I had tried to keep my emotions out of it, but it was hard to hide my pain, especially when Moves was staring at me with a look of utter shock.
“Fuck,” Moves said.
“Enough,” I said. “We need to decide what to do.”
“Ok, give me a sec,” he said, throwing his arms out. “I just can’t believe Claire was playing you. I mean, I thought she was for real.”
“Well, she wasn’t,” I snapped.
I couldn’t believe Moves wanted to focus on my joke of a relationship in all this. We needed to be thinking about Las Balas. We had to consider how best to defend our own reputation.
“Are you sure?” Moves asked. “I mean, she would have to be one hell of an actress.”
“Moves, I don’t wanna talk about Claire.” I could tell Moves didn’t want to leave it alone, but he ran a hand through his hair and let out a sigh.
“I told you that dealer was young,” Moves said. “Wish I could say I was surprised, but Las Balas are rotten through and through.”
“We need to tell Ryder and the others,” I said after nodding. “And then we need to figure out how to extract those kids with the least amount of collateral.”
“It’s gonna be hard,” Moves said. “I don’t want any confrontation, but it might come to that.”
Moves leaned back against the table and squinted his eyes. “It would be best to move fast. You call Ryder yet?”
“I called but he’s not picking up,” I said.
“Shit, he might be out of town,” Moves muttered. “He mentioned he might go for a ride last night.”
I crossed my arms. That wasn’t good. We had to move soon. I couldn’t explain why, but it felt like every second that passed, things got worse and worse. Something wasn’t right in our territory, and we had to fix it.
It could have been the situation, but it also could have been my desperation to not think about Claire. As long as I was focused on the drugs and the kids, I didn’t have to consider Claire and everything that had been said that morning.
How was it only a few hours ago? It already felt like another day, another person. I wanted to throw up when I thought of what I had said to her. In anger, I had reached for the words I knew would hurt the most, but now I wanted to take back each and every one. I wanted to listen to her as well. I wasn’t sure if I would believe her, but I still wanted to hear her side.
“I can reach out to my contacts,” Moves said. “Try and ask around.”
I looked up and forced myself to focus. What was done was done. It was over between me and Claire. Moves cursed again. He was pacing now too, buzzing with frantic energy. He was itching to take action as well, and I was grateful to have him by my side.
“But as soon as I start asking around, they’ll hear,” he said. “Las Balas get word of thingsfast.”
“You know,” Moves said, turning to me and going still. “A third party could help, if you reached out to Claire and her PI firm. All we would have to do is push them in the right direction and tell them what to expect.”
“No,” I said. “No way. I don’t want her involved at all.”
“She already is involved,” Moves pointed out. “Besides, she’s a PI, she has resources. Even police contacts.”
“I told her to stop the investigation,” I said.
“And you think she listened?” Moves asked.
He raised a cynical brow to indicate that he seriously doubted Claire was going to just call it a day on this investigation.
“Better that we give her a tip,” Moves said. “Or else she’s fumbling in the dark.”
“She thought it was us,” I said. “Do you not get it? She was using me to spy on Outlaw Souls!”
Moves twisted his mouth, and I could tell he was going to say something I didn’t like.
“But it wasn’t us,” Moves said. “She was just following a lead, and now we can help give her another lead. Her PI firm will help us out by taking care of Las Balas, and we all win.”
