a chuckle. “The other crowd favorite is bare hands with brass knuckles. People still bleed but don’t die quite as quickly.”

“Either of those options is fine with us. Just know if it ends up being something else, or you try to surprise us with a weapon out of left field, it won’t end well for you,” I warned. “What is the other idea?”

“Instead of you fighting against each other, we want you to fight as a team against an unknown number of attackers,” Three answered.

Hell, that was a piece of cake. We proved that when we fought the other day. I wanted to agree outright, but something told me to question it.

“Weapons as well?” I asked.

I could hear Three laughing on the other end as if I’d just said the most hilarious thing to him. “Why can’t more people be like you? It’s far more fun to plan these things with criminals who know the game. To answer your question, yes, with weapons.”

“No guns,” I ordered.

“Absolutely, as I said before, to die too quickly means we lose out on money,” Three agreed. “Now, I just want to make sure I got this information correct, but you are giving us free choice in who you fight as well as who we invite to the event?”

Glancing at the others, double-checking they didn’t have any last-minute changes of heart, I answered, “Had to make it worth your while.”

“Indeed, this is going to be the biggest event we’ve ever hosted,” Three commented. “We might even need to find a different venue that will hold everyone. While you two will be the main course, the others have fighters they want to put in the ring as well. They will be the warm-up, getting the crowd going for you to make your appearance.”

“Works for me,” Void said, and I echoed his agreement.

“It was lovely to speak with you, Tricks. I do hope that however this feud ends, we might see more of you in the future,” Three stated cryptically before he hung up.

Setting the phone down on the couch next to me, I waited for the others to share their thoughts. None of them seemed eager to speak, so silence hung in the air.

“It’s what we hoped for,” Void said, breaking the quiet. “It could have been much worse for us if our little demon hadn’t been so wise to his game.”

“Cockroaches like him always have a game. It's just figuring out what motivates them,” I explained. “Really, that’s the secret to getting most people to do what you want if we’re being honest.”

Eagle nodded and ran a hand through his hair before letting out a heavy sigh. “Okay, so this is our main plan, but I still think we need to have alternatives if this doesn’t play out the way we want. There’s no guarantee they won’t back out or flip on us.”

“Let’s call a meeting of the minds,” Wes suggested. “I finally got word back from her teachers and hacked into the school’s database to pull her submitted work for the school year. It’s not at all what everyone was led to believe.”

Eagle pulled out his cell and sent out a text, calling the others back to the house. They left earlier that day to deal with an issue at one of the garages. It’d been broken into and vandalized. It seemed one or two Mad Dogs still lived and weren’t at all happy with how things turned out.

“When are you calling Church?” Void asked. “The Saints are getting restless and want to be informed of what's really going on. The rest of us have been telling them to shut up and wait, but that’s not gonna last much longer.”

“Tonight, we’ll have our meeting. Then we’ll have everyone gather in the clubhouse at eight o’clock sharp. I want everyone at this meeting, Void, women included. Cam and Wes can watch the kids at the daycare while we chat,” Eagle instructed.

Cam’s head snapped up from where he’d been reading something on his phone. “Hey, why the fuck are we watching the kids? Aren’t we part of this?”