Chapter 3
CHAPTER THREE
RORY
“Three days, Donovan,” the warden sighed as I stood in her office, an ice pack on my split lip. “You’ve only been here for three days. You want to tell me what started the fight?”
The warden was in her late thirties, and despite being pretty firm, she was also fair. I wasn’t about to rat on someone though.
“She looked at me funny,” I said flatly, lying through my teeth.
Tina had been getting on my nerves the entire time, so when she’d grabbed my hair in the yard this morning and punched me, I wasn’t exactly going to take it. It must have been a blindspot for the cameras if they were asking about it.
“This works a lot better if you’re honest with me. You remember you’re awaiting your day in court, right? Do you want an assault charge added on top of things?”
“Charge me then.”
She studied me for a moment before tapping her fingers on the desk. “How have you been settling in?”
“Food’s good, the girls in my block are nice, and I got to punch someone. I’m pretty happy,” I shrugged as there was a knock at the door and one of the guards stepped in. He was good-looking but an absolute pig, and it seemed he was popular among the girls.
Probably because he was easy to bribe with pussy.
“Bryant’s here,” he stated, and I kept my face blank as the warden motioned for him to let her in.
Lexi stepped inside, her shirt buttoned low and the middle tied up to show off her waist.
“I heard there was trouble,” she said with fake curiosity, glancing at me. “Damn, Donovan. Don’t let anyone sit on your face until that heals.”
“Someone needs to sit on yours to stop you talking nonsense,” I huffed, her eyes sparkling with amusement as she licked her lips.
“Are you flirting with me? You’re not my type. If you need a seat though, just ask.”
“Girls,” the warden snapped, glaring at Lexi. “What do you want?”
“I just wanted to see what was happening. If there’s issues among the women, you know I like to try and resolve it before it escalates into a problem,” she said innocently, making me snort.
I knew she just wanted to know if I was ratting on Tina.
“Donovan claims she didn’t like how Grovers looked at her, so she punched her. Does this sound likely?” the warden asked dryly, and I didn’t miss the flicker of surprise on Lexi’s face before she masked it.
“Probably. Maybe you should put Donovan in the hole to teach her a lesson?”
“How about you walk Donovan back to your block to make sure she doesn’t wander?
” she replied flatly, obviously dismissing me for not getting information out of me.
“And, Donovan? You’re a smart girl. If you have problems, come and talk to me instead of throwing your fist at people, okay? Leave the ice pack when you go.”
“Sure thing,” I said sweetly as I put the cold block on the desk, earning a huff of annoyance before she flicked her hand at us to leave.
We almost got out the door before she called after us. “Bryant? Fix your uniform. This is a prison, not a fashion show.”
Lexi grumbled but untied the knot in her shirt, passing the guard waiting outside the door.
We walked side by side in the direction of the cell block as she buttoned her shirt up, and she spoke without looking at me. “Why didn’t you tell the warden the truth? Tina’s a fucking cockroach.”
“The only thing worse than a roach is a rat,” I scoffed, a snort of laughter leaving her.
“You’re not wrong. You like fighting, right? In the cage?”
“I do. It’s been a while though, so my knuckles were getting itchy.”
“You any good?”
“I won decent money at the Shed a few times until Skeet banned me. His guys don’t exactly like me,” I replied.
“I’m surprised Skeet even likes you. He fucking hates everyone,” she answered, looking me up and down with a frown. “You got a good figure under that or something?”
“No.”
“It can’t be your personality he likes. You’re a cunt. Then again, so is he,” she mused, and I rolled my eyes.
“You don’t even know me.”
“I don’t want to either. Don’t be dragging Tilly into any of your bullshit. She’s a nice girl and doesn’t belong in here.”
“We can agree on that,” I said as we reached our common area. I went to walk to my room, but she sighed.
“Hey. Just so you know, Hunter put money on your commissary account, so you can buy shit. I think he organized it with some Josie lady.”
“Oh,” I said with a frown as she eyeballed me for another moment before turning and heading into her room without another word.
I wished he could have called or visited me instead because I was going crazy without contact on the outside.
I got comfortable on my bed and grabbed a book I’d borrowed from Tilly, forcing myself to read it to kill the boredom.
When I got bored of that, I went out to the common area to make a coffee so I could sprawl out on the couch to watch TV since no one was using it.
My eyes slid towards Lexi’s room as I grabbed a mug, not expecting to see two people on top of each other.
