Tricks

by Cambria Hebert

  TRICKS

  (a Take It Off novel)

  ***This is a new adult contemporary novel and contains sexual content and graphic language. It is not intended for young adult readers.***

  Love can play tricks on your heart…

  After serving several years in the United States Marine Corps, Sergeant Tucker Patton decides to hang up his uniform and go to work at a private investigative firm owned by his buddy. His boxes are packed and he’s got one foot out the door when a phone call changes everything.

  Instead of going to North Carolina, he heads to New York City to literally step into the life of his twin brother, who died under suspicious circumstances. But pretending to be someone else isn’t easy.

  Especially when the person you’re supposed to be is wanted dead.

  Not only that, but he’s going from being blissfully single to living with his brother’s woman. An uptight, no-nonsense lawyer.

  Charlotte Rose Carter doesn’t have time for fun and games. She graduated with honors and made all the right moves fresh out of college to jumpstart her career as a successful young lawyer. She even snagged the most eligible bachelor in New York City’s corporate world.

  So what if her and Max’s relationship isn’t burning up the sheets? So what if their life doesn’t read like a chapter from a sizzling romance novel? This is the real world, and in the real world that stuff is just fantasy.

  Until it isn’t.

  Suddenly, just the slightest touch or a single glance from Max has her heart doing somersaults. Suddenly, the lackluster relationship begins to spark, and Charlotte finds herself tied in a knot of desire.

  But she has no idea about the tricks being played right under her perky little nose.

  Praise for the Take It Off series

  "I love all of Cambria's books, but Torch is one of my favorites by her so far. Holt and Katie have chemistry like no other. There was a perfect mixture of steam, passion, and romance."

  - New York Times and USA Today Bestselling Author Shanora Williams for TORCH

  "Cam was so swoon-worthy. He was everything I look for in a book boyfriend. He was hot, sexy, had a little bad boy edge, but he was also protective and loving. The mystery was also a great element. It kept me flipping the pages quickly to figure it out. And when it was revealed it was shocking."

  - Best-selling Author Amber Garza for TEASE

  "All Hail the New Queen of HOT Romance! My favorite new romance of the last year. I adore this book. Nash & Ava… such a great story. I think I may have a new book boyfriend. This is a true romance story, but it mixes in danger, deception & desire."

  -Author Cory Cyr for TEMPT

  “TEXT kept me up late turning pages. When I wasn't reading it, I was thinking about it. With lovable characters and a tight suspense plot, this is a great weekend read!”

  - Bestselling author Ella James for TEXT

  “A new storyline that grabs you from page one and twists you into a action packed ride full of danger and romance!”

  – USA Today Bestselling author Tabatha Vargo for TEXT

  "Let me be clear—of the 1001 ways to die, burning would NOT be my first choice. However, a house consumed with flames and no chance of saving yourself equals RESCUE FANTASY FULFILLED."

  - Scandalicious Book Reviews for TORCH

  TRICKS

  Take It Off Series

  CAMBRIA HEBERT

  TRICKS Copyright © 2014 CAMBRIA HEBERT

  All rights reserved, including the right to reproduce this book, or portions

  thereof, in any form without written permission except for the use of brief

  quotations embodied in critical articles and reviews.

  Published by: Cambria Hebert Books, LLC

  http://www.cambriahebert.com

  Interior design and typesetting by Sharon Kay

  Cover design by MAE I DESIGN

  Edited by Cassie McCown

  Copyright 2014 by Cambria Hebert

  This is a work of fiction. Names, characters, places, and incidents either are the product of the author’s imagination or are used fictitiously, and any resemblance to actual persons, living or dead, business establishments, events, or locales is entirely coincidental.

  Other books by Cambria Hebert

  Heven and Hell Series

  Before

  Masquerade

  Between

  Charade

  Bewitched

  Tirade

  Beneath

  Renegade

  Heven & Hell Anthology

  Death Escorts

  Recalled

  Charmed

  Take It Off

  Torch

  Tease

  Tempt

  Text

  Tipsy

  Table of Contents

  Contents:

  Dedication

  Prologue

  Chapter One

  Chapter Two

  Chapter Three

  Chapter Four

  Chapter Five

  Chapter Six

  Chapter Seven

  Chapter Eight

  Chapter Nine

  Chapter Ten

  Chapter Eleven

  Chapter Twelve

  Chapter Thirteen

  Chapter Fourteen

  Chapter Fifteen

  Chapter Sixteen

  Chapter Seventeen

  Chapter Eighteen

  Chapter Nineteen

  Chapter Twenty

  Chapter Twenty-One

  Chapter Twenty-Two

  Chapter Twenty-Three

  Chapter Twenty-Four

  Chapter Twenty-Five

  Chapter Twenty-Six

  Chapter Twenty-Seven

  Chapter Twenty-Eight

  Chapter Twenty-Nine

  Chapter Thirty

  Epilogue

  Acknowledgements

  Excerpt from Tattoo

  DEDICATION

  For Sada Walker Maciel.

  For being a reader. For being a friend.

  The world needs more people like you.

  You asked for a rocker… Well, Tucker has a guitar.

