Page 25 of Wicked Tricks

For a while we drove in silence, the traffic was pretty thin, and it wasn’t long before we were out of the city. I was surprised that she didn’t even seem nervous. There was no one around for miles. I could be taking her anywhere, and I had her completely alone.

Still, she seemed unfazed by it all.

“I know a place near here,” she said, pointing to the exit in front of us.

I nodded and turned off onto the winding road, she directed me to turn once more and the road thinned to one narrow lane, and wound around tightly into the trees. It was pitch black until we reached the top, and could see the lights of the city in the distance. I looked at her and she had a small smile on her face as she leant forward in her seat to get a better view.

I parked as close as I could to the boundary and left the car running with the radio playing down low. There was a wooden fence that had been painted green and graffitied with yellow and pink. A small covered table was hidden under the overgrown trees.

Rome got out of the car and walked to the fence, leaning against it. I followed her, and looked down at the road and city below us. I saw the depth of the drop and stood back a few inches.

She smiled, looking over her shoulder at me with a smirk, “scared of heights?” she asked.

“No,” I shook my head, “just don’t want to fall.”

“I think that means you’re scared of heights,” she mumbled sarcastically, turning back to the view. I chuckled, but didn’t move forward, trying to inch back further without her noticing.

“We can go sit in the car if you want,” she said.

I shrugged casually and she laughed, seeing through me.

Instead, she walked back to the car, leaning back on the bonnet and crossing her arms. I joined her, shoving my hands in my pockets.

There was a heavy silence in the air, and my leg began to bounce again. I had to consciously stop it. I watched her from the corner of my eye, she was biting her bottom lip and looked almost as uncomfortable as I felt.

This was why I never acted without a plan.

“So,” I cleared my throat, “what’s it like working for the dragon lady?”

She chuckled, her shoulders dropping, “I love it,” she shrugged.

“How long have you worked for her?”

“Uh,” she looked away, “since I was sixteen or seventeen, I guess.”

I raised an eyebrow at her.

“Not dancing,” she corrected, “I started out cleaning, and running errands for Diana.”

I nodded.

“What’s it like being in charge of all the evil assholes in this city?” she asked, catching me off guard once again.

I shrugged, “it’s still pretty new to me, to be honest.”

I had to be careful about the information that I let slip to this woman. I knew that it would only take a bat of her eyelashes for her to loosen my lips, and I didn’t like the fact that she already had that kind of control over me.

“I’m sure you’ll figure it out,” she smiled sweetly, and I chuckled.

Obviously, kind and sweet was not her strong suit - but it was adorable to watch her try.

The song that was playing transitioned into a new melody that I recognised immediately, both our heads whipped around in unison as it caught our attention. We looked at each other for a beat, before she became uncomfortable in the silence between us.

“Can we turn it up? I love this song,” she said.

“Me too,” I smiled, and ducked into the car to turn up the volume.

We sat on the hood of my car in silence, listening to the song in its entirety.

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