Prince had gone full conspiracy theorist.
All he was missing was the red twine to connect the dots. But he did have a whiteboard.
“The Southern Cross Boyz?” Freddie scoffed. “Those little brats still deal in dime bags of shitty pot to high school kids.”
Prince scribbled them out almost immediately after writing their name on the list of suspects.
“What about the EA?” I asked, chewing on the end of my pen.
The EA, or the East Allies, were only a whisper at this point in time. There was some chatter, a few mentions of them, but no one really knew who they were or what they did.
All we knew was that they had some big money to throw around.
Prince nodded, thinking.
“They fit the rich boy profile,” Charmer shrugged.
“The only issue is, no one knows who the fuck they are. They never personally deal with anyone,” Freddie sighed, swinging in his chair.
Prince scribbled EA on the whiteboard, making the letters the largest out of the bunch.
“Luckily for us,” he said slowly, tracing a large circle around and around the letters, “we have a man on board who loves rich girls.”
I stiffened.
Charmer and Freddie turned to look at me, and Prince watched me with a knowing smirk.
“You want me to ask Zarina if she knows anyone in The EA?”
Prince slid the cap back onto the marker, throwing it across the table and heading for the door. “You’re smarter than you look,” he called over his shoulder, pushing the doors open and heading out of the room.
I was left sitting there a little dumbfounded.
First, he takes Zarina’s advice, and now he trusts her enough to find a fucking lead? Since when did he start taking the Santinos at their word?
“Stop pouting,” Freddie clapped me on the shoulder on his way out. “That’s basically permission to go and stalk her again, you sick fuck.”
I shrugged. “It’s fun.”
Charmer was swinging in his chair, deep in thought. “Maybe I should try stalking.”
“No!” Freddie, Bull and I snapped in unison.
He scowled at us, obviously offended.
“It’s only fun if shelikesyou,” I said.
“Girls like me.”
Freddie rolled his eyes so hard that we could almost hear it.
“No,” I shook my head. “They think you’re pretty, so they fuck you. The issues begin once they hear you speak.”
Charmer spun around and punched me in the shoulder.
“Careful, gorgeous,” I mussed up his hair, only narrowly dodging his second swing.
Then I tore out of the room, down the hall and into the gathering area with Charmer hot on my heels. He reached for me, over and over, but he was only a half a second too slow.