The Viper (Untamed Hearts #1)(42)

He should have called Chuito, because his cousin was much better at this kind of bullshit. Marcos couldn’t play the game. He wasn’t able to move the chess pieces on the board like Chuito. All Marcos was inclined to do was shoot first and ask questions later.

“What’s the deal, Angel?” Marcos asked when he accepted Angel was really doing this. “Why are you f*cking with me?”

“I thought we had a deal. I have work here for you.”

Marcos took a deep breath, forcing down the fury rolling under the surface. “I had things to do here first. I was just wrapping them up.”

“The gringa? Katie whatever.”

The hairs on the back of his neck stood on end, because he heard another veiled threat, and he couldn’t hold back his fury this time. “You don’t get to say her name either.”

Angel laughed, sounding more than a little amused at Marcos’s expense. “Mia told me about her. She said that’s where you went. She’s not too happy with you.”

“I don’t give a shit what your cousin thinks about it.”

“Always after the *, right, Marc?” Angel laughed again. “You never change. Whatever. Fuck the gringa if you have to. Be back next week.”

“Stay away from my aunt. I swear to God, Angel, if you talk to her again—”

“We’re brothers,” Angel reminded him, his voice suddenly harsh. “Best not to forget that. I’m being nice because we go way back, and I know how you are. You’re the only one I’d be this understanding with.”

“I don’t come back next week, then what?”

“You should come back,” Angel said rather than answer the real question. “Your brothers miss you.”

“I’m an OG. I’ve bled for Los Corredores more than anyone,” Marcos reminded him. “I did my time. I don’t have to work for you anymore. I’ve done it by choice since I got out.”

“Come back,” Angel repeated rather than argue. “No worries. I’ll make sure you’re taken care of. I’m fair, Marc. It’ll be good business for both of us. What? You think you can make it somewhere else? You bring the heat down on any place you try to work. Stop fighting it. It’s either that, or go crawling to Chuito instead. We both know that’s not your style.”

Marcos was breathing heavily. He wished he was in the same room with Angel so he could slam his fist into his face and tell him what he really thought about the situation. This wasn’t about needing money any more. Angel thought he owned Marcos. That wasn’t going to work at all.

No one owned him.

He managed to make it through a lot of years in Los Corredores without being controlled. He would strip cars if he needed the cash. Hell, he would even take the fall rather than sell them out, but everyone knew Marcos didn’t follow the rules like the others. Try to control him, and Marcos was going to fight back with everything in him.

Rules had never been his friend.

And Angel knew that.

“I’ll be back next week.” Marcos’s voice was ice-cold even to his own ears.

“Good.” Angel sounded pleased, as if he didn’t hear the threat. Maybe the power really had blinded him. It was Marcos and Chuito and their thirst for vengeance that earned Los Corredores the rep Angel had been riding off of all this time, but he must have forgotten as he said, “I’m glad we’re finally on the same page. Say hi to your chica for me.”

He hung up before Marcos could respond.

“?Co?o!” Marcos screamed at his phone, and then walked over and kicked a boulder in Katie’s neighbor’s yard. The pain radiated up his foot, and he shouted, “?Hijo de la gran puta!?Chúpame el bicho!”

He threw his phone into the grass and then really let loose with a stream of colorful words. The only comfort was Katie’s neighbors wouldn’t understand him, but then he saw a front light come on. He went to search for his phone and found it resting in the wet grass.

Angry or not, now he had to call his cousin.

He stared at his phone, seeing that he’d cracked the screen. It just pissed him off more, and he pocketed it, deciding he needed a little more time to cool off before he talked to Chuito.

He limped back to Katie’s, still fuming.

This was probably karma for giving Chuito shit about the extra ink.

If he were in Miami right now, he’d be adding ink to his own arm.

He was going to kill Angel.

With his bare hands.

Who did he think he was?

Chuito let him take over.

Marcos hadn’t realized until right then how much he’d enjoyed elite status in Los Corredores, but what the f*ck? He’d lost his soul earning Los Corredores’s hard rep. He deserved a little elite status for that shit.

He stopped when he rounded the corner to Katie’s, seeing a shadow by her front door. Then it opened, shining light into the darkness as a man walked right into her house like he owned the place.

This was what he got for being in Garnet and letting his guard down at every turn. His gun was still in his truck.

He ran so fast the guy was barely into the living room before Marcos got to him. Marcos grabbed the intruder from behind. He fisted his hair in one hand and pushed him down. Not knowing if he had a gun or not, Marcos slammed his face into the coffee table with enough force to hear bones crunching.