Chapter 7 #2
I handed some to the girls since they always shared theirs with me, then we headed out to the yard for some fresh air.
Lexi was leaning against the wall by the ashtray with Kat, and she lifted her chin in greeting as we approached.
“You get to see Rivera?” she asked, and I nodded, lighting my cigarette before answering.
“Yeah, he brought Marco and Ty with him, so that was nice.”
“They tell you about Skeet?”
I took a drag, blowing the smoke towards her with a scowl. “We talked about him, yes.”
“I warned you about him. Trust me, Hunter’s got your back. Stick with him. He’s good in bed too, which is a bonus. He’s an overachiever,” she smirked, taking a drag of her cigarette.
“I’m not interested.”
“You should be. That man does not want to be your friend, Donovan. He gets fucking hearts in his eyes when he talks about you,” she snorted.
“Still, not interested,” I said dryly. “He said not to hurt me, so why did you punch me?”
“I’m not going to let a man tell me what to do. He’s cute, but he’s not that cute,” she replied, butting her cigarette out. “I didn’t want you thinking you had a friend in me just because of who you know. My punch had purpose, and it kept you in your lane. We understand each other, right?”
“Of course,” I smiled sweetly, making her roll her eyes before she crossed her arms and glanced at Kat. “Incoming.”
I turned, finding Smith walking out into the yard. She looked like shit.
Kat and Lexi walked towards her, and I stayed back to watch them, trying to figure out what was going on.
“What’s their beef?” I asked Jamie, who chuckled.
“She attacked Tilly, who’s under Bryant’s protection. People know not to use her to get to you, and Smith ignored it, so she was punished.”
I watched Lexi, and it was hard to imagine her outside of the prison. The photo I’d seen had her dressed up like a doll, her acrylic nails giving absolutely no chance at landing punches without injuring herself.
In here, that girl was gone.
Which version was the real Lexi? This one seemed to be, but I wasn’t sure. We were all just trying to survive, so it could have been a mask.
Smith backed down from her, and Lexi said something quietly before stalking off with Kat in tow, heading back inside.
“Laundry room will be tense today,” Tilly sighed, putting out her cigarette.
“Why do you say that?” I asked curiously, looking over at her, and Jamie cringed.
“Bryant’s in a mood. It’s always tense when she’s in a mood.”
“Is Smith on Laundry duty too?”
“No, but Faith is,” Tilly grumbled, telling me something had definitely gone down between them.
I kept my thoughts to myself, knowing they wouldn’t tell me anyway, and once our time in the yard was over, we headed to lunch.
Marco
Tyler was quiet most of the drive back to Ashburn Valley. There was no point in him going to school for the last hour or two, so he wanted to be dropped off at Josie’s to tell her about the visit.
Hunter had to go out on a job with some of the guys, so I stayed at the warehouse to catch up on a few things, but I couldn’t focus properly.
I lit a cigarette, putting my boots up on the desk with a sigh. I liked giving Rory shit, pissing her off amused me, but the way she’d held onto me in that room this morning made me feel a little bad for her.
She wasn’t scared, but she was definitely sad, and I knew it must have been emotional for her if she was hugging me out of all people. It had felt strange hugging her, she usually wanted to stab me, but now all I could think about was seeing her again.
We’d gotten used to her being around, so not being able to stalk her or anything was driving us mad. It had become part of our daily routine.
The prison security system was pretty complicated, and it was risky if we hacked it and something got triggered, but the longer I stared at the computer on the desk as I smoked, the more it nagged at me to see her.
I was acting like fucking Hunter.
I mentally cursed at myself, sitting up properly and butting my cigarette out before switching the computer on, and it took some digging, but I finally gained access without sending any alerts out.
Hunter would kill me if I got busted for this, but maybe he’d appreciate me checking on her?
I flicked through the ridiculous amount of cameras, finding her in the laundry room folding clothes. She was chatting away to a brunette beside her, seeming to be pretty relaxed.
My guess was she was the girl that Lexi said Rory had befriended.
Other women worked around the room, and I spotted Lexi shoving things into one of the dryers with an annoyed look on her face as one of the other girls talked her ear off. And then Lexi turned around and punched her right on the nose.
I laughed, kicking back to watch it play out, a little surprised when Rory walked over to get between them. I couldn’t hear what they were saying, but it was obvious she was trying to defuse the situation.
The girl shoved her out of the way, Rory shoved her back, and I snorted when the girl tried throwing a punch at Rory, only to be punched again by Lexi.
