Page 101 of More Tricks

“Come on in, Dani,” I called.

The door opened a crack and she peered in before fully entering. “Hope I’m not intruding, but I want to make sure he gets his next dose of pain meds, and I need to change his bandage.”

“Wes was supposed to be close to finishing dinner,” I told Eagle. “I’ll make up a plate for each of us, and I’ll be back, okay?”

“Sounds great. The food at the hospital was absolute shit,” he grumbled, then turned to Dani. “You couldn’t have changed them when I was passed out? Haven’t you done enough to torture me?”

Dani laughed. “Oh, I haven’t even begun if I wanted to really torture you.”

Leaving him in capable hands, I wandered back into the kitchen. Wes was standing at the stove stirring a large pot of something that smelled amazing. Peering over his shoulder, I discovered it was beef stew.

“Dude, it's the middle of the summer and you’re making stew?” I asked, leaning against the counter to the side. “I’m just saying, aren’t we hot enough out here?”

“If you don’t want to eat it, then you can make something yourself,” Wes quipped.

“Well, glad to see some things never change even when you’re in love with someone,” I said, heaving myself up on the countertop. “So I promised Eagle I would get him food. Would you say you’re close to being done?”

Wes set the wooden spoon he’d been using to the side, then turned to me. “Oh, so you’re using caring for the sick and injured to get the answers you want?” He stepped closer, pushing my legs wide so he fit between them. “That’s low even for you, Two Tricks.”

“What can I say? I’ve been feeling off my game and needed to even out the score,” I shared with a shrug. “Didn’t get to the top without stepping on a few toes… hands… heads… dicks. Well, you know how it goes.”

He chuckled as he leaned in, setting his arms on either side, boxing me in with his body. “Do I? See, what I remember is the broken nose, bloody lip, stitching up knife wounds, and a bullet wound or two. Someone had to look out for that fine ass of yours, yet you keep taking all the credit.”

“Hmm?” I mused. “Let’s see who’s the one who decided I needed to be the big bad working my way up through the ranks so no one would know that I own it all?”

“Fuck,” Cam swore. “How did it take you two so long to start fucking? The sexual tension between you two is insane. I feel like I could just come from your verbal sparring.”

I glanced over at my first love and how he stroked himself over his jeans. Cam had never been one who cared where we were or who was there. If he wanted something, he was gonna take it. Oddly enough, I felt the same way, but I quickly learned that it was more rare than I assumed it would be.

“You pull that thing out in the kitchen, and I’ll chop it off,” Wes warned as he leaned in and kissed my neck, trying to prove he wasn’t feeling threatened.

“So what you’re saying is if I stand behind the breakfast counter, I’m safe?” Cam inquired.

Wes glanced over at Cam, an evil smirk on his face. “Guess it would be cruel to say no since it’s the only action you’re gonna get until you win us all over.”

Cam made a shocked face covering his mouth with his hand. “Wes, I never knew you played both sides, wait until I tell my father.”

A snarl from Wes was the only warning as a knife went flying through the air. Cam ducked, and the knife embedded itself in the wall of the dining room. As Cam rose, he let out an impressed whistle. “I see Dax taught you well. Not many people could make a throw that well with an unbalanced kitchen knife.”

“Cam,” I warned. “He’s right, you know, I might have decided to keep you, but more than that won’t happen until you make peace with the guys. We won’t be able to win this fight without the eight of us being a team, trusting that we have each other’s backs. Marco likes to play people against each other, and I need to know that won’t happen with us.”

My dark knight rested his elbows on the counter and looked me square in the eye. “I’m more than willing to bury the hatchet as it were, but I can’t be the only one who does it. Without a mutual ceasefire, there won’t be peace. Someone will always be waiting to stab me in the back. I’ll own up to the fact I didn’t start things off well, but I’m not the only one who needs to make some changes.”

The bastard had a point. If each of them didn’t make the effort, none of this would work. It had to work, there was no way I was giving any of them up, and I knew they wouldn’t walk away from me either. Somehow there needed to be a middle ground. I just didn’t know what that was.

“Start at the beginning, like we did,” I suggested. “Learn everyone’s boundaries and limitations, hard no’s and negotiables. Hell, you and I need to go over those again anyway. Neither of us are the same as we were when our current guidelines were set up.”

Wes frowned at me. “Why do you make it sound like some contract?”

“Because between him and I, it was,” I answered. “Wes, the games we used to play were not your average slap and tickle. Not all couples need a real contract, but I wanted to make sure he knew the limitations. We negotiated consent for knife play, minimal blood play, and a few other situations.”

“Oh, don’t be shy, beautiful. You forgot our game, hunt and fuck,” Cam added. “Sometimes it would be in a park, at school, or even at a party. She would hide, and I would find her, then we’d fuck like animals.”

While I’d expected Wes not to be a fan of what I’d just described, I hadn’t been expecting to see a glint of curiosity. “Can we make our own contract?”

My brows shot up. “I mean, it’s something we can talk about for sure, but I didn’t think you were into those kinds of kinks.”

“I don’t want to do those,” Wes said with exasperation. “No, my idea of a good time would involve ropes, toys, and a blindfold.”