Kings of Anarchy (Brutal Boys of Everlake Prep #3) - Caroline Peckham Page 0,204

in this group, I actually stuck to the rules, so I had to push through the discomfort of it.

I worked hard at keeping my patience as Monroe moved away to help Tatum put the food on and Kyan grabbed a box of beers and dumped the whole thing on the end of the table. I tried to ignore it. Tried to pretend I couldn't see the fact that the cardboard was torn.

I made it six seconds. And then I got up, grabbed the whole thing and stalked toward the front door with the full intention to throw it out into the trees.

Kyan intercepted me with a dark laugh and snatched the box back from me before taking the beers over to the fridge and stacking them inside instead. He even flattened the cardboard and tossed it in the recycling. Fucker.

With a sigh of frustration, I moved back to the table to await my food. Once it was cooking, everyone else came to join me and I opened my notebook to the first page, looking down at my itinerary and ignoring the way they were sniggering like a bunch of assholes. If they were incapable of organising themselves or this group, then I was more than happy to take command for them and I didn't give a shit if they mocked me for my methods. This was how we got things done.

“Drink?” Kyan asked just as I was about to start and I looked up to find him holding out a beer for me with his left hand, wrist twisted just so, making that fucking squid tattoo look me in the eye. I swear the thing was smirking like the asshole who’d inked it onto his flesh.

I swallowed my anger at everything about his offer with some difficulty and blew out a harsh breath. “No, thank you. I have not in fact, suddenly developed a taste for piss water brew and become a hick just because I spend too much time in your company.”

Kyan laughed loudly, dropping into his chair and sipping on the beer himself while Monroe and Blake joined in. I rolled my eyes at them, but let it slide because that smile on Blake’s face looked genuine for the first time since Kyan had hauled his ass back here kicking and cursing on his mom’s birthday and we’d locked him down in the crypt to stop him from going paragliding in the dark.

He’d been pissed at us for three days following that but hadn’t made an argument out of it, likely because he knew full well that we’d been right to do it. Luckily it seemed like today he was feeling himself again and I could allow a little of their bullshit at my expense in favour of making him smile. Not that I’d ever admit it.

Of course, I had now added more plans for dealing with Blake’s issues to my list of chores, but while his mood was improved, it didn’t seem to be the most pressing of our issues so I was willing to let it be for now. But sooner or later, Blake Bowman was going to have to deal with his grief.

I glanced around to make sure everyone was paying attention and then began the meeting.

"First off, I think I'm closing the net on Royaume D’élite. I've been tracing the financial movements of the O'Briens to try and locate the organiser of the club through the membership fees, and though they use various shell organisations to collect them each month, the amounts don't change."

"How the fuck are you tracing their finances?" Monroe asked me like he'd never even heard of the concept of corrupt members of law enforcement.

"I have people who I can pay to get me all kinds of information if I want it," I said to him in a bored tone. "Money talks and secrets spill. It's a fairly simple concept to grasp."

He frowned at me like my entitled brat was showing and I smirked because I knew it. But I was so much more than an entitled brat. I knew exactly how to handle all of the advantages that I'd been born to and how to use them to gain even more advantages over every situation I was faced with.

Monroe looked like he had something further to say to that, but the oven timer started bleeping and Tatum hopped up to get the first round of pizzas out of it, stealing his attention so that I could go on without having