Two Tricks (Hidden Empire Book 1)

by Elizabeth Knight

I sighed and leaned back into Void, oddly comfortable in this giant’s hold. “Wes, is there any coffee left? I didn’t get to drink much of mine before I chucked it.”

  Much to my surprise, Cognac jumped to his feet and dashed towards the kitchen, shoving Wes back to his chair as he passed by. “No need, loverboy, I got this. She’s our responsibility too for the next month. Guess you’re gonna need to learn to share her.”

  Wes frowned at Cognac, then turned back to me. “What the hell does he mean, shortcake?”

  “Little demon made a bet with me and lost, which means she agreed to stay with us for a month without trying to escape,” Void answered, his voice rumbling against my back.

  Cognac sauntered back into the room with a mug of steaming coffee, making sure that he brushed his fingers along mine as he handed it over. Glaring at him over the rim of my cup, I took a few gulps, letting the liquid burn down my throat.

  “Clearly she didn’t agree to the bet, seeing as she ran away with me hours ago,” Wes snapped, arms crossed over his chest. “That, and it’s obvious that you all seem to think you have a shot with Dax. What, are you all just going to fight over her until she picks someone?”

  Eagle burst out laughing at Weston’s words. “Good god, why would we make her pick?”

  I couldn’t help but perk up at what he was saying. I knew that something had changed with all the guys, but now it seemed I was going to learn what it was.

  “We all agreed way beforehand that none of us alone would be enough for a woman. Our lifestyle doesn’t come with normal hours or the ability to guarantee absolute safety, so having more than one partner to balance things out only makes sense. Could you say any different, Wester?” Eagle challenged.

  Weston didn’t answer right away; he just looked at each of the guys in turn, letting the silence hang. Then he leaned forward and rested his elbows on his knees.

  “First of all, you guys have a lot to learn if you think Dax needs or wants anyone to protect or coddle her in life.” He motioned towards me with a slight frown to his lips. “I’m not sure what voodoo magic you’ve worked on her over the past few days for her to look so relaxed and content in his hold, but that never happens. As for the second part of your argument, Dax and I have been together since I was twelve and she was ten. The longest we have ever gone not talking or seeing each other was the past two days. Hell, we even live together. There is nothing about this woman that I don’t know. There is no competition between what you guys have to offer and I already do.”

  My jaw fell open at the word vomit that just fell out of Weston’s mouth. He was never one to be a “Chatty Cathy” about our personal lives. Case in point—not many people knew we lived together, other than Harper, because she was my only normal friend. We didn’t exactly interact with the most trustworthy people, being tied to Two Tricks.

  “Oh, green is not a good color on you, Westilicious,” Cognac snickered.

  “There is no trick to this. My little demon just needs a firm hand before she will settle down,” Void shared as he snuggled into me, his teeth scraping along my neck sending shivers straight to my clit.

  How the fuck was I this turned on when Wes and I had just fucked like bunnies? These guys were bad for me in more ways than one.

  Leaning back, I nuzzled into Void’s neck until I latched onto his ear, biting down hard as I kicked my heel into his shin.

  “Fucking hell, demon!” Void cried out as I slipped out of his hold and danced out of his reach when he went to grab for me.

  I just blew a kiss to Void with a wink as he rubbed his ear with a pout on his lips.

  “Sorry Voidykins, but it seems that we can’t talk business if everyone keeps getting distracted by me.” I shrugged. “Before someone else says or does anything asinine, why don’t you tell me what it is you want in exchange for offering your services to Tricks?”

  “We have to get rid of the only other roadblock and destroy the Mad Dogs MC before they really do attack us,” Picasso answered. “Specifically, we need you, Dax, to do it to prove that if they mess with us, they mess with Two Tricks.”

  I watched Dax’s face go from her happy little smirk after teasing Void to slamming shut at Picasso’s pronouncement. The look on her face alone told me that any chance we had to do this the way we wanted wasn’t going to happen. My brother had just screwed the pooch because he had an overprotective little brother complex. Given the chance, I would have worked it in a way that would have made her choose to do the job, but now that we were telling her to do it, we didn’t have a chance in hell.

