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“Can you say the name aloud?” he asks. “Was it Veronica Lucas? I need you to say it.”
“I—I can’t say.”
“You essentially already did.”
“Of course I didn’t.” Shamed, I look away from him. For some stupid reason, it’s hard to face him. “I never told you a name. That would be lagging. You’re just assuming things and hoping you’re right.”
Jaxon looks away from me again, his lips tightening, but he nods. As he opens his mouth to respond, the door buzzes and the nurse comes in, smiling at us. She’s a young woman, probably in her late twenties or early thirties, and her mere presence puts me at ease at once.
“Ready?” she asks, and I nod. She looks at Jaxon, flashing him a brief smile. “That will be all, Nick. I’ll take care of her.”
Chapter Six
All of thewomen in prison have daily work tasks, including me. Some of us are assigned to the kitchen, others to the laundry room, and others do janitorial work. This week, I’m working with my unit of girls in the kitchen. I don’t mind the kitchen. The food prep gives me time to think, and I’ve always liked cooking. The food here is subpar, but that’s to be expected, so I do what I can to spice it up.
“Mmmm,” Lace moans, hanging over my shoulder as I whisk together vanilla, eggs, and flour for cookies. “That smells good.”
“They’ll smell better when I bake them,” I say with a laugh. Lace grabs the bag of chocolate chips sitting near the bowl and dumps some in, licking her lips as I stir. For some reason, her mere presence sets me on edge, but not in a bad way. All I can focus on as I stir is the sweet scent of her hair and how soft her skin looks under the glaring kitchen lights.
“Oi!” The kitchen door slams and two women I don’t recognize walk in, glaring between Lace and me. They stop a few feet away from us, and the first woman to enter glares at me, her lip curling in a snarl.
“Get out,” she barks. I don’t recognize her accent, but the long, dark hair and pale complexion makes me believe she’s of Asian descent. She wears too much heavy eyeliner and her black hair is cut short and spiked, like a rock-rebel pixie. This is one pixie I wouldn’t want to meet in a dark alley.
“Chill, Lulu,” says Lace, putting her hands in the air. “We’re supposed to be here. Kitchen duty.”
“Who’s the new girl?” asks Lulu, but the scowl on her lips hasn’t faded.
“Joey,” I say before Lace can answer. I almost say,“nice to meet you,”but the expression on Lulu’s face speaks anything but. Behind her, a rail-thin, scraggly blond with dreadlocks steps forward, toward Lulu’s shoulder, as though I’ve made a threatening move.
“Hi, Tris,” Lace says, looking past Lulu at the small girl behind her. Tris doesn’t say anything, she just looks down and scuffs the floor with the toe of her dirty sneaker.
“Get out,” Lulu says again. I start to tell her no, but Lace reaches out and rests one hand gently on my forearm. She doesn’t speak, but she doesn’t have to. I snap my lips shut.
“Five minutes.” Lace squeezes my arm gently and leads me around Lulu and Tris, out of the kitchen and into the hallway. We stop and stand against the wall, unspeaking for the briefest of moments.
“What the hell was that all about?” I ask, irritated. Lace sighs heavily and gnaws on the inside of her cheek.
“It’s a setup,” she says quietly. “It’s how they get the drugs in.”
“Through the kitchen?”
“Yeah.”
“Does Ronnie know about this?”
Lace looks away from me then, down the empty hallway. “It’s her idea.”
“And what, Lulu and Tris are her drug mules?”
Lace laughs this time, shaking her head. She has a beautiful laugh, but I’m too annoyed to let it distract me.
“What’s funny?”
“Lulu Sanford is basically the prison’s drug lord.” Lace looks at me and shrugs. “She can get you anything. There’s no force on Ronnie’s end. Lulu is all over it.”
“Ah, yeah.” I scoff. “That makes it better.”
“No one said it made it better, but it’s certainly not forced.” Lace turns her body toward mine, crossing her arms over her chest. “There’s a difference in here, okay?”
