Page 28 of Wicked Tricks

Rome

Iwalked into the lobby of the apartment complex, and hovered by the door as I watched Antoni’s black car drive away and disappear down the road. The receptionist shot me a funny look, and I gave her a smile before I retreated back outside into the cool air.

Peering down the street, I made sure he was actually gone before I made my way a few doors down, to the building that I actually lived in.

We never brought these men into our home.

Before the apartment we lived in now, we had to move a few times when clients or targets found out where we lived. Some of them followed us home from Lilith’s, taking our smiles and politeness as invitations into our bed. Now, we were much more vigilant. Antoni, especially, would be a dangerous person to freely give my address.

Pretending to like these types of men was something that I had in my professional tool-belt, though it wasn’t my strong suit. Mina was great at it, Bea could be if she really tried.

I was too stubborn, too headstrong for the games that we needed to play.

This guy though, Antoni, I could not figure out.

It had never taken me this long before to get what I needed out of a man. I should have known that he would be more careful and tactile than the others, being who he was, but I knew I had to figure out his weak spot - as soon as possible.

I was hoping my tactics would get it over and done with in one night, but I was obviously going to have to play the long game with this one. We had spent the past few nights together, and had done little but talked about nothing and drank.

He never tried a thing, never made a move, except for the one in the car.

I mindlessly touched my neck, where his hands had been, and remembered the feeling he caused between my legs when he huskily whispered his threats against my lips.

I let myself into the apartment and no one seemed to be home. I dumped my bag by the door and shook out of my coat before I headed to the bathroom to get into comfortable clothes.

Looking at myself in the mirror, I shook my head.

It had been a long time since I had worn my dance outfits.

Stripping was never my true talent. I had little coordination or rhythm and even less patience, and ended up fighting with most of the clients. Though the job got me by when I was first starting out. It didn’t take long for Diana to realise my talents would be better used somewhere else.

That’s when we started our other operations.

Stealing, selling, murder for hire - we had dabbled in it all.

Still, we were nowhere near as bad as The Family, and what they did or who they hurt.

I pulled an oversized hoodie on, threw my hair up in a messy bun atop my head and dragged my feet down the hall to Bea’s room. Leaning my forehead against her door, I knocked softly. My body felt completely drained of energy, both physically and mentally.

“Yeah?” she called from the other side.

I opened the door, and groaned loudly as I flopped myself onto her bed. Bea was sitting on the floor in front of her mirror and plucking her eyebrows.

“I don’t know what you’re complaining about, that boy is fine.”

“You’re not wrong,” I mumbled.

“Did you get anything?”

“Not yet, but I will.”

“When are you seeing him again?” she asked, crossing her legs and stealing a glance my way.

“I don’t know, hopefully soon - I just want to get it over and done with.”

She scoffed, “sure, that’s the only reason.”

I rolled my eyes.

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