Page 58 of More Tricks

Dax

When the elevator doors opened, and the apartment was revealed, my jaw dropped. “Holy shit.” I gasped.

“Yeah, we were in another one that you’ll be staying in one floor down, but when this became available, I made them snatch it up,” Harper shared. “I mean, look at that view, and it has direct access to the roof. The guy who owned it before clearly was an idiot to give up something this amazing.”

I gave her a sideways glance, then l turned to look at the brothers, who were doing everything possible to avoid making eye contact. “Totally, real stumper on why something like that would happen.”

“Come on, let me give you a tour,” Harper urged, dragging me up the stairs. “We have our room and two others for guests or whatever the future might bring for the four of us.”

That had me digging in my heels, looking at her strangely. “Are you?”

“Oh goodness no.” Harper laughed, waving off my question. “Is that what you think? They got me pregnant and now I’m marrying them? No, this is the real deal for us, I know it seems so fast and most people will judge us, but when you know, you know.” She grinned at me with a shrug. “What am I even explaining this to you for, Miss I Have Seven Husbands?”

Chuckling, I followed her into the master bedroom, finding it had pretty much just a giant bed in it. Dressers were built into the window seat along one whole wall giving them storage. It was an interesting concept and for New York, where every square foot counted, it was smart. The bathroom had me jealous, but we didn’t spend long in there before she was whisking me away to the next room.

This was clearly her sewing room with fabric lying all over the place with sketches pinned up on the wall. A large table with a sewing machine took center stage, and I could tell just by looking at it that it was no Walmart purchase.

“Damn, girl, do these men have any money left in the bank?” I teased since the whole room smelled new. “You’ve only been back for like what, a week and a half?”

“What can I say? I was inspired by all the traveling we did. Have you ever been to Bali? It’s amazing, and I hope we get to go back sooner than later after all this. There is just so much life, color, and sights to see there,” Harper gushed. “The guys took me cliff jumping in the most beautiful place.”

I grabbed Harper’s arm and looked at her from head to toe. “Who are you and what have you done with my best friend?”

Harper rolled her eyes at me. “Yeah, yeah, yeah, very funny. I know I wasn’t all that into adventures, but the guys have made it their personal mission to make sure to try new things. Well, before we got back and I was once again hiding from Marco. Did you know he sent someone after us in Bali? Thanks to your mission, we got out of there just in time.”

That bastard is tying the noose tighter and tighter each day.

“Whoa, no need to go all dark and broody, Dax. I’m fine, we got Prim out of Russia, smuggled in your tank, and now we’re back together. To be honest, I’m glad we had to come back and face things head-on. There’s no way I can be on the run my whole life, and he’s going after my family too. You, Wes, and your other guys are my family besides the triplets. It’s been killing me not being able to fight. Always running and hiding is going to get us nowhere.”

I pulled Harper into a hug, realizing how much I needed my best friend right now. My guys had been right to make this call. Being here with her and the brothers was best. “God, I missed you, Harper.”

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.