Page 31 of Trick's Elite

He was about to return to the cabin when his phone rang in his hand. It was Brute. He pressed answer and put the phone to his ear. “Text not enough?”

“To tell how my brother is doing? Hell no. How are things?”

Trick ran his hand over his bald head. “Today? Cold.”

“Are there hot days?”

“There are scorching days.”

Brute grunted. “Well… that’s a start. You trust her? Axle mentioned you were working on things.”

“Yeah, I do. The problem is her trust in me fluctuates.”

“What in the hell does she have to question you about? You didn’t bring literal fucking hunters to her doorstep. You didn’t stalk her family with the intent of gathering information to eradicate them. You didn’t help someone kidnap and torture any of her family members.”

“Okay,” Trick said, loudly, to cut into Brute’s rant. His brother could and would go on for days if someone didn’t put an end to it. “First, I was literally sent here to stalk the members of the academy and have the full intent to stop them. Second, if that involves kidnapping and torture, so be it. Lastly, I lied to her, Brute. I gained her trust and broke it by pretending to be something and someone I wasn’t. She has just as much reason to question me and not trust me as you have to not trust her.”

He heard his brother grumbling on the other end of the line, but eventually, Brute let out a deep sigh and said, “Fine. I’ll try to keep that in mind.”

“She’s my mate. There’s no question about that. If you want me to come back…”

“Fuck,” Brute bit off. “Fine. I’ll work on it.”

As much as he loved his family, there was no way he could walk away from his mate. Even though they hadn’t completed the bond, the need for her and the fierce protectiveness he felt for her were there and solid. She was his focus. And if it came down to choosing between living in Warden’s Pass or his mate, he would pick Stiletto. He couldn’t contemplate what he would have to do if she were still a threat to his family, though. That was something he couldn’t handle.

“Appreciate it. Love you, Brother.”

“Love you, too.”

Trick ended the call and turned around. Looking through the window at Stiletto, he watched as she turned the page in her book and kept reading. He didn’t know what exactly had sparked the coldness in her demeanor that day, but he knew he did something to cause it. He contemplated bringing it up, but Stiletto wasn’t exactly a timid woman. If she had something to say, she usually said it.

With a sigh, he took a few steps toward the front door. He’d give her a few days to either work through it or bring it up. If she didn’t by then, he’d reevaluate and figure out how to fix the problem.

Two weeks later, Trick received another call from Brute. It was regarding a club vote. They were deciding on whether to give Lucifer a full patch, but that required votes from all the members, and it had to be unanimous. Since he wasn’t able to be in the room, Brute was calling to get his proxy vote. The answer was yes from him.

Lucifer had spent several months earning their trust and proving his dedication to the club. He had saved members of their family on more than one occasion. And he was the mate of the president of the Claws. Adding the man to the club would be an asset as far as Trick could see.

After passing along his vote, Trick and Brute said their goodbyes, and Trick returned to the cabin. Stiletto had been at the stove cooking dinner. He pocketed his phone and headed for the bathroom. As he passed her, he pressed a kiss to her temple.

“Who was that?”

“Club shit,” he replied and entered the bathroom, closing the door behind him. He’d had to piss the entire time he was on the phone. He didn’t realize how chatty his brother could be until his bladder felt like it was going to burst.

Stella

Hours later, Stella climbed out of the shower and dried off. As she pulled on her panties and tank top, she thought about the call Trick had taken earlier in the day. For weeks, he had been getting calls that he would take on the front porch, out of her earshot. Every time she asked him about them, he would just say it was family shit or club shit. Her gut was still screaming at her that if they were truly in a relationship, all of that would be her business, too.

With a sigh, she opened the bathroom door and crossed the space to where the bed was located. She stopped at the foot of it and watched him. Trick was lying on his side with one arm bent under his pillow, and his other hand resting in the spot that was usually where she slept. He looked so damn handsome, and her heart thumped hard with the love she felt for him. If only everything he’d said and done for her had been genuine, she’d be the happiest woman on the face of the Earth. But it hadn’t been.

Their relationship had started on betrayal, and it was looking like it would end that way as well. Her eyes shifted to the pair of leggings she had worn that day. They were balled up on top of the basket of dirty clothes they needed to wash. She contemplated pulling them on, gathering the few belongings she had left, grabbing the keys from the dresser, and taking off in the van. Her instincts were telling her to do it, but her heart brought her gaze right back to the man sleeping only a couple of yards away.

As her eyes filled with tears, she rounded the bed and slid in, facing away from him. She had just gotten settled on the pillow when his arm wrapped around her waist and pulled her back until she was flush against him. Her tears spilled out of her eyes and soaked into the pillow.

“Good night, Stiletto,” he mumbled softly and kissed the top of her head.

She didn’t reply with words. Stella just laid her hand over his at her waist and closed her eyes. Call her an idiot, but she just couldn’t walk away from him… not yet. However, that didn’t mean she didn’t have her defenses up. She was back in survival mode. No matter what happened with Trick, she always had been and always would be a survivor.

Chapter Seventeen

---