  “That’s a tall order to ask when I haven’t even told you I will bring it to Tricks. You guys ran Mastiff and his crew off years ago, what do you need Tricks’ backing for?” Dax asked.

  I knew my little hellcat wouldn’t miss anything.

  “Puzzler, Mastiff’s father, was the president at the time, and he ran a disorganized crew. I decided because the boy was still so young it was wrong to kill him since he had a chance to get out of this life and start over. When we ran them out of town they lost everything, but instead of seeing it as a new start, he turned into one of the most ruthless leaders of the Mad Dogs, Nevada chapter. Mastiff has grown the Mad Dogs to three chapters big. If he really decides to come after us, then we will be wiped out for good, because he learned from my mistake and leaves no one alive,” I explained, watching her bright blue eyes for any hint of what she was thinking.

  Turning on her heel, she walked up the steps to the loft, leaving us sitting there with our thumbs up our asses. I glanced over at Weston to see if he had any clue what was going on, but he was sitting back in his chair with his head back and eyes closed.

  If he wasn’t worried, then I would leave her be for the moment, but it made my skin itch that she just walked away from me like that.

  I’d been in my office, trying to get some work done when all the alarms went off and the security system on the fence went offline. It sent the whole compound into a panic—all the men knew of the danger we could be facing at any moment. Seeing the chaos reinforced to me that we needed to get stronger, smarter. And to do that, we needed people like Dax and Weston on our side. Two Tricks had the best of the best hidden in his empire, and I would do whatever it took to keep my people safe from a disaster I’d caused by being too weak.

  “East, did you set off all the alarms and crash our system?” I asked, causing the man to open one eye at me, which he promptly closed.

  My fists clenched at his disrespect. He might not be one of my crew, but he was someone I needed to get along with if I wanted Dax to stick around.

  “My money’s on you doing it because Dax isn’t good enough to infiltrate our system that fast. I had one of the best people I could find build the security for that, and he said the only one who was better than him worked exclusively for Tricks. Add in the fact that when we tried to look into Dax, there was absolutely no footprint for her anywhere on the web, and I think it was you,” I pushed, hoping to get some kind of reaction out of him. Although, if he’d been living with Dax, that would be harder than I thought.

  Weston sighed and opened his eyes, sitting up. “My consultation rate is three hundred an hour.”

  “Wessie, that is quite the pretty penny. How do we know you’re worth it?” Cognac asked.

  Clearly, Cognac had bonded with this guy in their time together, or he wouldn’t be using those ridiculous nicknames. It had taken him years to stop doing that to the rest of us, but if you didn’t get a nickname, then you were not on his good side.

  “You’re kidding, right? I literally demolished your security in five minutes from that crap computer and your cell phone. If I had my own setup, anything you had on your network would have been mine for the taking. Besides, that guy was right—I am one of the best,” Weston answered, glaring at Cognac.

  “So did your cocky-ass attitude rub off on her or did she rub off on you?” Sprocket asked, tapping his chin in thought. “Hmm, my guess is you got it from her. That wom
an came out of the womb ready to take over the world.”

  Seeing as how we finally got him talking, I was going to use it to my advantage. “The Phantom Saints would like to hire you to work on our system. We will pay your fee and buy whatever you tell us to so we can have the best system possible. I have women and children at the compound to think of and keep safe.”

  Footsteps thundered down the stairs as Dax came flying back into the room. “Oh, so you’re willing to do whatever it takes to protect your people from this Mastiff jackass, no problem. Yet a guy who went to jail for you and ended up getting mixed up in a tough situation doesn’t deserve your help? Explain the logic between that to me? He spent two fucking years in prison to keep you out so you could protect everyone else and keep the crew safe and running. Then, when you don’t offer him any protection in jail, he does the best he can and then you just toss him out like trash!”

