Page 13 of More Tricks

Cognac threw up his hands in surrender. “My bad, I’ll keep my lips sealed.”

Cam and Picasso were the last to join us and that had me looking around the space. “Where’s Dante?”

“Dad is staying with Tilly and her husbands. There isn't any more room here, and he thought it might be best to give us our space,” Cam answered as he cupped my chin and placed a kiss on my lips. “So did the vice president do right by you, or do I need to finish things off under the breakfast table?”

Picasso made a move to slug Cam, but Void grabbed his arm. “If you don’t react, then he’d stop teasing you. The black knight likes getting a rise out of you.”

Cam winked at me, then turned to face Picasso. “Guilty as charged,” he said with a shrug. “You turn this interesting shade of red when you get pissed but try to hold it back. It’s fascinating.”

Wes slid a plate over to me and slapped the back of Cam’s head. “Keep it up and you’re cut off from the food too, Cammy.”

The two men glared at each other, but much to my amazement, Cam backed down first. “You’re right. I need to be better about my teasing. Pushing things too far seems to be a family trait.”

Quickly, food was passed out and some found space around the kitchen while others went to the living room. The counter with its four seats would only get us so far.

“So, since this is now our home, what do you think about maybe moving the pool table to another place and getting something all of us can sit at together?” I ventured. “Another thing I’ve noticed is that we’re running out of bedrooms.”

“What do you mean running out of bedrooms?” Cognac asked. “Wes has the guest room. You float around to whoever which I love. What problem is there?”

I pointed my fork at Cam, who had the audacity to steal the bite of egg off of it. “What about him? Can he cuddle up with one of you guys too?”

“Ah…” Cognac answered.

“That’s what I thought,” I quipped, then looked at Cam. “Steal my food again and I’ll stab you with this fork.”

Cam leaned in and kissed me once again. “Don’t threaten me with a good time, beautiful. I love it when the crazy comes out to play.”

Rolling my eyes, I shoved him away and stuffed a bite into my mouth before someone could snatch it from me. The others seemed to ponder over my suggestions as they ate, which I was fine with. What I was asking was a lot, and they’d been living here just fine, but if we wanted to make this work long-term, a space that was all of ours needed to happen.

“Cognac, you said Dani called,” I asked, changing the topic. That wasn’t one any of us would have an answer for.

“It’s an hour ahead there, and she said they were leaving as soon as he got discharged. Everything looked good. No issues from the surgery, but he’d need to take it easy for at least a week. They didn’t want him to ride his bike for two weeks until the stitches came out,” he relayed.

“Was he raging in the background while she was sharing this?” I asked, just picturing how pissed he would be.

Cognac just laughed as he finished his breakfast. “I feel like we need to send a donation for all the people who took care of him to get counseling for his bad attitude.”

“Lucky for him, we need at least two weeks to make a plan and figure out what we know. Speaking of, where is Demitri?” I questioned.

“Since we didn’t want to raise suspicion or the FBI to get wind of anything, we sent him home. He understands not to do anything without talking to us first. After the events of yesterday, he’s fully aware that with you involved, there’s a chance to save his sister,” Picasso answered.

While I didn’t love the idea of the kid not being within arm’s reach, I saw their point too. “He said he works in the garage full-time or part-time? Didn’t sound like he was going to college.”

“He’s not… tried a few classes at community college, but that was more his sister’s thing. She’s just like her mother. Demitri took after his deadbeat dad, who left them high and dry when Elena was born. Thought he could handle a wife who was the breadwinner and high-powered lawyer but turns out he couldn’t,” Picasso said, his tone telling me he had no love loss for his brother-in-law.

“Maybe he should meet Kimber. It sounds like they would be a perfect match,” I suggested. “But then again, if she’s shacking up with one of Marco’s top men, then who knows how long she’ll be alive. She has a knack for pissing people off in just the right way to make you want to slit her throat.”

Cognac let out a whistle. “Sounds like if she’s not dead, she will be soon.”

“Yeah, lots of sisterly love going around for her,” I muttered, jumping off the stool and raising my plate before putting it away. The last thing Eagle needed was to have a fit about his kitchen when he came home.

Feeling the itch to be doing something, I started to gather everyone else’s dishes and cleaned up Wes’s mess from making breakfast.

“You alright there, little rebel?” Sprocket asked as he came to lean on the counter next to the sink.

I glanced at him and shrugged. “All things considered, yeah, I’m fine.”

“That’s a load of bullshit,” Sprocket stated with a snort. “Let’s try not to lie through your teeth this time, shall we?”