Page 51 of Miguel
Loco slapped his palms down against the table. “Alright, sons of bitches, we need to talk about the shit going down.” Everyone quieted down at the seriousness in his tone. “I got more product in. Needless to say our income took a fucking hit because of our stolen product. Good news is, we have the replacements to send to the Ravens and we’re on track for this weekend. Bad news is, we still don’t know who the fuck stole our shit the first time.” He turned his attention towards Chema. “Any update on that?”
Chema sighed and pushed his glasses up the bridge of his nose. Fucker had the nerd look down. Glasses, cut, dark, straight hair? The club putas ate that shit up for some reason.
“I know you don’t want us jumping to conclusions, Migue, but it’s looking like it was the Americans. Haven’t been able to hack the street cameras near where we had the product stashed, but I’ve been digging into them more and it looks like they’re here in Tlaxcala.”
Loco let out a curse. “Any status on Ink?”
“Him and Xiomara are on their way back. Should be here this weekend.”
“That fucker is going to want a front row seat to those bastards’ demise.” Loco’s fingers tapped against the surface of the table. “And his Viejita might want to get in a few hits as well.”
There were snickers all around at that proclamation.
We’d taken a hit from the gringos, but Xiomara had suffered the most at their hands. It was only last year that they’d gone into Ink’s tattoo shop and tried to terrorize his woman. She’d come out swinging and had survived the ordeal, but I was sure they wanted revenge. To eradicate the whole organization until they were nothing but ashes scattered through the streets. A message to all those who dared to fuck with us.
“Let’s go on this run,” Loco went on. “And when we get back, we’ll rip their balls from their body and feed it to their wives.”
There were cheers of agreement all around the table, and I couldn’t help but join in. The gringos had caused us too many fucking problems and it was time to take them down.
They wanted to pass through our territory and steal our work, take over our business. They thought they could start small, take us out and other gangs in the area and work their way up to the cartels.
We didn’t fuck with the cartels, and they didn’t fuck with us, but like anywhere, there was a hierarchy. The Americans were measuring our strength. They thought that because we were a smaller organization, they could take us out without repercussions. That we would bend over and take it.
What they didn’t know was that we would drag them down to hell, kicking and fucking screaming.
Fuck with the devil, you were gonna get burned.
And Los Diablos were cackling in the fire.
“One more thing.” Once everyone settled back down, I spoke. “I’m gonna need someone tailing Lorena, Desi, and Camila at all times.” I held my breath, waiting to see if any of my brothers would protest. None did. “We have to treat it as though they’ve been compromised, and we can’t be sure who trashed their place. I want eyes on them constantly just in case.”
“We’ll rotate shifts and get some of the prospects to help,” Loco said.
I nodded. “I also need some prospects to go clean up their place and replace the shit that was broken. It’ll come out of my pocket.”
“And mine,” Mayan chimed in from across the table.
Loco let out a soft snort. “Losing my brothers to pussy. How could this happen?”
I shot Loco the finger.
He just laughed.
“Now, if there’s nothing else you guys need to get off your chest, we can call this meeting done.”
With that, we adjourned, walking out in a group into the gaming area of the clubhouse.
My feet stuttered as I caught sight of Lorena and Desi with Zeke.
Usually when we were in meetings, the prospects and club putas watched him while we dealt with business. I hadn’t asked Lorena to watch him. In fact, I’d expected the girls and prospects to do it. But seeing her and Desi with him gave me pause.
I cocked my head to the side, watching as the women gestured, pointing first at the TV and then making a sign for the word with their hands. Two fingers pointed outwards and closing back into their fist. They repeated the motion until Zeke mimicked it, then they gave a cheer.
“That was very good, Zeke,” Lorena praised, her hands signing along with those words.
They were teaching him to sign.
My breath caught and I strode forward, determination pushing through every step until I reached Lorena. She startled at my arrival. She gasped as my hand shot out and gripped her hair by the nape, holding tightly. Her body moved as I commanded her to stand wordlessly. Her body plastered against mine, and I held her firm against me.