  The venom in her words slapped me in the face, causing me to lean back as she stalked towards me. My mind raced, trying to catch up with where she was coming from… then I remembered. She had asked us a question when we first met her at the party. At that time we had no idea what she wanted from us, but we had obviously gotten it very wrong. I thought it was a metaphor for working with Tricks and what would happen if we betrayed him, not a literal scenario.

  “Oh fuck. She asked you the question, didn’t she?” Weston muttered, shaking his head.

  I met Dax’s gaze, her anger making her eyes more mesmerizing. “Ask me the question again.”

  She scoffed and balled her hands into fists, and my jaw started to ache again from her attention earlier.

  “Dax—ask me the question again,” I demanded.

  Jutting out her chin, she took a deep breath and gave me the same scenario as last time, then asked me the question that meant more to her than she let on. “Upon him getting out of jail and coming back to the club, what would you do?”

  “He never would have had to work with the drug ring in the first place because I would have had his back. Any man who would take the fall for me deserves to be protected in return. That man would have been welcomed back with open arms and a big-ass party,” I answered, never letting my gaze waver from hers.

  “Obviously you would change your answer—you knew you got it wrong last time. How can I believe anything you’re saying now?” Dax demanded.

  “Because that’s what he did for me,” Void answered.

  It took me a moment to register what Void just said.

  “Explain.”

  “Eight years ago, when we weren’t as big of a crew as we are now, a guy named Lizard was kicked out of the club because he was pocketing money from drug deals he did. Pissed, he tried to get Eagle caught by setting us up with an undercover cop asking for black market weapons. Normally Eagle always takes the meeting with new people, but I had a bad feeling about it when he brought up knowing Lizard. I pulled my gun on him and got arrested before the deal could go any further. They wanted me to do ten years, but Gaby got it down to four, and I only did three because of good behavior,” Void shared, his icy eyes never leaving mine. “While I was in, he made sure I had everything I needed, whether it was protection or a new toothbrush. Never once did I feel abandoned. Hell, he even sent Picasso to see me twice a month to keep me up to date on what was going on in the club.”

  The room was silent as they waited for me to react. I tried to hide how much I was reeling from this new information. My anger and hurt over what happened to my brother wanted me to push back at what he was saying, but I was too good at reading people to think it was all made up.

  “Okay, so here’s what I propose. Weston and I will join you at the compound so he can consult on your security. Meanwhile, I will look into Mastiff and the Mad Dogs to see if what you’re asking me to do can even be done. If I think it’s possible, then I will bring this all to Two Tricks and see what he has to say. Once he has made a choice, then and only then will I make good on our side of the bargain,” I said, making sure to look at all of them as I spoke. “Oh, and you have to get this goddamn shock collar off of me or none of this is going to happen.”

  Eagle sat back and rubbed his chin, watching me with a critical eye. “So—you want to do this research on your own turf.”

  “I’m either truly your partner in this or the deal is off,” I confirmed.

  Picasso scoffed. “You want us to extend trust to you with no guarantee you will keep your word?”

  “Sorry, did you miss the part where you will have Wes with you at the compound?” I asked. “We are both extending trust here.”

  “Hardly. He will be in our security systems; he could do whatever he wants to them to leave us vulnerable to an attack from Two Tricks,” Picasso said, his face scrunched up in a scowl. “You have to leave the tracker on until Two Tricks agrees with the plan and we can talk to him face to face. That’s when you can be free of it.”

  I growled at him, taking a step forward, but Wes reached out and grabbed my arm. “Take a moment to actually listen to what he is saying, Dax. It’s a fair deal. You need to go back and show your face and deal with a few things before you can come back to the compound, and I can help you with your dead ends. It shouldn’t take me more than three days to overhaul their whole system. If we need to order stuff in, then it could be longer, but I can still help you along the way.”

  My skin crawled at the thought of being tracked everywhere I went and them knowing where I lived. I wanted this thing off of me. The danger of being hit with that kind of shot at any given moment made me feel like this was a bigger leap of trust on my end.

