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Siv laughs, flashing a smile, and I notice that many of her teeth are gone. A few of the others are capped with gold and silver. I resist the urge to cringe.
“Move along, ladies,” someone calls from behind us. It’s Ms. Armstrong, and I’ve never been more relieved to see the bitchy screw than now. Lulu shoots me one last dangerous look before she and Siv slink away like animals on the hunt. I take a deep breath to shake off the interaction and head to the cafeteria to join the others for dinner.
“What’s wrong?” Lace asks as I gather my food and sit down. Ronnie is there, and I know she knows, because she’s eying me without a word.
“Nothing,” I tell Lace, and force a smile to affirm it. I know she doesn’t believe me, but there’s nothing I can say. Not now, anyway.
“Any luck with your sis?” Camilla finishes off her carton of milk and pushes her tray to the side. I shake my head.
“Give it time, love,” says Sabine kindly. I smile at the older woman, wishing suddenly that I had a grandmother like her growing up. I can’t even imagine what she’s done to land in here, and I don’t care to. Not everyone in this place is bad. Some of them seemed to be good people who had done something bad.
Maybe some of them are even innocent, like me.
“Willis,” someone says behind us. It’s Jaxon. “The warden wants to see you.”
We all look at Lace, who looks just as confused as we feel.
“What for?” she asks Jaxon. He shrugs.
“Your work schedule, I think.”
“Whatever.” Lace kisses the top of my hand and slides out of her seat to follow Jaxon to the warden’s office. Sabine gets up for another carton of milk, and Camilla wanders off, probably back to the unit. Now it’s just Ronnie and me.
“You seem to be pretty popular with the warden and the screws around here,” she says, not looking at me. Her voice is low. She doesn’t want anyone to overhear us.
“Yeah, well, that’s bound to happen when your drug mules won’t stop following me around.” I hold nothing back, because I’m sick of it. I know Ronnie is the Boss, and I know she’s powerful. But I can’t do it; I can’t be her bitch like everyone else in the prison.
“Watch yourself,” Ronnie says. She’s smiling now, but it’s a horribly fake smile, and it makes bile rise in my throat. She leans forward across the tabletop, lips curling in a sneer. “It’s a dog eat dog world in here,” she whispers. “Don’t be the weak link in my prison, Joey. It’s not fitting for a woman like you.” She winks and gets up to walk away, shooting a knowing look at Lulu and Siv who are standing at the door of the cafeteria, watching us.
After dinner, I head back to the unit to meet Lace, who is already there waiting for me. She’s sitting on the couch in the common room, eyes on the TV, consumed in the black screen. She doesn’t seem to realize that I’m there until I sit down next to her.
“I don’t think I’ve seen this one before,” I say, tilting my head toward the TV. “Is it any good?” Lace smiles, but something about it seems forced. She’s quiet. I glance over my shoulder to make sure no one is prying and lower my voice. “What’s wrong?”
“Wrong? Nothing. Nothing is wrong.” She’s no longer smiling.
“What did the warden want?”
Just as Lace opens her mouth to answer, Ronnie bursts into the common room, fire lit on her face. She spots us and her face tightens. For a moment, I think she might attack us.
“What’s wrong, love?” Sabine asks Ronnie, coming out of her cell. “You look upset.”
“Cell toss,” breathes Ronnie, her eyes still on me. “Now.”
“Shit,” says Camilla, coming in after Ronnie. “I hate when they do this.”
“Do what?” I ask Lace. “What’s a cell toss?”
“Stand by your door,” she tells me, dragging me to my feet. “Just stand there and let them do it.”
“Do what?” At that moment, Mia Armstrong and Nick Jaxon come into our unit and close the gates behind them.
“Cell toss, ladies,” calls Mia, nodding at Jaxon. “You know the drill.”
There is no more explanation as Mia and Jaxon begin tearing apart our cells, looking for paraphernalia. As we all stand by the doors of our cells, they rip the blankets off our beds and the sheets from the mattresses. Mia pulls my books off the shelf, peering behind them. They look under the toilet and behind our sinks. They even rip people’s photos off the wall.
“Fuck,” I say. “This is ridiculous. Mr. Jaxon, what’s going on?”
He ignores me, which is probably the right thing to go, because Ronnie still has her eyes on me, and giving her any reason to despise me more than she already does is the last thing I need.
