Page 30 of More Tricks

“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.

I hit the mute button and glared at Void. “Who the fuck is this idiot? He can’t be one of the four. There is no way he came up with the terms for this whole thing.”

“He’s not. Ruban is the go-between. You don’t talk to the four. They only speak through their people. It's how they make sure who they are isn’t discovered,” Void informed me.

Groaning, I dropped my head to his knees. My men were amazing, and they got shit done their own way, building up the Phantom Saints into what they were now, but damn, did they have a lot to learn about the criminal underbelly.

“Ah, hello?” Ruben called.

Lifting my head, I smacked the mute button and took the phone from Void’s hand. “Listen up, Ruby Slippers, because this is vitally important.”

“Yeah, okay, I’m listening,” he answered.

“Good, now, put this phone into the hands of one of the four, or I’m going to hunt you down and skin you for the information with a dull knife,” I added for encouragement.

The sound of Ruban sputtering filled the air as he tried to come to terms with what I’d just told him. “Wha… how… you don’t understand. You might be fucking scary, but you’re not just behind the next door, ready to fuck up my shit if I even think about doing that.”

“No, I might not be right behind the next door, but you’ll never know when I’m going to strike,” I warned, letting my voice purr with danger. “Ruban, would you like to live to see your next birthday? You know the one that is in two weeks.”

“How do you know that?” He gasped.

“I also know where you live, eat, sleep, take a shit, and stick your dick,” I informed him. “So I would think real hard about my request before telling me no.”

“Can you give me time to think this over?” Ruban asked.

Okay, well, that told me these four weren’t someone to be trifled with. The threat I just laid down for Ruban was one not many wouldn’t buckle under.

“You have a half hour. If I don’t hear back from you, then I’ll assume you’ve chosen to keep your secrets, and I’ll need to carve them out of you,” I said, then hung up the phone before he could utter any reasons.