Page 97 of Shattered Pieces

“Nah, I’m just itching to punch someone, and Bryant said she has a problem to handle,” I chuckled. “Whatever you want. Cigarettes, snacks, anything. I’ll cover it.”

She looked thoughtful for a moment, nodding slowly. “Cigarettes and snacks for both girls?”

“Absolutely.”

“Deal. You just tell us when and we’ll make it work,” she agreed.

“Did you get newbies this morning?” Lexi asked, and Maxwell grumbled.

“Yep. Three. One’s been crying in her room since she was brought in, one’s done time before and was originally part of another block, and the other is being a kiss ass. You?”

“Two. One’s terrified, the other is cocky and keen. Keep an eye on them, I have a bad feeling with this group,” Lexi stated, not wanting to outright say they were a problem in case it bit us on the ass later.

“Noted. I’ll let you know if we have problems,” Maxwell answered before heading back to the others to continue their game of basketball.

“Now what?” I asked as we lit a cigarette each and sat on the bench close by.

“I need to bribe the creep and set a time. I have no idea how to get Anderson alone to pull it off though,” she muttered, looking around the yard.

“Is she in with any of the girls that you trust? Could you get them to convince her to shower at a set time and stand back when we get there?”

“Doubtful. Most of the girls that run with Grovers hate me,” she said with a wry smile.

“Is there a way I can start a fight with her that we have to finish elsewhere later?” I asked, but she snorted.

“No. The whole group would show up to give you a beat down.”

“How do you separate people in here?” I mumbled under my breath, deep in thought.

We were on the way back to our room when an idea popped into my head.

“Hey. Kat’s happy to hang out in the hole, right?” I asked, and Lexi winced.

“Happy? No. Willing, yes. Why?”

I dragged her the rest of the way to her room, shutting the door and speaking quietly so no one could hear us.

“Get her to start on the others. With Tina and her guard dogs out of the way, it would leave Anderson exposed,” I said enthusiastically.

“They all get tossed in the hole for a few days to cool off, giving us time to handle our shit without the risk of interruptions,” Lexi mused, looking hopeful. “I’ll ask Kat. It’s not like she cares about fucking up her criminal record more.” A weird sense of excitement hit me at being part of this, and Lexi rolled her eyes when she noticed. “You’re a strange girl, Donovan.”

I couldn’t really argue with that.

Things went smoothly with our plan. Kat and Tina got into it quickly at lunch, the other girls jumping in to help and making it worse. Anderson tried to get involved, but one of the other girls stepped in instead, giving us a lucky break.

Four of them were carted off to the hole, Kat putting on a damn good show as she tried to fight off the guards that dragged her away behind them, and I could see Jamie eyeing us from the other table with the newbies, a knowing look on her face.

Roberts looked like she was ready to cry, while Vines was grinning as she ate, finding the entire thing amusing.

“What the fuck was that?” Tilly asked quietly as she leaned closer.

“Kat’s just PMSing,” Lexi chuckled, picking at her food and looking bored.

“That was⁠—”

“Leave it, Matilda,” Lexi warned in a low voice, making her shut up. “Donovan, you stay with Tilly and Jamie. I need to go and find out how long Kat’s in for.”

Tilly didn’t seem to believe her, but I nodded and finished my lunch as she left. She wasn’t going to check on Kat, she was going to go and seduce the creepy guard.