Chapter 3 #3
“Get to the point so you can leave,” I scoffed, dropping down on the empty couch with Jensen, ignoring the hurt look on Tyler’s face. He could stay all he liked, but the other two weren’t welcome.
All of this was their fucking fault.
“I had a call from the prison tonight. Rory was in Medical.”
My stomach sank as panic rose, nausea swimming in my throat.
“What? Is she okay? What happened? Why did you get a call?”
“I’m down as one of her emergency contacts.
With Josie away a lot, she can’t get to her as fast,” he shrugged, pulling a cigarette out and lighting it before continuing.
“Rory’s had some trouble in there since she arrived.
The girls don’t like her for being disloyal to Skeet with me. Loyalty’s a big deal in there.”
“So this is your fault? No surprise there,” I snapped, and he rolled his eyes.
“There’s been a few fights, but one of the other girls tipped fresh hot tea down her back at dinner tonight.
She’s got a burn, but it’s nothing that needed the hospital.
One of the girls in particular really fucking hates her, which I’d be more worried about if it was someone big in there.
It’s a junkie that everyone hates, so she should be able to handle her.
I’m going to visit Lexi tomorrow to find out more since I only know what the guards know. ”
“Why can’t Lexi protect her? I know she’s not Rory’s biggest fan, but isn’t there some kind of girl code? Or best friend card you could pull on Lexi?” Jensen asked, making Marco huff out a laugh.
“You think prison has a girl code? Most of the women would shiv each other for a candy bar. Being locked up changes a person, especially if they get put in the hole. Isolation messes with your head.”
“She’s going to get killed in there,” I bit out, but Hunter narrowed his eyes.
“Is it ideal that she’s in there? No, but have some faith in her, man. She’s not a defenseless princess, she’s one tough bitch with a mean right hook. She can handle it.”
“She shouldn’t fucking have to! How did the cops even find out so fast? Did you set her up or something?”
One second, Hunter was glaring at me from the couch, the next, he had his hand around my throat as he hauled me to my feet. The smoke from the cigarette between his lips burned my eyes a little, but I tried not to let it get to me.
“You calling me a rat?”
“I’m calling you a piece of shit. You lured her in and now she’s paying for it!”
“Hey! Let him go!” Jensen demanded as he tried to get between us, but Hunter only tightened his hold until I couldn’t breathe.
“You listen to me,” he said in a dark voice, the tone chilling.
“I would set the world on fire and let myself burn if it meant keeping her safe. We don’t know what went wrong, but we’re spending every waking hour trying to find out.
Whoever the witness is won’t live to see another day once I find out who the fuck they are. ”
He let me go with a shove, and I sucked in air as I landed on the couch again, glaring up at him.
“You guys can hate us all you want,” Marco said in a bored tone. “But who does she have to turn to for help because you’re all fucking useless? I stayed at the scene to wait for the cleanup crew while Hunter took her home. No one else entered that house, and none of our guys are rats.”
“Then explain how there’s a goddamn witness,” Jensen scoffed, tucking me against him as I caught my breath.
“That’s what we’re working on. What are you doing to help her? Nothing, because you fucking can’t,” Marco replied sharply, and Tyler winced, knowing this wasn’t going well.
“Guys, don’t fight. We need to stick together to help her. We can visit her this week, right?” he asked hopefully.
“If she stays out of the hole,” Marco muttered, not seeming convinced that she would.
“She won’t risk it,” I said firmly, earning an amused look from him.
“You’d be surprised at the things you’d do behind those walls. When you’re in survival mode, sometimes you don’t get a choice to not take risks.”
The thought made me sick. She was already having problems in there, so how long until she had to beat the shit out of someone to save herself?
“I’m visiting Rory on Wednesday. I’ll be able to find out if there’s major issues happening,” Hunter confirmed, seeming lost in thought as he put his cigarette out in the ashtray on the coffee table. “I need to find someone else on the inside that will bring her into their crew.”
“How many crews are in there?” Jensen asked calmly.
“Lots. They’re not like us, they’re just groups of women who stick together until they get out.
It’s more like a prison safety club than anything.
Lexi has her girls, and I know there’s a few others that are bigger in there too.
Lexi might be at the top, but that doesn’t mean someone won’t come along and shiv her to take over. It’s messy in there.”
