Two Tricks (Hidden Empire Book 1)

by Elizabeth Knight

  “Good to know for the rest of your time with us since it seems like you’re going to stay a while,” Picasso said as he sat up. “Can’t say I’ve seen a woman come into our house and make such a lasting impression in such little time.”

  “It’s my competitive nature.” I shrugged, trying not to grin.

  I literally just fucked his brother. I shouldn’t be flirting with him if I don’t want to be thought of as a hang-about. Right now I’m not acting any different than them.

  Picasso climbed off the bed and waved for me to follow him. “Let’s get you out of the house before you fight or fuck someone else and I never get to give you the welcome tour.”

  I couldn’t help myself and laughed as we made our way down to the front door. The heat of the summer hit me as soon as I stepped out onto the wrap-around porch. It'd be lovely to spend time on under different circumstances. Picasso headed off toward the massive metal cattle barn, and I followed him but continued to take in the surroundings. Scattered around the property were simple ranch houses like this was some type of commune. In the main hub of the property was a gravel circle drive, on the left there was a repair shop with three garage doors open, showing off the work going on inside. To the right was the long driveway leading out of the compound to the main road that was miles away.

  “Sprocket runs the shop and works on all of our bikes. We do custom jobs for other people, but that’s at our location off the compound. This here is for Phantom members only,” Picasso said, seeing where my gaze had strayed. “The old cattle barn ahead of us has been converted into the clubhouse. That’s where everyone hangs out when they’re not on the road or working.”

  When we reached the clubhouse, he pulled open one of the double doors for me, and I raised a surprised brow as I passed him into the dark dwelling. There were no windows, and the large barn doors were not pulled open. Once my eyes adjusted to the dimness, I saw that it was everything I would have imagined a biker hangout to be. A bar ran along one wall with a few guys scattered along it, drinking. Others sat on the mismatched couches that were placed in clumps around the large space. A few pool tables were scattered about, not being used, along with some dartboards on the wall.

  “Is this a clubhouse or a seedy dive bar?” I asked, wrinkling my nose at the smell of sweat, sex, and stale beer.

  “Can’t it be both?” Picasso asked, winking at me. “We let the members decide what the place looked like since it’s really for them to spend time in.”

  “I’m guessing your brother has control over what happens in the house? It’s way too orderly for five bachelors to be living in.” I said as I wandered over to the bar.

  Picasso chuckled, leaning against the bar as I sat down on one of the stools. “Noticed that, did you? Yes, Eagle likes order and control in all things and people. He allows this to be the one area he doesn’t rule over.”

  The bartender saw us and headed in our direction. He had to be in his sixties, grey hair cut short with a long grey beard that was braided. His skin was tan and wrinkled, and his tattoos had a bluish hue, showing they were almost as old as he was.

  “Surprised to see you here so early in the day, Picasso. What can I do for ya?” he asked, ignoring that I was even sitting here.

  I bristled at his slight. Yes, Picasso was vice president, but it’s considered good manners to say hello to someone sitting at your bar. Fuck if he’d be getting a tip from me.

  “Pinky, this is Dax,” Picasso said, gesturing to me. “She is a guest of Eagle’s for the foreseeable future. I wanted to make sure that I introduced you so you can keep an eye on her if we’re not around.”

  The older man looked me over with his judgment-filled eyes. This fucker better not think I’m Eagle’s flavor of the week. It happened once and never will again.

  Reaching out a hand, I gave him a bright smile. “Nice to meet you, Pinky.”

  He just looked at my hand but didn’t take it.

  Okay, playing nice wasn’t going to work with this crusty old prick.

  “Pinky, I would really hate for us to get off on the wrong foot,” I said, dropping my hand and leaning across the counter. “You see, I have this terrible impulse control problem when it comes to people I don’t like.”

  “Why would I give two flying fucks about a bitch like you not liking me?”

  “Dax…” Picasso tried to stop me, but I did warn the guy.