Rory and Lexi got in each other’s faces, and I chuckled when they started punching each other too until the guards separated them.
“There’s no way they’ll play nice,” I said out loud to myself, knowing Hunter was hoping it would happen. Maybe if Lexi wasn’t a Reapers’ wife, things could have been different.
My time was limited, their security system could find me if something on my end weakened, so I shut it down before anything could happen.
Was she dragged off to the hole again? Hunter would lose it if she was, especially because if Lexi got dragged off too, he’d have no one to ask about it.
I got to my feet, snagging my car keys on the way out. I was feeling twitchy, too damn twitchy, and my lack of focus was only the start of it.
That dose of morphine had really done a number on me.
As good as it felt at the time, I had some regrets now.
Had I told the nurse I wasn’t allowed pain relief? No. Hunter knew I would have had to agree to being medicated since I was fully conscious, so his hovering was expected. I was a little surprised he’d left me here this afternoon on my own, to be honest.
I wandered down from the loft, not really knowing where I was going, but I needed to move. The office was way too quiet, and it always made things worse when the temptation snuck in.
I had to get out of here, so I climbed into my car and drove off, not really knowing where I was going.
I found myself parking at Josie’s, ignoring the pain in my side from the wound as I took the steps two at a time.
Since I knew the codes, I let myself in, almost running into Josie as I walked into the kitchen.
“I thought I heard the door. You looking for Ty? He’s in his room,” she said with a friendly smile, not at all bothered that I’d let myself in, and I thanked her before heading upstairs to find him.
He was lying back on his bed, staring at the ceiling, but he sat up when I walked in.
“Hey. You good?” he asked with a frown, and I blew out a breath.
“No.”
“Come tell Daddy all about it,” he grinned, and I snorted as I kicked my boots off, sitting on the bed.
“I’d be your daddy, you little shit.”
“We can both be daddy,” he chuckled, tilting his head at me. “Seriously, what’s wrong?”
“Just having a bad day.”
“A bad day, or a tempting day?” he asked, knowing exactly what I was talking about.
“A tempting one. The warehouse was too quiet, it was getting to me. Hunt’s on a job, so—”
“We can hang out until he’s done. You want to play Xbox?
A movie might not distract you enough. I’d suggest the pool, but I wouldn’t with wounds.
You want beer?” he asked, and I nodded, watching him practically skip from the room to get some, and I took the time to look around.
It was more personal in here than his bedroom at his own damn house had been.
There were pictures of him and the guys, some of him with Josie, and he’d framed one from his date night with Rory.
I stood, walking towards the one of him and Rory and picked it up, smiling slightly as I studied it. She looked good as a rich chick, but I definitely liked her more in jeans when she was threatening to stab me.
It was more natural on her.
I put it down, scanning his shelves to see what games he had. There were a lot.
“What are you looking for, creeper?” Tyler asked jokingly as he walked in with a six pack of beer, offering me one.
“Just seeing what you have.”
“Pick whatever you want. You and Hunt want to stick around for dinner? We can do pizza. Holloway’s at Skeet’s again, and Josie’s dealing with work stuff, so I was going to eat alone,” he stated, getting comfortable on the bed.
“Pizza would be good. I’ll check in with Hunt soon,” I answered, grabbing a shooting game that I’d been wanting to try, knowing it was multiplayer.
I completely lost track of time as we gamed, drank beer, and taunted each other, and I had to do a double-take when I looked towards the door to find Hunter standing there with his arms crossed.
He looked annoyed, telling me he’d likely been trying to call me and I hadn’t noticed.
“Hey,” I said, swinging my attention back to the TV. “How’d it go?”
“It went good. You were supposed to meet Faris at three,” he grunted, making me frown.
“I was?”
“Yes. I texted you. I thought something was wrong when I realized you never got back to me. You’ve really been here all afternoon? You’ve got shit to do, bro.”
“Give him a break, he was having a bad day,” Tyler replied, coming to my defense. “You were busy, so he came here.”
The last thing I needed was Hunter knowing I was struggling. He had enough shit to worry about.
“You should’ve called me,” Hunter scolded, walking over to sit on the edge of the bed.
“I handled it,” I grumbled. “You should be more worried about the Princess.”
“Why?” he asked suspiciously, and I winced. He wasn’t supposed to know I’d hacked the prison cameras. “Marco, I swear to God. What did you do?”