Page 59 of Thick

My knees wobbled.

It was his signature greeting. When the men saved Chico from the Hispanic gang, he said it as he lifted Chico to his feet. Those three words, alone, brought me to tears.

“C’mon,” Tate said. “They won’t bite.”

“Fellas, I want you to meet someone,” he said. “This is Bobbi. Bobbi, this is Pee Bee.”

I shook the hand of the man I knew as Bones. “Pleasure to meet you.”

“Same here.” He waved his massive arm toward my car. “Like the car.”

“Thank you.”

“The ugly fucker’s Crip,” Tate said.

Crip shook my hand. “Thanks for getting him home in one piece. That car’s pretty slick.”

“It was the least I could do, and thank you.”

As he pulled his arm away, I looked at his right bicep. If the books were real in their depictions of the men, he’d have a SEAL Trident.

My heart skipped a beat as he turned to the side, revealing the eagle, anchor, and pitchfork tattoo.

“This is Cholo,” Tate said, waving his hand toward the book character I knew as Chico, the former Golden Gloves boxer.

I shook his hand. “I’m honored.”

He smiled and tugged against the bill of his cap. “Appreciate you giving him a ride.”

“No problem.”

“And, these two fools are Smokey and P-Nut,” he said.

P-Nut blew a huge cloud of smoke to the side and stepped toward me. After shaking my hand and giving a nervous nod, he shuffled toward the building and began pacing back and forth.

Smokey shifted his vape from his right hand to his left, and then extended his hand. I couldn’t help but notice the green dragon tattoo that covered his right arm, just like in the book. I wondered if he really had a snake tattooed on his stomach. I doubted it. After all, they were his worst fear.

“Nice to meet you,” I said.

He grinned. “Likewise.”

Crip crossed his arms over his chest and looked at Tate. “Heard a rumor that there was an unfortunate incident while you were in there. Any truth to it?”

Tate nodded. “One of Satan’s Savages men was killed. Other than that, it was smooth sailing.”

I froze in my tracks.

Satan’s Savages?

In the books, the Dirty Diablos were undoubtedly a portrayal of the Filthy Fuckers. The Dirty Diablos rival club was called the Savage Sinners MC. My guess was that the Savage Sinners MC was really Satan’s Savages.

If the Dirty Diablos were an accurate depiction of the Filthy Fuckers, and it sure seemed they were, I doubted it was ironic that one of the Filthy Fuckers came to prison for a day, and a member of their rival gang was killed while he was there.

My guess was that the Filthy Fuckers were every bit the vigilante group that the Dirty Diablos were. In book one, Crip’s Ol’ Lady, Taylor, was beaten by the Savages in retaliation for Crip beating two of their members in a bar fight.

Bones hunted each of them down and cut off their hands.

Their acts of retribution throughout the series didn’t make light of violence or condone it, it simply used violent acts to administer the justice where it was due.