Page 227 of Back in the Saddle

Easy?

“She sure is,” Jinx confirmed.

Wait.

Jeff’s street name was Easy?

Wait again.

My baby brother had a street name?

And it was Easy?

“Man’s solid. Why’s he not here helping?” Titus asked.

Some of this wouldn’t have been something I shared. But we were all in now.

“They needed to lay low because these guys went after them because of what Joaquim did,” I answered.

He nodded. “Joaq, he was a fighter. He was also a hothead.” Titus tapped his bald skull with fingers that were clenching his cigar. “He didn’t think before he acted. Damn waste. Jamal…?” He shook his head. “Gotta give a brother props for loyalty, but…shit.”

“Javi and Jeff are pretty busted up about it,” I told him.

“Thicker than blood,” Titus replied. “Doin’ the good work. Or they were.”

I pressed my lips together.

Titus turned to Jinx. “Been wantin’ to meet this new crew.”

Jinx looked at us in expectation.

“You mean, you want to meet the Nightingale men?” Luna asked.

“Can you arrange that?” Titus asked back.

“Will you tell us what you know about Clown and his people?” I parried.

“Darlin’, I’ll tell those boys anything they wanna know, they got the balls to clean up that shitshow.”

Oh, they had the balls. I just wanted to keep those balls—all of them, but it must be said one set in particular—healthy and functioning. And for that to happen, they needed to know what they were up against.

“One second,” I said quickly, and stepped outside the garage, pulling out my phone.

Raye came with me and huddled close as I made the call to Eric.

I put it on speaker.

He answered on one ring.

“How you hanging in there, sweetheart?” he asked as greeting.

“Hey, you’re on speaker. And, well…okay, I’m here with the girls at the garage of a guy named Titus. I think his street name is?—”

“Wait. Stop. You’re at Titus’s garage?” he asked.

I caught Raye’s gaze. “You know Titus?”

“Everyone knowsofTitus. But I haven’t had the pleasure.”

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