  TRICKS

  PROLOGUE

  Max

  The elevator doors dinged and slid open with barely a sound. Harsh yellow lighting shone down from the concrete ceiling and cast everything with a dirty glow as I stepped out into the underground parking garage. It was late, but that wasn’t anything new. I worked late every night.

  Most of the parking spots had been vacated hours ago, people going home to their families or to the gym to blow off steam. I didn’t have time to blow off steam. I was too busy building a career.

  And then the FBI showed up at my door.

  They threatened my career. They threatened my reputation. My name.

  I had no choice but to do what they asked.

  The sound of a low scuffle from behind caused me to glance over my shoulder as I walked. No one was there, but that didn’t stop my hackles from rising. I’d become paranoid these last few months. Yet it seemed paranoid people were that way for a reason.

  I quickened my steps and fished the keys to my black Lincoln MKZ out of my pocket. They slid out of my fingers and made a clattering sound on the cold pavement. I bent to retrieve them, noticing the movement of a shadow beneath a car several rows away.

  I knew then my paranoia wasn’t just in my head.

  Scooping up the keys, I closed the distance to my car and slid behind the wheel, throwing my briefcase into the back. Just before I started the engine I heard another engine roar to life.

  My heart jumped up into my throat and pounded uncomfortably as I fired up the car and pulled quickly out of the parking spot. Because of the size and shape of the garage, speeding like I wanted to was almost impossible. As I rounded
the corner into the next aisle of cars, my foot hovered anxiously over the gas pedal.

  A dark four-door sedan pulled out behind me. I glanced into my rearview mirror, noting the ominous glow of the vehicle’s parking lights.

  I didn’t speed up because I didn’t want to give any indication that I knew that car back there was a threat to me. The longer I could play it cool, the better off I would be.

  Focusing on the next turn, I steered the MKZ around the corner, noting the way the lights in the aisle flickered like some bad horror movie. I was certain if I rolled down my window I would hear the buzzing of the bad electrical connection that barely kept the lights lit.

  A sudden squeal and the jolting of my car had me glancing around, out the back window.

  “Shit,” I yelled, unable to keep in the nervous energy swirling around inside me. The vehicle rammed into the back of me once again, jerking my car forward and causing it to fishtail slightly. I gripped the wheel tightly and fought for control as the passenger side of the MKZ narrowly missed a large concrete partition.

  Screw driving like a granny.

  My foot pounded down on the gas pedal and the engine responded immediately. The car shot forward as I spun the wheel, taking yet another curve. Shit! How far up did I have to go to get to street level? It didn’t seem like it took this long to get down here.

  ‘Course, I wasn’t being chased then.

  The Lincoln handled well, but the speed and force of the curve caused the back end to slam into one of the cars parked nearby. The sound of crunching metal and shattering glass filled the air and I gritted my teeth together and hit the gas again.

  My car skidded forward and the entrance onto the street came into view. Holding the wheel steady, I focused on getting out into the street.

  The black sedan behind rammed me again and a loud curse ripped from my throat. I had known the chances of getting caught were high, but I never thought they would come at me like this.

  The sound of a revving engine had me glancing in the rearview mirror, again noting how dangerously close the car was to hitting me.

  My foot held the gas pedal all the way against the floor as I smashed through the little gate where I was supposed to stop and slip a ticket into the machine. I didn’t have time for that shit.

  The sound of groaning metal and splitting wood followed me as the black car flew out of the mouth of the garage and into oncoming traffic. Drivers around me laid on their horns, blaring their anger as I landed in the center of the street, the MKZ paying no attention to the yellow lines dividing the pavement.

  The sound of metal crunching against metal made me wince, but I didn’t stop to survey the damage I caused. Instead, I kept driving. Smoke lingered in the air from the burn of my tires as I tore down the road. The few people on the sidewalks stopped to stare and the lit streetlights cast shadows behind them, making all the buildings look dark and ominous.

  A quick check in the rearview mirror told me I was still being pursued. I loosened the tie around my neck and took a deep breath, still not easing up on the gas. Sweat was sliding down my back and gathering in my armpits and my heart was beating so rapidly it felt like it could explode at any moment.

  The traffic light at an intersection just ahead turned red, signaling that it was time to stop. But I couldn’t stop. Instead, I barreled through the four-way, narrowly missing a few cars and nearly losing control of the steering wheel.

  My palms were sweaty. My grip was too loose.

  “Fuck!” I roared when the car behind me did not let up.

  I took a turn too sharply and the back end flipped around, my ride literally going sideways in the center of a street. Where the hell are the cops? Shouldn’t I at least hear sirens by now? I was driving like a damn maniac.

  Inside the pocket of my jacket was my cell and I dug it out and hit a button.

  “Yes?” The voice came on the line.

  “They know,” I said, straightening out the vehicle and rushing down the street.

  “Where are you?” he asked, calm.

  “In my car. They’re tailing me. I’m pretty sure they don’t want to chat.”

  As if to punctuate my words, my car was rammed again. The force of the hit sent me jerking forward as my seatbelt tightened so tautly it was painful against my chest. All the air whooshed out of my body and I gasped for more.