  Darting my hand out, I seized Pinky’s braid and yanked downward, slamming the older man’s face into the bar. Pulling myself up on the bar, I sat next to the dazed biker and looked down at my nails like I didn’t notice every eye in the clubhouse watching.

  “Now Pinky, I get that you’re old, and maybe that senile brain of yours isn’t working as quickly as it used to, so I’m going to go easy on you,” I said, swinging around so I was facing him. “Call me a bitch or any other name that is demeaning to women, and you will be eating out of a straw for the rest of your miserable life.”

  “Fuck, you’re perfect for them,” Pinky said, his words muffled from trying to stop the bleeding from his nose.

  Turning to face the rest of the men in the clubhouse, I raised my voice. “Hope y’all took good notes, boys. I hate repeating myself.”

  Hopping off the counter, I made my way out of the barn knowing that Picasso would follow after me.

  “Dax, we really need to talk about your people skills,” Picasso said when he caught up to me.

  “Really? I thought that went well,” I chirped and headed off down the driveway, wanting to get a feel for the layout of the compound.

  I heard him groan behind me, making me wonder how long his patience with me would last. Typically I wasn’t this volatile, but I felt like it was the right part to play in this situation. Better to have them wondering what I would do next than to be predictable. That made you vulnerable to being tricked, and that wasn’t in the plans for me.

  “Where do you think you’re heading?” Picasso asked as I kept walking.

  Peeking over my shoulder, I shrugged. “No idea, just felt like going for a walk. I’m feeling a little stifled at the moment. I’m not used to having someone follow me around all the time.”

  Ignoring my grumbling, Picasso gestured to the land around us. “This is an old cattle ranch that we took over. So most of it is open pasture that butts up to the mountains. We own the land right up into the foothills, a little less than eight hundred acres, I think.”

  A thousand acres. That’s a shit ton of land to have. I knew Wes looked into the stability of the Phantom Saints, but I hadn’t ever looked over that information. It made me think that I should start looking over anything Wes sent me about groups we were keeping our eyes on.

  We wandered the property in silence for a while, just enjoying the sunshine.

  “I hate to cut this short, but I have to get you back to the house,” Picasso said bringing me back to the present.

  “Oh? Some secret squirrel meeting that you can’t let the enemy know about?”

  “No, just church. Only members can attend.”

  “Ah, so it’s that I’m a woman,” I concluded knowing that no women are allowed in their super-secret meeting they call church. “Why is it that MCs just seem to have the inability to understand it’s the twenty-first century and not the fifties? Housewives have been freed from the shackles of the kitchen and secrecy, you know.”

  “We are not like that at all. If we were, I would have punished you for what you did in the clubhouse,” Picasso said defensively.

  I stopped on the steps up the porch to the house so I was eye level to him. “If Eagle had been there, he would have. Just because you treat women with respect doesn’t mean this club does. Everyone takes note from the president on how to act.”

  “Don’t you fucking talk about my brother like that!” Picasso snapped, getting right up in my face. “He takes care of everyone in this club, and I won’t stand for you slandering him.”

  Here I was thinking he might be the nice one
out of the group. Seeing the tinge of crazy going on in his eyes, I decided for once to keep my mouth shut on the subject. I knew Picasso had been too perfect, but now I knew what made him tick.

  Don’t fuck with his brother.

  He took a deep breath and seemed to shake off his rage. “Stay here, relax, take a nap, whatever you want—as long as it’s in this house. Remember, we can tell exactly where you are, and I am changing the geo-fencing so you will get shocked if you leave the porch. I’ll be back after the meeting.”

  I watched her walk into the house, not trusting that she would believe me about the ankle tracker. This small woman packed more punch to her than a category five hurricane, and she was going to blow through this place if we didn’t get her on our side. Making my way back to the clubhouse, which was now full of all the men in our club, I hurried over to the bar where I knew Eagle and the others would be waiting for me.

  “She at the house?” Eagle asked, his phone in hand.

  “You tell me—you’re the one tracking her,” I said as I sat down next to him. “Don’t forget to switch to the small fence around the house. Let’s see if she’ll listen to my warning.”

