AllFreeNovel
Share Us
“Who?”
“That’s a story for another time.” Jaxon re-checks the hallway, stepping back from me. “I’ll keep you updated on what I find out. Until then, keep your nose down and your head out of the shit that goes on here.”
Chapter Seventeen
It’s rainingoutside the next morning when we’re released into the exercise yard, but I don’t mind. The rain clears my head, gives me a chance to breathe, to think. Lace, however, looks anything but refreshed as she cuddles up next to me in a big winter coat, hood drawn over her head, hands shoved into its pockets.
“Do you think Ronnie has someone on the outside?” she asks, tilting her head curiously to the side. “Like a husband, or a wife even? Maybe a kid or two?”
I draw my gaze away from the beautiful black sky and shrug.
“Probably. Don’t we all?”
Lace doesn’t say anything to this, and I regret the words at once.
“We all have somebody,” I say, taking her hand in mine and squeezing. “Whether it’s out there, or right in here.”
She smiles, naturally pale skin flushing crimson in the cold. I lean over to kiss her, and she kisses me back. She tastes good, like sugary mints.
“It kind of makes you think about how human we actually are.” Her eyes travel around the yard, from Ronnie to Lulu, past Camilla and Bull, and even Deadeye. “I mean, we’re someone else in here, you know? We’re criminals. Some of us are worse criminals than others, true, but that’s our identity. We stop being people as soon as we walk through those gates.”
I silently agree, letting my eyes travel from one woman to the next. I realize I don’t know anything about the other inmates; anything personal, anyway, and Lace is absolutely right. For all we know, Ronnie could have a kid. She could have five. Maybe she’s mom of the year, a devoted mother and wife.
Then again, maybe not. For all I know, she could be a psychopath outside of these prison walls, too.
“I guess the problem is that the women here don’t bring their personal lives along. It’s like … they turn into someone else.Somethingelse.”
“Maybe,” says Lace. “Or maybe they’re forced to be someone they’re not to survive in here.”
We both fall silent, pondering her words. I think of Julie again, my backstabbing twin sister, and ironically, the only person I’d been devoted to since our mother’s suicide. Apparently, you can’t trust anybody. Not even your own blood.
No wonder the women here are the way they are.
“Lace,” I say, lowering my voice. “I have to get that address somehow.”
“The address to the lodging place?” she asks. I’d told her all about it after my pow-wow with Jaxon yesterday. “Why?”
“I just—I need it.”
“Joey, you’re in prison. Even if you had it, it wouldn’t do any good.” Suddenly, Lace’s eyes go wide and her jaw drops, tone dropping a few decibels. “Unless … unless you’ve hired someone.”
“Hired someone for what?”
“You know what I’m talking about,” she says quietly, pretending to draw a sharp knife across the nape of her own neck. I can’t help it; I laugh.
“No, I haven’t hired a hitman. Like I could even find someone in time.” I rest my head on Lace’s shoulder, closing my eyes as sprinkles of rain falls over us. “Besides, if anyone’s going off my sister, it’s gonna be me.”
“Good luck with that.”
“You don’t think I can do it?” I sit up, sticking out my bottom lip in a pout. Lace giggles and pretends to push me away.
“I don’t think you could get out of here long enough to get the job done. What do you expect you’ll do, just waltz out of here for a day to kill your sister?”
“If I have to,” I mutter, and Lace turns toward me on the bench, taking my face between her hands.
“If you really need that address, I can get it for you.” Her fingers rub gentle circles around my temples, and I close my eyes again, enjoying the sensation.
“You can?”
