Two Tricks (Hidden Empire Book 1)

by Elizabeth Knight

  “That’s just it, though. They came in while you were gone and killed one of your inner circle. If they can get to the enforcer’s men, then they can get to anyone. Someone is also spreading rumors about the fact that you’re missing. I’ve done my best to put a stop to it, but my words won’t hold them over for long. They need to see you,” Wes stated, leaning back against the rail, arms crossed and a frown marring his handsome face.

  I turned and punched the cabin wall until both of my hands ached at the unforgiving surface. Wes knew better than to stop me when I got like this, even though I could feel his disapproving gaze on my back.

  “That’s the catch twenty-two of it all, isn’t it. If I can’t get this motherfucking tracker off, there’s no way I can deal with things back home.”

  “If I might interject here for a moment, I might have a solution,” Cognac said.

  Snapping my head around, I found him leaning against the doorjamb, hands in his jean pockets and a grin on his face.

  “How the fuck did you get out of your bindings?” I gaped.

  Cognac walked over to me and bent down until he was right next to the side of my face, whispering into my ear. “Loba, you would be surprised at the things I could teach you if you let me.”

  Then he licked the shell of my ear, causing me to shudder as a thrill went through my body. Yes, even though I had just been thoroughly fucked, his body called to mine—it had ever since that dance the first night we met. He pulled back, lust glowing in his eyes as he winked at me before standing to his full height.

  Weston was not so easily pacified with that answer and slammed Cognac against the wall with his arm pinned behind him. “Why the hell should we listen to you? For all we know, you could be working with them! It seems just too coincidental that she gets kidnapped the same time they start this shit.”

  “Now I understand why you’re so hard to impress, loba. After seeing the connection between you two and the lovely porno you put on for me, we’ve got our work cut out for us to get you to stay,” Cognac said, ignoring everything Weston just said. “As for what I was saying before Westy here rudely interrupted me, all you have to do is have Two Tricks agree to talk with Eagle, and we’ll be more than happy to take your anklet off.”

  “I have to agree with Wes on this—the timing of everything is just too convenient. Gabriella comes to see me with the one person who I hate for stealing my twin from me, then my best friend invites me to a party at her house. Harper has no clue about Two Tricks or the Hidden Empire, other than they exist. Tie in the fact that Gabriella set it up so you guys could meet me—I’m sorry, kidnap me… There’s not much here to go on that makes me think bringing you to Two Tricks—the best kept secret—is a great idea,” I mused as I resumed my pacing.

  Cognac gave me a heavy sigh, and quick as lightning, he had Weston on the floor. “Sorry man, but my shoulder was starting to fall asleep and I hate it when it gets all tingly.” He flopped into the chair Wes had been sitting in and scratched the scruff on his chin. “I see your point, Dax, but the whole time you’ve been with us we have done everything in our power to make you comfortable. Other than keeping an eye on you and the ankle monitor, we haven’t treated you like a prisoner. That has to count for something.”

  “What is it exactly that Eagle wants from Tricks anyway?” I asked, curious.

  “I’ll let him tell you that. He and the others should be here soon,” Cognac said with a yawn.

  “S’cuse me, what?!” I demanded, marching up to him and grabbing the front of his t-shirt.

  Reaching out, he scooped me up and pulled me into his lap, locking me in place with his arms. “When you passed out of our property, the tracker on the ATV was activated. I know your brooding stud over here checked it, but it wouldn’t be detectable until it was triggered. Guess you should’ve ditched the ride if you didn’t want to be followed.”

  I squirmed and kicked in Cognac’s arms, growling. “You promised you wouldn’t touch me unless I told you you could.”

  “True, but I changed my mind. After seeing you with Wessy boy, I’m a little worried you might never let me. So I’m just going to do it anyways or risk my opportunity being lost, loba,” Cognac said, nuzzling into the back of my neck.

  I tried to headbutt him, but he just shifted and tucked me in under his chin, humming with contentment.

