Page 171 of Back in the Saddle

Javi shook his head. “They can take care of their business. I got the street.”

“Instead of pissing in corners, maybe we can all work together and get this shit done before anyone else disappears,” I fired back.

“I don’t work with anyone but my crew,” Javi retorted.

“Well then, I guess we’ll just have to hope, while we try to figure out what you already know, and you move forward not knowing what we might find out, someone else doesn’t get…” I finished that by doing what Mary did and drawing my finger across my throat.

Javi’s head cocked again. “You’re kinda a pain in the ass, you know that?”

“Why do men always ask that when they know a woman is right?” I inquired.

Javi flashed his megawatt grin. “More proof you’re a pain in the ass.”

“Because I was again right?” I deduced.

He chuckled.

I heard Harlow sigh.

Yeah, his amusement sounded way nice.

“Tell us about Lil Clown,” I demanded.

Javi’s grin died. “He’s in a crew that isn’t gonna last long.”

“Why?” Raye asked from up front.

“Aggressive expansion,” Javi told her.

“Are we talking more product and more customers, or are we talking more territory?” Luna inquired.

“Both,” Javi said. “That’s the aggressive part.”

“So they’re not gonna last long because they’re pissing off other players,” I noted.

“That, and they’re assholes,” Javi stated. “And yeah, you can argue they’re all assholes, and they are. These guys are just bigger assholes.”

“Fantastic,” I muttered.

“What do you think they’re doing to the people they take?” Harlow asked.

Javi turned to her, and it might have been because there was so much of him to give off a vibe, or it might have been the strength of his emotion, but it felt the whole atmosphere in the car turned gentle when he did.

And…

Damn.

I needed to give more than a split second to this Javi/Harlow gig.

“No clue, lil’ mama,” he said softly. “But it isn’t good.”

“Yeah,” she said softly back.

They lapsed into sharing another moment.

This moment was broken when Raye turned us around and headed back to where we came.

Javi noticed and said, “You can drop me anywhere. I’ll make my way.”

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