  Void scoffed as he took a sip of his whiskey. “That little demon, she won’t listen to anyone but Two Tricks. It was a mistake to bring her here.”

  “Not here,” Eagle snapped. “We will talk about this when this is over. Phantom Saints leaders don’t argue in front of the family.”

  I scanned the room and saw that everyone but the few we knew wouldn’t be here were ready and waiting. Eagle stood from his stool, took his gavel, and struck the bar soundly, alerting everyone that church was now in session.

  “Today will be quick. Not too much to go over, but what we do have is not great news,” Eagle said, his voice booming through the space. “The mover we had is squeezing us for more money because they don’t want to be caught dealing behind Two Tricks’ back. We are scouting out new options for this problem, but if anyone hears about more of our connections getting cold feet, we want to know. Business is fine, and we have other areas that Tricks has no hold over, so be assured there is still work to be done and money to be made.”

  The room rumbled with talk and uncertainty as they took in that information. Our group had been around for ten years and survived the loss of our sister club, the Blackjax, six years ago. This was another bump in the road, but it would be one that we could weather if Eagle would get out of his own way. As he said, we didn’t need the Hidden Empire’s help to grow, even if it would make it happen faster— damn Mad Dogs trying to box us in.

  “On another note, I have a guest that you will be seeing around the next few weeks. She is off limits.” Eagle gave the men a hard look. “I need her to be on our side to broker a deal, and she wants to see how things run on our end. Let’s show the little lady just how the Phantom Saints became the top dog on the West Coast,” he said with a smirk that had the guys getting to their feet, hooting, hollering, and whistling their agreement.

  I was shocked to hear Eagle talk about her in church. We had all agreed that we would have her keep a low profile and let them think she was his newest side piece. Had something changed on his end? Why didn’t he tell us? We never made choices like this alone. We always worked as a team.

  “Now I’ll open the floor for any new business,” Eagle said and sat, looking over the group of men.

  Tapper stepped forward, and the room fell silent again. “One of my snitches said that one of Tricks’ competitors on the East Coast was getting ready to make a move. Word on the situation is that he let his enforcer go too far and they killed his son without provocation.”

  My brows shot up my forehead, and I looked over at the rest of the guys. I could tell from their faces that none of us had heard a peep about this, and we’d been keeping our ears glued to the ground for any news when it came to Tricks and Dax.

  “Does your snitch know the name of the rival?” I asked.

  “They didn’t know, but it happened last year. It just took them a long time to find out it was a hit by Tricks. He didn’t leave his usual calling card of a double ace playing card,” Tapper said, shrugging his shoulders.

  Why would he have a hit then not take credit for it? That made no sense—if it’s a rival, then you make sure they know you won. Was it a rogue hit? Did Dax act out on her own and try to cover it up?

  “Bring your snitch in, we want to talk to him,” Eagle said, giving me a look. He didn’t think it added up either. “Anything else we need to know?”

  When no one spoke up, another rap of the gavel sounded, and the men drifted off. Eagle signaled us to follow him to the office in the back of the clubhouse, and everyone sprawled out into their usual spots as I shut the door and locked it. I trusted every member of our club, but that didn’t mean I would be stupid. The things we talked about in here we sure as hell didn’t want anyone else knowing about.

  “Do you really think she would take out a rival’s kid without claiming it?” Sprocket asked, chewing on this thumbnail.

  “Abso-fucking-lutely I believe that,” Void said. “All he would have to do is call her a bitch to get punched. Imagine if he called her a twat or something. From what I’ve seen in the twelve hours she has been around, that girl is a loose cannon.”

  Cognac just chuckled. “You’re just pissed because you got your ass handed to you twice by our little loba.”

  Void snarled, baring his teeth. “Don’t you fucking name her. We can’t keep her.”

  “Why not? It seems our leader might have changed his mind on that,” Cognac said, winking at Eagle.

