Page 18 of More Tricks

I flashed him a smile and winked. “Oh, I know. I just didn’t care.”

“Dax,” Tilly chided. “Go find Mutt. He's in the other room playing video games. I'll grab you when I’m done here.”

Letting out a heavy sigh, I begrudgingly left with Void to see what Mutt was playing. Sure enough, there he was on the couch, sitting cross-legged with a bag of Doritos and a giant can of Monster next to him on a tray.

Spotting us, he paused the game and grinned. “She gonna let you hang out and play? I’ve got two extra controllers if that interests you at all, Dax.”

“Nah, I’ll watch. I prefer the real thing. I'm not so good at video games. Somehow I always end up getting stuck somewhere completely lost. That or I’m killed every five seconds because of pussy-ass snipers hiding out in tall buildings. To me, that feels like cheating, just come out and face me like a real man,” I explained.

Mutt looked at me, confused. “Uh, all you had to say was no thanks. I’m not one of those assholes who would make you play.”

“Don’t mind her. She's in a mood because Eagle isn’t here, and she can’t keep an eye on all of us,” Void explained.

“That makes total sense. Tilly definitely gets that way when Gator’s gone on long trips and he hasn’t checked in for the day with her,” Mutt said in understanding as he tossed Void a controller. “Now that they have each other, maybe it won’t be so bad for us men folk who never know how to say the right thing.”

“I’d be careful how loud you say that,” Void warned, glancing at me with humor in his eyes. “Never know how they might react when they learn that kind of stuff about us men.”

I laughed and shoved him to take a seat on the couch next to Mutt. “Play your damn game. You’ve been excited about it since you knew we were coming over.”

Soon, the two men were on a team together, taking out people on a battlefield, yelling warnings to each other, and giving the worst shit-talking I’ve ever heard. Thankfully, it didn’t take long for Tilly to come and grab me with a knowing smile.

“We’ll be on the back patio, boys, if you need us,” Tilly announced.

Void looked at me, holding my gaze. “Don’t leave without telling me.”

“Promise,” I said, wanting to make sure he knew, without a doubt, I wasn’t going to pull any stunts.

He grunted his response and went back to his game, leaving me to spend time with my friend. When we got out to the back patio, she handed me a mug and curled up on a swinging bench leaving room for me to sit beside her. I took a sip of the coffee and nearly choked on it.

“Shit, how much whisky did you put in this?” I asked, coughing. “Damn, that shit will put some hair on your chest.”

“After yesterday, I figured we could all use a stiff drink or two,” she admitted. “Gator hates to get stitched up, so we tried to bandage it last time, but I knew it was too deep of a cut. When it didn’t stop oozing blood this morning, he finally relented.”

“I guess I can’t blame him. Stitches suck ass,” I said, taking another more controlled sip of coffee. “Is that the only injury out of the three of you?”

“Yeah, they had me in the back the whole time reloading for those who needed ammo. Gator didn’t get hurt until the end when they realized how badly they were losing. A Mad Dog went down swinging and caught him in the thigh with a knife. Mutt was helping to coordinate everyone's movements, so he was all over the place. That man has more lives than a cat the way he can narrowly miss being in trouble,” Tilly shared as she stared off into the distance toward the direction the fight took place. “If you hadn’t called when you did, we wouldn't have made it. Then the backup came at the right moment, just when we got hit with all the cars trying to ram the fence.”

“I’m glad we figured out their plan in time. The whole mission was chaos. Nothing turned out the way that it should have. Everyone got blown up. Eagle almost died, I got kidnapped, nearly blew up again, then arrived here to find a machine gun strapped to a pickup truck. Who the fuck had one of those laying around their house and thought it was a good idea to use?” I blurted.

“Seems Marco wanted to make sure they could take everyone out for picking sides with you,” she mused. “Not that I would have it any other way, but damn. You hear stories like this happening all over the world, and you think it would never happen to us. That’s just crazy. Not so crazy it seems.”

I took a big gulp of my drink, letting the whisky burn until it hit my stomach. “Now we have to go to New York and do it all over again.”

“Does that mean we get stuck babysitting the Saints again, or do we get to come play?” Tilly asked with a raised brow.

“Who else would look after things here?” I challenged. “If there is someone you can get everyone to agree on babysitting, then, by all means, come join the chaos. If not, there’s no way that Eagle will let that happen.”

Tilly groaned. “No, there isn’t anyone they would all agree on, not for this type of shit. Why do I always have to miss out on all the fun?”

“If there is a way that we can include you guys, you bet your ass it’s gonna happen. Right now, it’s all the boring planning and figuring out how the hell we are going to show up in New York and not get shot on sight,” I grumbled. “Here, I was thinking I could just sneak in and sneak out. Then Void laughed at me.”

“Babe, I would have laughed at you too. You could change your hair color and dress a different way, but there isn’t anything you can do to disguise that mouth of yours. The second you start talking or spouting off about something, they’ll figure out who you are,” Tilly tossed back her head and laughed. “Fuck, woman, you are like the Grimm Reaper’s sexy assistant the way you leave bodies behind.”

I shrugged. “What can I say? I like to make an impression.”

“So do that, find something you can do that’s legit business and has nothing to do with the Hidden Empire and will give you the excuse you need. They can’t take you out as easily if you’re expected to be at something that will draw in all the big’n’bad from all across the globe,” Tilly reasoned.

Cocking my head to the side as I stared down into my coffee, I thought over what she’d just said and what Void had mentioned earlier. “Do you think an underground cage fight might be able to draw enough attention?” I asked, looking up to meet her gaze.