Page 136 of More Tricks

She hugged me back just as tightly. “Not as much as I missed you. Now, let's head back down and make sure the guys haven’t come up with some crazy idea in the name of bonding.”

“Oh shit, if Ghost and Cognac take charge, this is going to be so bad,” I muttered, running down the stairs to see Ghost with lighter fluid in one hand and a lighter in the other. “Stop right there,” I ordered.

All the guys looked at us with surprise written on their faces.

“Did you not want to grill out tonight?” Ghost asked, cocking his head in question.

“Loba, the man went out and bought a grill just for us to use tonight. It’s even a charcoal one that will make everything taste like it should, unlike those gas ones,” Cognac explained, coming to stand next to the man he was defending.

Harper was behind me, trying to cover her giggles, but she was failing epically. “No, I don’t have a problem with grilling out tonight. That actually sounds amazing. What I was worried about is that you two had cooked up some plan to burn your arm hair off of each other or something equally asinine.” The two of them looked at each other with excited expressions. “Hey now, that was not a suggestion or encouragement to do it,” I barked.

“Oh, I get it,” Jaxson interjected. “Madam Two Tricks here is worried if we join forces and gang up against her, she’ll lose.”

That had Cam smirking. “I do know Harper would be on her side. Do you think the ten of us could handle the two of them?”

“Depends,” Magnus said, rubbing his chin. “I think if we keep our fun to something that shouldn’t get us killed, they might give in.”

Void scoffed. “Then what’s the point in doing it? If the threat isn’t there, then it takes all the thrill out of it, don’t you think?”

“Hmm, I’m thinking if our goal is to not end up in the hospital, that leaves enough wiggle room,” Eagle added his two cents. “Two of us are already on the mend, so it might be better to keep this gathering on the tamer side than come up with something really epic later.”

Ghost clapped his hands together, then shot two finger guns at Eagle. “I like the way this man thinks. Get him a beer.”

Harper tugged on my shirt sleeve and leaned in. “Is it just me, or did they all just become best friends?”

“Wes is keeping his distance, so we might not have lost them all, Sprocket’s also been pretty quiet, but he could go either way,” I murmured out of the side of my mouth, trying not to draw attention to our conversation.

Jaxson, Cognac, Ghost, and Cam left to deal with starting the grill. “Take a fire extinguisher out with you,” I hollered after them.

“Such a mother hen, today, spitfire,” Picasso said, pulling me to his side. “What happened to the woman who was more than happy to bust our balls at any given chance on the ride up here?”

I glared up at him. “Look, each of you spread the crazy around between all seven of you. Some have more. Some have less. Those three, yeah, they got my level of cray jam-packed into each of them.”

“She’s not wrong,” Harper announced. “They are batshit crazy for sure, but in some strange way, I find it incredibly sexy.”

Magnus moved over to wrap her up in his arms, kissing her forehead. “Is that so, doll?”

“I might be screaming and swearing at you while it’s all happening, but you always have a plan,” Harper answered with a shrug as she entwined her arms around him. “Can we just make sure we don’t burn the house down? I just got it how I wanted it.”

Magnus tipped her chin up and kissed her deeply before letting her go. “I’ll go keep an eye on them.”

“Might as well come with you, not that Cam will listen to anyone but Dax,” Eagle muttered. “Like a damn dog, that one, but he’s ours, so I’ll try and keep him alive.”

Grinning, I leaned more into Picasso, loving how everyone was interacting, even if I feared something idiotic would happen. With Harper practically being my sister, I really wanted the guys to get along because I’d hoped we’d be spending a lot of time together once this was all behind us.

“Why don’t we take drinks and hang out on the patio? It’s lovely out, and that way, we can talk about what's going on while they cook?” Harper suggested.

Wes walked over to her and pulled her into a hug. “Damn, it’s good to have you back, Harper, but it’s really strange to have you involved in this part of things. We’ve spent so long keeping you in the dark it’s hard to remember we can just be open and honest about it all. You’ve got as much skin in this game as we do now.”

“I hope you mean that figuratively and not literally because having someone’s ick all over me once is more than enough,” Harper explained, shivering in disgust.

“What?” Wes asked, looking at me in confusion.

“Oh, ah yeah,” I started with a little laugh. “Remember that guy we met who knew Harper? So his son tried to make a move on Harper and Magnus shot him point blank in the head while he was still holding onto her.”

“Damn,” Sprocket commented. “That absolutely would have been messy. I don’t blame you for not wanting to go through that again.”

“Anyways, let’s grab drinks and bring out a cooler for the others, and we’ll make a party out of this night yet,” Harper decided, putting us all to work.