I couldn’t see who, but it was obviously Lexi and someone else, their top halves hidden by the door as their legs tangled together.
I didn’t realize I was staring until Lexi shuffled down the body and tugged their pants down, burying her face between their legs.
She giggled and shushed who I assumed was the strawberry blonde girl, Faith, since they were definitely fucking regularly, but then her eyes flicked towards me, spotting me watching.
She smirked at me, not giving a shit about the audience as she lifted her fingers to her mouth and sucked, still watching me as she pushed them into Faith.
I scowled, only amusing her more as she returned to using her mouth too, and I finished making my drink and moved to the couch so I couldn’t see it anymore.
If she was trying to make me uncomfortable so I’d leave the room, it wasn’t happening.
I ignored the sounds coming from her room as I focused hard on the TV, hearing footsteps approaching along the hallway.
Miss Jarvis appeared, and I gave her a wide smile, speaking loud enough to cover the sound and let the girls know we weren’t alone anymore.
“Hey, Miss Jarvis. Have you seen Tilly?”
I heard Lexi scuffling in her room, probably fixing their clothes, and Miss Jarvis glanced at the door but stopped near the back of the couch.
“She’s in the yard. I heard you had a problem with Tina?”
“Tina had a problem with me. She has such a punchable face,” I chuckled, making her roll her eyes.
“Behave or you’ll never get out of here. Bryant?” she called out, Lexi appearing a second later in the doorway.
“Yes?” she asked, a book in hand to pretend she’d been reading.
“What are you doing?”
“Reading a book with Faith. Have you read this one?” she asked, and Miss Jarvis relaxed.
“Yes, it was good. Stay out of trouble.”
“Always,” she answered, waiting for Miss Jarvis to leave before the smile dropped from her face and she raked a hand through her hair.
“You’re welcome,” I scoffed.
“For what? The show?”
“For giving you a heads-up. I’m not into girls,” I said flatly, and she chuckled.
“Neither’s Faith. You take what you can get in here,” she winked, returning to Faith, who was giggling a second later.
I muttered about her being ridiculous before taking my coffee to my room, deciding not to get caught up in her bullshit. If she wanted to fuck and get caught, that was on her.
“Tina’s got it out for you so bad,” Tilly said quietly as we sat in the cafeteria eating dinner.
“Tell me something I don’t know,” I grunted, eyeing the woman in question as she sat across the room with her friends, deep in discussion as they watched me right back. “I should’ve hit her harder.”
“If you end up in the hole, you won’t be able to have visitation or phone calls,” she warned, and as much as that would suck, I wasn’t letting that bitch walk all over me.
“Hit them hard enough and they won’t do it again,” I replied, sliding my gaze to Lexi, who was laughing with Kat, Jamie, and Faith at their usual table.
Jamie still sat with me if I was alone, but now that I had Tilly, she usually sat with her friends again. Which was fine, I didn’t expect her to babysit me.
A searing pain hit my back and I jerked forward, the pain not going away.
“Shit, did I get you?” someone asked with fake concern, their now empty cup of tea in hand.
A guard shouted something, but I was already yanking the shirt over my head to get the hot material off my skin.
The bitch that had burned me was yanked aside to be punished, and Tilly was tugging on my arm in a panic.
“Get up. You need to stand in the shower with some cold water.”
Lexi watched it play out, looking bored as if it wasn’t entertaining enough for her, but some of the others laughed like it was the best thing in the world.
My whole body felt like it was on fire, so I quickly got to my feet and let Tilly and a guard escort me to the shower block, where I turned the cold on and stood under it to soothe my heated skin.
My pants and bra were soaked, my wet hair plastered to my face as I let the water run down my back.
“What did you do to piss them off so soon? You’re lucky we don’t let them have boiling water and it’s cooled a little first,” the guard chuckled, finding it amusing, apparently.
“Exist,” I grumbled, jerking when Tilly reached out to touch my lower back.
“What’s this?” she asked, her finger brushing the scar Skeeter had left on me. It was fading more now, but it was still very visible.
“None of your business,” I snapped, making her wince. She probably assumed it was some horrible experience I’d had that left me traumatized, but it couldn’t have been further from the truth.
When I was so cold my body felt numb, I turned the water off and accepted a towel from Tilly, wrapping it around myself. My sensitive skin screamed against the material, but I tried to ignore it as I was taken to Medical.
I got sympathetic looks from some women, while others found it funny, making me feel like a fish in an aquarium as people walking past watched me through the big windows.