Fire Inside:A Chaos Novel(121)

Things got more heated after that, and one of Benito’s men jumped the gun.

Literally.

“Tack—” Benito started.

“Your man fuckin’ fired,” Hop clipped.

“Warning shot, he was closing in,” Benito returned, jerking his head Shy’s way. “It was a ricochet. He meant no harm.”

“I don’t give a fuck. My brother is bleeding and your man fired,” Tack snarled. “And for once in your life, seein’ as we got this many armed men in a faceoff, pay attention. He was approaching me.”

“I will remind you, you were not invited to this party,” Benito bit back.

“And I’ll repeat what I’ve said five fuckin’ times. Chaos will cover her debt. She’s family. We agreed a long fuckin’ time ago, man, family is off-limits,” Tack returned.

“Not when they owe me a great deal of money,” Benito shot back.

“Jesus, are you listening? Chaos is covering her debt,” Tack replied.

“I prefer my method of payment,” Benito retorted.

“That is not gonna happen. Con one of your other junkies into eatin’ pussy for payback. This girl belongs to Chaos,” Tack bit out.

Benito leaned toward Tack, his face twisting in anger. “She is not family. She is not blood or old lady. You lay claim to pussy on a whim, you can claim any-fuckin’-body. You do that, no rules and anything goes.”

The entire room, already tense, went electric. They all knew what that meant.

If it came to war, Benito would play dirty, and it would not just be the brothers in the trenches.

Hop came out of his crouch, strode directly to Benito. He was concentrating on Tack so he reacted to the advancing threat too late.

Hop had disarmed him and had his hand curled around Benito’s throat, shoving him back with speed and force so when he hit the hospital bed, he went down on it on his back. Hop kept squeezing as he put his gun to Benito’s temple and listened vaguely to the scuffling maneuvers of the men around him who became antsy after a direct attack on Benito.

“Those rules never change,” Hop declared. “Your beef is with Chaos, motherfucker. Any member of our family even fuckin’ shivers ’cause they feel you close, you’re eating my bullet.”

Benito held his eyes but called out, “Tack, call off your dog.”

“Say you get me,” Hop growled.

“You’re making a mistake,” Benito hissed.

“Say. You. Get. Me,” Hop ground out.

He felt a presence and knew it was Tack before Tack spoke.

“I suggest you say you get him, man, ’cause you pull family into this shit you’re stirrin’, swear to fuckin’ God, you won’t eat Hop’s bullet ’cause that would be too quick. I’ll skin you alive, Benito. Do not mistake me. You harm any member of my family, and by that I mean all of Chaos, inch by inch you’ll bleed and scream.”

Benito’s eyes were aimed over Hop’s shoulder at Tack. He made a noise low in his throat before he looked at Hop and snapped, “I get you.”

Hop instantly let him go and took two steps away.

Benito scrambled off the bed and faced Hop. “You just declared war.”

“Motherfucker. Seriously?” Hop asked. “My brother’s bleedin’. No paper signed but you spill Chaos blood, you do not come out of that shit unscathed. We had war five minutes ago.”

“Five square miles,” Tack cut in and Benito looked to him. “I do not get it. You can have all of Denver—it sucks, but you can have it—no Chaos beef. All you gotta stay clear of is five fuckin’ miles. What is it with you?”

“You can’t claim what isn’t yours,” Benito returned.

“Your crew has been workin’ Denver for seven years, motherfucker. Chaos claimed that territory fuckin’ decades ago. How is it not ours?”

“Nothing is yours, you can’t protect it,” Benito retorted and Tack shook his head.

“Man, trust me, Chaos lore is watered down. I get, you keepin’ this shit up, you think we’re no threat but, hear me, you do not wanna go to war with us,” Tack advised.

“Soft,” Benito whispered, his eyes lighting in a freaky way Hop did not like. “Everyone knows, you got out of the trade, you all went soft.”

“I see you don’t get this, seein’ as you probably only get off jackin’ off on a mountain of twenty-dollar bills, but a man protecting his home never goes soft.”

“We’ll see,” Benito replied.

“No, we’ll see,” Tack fired back. “You and your boys do this, you’ll be under dirt so you won’t see shit.”