Page 226 of Back in the Saddle

His expressive eyebrows shot up, and he boomed, “The Angels!”

We all looked at each other, wondering if he guessed by the names or if our reputation had swung out that far.

“Fuck me, to what do I owe this honor?” he asked.

Whoa.

Our reputation had swung that far.

“Clown and his crew took one of Nat’s boys, Titus,” Jinx answered for us.

I shuffled back a step at the murderous expression that stole over his face.

Though, if his real name was Titus, he just got a whole lot better, because that was a kickass name, and he was already amazing.

“That little motherfucker,” Titus growled. “Who’d he take, baby?” he asked me.

“My friend at the homeless camp. His name is Homer,” I told him.

I was wrong.

The expression he had on his face before was sheer benevolence.

Now, he had a face full of murder.

“Those fuckers,” he groused. “Pieces of shit, every one of ’em. Less than shit. Whatever the fuck that is.”

“We need to find him, sir,” I said.

Another swift mood change when he smiled. “Sir. That’s sweet. But all my girls call me Titus. I make the pissants call me sir.”

I nodded.

“You done good findin’ those women and settin’ that new crew of badasses on those dickweeds who snatched ’em,” Titus declared (yep, our reputation had gone a lot farther than expected). “But you gotta give these boys a wide berth. They’re no good. Until the other crews form an alliance to wipe them out, or a cartel gets wind of their shit, they just gotta do what they do.”

“Homer doesn’t touch anything without having a plastic bag over his hand,” I shared. “I don’t think he can wait while they do what they gotta do.”

Titus stroked his chin in thought.

“We’re not going in to get him,” Raye piped up. “We’re sending the new crew of badasses after Homer.”

“That makes me feel better, baby,” Titus replied. “And I asked around about that band of boys. Word is, they got their shit tight.”

We all nodded to confirm the Hottie Squad had their shit tight.

“Even so, they got no idea what they’re walking into with that den of snakes,” Titus finished.

My heart took a hit with that, and I looked at Raye. I could tell the minute I saw her face her heart sustained the same.

“Javi shoulda known better,” Titus muttered. “That shocked the shit out of me when I heard what went down.”

“He didn’t call the order,” I told him. “Joaquim had a beef.”

One of his brows drew down, the other went way up. “You know Javi?”

“Her brother is a Soldier,” Jinx offered up intel I would rather not have shared.

That blew him away. “You’re Easy’s sister?”

---