Page 53 of Our Tricks

“Enough that an overstuffed bucket would be nice,” I answered without giving him exact information.

After the last few days, I couldn’t help but be suspicious of people. It seems everyone is always gunning for us—literally. Frank smiled and quickly took the bucket with him back to the main bar area. As he worked on that, I turned around, resting my elbows on the counter and observed the room. To anyone else, it seemed I was watching the girl dancing, but I didn’t give a fuck about looking at another woman shaking her tits.

“Hey there,” a sultry female voice said off to my side. “I don’t think I’ve ever seen you in here before.”

Out of the corner of my eye, I could see she was one of the dancers wearing a tiny red plaid skirt with a black bikini top. The way she leaned on the counter toward me, making sure her tits looked their best, let me know she wasn’t new at this.

“Not from around here,” I offered.

Raven had been kind enough to let us use her place. I wasn’t going to disrespect her girls as long as they respected my space.

“My name’s Suzy-Q, what’s yours?” she asked.

Shifting so I had one arm on the bar with my other hand resting on my wrist, I wanted her to see where my hands were, and they weren’t getting closer to her. Fuck, I was going to have to talk to Dax about all of us getting wedding bands. Not that it did much good in a situation like this, but it would help.

“It’s nice to meet you, Suzy-Q, but I’m a dead end for you. I’m gonna save you the trouble and tell you I’m happily married to a wife who would literally chop off my balls if I looked anywhere other than your eyes,” I explained.

“She sounds like a party pooper, doesn’t she let you have any fun?” Suzy said with a dramatic pout on her injected lips.

Flashing her a wicked grin, I chuckled. “Oh, we have lots of fun… together. She’s quite wild when it comes to sex. What she isn’t wild about is men treating women with disrespect which is why I’ll only be holding eye contact with you. Now, I’d like to honor my wife and not have to tell her I was rude to you so you would believe me that I wasn’t interested in your advances. My little demon is the only woman I want.”

Suzy blinked at me in surprise. “Goodness, that wasn’t at all what I expected to hear coming out of your mouth. Here you are, a badass-looking biker dude who’s utterly loyal to his old lady.”

“She’s more than my old lady, she’s my soul mate, and you’re right. I’m completely and utterly loyal to her till my dying breath,” I said solemnly.

“Suzy,” Raven’s voice cut through the air, making the woman jump. “Don’t tell me you’re harassing this man. I know you, and no is your least favorite word.”

Suzy gawked at her boss. “How do you know he told me he wasn’t interested?”

“Trust me. If you knew who his wife was, you’d never have asked for fear of getting him in trouble. She isn’t someone any of us want to mess with,” Raven explained, then she turned to me. “I’m sorry, I should have alerted my staff to someone using the back room. At first, I thought it was best not to tell anyone someone was there in case unwanted visitors came looking for you.”

Suzy looked at me, then Raven, and back again, clearly confused by what we were saying. “Clearly, this isn’t a conversation for me to be a part of, so I’m gonna go. It was lovely to meet you, mysterious biker man. Tell your wife she’s one lucky woman.”

I gave her a nod as she wandered off in search of someone who was looking for a distraction.

“Sweet girl and normally harmless, but she does tend to see men who say no as a challenge, so I didn’t want her to cause any trouble,” Raven commented.

Gone was the woman in workout gear who was flirty with Dax. This was a woman who was clearly in charge, even if she didn’t announce it. Her dress was a simple deep shade of red that clung to her body in a way that made it elegant and fucking sexy.

“We appreciate you looking out for us and letting us use the space. Most would be worried about the fallout,” I said, meeting her gaze.

Raven let out a bark of laughter. “Oh, that’s absolutely not my concern. There’s no one who wanted Diego gone more than me. There are only so many ways you can tell a crime lord you want nothing to do with them. He might have been married, but you and I both know he didn’t know how to keep his cock in his pants. My hope is with new leadership in play, I might be able to negotiate a better price for my taxes.”

Everything about what she was saying was something I’d heard before. Those who controlled the city set the price you paid for the right to do work and have security from the law.

“Tommaso is a reasonable man. I think you both could make a deal,” I assured her.

“Madam,” Frank called from the bar. “There’s a gentleman here asking for you.”

Raven’s brows pinched together as she looked down the bar. There was a man in a suit that still had his sunglasses on, making me instantly suspicious. “Do you recognize him?”

“He’s one of Diego’s men, but that doesn’t make sense. Taxes are due, but there’s no way Tommaso would just carry on with the old deal. All agreements are null when a new boss takes over,” Raven said.

“Do you want me to stick around… make sure he doesn’t cause a problem?” I asked, knowing Dax would kick my ass if I didn’t help her new friend.

“No, he could be using coming for taxes as an excuse to come in and ask me what I know about you guys. After the fight night, a list of all the people who bet for or against your girl was leaked. I’d bet my left tit they’re hitting up everyone who’s supporting Dax and Tommaso to see if we’ll roll over or not,” Raven reasoned.

I glanced at the man then back at Raven. “I think I’m going to have a beer at the bar before I head back.” Taking her hand, I kissed the back of it, making a show for the observers.