Chapter Seven
Titus walked over to Ricco and shook his head as he carefully removed the gun in his relaxed hand from the sleeping man.
Ricco twitched slightly but he didn’t wake up, not yet.
Titus raised his head and looked around the makeshift camp.
Several of the men were paint splattered and some of them looked injured but they just looked sad to his eyes.
His men had already disarmed them all. These men were part of Ricco’s army?
Shaking his head, he had to wonder why they thought they were so scary.
He looked down at Ricco’s sleeping face again and not so gently he grabbed him by the throat.
“Wakey, wakey Ricco. The sun is up and your ass is in a world of trouble.”
Ricco opened his eyes and asked, “Who the fuck are you? Do you know who the hell I am?” Ricco clenched his hand and his frown deepened when he realized his gun wasn’t there.
He looked around at his men and found they were surrounded by men they didn’t know.
“Qué diablos está pasando aquí?” What the hell is going on here?
he shouted. Then he tried to sit up but Titus still had his hand pressed to his throat and now he began to squeeze.
Ricco’s hands flew up to try and pry his fingers away but found Titus wasn’t moving. The man was large and strong. Ricco began to panic. “What is this?” Ricco asked, trying to breathe.
“This is us taking you and your men hostage.” Titus leaned closer. He stared into Ricco’s eyes and smiled at the panic he found there. “You started this by bringing Todd here to claim something he had no right to claim. You and Todd’s sons left laughing, but you aren’t laughing now, are you?”
With a cough Ricco asked, “Why would you care about the likes of a man— like Todd Lawler?”
Titus snorted. “I don’t give a rip about fucking Todd Lawler.
But you attacking us, doesn’t sit right with me.
In fact it doesn’t sit right with any of us.
You made the mistake of coming back here and starting a war you couldn’t finish.
” Titus smiled at him now. “A war you just lost spectacularly, by the way. You may think you’re someone big but you ain’t shit here and now you’re our prisoners.
So get your worthless ass up. And get moving! ” Titus stood and glared down at him.
Ricco snarled and got slowly to his feet. “You can’t take us prisoner. No one takes Ricco Sanchas prisoner. I will kill you all. The rest of my army is on its way and we will wipe your sorry asses off this mountain,” he shouted at the group of men surrounding his camp.
Titus just crossed his massive arms over his chest and smiled. “Your army?” He reached for his phone and showed him the pictures of the men they’d stopped yesterday on the mountain road leading to the clubhouse. “You mean these sorry excuses for an army?”
Ricco stared at the mess on the mountain road. He raised his head and paled. “You stopped my men?”
Titus just raised his eyebrow. “Yeah, we stopped them.” Shrugging his shoulders he added, “Some of them didn’t make the turn right and went over the side but that’s their own fault. Not my fault that they don't know how to drive.”
Ricco growled deep in his throat. “You killed my men!” he shouted while moving closer to Titus. “No one but me kills my men.” Spittal flew from his mouth.
Titus snarled at him, “Back off, buddy. Just say it, don’t spray it.”
“To hell with you!” Ricco shouted then went to his belt to grab a small blade.
Titus went on alert and he took a defensive stand. “I said back off. This won’t go the way you think it will, asshole,” Titus growled as he watched him carefully. He knew he could defend himself against a blade but he didn’t want to kill the man, only disarm him. “Back the fuck off.”
Ricco sneered and pounced on Titus.
Titus moved out of the way and struck the other man, smashing his grip on the blade.
Ricco switched hands and glared at Titus. “How dare you?”
“I’m not just going to stand here and let you fucking stab me.” Titus glared at him. “Now drop the fucking knife and accept that you just got yourself caught.”
“I will never admit you defeated me!” Ricco screamed at him. “I will kill you myself!” He again tried to rush him and
Titus just stepped aside.
Ricco fell flat on his face then he suddenly turned and threw a handful of dirt into Titus’ face.
Titus stepped back but he made no move to wipe the dirt from his face. Instead, he stomped down on Ricco’s hand.
Ricco screamed while clutching his hand. The knife laid on the ground between them.
“Throw the blade away and get up,” Titus ordered harshly.
Ricco grabbed the blade and he hesitated a second too long.
Titus stomped down on his foot.
Ricco screamed as he threw the blade away.
“Now get your sorry ass up and lace your fingers behind your head or you’re gonna piss me right the hell off.”
Ricco did so.
His men were also surrounded as they slowly got to their feet and quietly laced their fingers behind their heads.