Chapter 7 #3
“I hacked the cameras just a tiny bit to try and occupy myself,” I admitted, giving him a sheepish grin. “There was a scuffle in the laundry. Rory and Lexi got dragged off for beating each other up.”
“You hacked the fucking prison cameras?” he hissed, and Tyler gave me a dirty look.
“You hacked them and didn’t tell me? I thought we were bros.”
“Hey, I wasn’t even supposed to tell Hunter,” I grumbled, and Hunter groaned.
“You can’t do that shit. What if you get caught?” he demanded, but he looked worried. “Did they go to the hole?”
“No idea. I shut it down before I could get busted. Lexi was arguing with some girl in there and punched her. Rory tried to get between them, and it somehow ended up with Rory and Lexi fighting.”
He looked ready to throttle me, but he took a deep breath. “That aside, you’re okay now?”
“Yeah. It got too quiet at the warehouse, that’s all,” I sighed, and he nodded.
“Answer the phone next time, but I’m glad you came here.”
“We’re getting pizza for dinner. You want to join us?” Tyler asked, and Hunter let out a huff before nodding.
I checked my phone, seeing missed calls and messages, and then my phone rang as I went to put it away, surprise filling me. It was the prison.
I quickly answered, saying I accepted the call before I heard Rory’s voice.
“Hey,” she said like it was hard, making me frown.
“What’s wrong?”
Hunter looked at me with a questioning look, and I held up a finger for him to wait.
“I just needed to hear a familiar voice before lights out. I didn’t want to bother the others,” she sighed, and as much as I should have put her on speaker for the guys to talk to her, she would have called them if she’d wanted to talk to them, right?
“Give me one second,” I murmured, getting to my feet and leaving the room, wandering downstairs to talk outside. The front wasn’t safe from drive-bys, so I went out the back to the pool. “Okay, talk to me, Princess. Did something happen?”
I couldn’t exactly ask her about the incident in the laundry room, calls were recorded, and I’d get myself into a pile of shit.
“Not really. There was a fight today. I think everyone’s in a bad mood.”
“You got into another fight?”
“Yeah. Me and Lexi got into it,” she mumbled. I sat in one of the chairs, getting comfortable.
“What over?”
“I got involved in her argument with the girl she’s been seeing in here. I thought I was helping, but she kind of snapped at me. She’s been in a bad mood all day,” she grumbled.
“So you called me for a verbal hug?” I teased, a snort leaving her.
“I guess. I was doing alright in here until I got to see you guys today. Now it feels like day one all over again. Is Ty okay?”
“I know, it can suck, but not seeing people at all sucks harder. Ty’s fine, I’ve been with him at Josie’s for most of the afternoon. We’re just gaming,” I explained, lighting a cigarette. “You and Bryant got beef now?”
“No. We both admitted tension was high and it shouldn’t have gone down like that.
She looked kind of guilty, actually. Pretty sure she dumped her girl or something so she’s going through it.
” She was quiet for a moment, seeming deep in thought.
“If you see Skeet, can you tell him to at least call me? He can be mad at me all he likes, but we still need to talk.”
“I can tell him, but he probably won’t listen. I promise you’ll be out soon,” I murmured, knowing it was dumb to make a promise like that, but she needed something to hold onto. “I’ll work extra hard. The sooner you’re out, the sooner we can hookup, right?”
She thankfully laughed, but I knew it was hard for her from the way emotion filled her voice.
“You wish, Ortega.”
“I really do,” I chuckled. “You want another visit on Friday? I’ll see if I can swing it with the boss.”
“I must be getting depressed in here if I’m looking forward to seeing you,” she said dryly, and I smirked.
“Admit it. You don’t hate me.”
“You’re not the worst person in the world. Maybe the second worst though,” she teased. “I need to go, the phone’s about to cut off for the night. Thanks for answering my ridiculous call.”
“Hey, you know we’ll always answer. I’ll see you Friday,” I promised. “Get a good sleep, Princess.”
“You too,” she practically whispered, and she sat there for a second in silence before hanging up like she had to force herself to do it.
I ran a hand over my face, letting out a sigh as I put my phone down on the seat.
Why did I like that she’d called me? Out of everyone, she wanted to hear my voice?
“Is she okay?” Hunter said behind me, and I jumped, choking on my cigarette.
“Jesus, man,” I wheezed, finding worry on his face. There was a little bit of jealousy there too, he couldn’t hide it from me. “She’s alright. Today was just hard seeing us leave without her, I think. She wanted to tell me about her fight, and she didn’t want to bother you guys with it.”
“I don’t understand how she’s even in there. We covered it all up,” he hissed, dropping into the chair beside mine. “You seriously didn’t see anyone there?”
“Fuck no. If someone was sneaking around, I’d have handled it. They could’ve dragged us under too,” I bit out.
“This would be a lot easier if Skeet wasn’t being a prick. His connections are better than mine in the police department. I want to know what murder weapon they apparently have.”
“I’ll try and hack their system again and see if anything pops up.”
“They know we’re looking. That shit is locked down tight,” he warned, frustration seeping out of him. “Why didn’t she call me?”
“I don’t know, but at least she called one of us, right? I told her I’d head down on Friday, so you can tag along or I’ll take Ty.”
He blinked at me for a second before nodding, staring across the yard.
“Hopefully, she feels better once she’s seen the others tomorrow too.”
I really hoped he was right because I didn’t like how defeated she sounded from knowing Skeeter and Caden had turned their backs on her.