  “Where’s the proof?”

  “Somewhere safe.”

  “Where!” the voice demanded.

  A deadly calm settled over me. It was fear. It was the truth. It was my future. I might be talking to the good guy right now… but even the good guys sometimes bent the rules. If I told him where the item he wanted was, he would leave me to die. He would consider me nothing more than collateral damage.

  “Send help. Then I’ll show you where it is myself,” I said, my voice sounding strange to my own ears. In the midst of so much chaos, so much adrenaline rushing through my veins, I sounded almost bored.

  “Where are you?” he asked, and I could hear papers being shuffled around and the movement of chairs in the background.

  I gave him my location and the direction in which I was heading. “You better get here fast.”

  “We’re on the way,” he said tersely.

  The momentary relief I felt caused me to lose focus and I drove up over the curb, hitting a brown, wooden electric pole that seemed to come out of nowhere. The impact was shocking, causing me to fly forward and smack my head on the steering wheel. The momentum flung me back into my seat, and I blinked through tearing eyes at my now motionless car.

  The airbags hadn’t deployed. That was a good thing, right? It meant the car wasn’t so bad off I couldn’t keep driving.

  Trying to shake off the headache and nausea that was hitting me hard, I glanced out the windshield at the front side of my car. It was caved in. A busted mess. One of the headlights shattered and no longer worked and the engine was making an odd sort of wheezing sound.

  “Max,” the man said through the phone, which had fallen into the passenger seat upon impact.

  I scooped up the phone and held it to my ear. “I’m still here.”

  “Tell me where it is,” he urged, desperation tingeing his tone.

  I rolled my head to the side, looking out the window, and saw it. The black sedan sat idling not far away. The windows were so darkly tinted that seeing inside was impossible. But it didn’t matter who it was.

  I knew who wanted me dead.

  The passenger-side door opened and one black dress shoe stepped out, followed by the rest of a body of a man wearing a black suit. There was a gun in his hand.

  Seeing that gun seemed to snap me back into reality and I jerked up, throwing the car into reverse. Sitting here was like inviting death.

  “Max!” the man on the other line demanded.

  I knew then I had to tell him. I couldn’t use my life as a bargaining chip for the truth. I knew this was dangerous when I signed on. I knew that this had been a possibility.

  I never thought I’d fail.

  I reversed quickly, the car dropping off the sidewalk with a bang. I threw the gear into drive and started to speed away just as the man and his gun reached me. A bullet tore through the back window, shattering the glass.

  “Max! Goddamn it! Tell me!”

  “It’s on its way.”

  “What the hell does that mean?” he roared.

  The bullets kept on coming, one of them puncturing the back tire. The entire vehicle sagged unevenly as the tire groaned and made a loud rudding sound. I wasn’t going to stop. I couldn’t.

  I drove down the street, the rim sparking against the pavement, making it look like I was throwing some kind of firework out the back window.

  “Help is on the way, Max,” the man promised, and I believed him. But I no longer thought they’d get here in time. “Please tell me where it is.”

  I opened my mouth to tell him. To tell him exactly what he wanted to know.

  But the words ne
ver got free.

  The black sedan came out of nowhere, barreling into the back of my car, sending me into a tailspin across the pavement. I spun in great circles, like the car was on a pair of ice skates and this was some kind of show. And then I slammed into a fire hydrant.

  The MKZ flipped and began to roll through the street, all the windows shattered, glass raining every which way. The phone flew out of my hand and my eyes no longer saw.

  It’s true what they say.

  Your life really does flash before your eyes right before you die.

  Memories of being young, being carefree, flooded my head. I no longer felt the injuries that were hammering my body. I no longer felt the glass cutting into my skin or the tug and pull of a too-tight seatbelt.

  I saw my first pet, my parents, my old baseball coach.

  And then the car stopped flipping. It landed in a heap somewhere in the street. By then I heard sirens somewhere in the distance.

  The screeching of tires had me blinking, blinking past the wet stickiness that was in my eyes. The men were still here, waiting to see if I would climb out of this wreck, waiting to see if they had to finish the job.

  A face exactly like mine flashed into my thoughts. But it wasn’t me I was seeing. It was my brother. My twin. So alike yet so different.

  I couldn’t die for nothing. I couldn’t let them get away with what they’d done.

  I coughed, testing out my voice. “Get Tucker,” I said, my voice a mere whisper. That wasn’t good enough.

  “Get Tucker!” I said, projecting the two words as far as I could. Pain lanced through my insides. Everything hurt… It hurt so much.

  If that phone was still somewhere inside this car, if it was still working, then they heard me. They would know what to do.

  If there was anyone who could finish this job, it was Tucker.

  Suddenly, I regretted all the hours I spent working. All the time I let slip right by. When was the last time I’d seen my brother? A year? Two?

  Even still, I knew he would come.

  I just wouldn’t be here when he did.

  The sharp smell of gasoline broke through my haze of pain and memories, and I started to struggle, to try and get myself free. I managed to get free of the seatbelt, and my body dropped into a heap onto the hood of the car. The driver’s side window was busted out and I reached for the opening, ready to give all my strength to pulling myself through.