  “Are you just gonna let him do this to me, Wes?” I snarled, still not giving in. “If you don’t help me get out of his arms, I’m going to dump everything out of your drawers and toss it around the room at home. Then I’ll rearrange everything on your computer home screen. Don’t test me, Weston!”

  “She makes a mess in your room too, huh?” Eagle asked, coming out of the trees, gun at the ready with the rest of the guys flanking him.

  Weston dropped to a knee behind the second chair and pulled out his own gun. I froze in Cognac’s hold, unsure of what was going to happen next.

  “Seems our little demon is causing all sorts of trouble today. I knew things had been going too smoothly,” Void drawled as they fanned out to cover the whole porch.

  “Can’t say we weren’t warned. Pretty sure the first thing out of her mouth was that she would raise hell.” Eagle ginned as he lowered his gun. “I know it’s just the two of you here, and clearly we outnumber you, especially since I have men waiting for my signal if need be. I figured we could talk about this like adults instead of needing to kill each other. See, the thing is, friend, we’ve all grown kinda fond of our little hellcat.” Eagle shrugged, speaking to Wes.

  “Perfect timing, pres,” Cognac said, lifting me out of his lap and setting me on my feet. “Loba was just asking why it is that you need to meet with Two Tricks.”

  Weston looked at me, then the rest of the guys, and holstered his weapon. No matter how you looked at it, there wouldn’t have been a chance in hell to get out of this alive if it came down to a shootout.

  “Why don’t I grab the cooler and we can all have lunch?” Cognac said, heading for the ATV.

  What the actual fuck was going on right now? Was this another part of their plan? No, there’s no way they could’ve known that Weston was coming for me. Wes was loyal to me through and through. But then how the hell did we end up in this situation?

  “Dax, aren’t you going to introduce us to your friend?” Sprocket asked when he reached me.

  “No,” I snapped, turning my back to him. “You can figure it out yourself.”

  “Really, I thought we’d gotten past all this attitude,” Sprocket teased, putting his arm around me as he escorted me into the cabin like it was theirs.

  Weston let out a bark of laughter. “Fat chance of that. She’s been only getting sassier with age, trust me.”

  Once in the cabin, someone grabbed my hand and yanked me away from Sprocket, spinning me until I was up against the back of the couch. Eagle loomed over me, his eyes filled with anger as his hand surrounded my throat. He didn’t put any pressure into the grip—just the knowledge he could was enough to keep my attention.

  “Get. Your. Hands. Off. Her,” Wes commanded, followed by the sound of a gun being cocked.

  Eagle glanced at him for a moment but then brought his gaze right back to me. “I warned you that you could only push me so far, little hellcat. Not only did you run away and kidnap one of my men, but you left a fucking mess in my room for me to clean up. There will be consequences for your actions, no matter what this asshole thinks.”

  With those words, I noticed the other four guys had their guns trained on Weston, who had his gun up against Eagle’s head.

  “Oh, Eagle, you might want to address the fact that they fucked like rabbits not that long ago,” Cognac piped up.

  Eagle shifted so he could see him better. “What do you mean?”

  “Little ol’ Wessy here banged her good and hard right in front of me and again in the shower, making her scream loud enough I got jealous I couldn’t watch.” Cognac smirked as he saw me glaring daggers at him.


  Wes made a move towards Cognac, but Void was right there blocking him, his gun inches away from his head. “If he moves, he won’t make it out of this alive. Now tell him to stand down,” Void commanded.

  I licked my lips, as my mouth had gone dry at the horror of knowing Void would kill Weston without blinking an eye. But I couldn’t lose Wes. There would be no way that I could survive living life without him in it, even more so after what had just happened between us.

  “Put down the gun, Wes. Eagle still needs me, so he won’t hurt me,” I said, giving Wes a reassuring nod. “Besides, he knows if he did, I would kick his ass.”

  Weston locked eyes with me as if he was trying to read my soul, but he blinked and took a step back, slowly lowering his weapon. As the room seemed to breathe again, I grabbed Eagle’s thumb and yanked it back, freeing my neck. Pulling the arm down, I kneed him in the stomach, causing him to grunt at the pain as he fell to his knees. Finishing it off, I punched him in the jaw, whipping his head back with a groan.