  “Fine. BUT if I end up getting shocked or the information you have on me gets out if the deal doesn’t go your way, I will personally hand you over to the Mad Dogs and watch them kill you all. Do I make myself clear?” I snapped.

  Eagle nodded, then got to his feet with his hand extended. I studied him for a moment, then took his hand, letting out a yelp as he pulled me forward and slammed his lips on mine. I fought the kiss at first, but then when his grip on my hip and neck felt like they might bruise, I relaxed into it.

  When he finally released me, he grinned. “When Two Tricks agrees to the deal, make sure he knows that you will be spending a month living with us, so he’ll have to deal with the commute time.”

  I scowled at him and shoved him off me. “There is no telling what Tricks will think of this deal. It’s going against one of his rules, and he doesn’t like it when things fuck with his rules.”

  I felt someone step up behind me, molding his chest to my back. “Don’t sell yourself short there, little rebel,” Sprocket said, his lips brushing the shell of my ear. “That silver tongue of yours could talk anyone into doing something they didn’t plan on.”

  Something about all these men turned my abnormally high libido into overdrive as my body sang with desire. I glanced out of the corner of my eye at Sprocket, knowing he was trying to do the exact thing he just suggested about me. Leaning into him, I reached up and let my hand sink into his hair that was piled up in a messy bun. He almost seemed to purr at the attention, but just as I was going to get a nice grip on his hair, he grabbed my waist and yanked me away from him as if it was as simple as a dance.

  “Oh little rebel, haven’t you learned? Your tricks don’t work on me,” Sprocket teased, his eyes shining with mirth. “You’re going to have to up your game if you want to play with me.”

  Shaking him off, I headed for the door of the cabin. “Well, let’s get this show on the road. I’ll drive the ATV back to the compound and then I’ll take my Camaro back home.”

  “Looks like Cognac gets to ride bitch to one of us,” Void chuckled as they followed me out the door.

  “Wait, you can’t leave the place like this!” Eagle called out, still in the living room.

  I looked at Void, who was on my right, and shook my head. “I’ve never met a man who could be more of a neat freak than Weston.”

  “You get used to it. Else you end up w
ith a black eye or your hand stabbed with the fork you left in the sink,” Void said with a shrug.

  Pausing, I hollered back through the open door. “This safehouse is burned now that you guys know about it. Tricks will probably just sell the place or burn it down, one of the two depending on his mood. So there’s no point in worrying about it.”

  Boots clomped to the door, and Eagle glared down at me, holding out his hand. “Then I’ll buy it off him right now. Hand over the keys, this place is the perfect getaway.”

  “Yeah, no can do, pres. We have to have a crew come and wipe the place of all our stash and security,” I said as I skipped down the steps to the ATV.

  Eagle snarled, giving the place one more lookover and forcing himself to walk out the door, Picasso right on his heels.

  “You have to hand it to the guy—he has a great operation. There is no way you guys would have found the place if it hadn’t been for the GPS,” Cognac mused while taking in the forest around us. “Hey, when you talk to Two Tricks about the deal, tell him we will pay market price for this place. I wouldn’t mind spending a weekend out here sometime.”

  I rolled my eyes at him, which caused his grin to grow wider. “You guys keep forgetting I have to check out if going after the Mad Dogs is the right move or not. I actually like staying alive, and I’d like to keep doing that for a while longer.”

  “Come on, Cognac. You can ride with me,” Sprocket said, slapping his friend on the back.

  Void and Picasso followed after them while Eagle watched Wes lock the place up and toss me the keys.

  “You know what, I think you should come with me, little hellcat. I don’t trust that you won’t drive off with the two of you in the buggy. Tech wiz over here knows there’s a tracker, and if he’s as good as he claims, he could disable that in no time,” Eagle decided.

  “Nah, I’m good going back with Wes. I’m not a girl who rides bitch when she has the option to drive,” I said, turning to hop in the ATV.

  Big arms grabbed me around the waist and tossed me over a shoulder.