  He was one of the only people I knew who could get away with shit like that. When Eagle didn’t deny the accusation, the room paused, and we all looked at him. He was sitting behind his desk, leaning back in his chair, rubbing his chin, not even paying attention to what we were saying.

  “Eagle,” I called out, grabbing a pen from his desk and tossing it at him.

  Immediately he glared at me, but then he settled back and focused on us. “I might have been short-sighted on how to deal with Dax.”

  “Fuck,” Void said, getting up and grabbing the whiskey off the shelf to pour himself another drink.

  “What’s your new plan?” I asked, cutting off Cognac from voicing whatever asinine thing he was about to say.

  Eagle leaned forward, resting his elbows on the desk, telling me that I wasn’t going to like this. “Instead of trying to get Two Tricks to play ball with us, what if we took his move and just took over?”

  “Run that by me again?” I blurted, not sure I was hearing the crap that was coming out of my brother’s mouth.

  “We have his second in command, whether she likes to admit it or not, so we turn her against him. We have rivals sniffing around, so he will be distracted, and not having his enforcer will cripple him,” Eagle laid out.

  “It’s really rather smart,” Sprocket agreed. “Dax already has all the information that we could need to take him out. If we get her to side with us, then it’s game over for him.”

  “Look guys, we have no idea what shit he has on her,” Void countered. “There has to be some reason that she joined him in the first place. Now that we know he isn’t her lover, what other reason would a woman have to be at his beck and call?”

  “God Void, you really are an idiot sometimes,” Cognac said, shaking his head. “Why can’t she be in it for the same reason we would be? Power. She is, for the most part, untouchable, rich, and way fucking smarter than I think we give her credit for.”

  “I have to agree,” Sprocket said. “Dax isn’t the type of woman that wants to be taken care of. She can handle her own shit just fine. To me, it would be her freedom that he’s got over her. He could take away everything she has and leave her with nothing.”

  “What about her shop?” I asked.

  Cognac grabbed his tablet from the desk and flicked it open. As treasurer, Cognac was our stock market money-making magician. He had a way of making
the simplest moves that had the biggest impacts. He also knew his way around technology better than any of us did, so we left him to do research with Gaby.

  “From the legal paperwork that Gaby found for the sale, it looks like she took out a loan for it with a co-signer, Weston Price. The odd thing was that it only took her two years to pay off a fifty-thousand-dollar loan. This was around the same time that Two Tricks was really making waves in the industry,” Cognac said, scrolling through the info.

  “Okay, so she has another source of income, but no matter how good a tattoo shop does, it doesn’t pay as good as Tricks has to,” I said, frowning. “This doesn’t help us with getting her to turn on Tricks, though. If we take over, then we don’t really need her, do we?”

  Eagle scratched the scruff on his chin as he thought. “If this plan works, it will only work with her being a part of it. This whole thing could be smooth sailing if we have a familiar face for them to trust.”

  “That still doesn’t tell us how we are going to get her to turn on him,” I pointed out.

  “Simple. We make her fall in love with us,” Eagle said as if we all should have thought of it.

  Void shot out of his chair and slammed his fist on the desk. “Are you out of your goddamn fucking mind, Eagle?!”

  Eagle just looked up at him with an expression I knew all too well. If Void didn’t back off, he was going to end up with a broken bone or two. My brother did not tolerate others second-guessing his judgment. There was a reason he was the president and had stayed in that position for so long. The five of us were close, brothers in all meanings of the word, but that went out the window if you were going to challenge him.

  “Sit the fuck down before I make you,” Eagle barked, his eyes narrowing on Void. “This is twice in one day I’ve had to tell you to stand down. There won’t be a warning next time.”

  Void froze, knowing he had made an epic mistake, and sat down without another word.

  “Anyone else care to chime in on how they feel about this?” Eagle asked, looking at all of us in turn. “I remember the pact we made when we started this club. No woman is coming between us, turning us against each other. If we do this, then we do what we always planned. I know you all have a thing for her. I’m giving you the go-ahead to act on it.”