Wild Girl (Slateview High 2)

“Alright.”

Muse chuckled and looked to Bishop.

“So. You want names. There’s only one, really. Luke Carmine.”

I blinked.

Luke Carmine…

My mind scrambled for a few seconds to process that information, to connect the dots and make sense of what he’d said.

“That’s… that’s the guy Eli works for,” I said, turning to glance at the boys. That name was the reason Eli Parks strutted around Slateview as if he owned the place, the reason I’d had to hold Kace back from beating the shit out of him the day he’d gotten in my face after school.

“Yeah.” Misael nodded, his brows drawing together.

“Nathaniel doesn’t exactly play nice with him,” Bishop added, narrowing his eyes as he leaned forward, resting his elbows on his knees. Muse nodded, seemingly unperturbed by this information.

“Yup.” He chuckled, sitting back and spreading his legs. “All trails lead back to Luke. Rumor mills churn and churn, and regardless of whatever fallout there is, a couple of things are consistent. Luke wanted to take down the Van Rensselaers—” He cut his gaze to me. “Sorry, sweetheart.”

I shook my head, more interested in him continuing to speak than in him sparing my feelings.

He shrugged. “So Luke followed leads that were true and used those to plant falsehoods on the off chance that someone started digging a little too hard. He gave the Feds everything they needed to make their case.”

My brow rose. “Leads that were true? What leads?”

Muse scratched his chin. “Unethical business practices. Using loopholes to get around standard practices. Honestly, typical shit for the upper echelon. It was a good in for Luke though, and he used it to pull the right strings with the wr

ong people. Wham, bam, locked up ma’am.”

I frowned. The fact that there was enough truth to make it seem convincing to whoever Luke had pulled strings with was concerning. The fact that it had nothing to do with Nathaniel was a mix of concerning and relieving. Concerning, because it put us at a distance from the person who was actually responsible for my father’s imprisonment. Relieving, because it negated the possibility that the boys would have to go against someone they worked for, someone who held their lives in his hands.

One problem down, another comes up to take its place, I guess.

Scooting forward a little, I met Muse’s gaze. “Is there anything else that you have? Anything else you know?”

“You ask that like I didn’t just give you a shitload of valuable info to go off of,” he said, tilting his head. “A name means you know who’s responsible. A method means you understand the angle they were going for. Motive…” He huffed. “Well. What other motive could there possibly be other than puttin’ a rich fuck in his place?”

I tensed a bit at the way he worded it but tried to keep any hint of anger off my face. “I see.”

Muse leaned forward, elbows on his knees.

“Here’s the thing,” he said. “I know Luke is responsible. I also know it was likely because your pops did something to piss him off. Luke isn’t so thorough unless it’s personal. Which means one of your old man’s operations, or ventures, or deals, probably fucked with something of Luke’s. Honey, that’s a lot of information to go off. You find the one that matches, you find what you need to fix the fuck up.” He looked to Bishop. “Not that I’m encouraging you to go poking around Luke’s stink. That’s a lot of shit to wade through, even for you guys.”

“We’ll figure something out,” Bishop responded. “We always do.”

Muse chuckled at that. “Well, that’s a damn fact, ain’t it? You always know how to get yourselves out of trouble.” His gaze flicked to me, and a grin tilted his lips. It wasn’t leering or lascivious like Flint’s had been, but I couldn’t exactly tell if it was friendly either. “Or into trouble.”

All three of the boys tensed slightly, but Muse either didn’t notice their reaction or ignored it. He kicked his legs out in front of him again, crossing them at the ankle and interlacing his fingers behind his head.

“Now that we got all that sorted out, go. Shoo.” He jerked his chin toward the door, grinning. “I’ll be in touch with you, sweetheart. I’m sure these three will know how to reach you, yeah?”

I nodded as we all stood, and his grin widened.

“Good. I look forward to our next chat. Now get the fuck outta here. Drinks are on me downstairs if you want ’em.”

“Even though we’re underage?” I asked, my brows furrowing.

I was sure the drinks he’d given us earlier had been alcoholic, but I hadn’t thought too much of it in this private room at the back of the club. I was surprised an actual bartender would serve us though.