Page 42 of Shattered Pieces

“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.