“Tell me the truth. Were you fucking Rory?” I asked, Hunter staring at me for a moment before snorting.
“How about you put some trust in her? You really think she’d do that?”
“She did with Slash,” I pointed out, and he shook his head slightly.
“Trust me, that’s different. We might have some kind of friendship, but she’s never once crossed a line.
She was in my bed when she was arrested, sure, but that was because she’d just killed her dad, and as usual, Skeet was nowhere to be seen.
She needed him that night, and neither him or Diesel answered their phones.
I think it was the realization that he’ll never be there for her that got to her that night and she finally broke.
I wasn’t going to just shut the door and leave her be,” he said with annoyance.
“If you want to be angry at someone, be angry at Skeet. Where the fuck was he? What if I hadn’t been there to help?
She would’ve been stranded with a dead body and a crime scene.
I’ll always have her back, whether you like it or not. ”
“She’s still not going to fuck you,” Marco said dryly, not helping the thoughts in my head. “It’s embarrassing how much you try though.”
“Says you. You basically hump her leg when she walks through the door,” Hunter deadpanned.
“Hey, my new buddy said I could,” Marco smirked as he motioned to Tyler, both Jensen and I glaring at him.
“You told this asshole he could fuck Rory?” I spat. In his defense, Tyler looked embarrassed by it.
“I didn’t tell him to fuck her, I just said I didn’t give a shit if she was hooking up with them. She loves me, that’s all I give a shit about.”
“She can’t just go around collecting guys like they’re Pokemon,” Jensen scoffed, and Tyler frowned.
“Why not? She can do what she wants as long as she doesn’t push me aside. For someone who’s never really had love in her life before, she has so much to give when you let her in. I don’t mind sharing it a little if it makes her happy.”
Hunter sighed, rubbing his temples. “This is sweet and all, but it’s not the point of the conversation. Rory never touched us, but none of you believe her.”
“Can’t you talk to Skeet? He needs to protect her,” I said, a defeated tone in my voice. He’d put his walls up so damn high again that I couldn’t even see the top.
“He won’t listen to Diesel, so he won’t listen to me.”
“Wait, Diesel’s trying to convince him? He believes her?” Jensen asked with a frown.
“From what he told me, he and Brick are the only two in the Psychos that believe she didn’t betray them. Skeet’s protecting himself by pushing everyone away and being angry.”
“My bad,” Marco muttered.
“What did you do?” I asked slowly, his eyes flicking to Hunter as if asking permission.
Hunter stared back at him for a moment before sighing, waving his hand to continue.
“Skeet’s a damaged piece of shit because I broke him when we were seventeen.”
“I know. You guys fucked him over and shot him,” I answered, but he shook his head.
“Before that. We were together in secret. The previous leader of the Psychos was a cruel man and kept Skeet on a tight leash. He raised him with an iron fist, and he never would’ve allowed Skeet to date a man, much less one connected to another crew.
It was easy to sneak around at first, we were just teenagers, but the older we got the more that asshole watched us.
You think Skeet’s possessive with Aurora?
He was insanely obsessed with me. It was going to get him killed. ”
“Wait, you and Skeet dated?” I asked quietly, confusion rolling through me.
“No one knows about it, other than Diesel, us, and Rory. Slash did too. We had to keep it a secret, Skeet’s life depended on it,” he mumbled, looking down at his hands on his lap.
“I fucked some girl, knowing he’d walk in to see it.
Outright told him I’d played him and never loved him.
I did what I had to in order to keep him safe, even if that meant destroying everything I had with him. ”
My mind was reeling the more I thought about it. Skeeter had basically forced me out of the damn closet before I was even aware I was in it.
“There’s no way you guys were together,” I finally said, but doubt whispered in the back of my mind.
“Why? Can’t picture me bending him over? Spoiler alert, it was hot,” he scoffed, and Hunter shot him a look of warning. It was obvious Hunter was trying to protect some of Skeeter’s privacy while still giving us information.
How could Skeeter have forced me out publicly after keeping his own relationship a secret?
“I’m going to bed,” I announced as I stood, hearing Jensen sigh as I left the room as fast as possible. Skeeter was lucky I didn’t go and punch him in the face right this second.