Page 95 of More Tricks

“Which is why I said he didn’t want to make it easy for us to find love and have us led around by our balls,” Void reasoned.

Since we’d reached Tilly’s house, I decided to put a pause on that conversation until we were alone. Right now, I wanted to check on my friend. I didn’t have many of them, and they seemed to be in varying levels of danger at the moment. Without ringing the doorbell, I turned the handle, and when I found out it was unlocked, I cracked it open.

“Void and I are coming in, so hurry up and finish or carry on as you please. We don’t care,” I yelled.

“Fucking hell,” I heard one of her husbands swear. “You better have a goddamn good reason for just barging in.”

That had to be Gator. He was the grumpier out of the two. If it had been Mutt, he probably would have teased about paying for the show or something.

“Oh, calm the hell down,” Tilly snapped. “Come on in, Dax. We're decent.”

“The fuck I am,” Gator challenged.

I followed the voices into the kitchen, where Tilly was kneeling in front of Gator, who had his pants around his ankles. The death glare we got from him told us it would be wise if we didn’t say a damn word. Tilly was stitching up a wound on his hip. Her slow, steady movements as she worked had me at a whole new level of appreciation for this woman.

“Damn, you do that so much better than I do,” I said as I leaned in to get a better look. “How do you make them so neat?”

Tilly chuckled and gave me a sideways glance. “Not doing it to yourself is the biggest factor. Otherwise, slowing down enough to make sure you get them done right, I’ve always found helpful.”

“Spiteful bitch,” I teased. “Here I am giving you a compliment, and you’re calling me out. I see how it is.”

“Ever heard of personal space, Dax?” Gator asked through his teeth.

My gaze flicked up to him. “I’m good, but thanks for asking.”

“Little demon, I think he was saying he wanted some personal space while he’s getting stitched up,” Void pointed out.

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.”