  “Don’t you ever threaten Weston’s life again or I will end you without a second thought. He’s off-limits if you ever want the hope of meeting Tricks!” I screamed right in his face, anger pouring out of me.

  Seconds later, pain flooded my body, and I dropped to the ground as I started convulsing. Rolling my eyes up, I saw Picasso watching me with fury in his gaze and his phone in his hands.

  The bastard used the shock collar on me.

  As my body was shifted and picked up, I let out a loud groan of protest. Every muscle in my body was pissed that I’d been fucking electrocuted, and now I was practically helpless.

  Void’s icy blue eyes looked down at me with something I might count as concern. He carried me over to the couch, but instead of setting me on it, he held me in his lap like a baby, shifting me so my head rested against his shoulder as he wrapped his arms around my hips. It took me a moment to figure out that the pounding in my head was getting worse because of the shouting happening.

  “What the fuck were you thinking?!” Eagle bellowed.

  “There is no way in hell I was willing to let her get away with that! No one disrespects you like that, Eagle, I don’t care who they are,” Picasso shot back.

  “So that whole thing about not torturing her because that’s not what we do was bullshit? Because to me that looked like you just took her ass out to be a dick,” Sprocket chimed in.

  “Ah! Fuck you all, being blinded by some piece of ass,” Picasso yelled, followed by the sound of something smashing. “I was against this plan from the beginning. We never should have brought her back with us. Now we have two of Two Tricks’ people to hold hostage—he’s got to do something about that, right?!”

  “That just shows you know fuck all about Two Tricks,” Wes bit out. “You think after this many years he’s going to cave just because you have his enforcer and her business partner?”

  “Nice try, asshole, but we both know that you are more than just her business partner. She wouldn’t go to bat like that for just anyone. Besides, there’s no way that you could have pulled that shit if you weren’t in Two Tricks’ inner circle yourself,” Picasso challenged.

  “Regardless, my point still stands. Tricks isn’t going to give in because of this.”

  “Fine then. Seems with this new development, we just need to kill them both and send back their bodies to get our message across,” Picasso snapped.

  The sound of someone getting punched and crashing into something made me try to see what was going on. As I lifted my head from Void’s shoulder, I saw Sprocket standing over Picasso, who had been laid out. To say that I was shocked that they were fighting amongst themselves over me was an understatement. It threw me for a loop.

  “Picasso, go take a walk, and when you can be more reasonable, feel free to come back and apologize to Dax for your shit attitude,” Sprocket growled.

  Picasso picked himself up off the ground and looked at Eagle like he was waiting for him to tell Sprocket to back down, but Eagle just crossed his arms. I watched as Picasso stormed out of the cabin, slamming the door behind him. Eagle walked over to me and squatted down so we were eye level and reached out, grasping my ankle gently.

  “I’m sorry he did that, hellcat. Don’t get me wrong, you needed a good punishment for lashing out at me like that, but this was overkill,” Eagle said, pinning me with a stern look.

  I huffed, squirming in Void’s hold even though my body screamed at me to stop moving. Void just grunted and maneuvered me so I was sitting up with my back flush with his chest but still locked in his hold.

  “If I didn’t have this fucking thing on me, none of this would have been an issue. Just so we’re clear, this isn’t all on me—if you hadn’t all pulled your guns on Wes, I wouldn’t have reacted so badly,” I muttered, trying to pry Void’s hands loose.

  A hand cupped my chin and forced me to look Eagle in the eyes. “Don’t run away from us with some other guy and I won’t be so unreasonable.”

  “Okay, do you hear yourself right now? How is this my fault? I’m the one who was kidnapped and held against my will in your compound. Wes came to get me free, and we just happened to need Cognac to come with for insurance. I could’ve killed him and left him for you to find as you tried to come after me. Really, you should be thanking me right now,” I said, slapping his hand away and glaring at him.

  Eagle looked over at Cognac, who was sitting on the arm of the couch, twirling his gun like it was a toy.

  “Nah, I don’t think you could’ve killed him, little hellcat. I mean, look at that face—he’s much too pretty to kill.” Eagle grinned, and Cognac turned to wink at me.

  Heaving a heavy sigh, I leaned back into Void, giving into the fact I wasn’t going anywhere. “Let’s move on since we are getting nowhere with that topic. I’m finally ready to listen to your proposal.”

  Eagle stood and settled next to Void while Sprocket and Wes pulled over chairs from the kitchen.

  “Can we expect loverboy to behave himself?” Void asked as he dipped his chin to rest it on my shoulder.

  Wes slammed his chair down hard on the floor, drawing our attention. “I am perfectly capable of answering for myself, Cujo.”

  Not helping his case, Void growled at Wes, moving to pass me over to Eagle. “What did you just call me, etch-a-sketch?”

  “Hey!” I yelled elbowing Void in the gut. “I did almost all of his tattoos, insulting them is insulting me!”

  Void paused and looked down at me, then back at Wes, before settling back on the couch with a pout on his lips, pulling me back to him.

  “Look at that—our little rebel has learned to tame the beast,” Sprocket said, winking at me with a grin on his lips.

  I stuck my tongue out at him, but he just shook his head. “I wouldn’t do that—you never know what could happen to it, little rebel.”

  Eagle clapped his hands together loudly. “Could we try to keep on topic for just a moment?”

  When we all fell silent, I wiggled so I could face him better, which also put me in a position that Void’s dick was tucked against my ass cheeks. This caused him to nuzzle against my neck and then bite the shell of my ear. Batting him away, I raised an eyebrow at Eagle, hoping he would start talking.

  “Everyone knows that the real person who is in control of the West Coast is Two Tricks and the Hidden Empire. I know everyone thinks that MCs should just stick to women, drugs, and guns, but why can’t we be more? The Phantom Saints could really mean something in this town, except that Tricks has us blocked on all sides, forcing us to live up to that reputation,” Eagle started, his eye watching me carefully for any chance I might give something away.

  “As his enforcer, you offer protection to all the people that work with Two Tricks. Some of them even get some of your men to be on site at all times. I know you probably just see it as protecting your boss’s investments, but it also makes the whole neighborhood safer. We had a hell of a time finding anything out because you have built up that ki
nd of loyalty—not Tricks, Dax. You. Our original idea was to be able to join forces and combine what we do, mix our skills with Tricks’ and make the empire bigger. To do that would take trusted men and women to control that much territory. I have a few gangs that I plan to take over and patch in as Phantoms, but I can’t without pushback from your people.”

  “You’re still not telling me what it is that you want, Eagle,” I pushed. I knew exactly what he wanted from that little speech, but I needed him to say it out loud so there were no misconceptions. “Also, what do you mean by your ‘original idea’? I’m guessing something changed.”

  Eagle rubbed the scruff on his chin, watching me with an expression I couldn’t read. “Yes, things have changed because there was one thing that there was no way we could account for.”

  “Really, what could that be?” I mused, cocking my head to the side.

  “They didn’t count on a pint-sized hellion with a foul mouth and aggressive personality to end up turning them all into whipped puppies,” Picasso said from behind us.

  Eagle just grunted as Picasso grabbed a chair and sat on it backwards next to his brother.

  “Think you can manage not to shock or shoot anyone while we talk?” Eagle asked. Picasso’s answer was a shrug of his shoulders. “Good enough for me.”

  “You were going to tell me what your plan is now that I somehow changed things,” I said, bringing us back to the matter at hand.

  “We want to join forces with Tricks and help expand the Hidden Empire, but with becoming his private army of sorts, we need his help in return,” Eagle explained.

  “Knew it couldn’t be that straightforward,” Weston grumbled.

  “It’s not really a deal if both parties don’t get something out of it, you know,” Sprocket pointed out.