Knuckle's jaw drops when Mace spills the beans to our table about the Lieutenant's gift this morning.
"Bridges?" he repeats, unable to believe he heard it right. "Gave him—what?"
"Brand name stuff you can't get in Commissary… even a fucking Valentine's card," Mace exaggerates, that familiar smirk playing on his lips as I kick at him in protest.
"It wasn't a—!" My voice is immediately drowned out by their laughing. Knuckle's found it so funny he's bent over our table cry-laughing. I can even hear the lightest chuckling from Domino across from me.
It amazes me that even in a place like this they can laugh so hard. Despite being the butt of their joke, I can't help a comforting warmth spreading out from my belly at their infectious laughter.
"I'm also confused about his gift," I admit after they've quieted. That, and why he beat Ox bloody last night.
"I really don't get it," Knuckle agrees, light eyes scanning me again. "I mean, you're not ugly, kid, but you're still a guy." He says it disapprovingly, and with that I know Knuckle is the kind of straight where he'd rather die a virgin the rest of his life than be with a man. "What makes you such a big deal to Bridges?"
"It's probably just that my case is high-profile," I muse, still searching for the real answer myself and hoping it's this innocent. "There were protests and things when I was sentenced… I gained a bonkers amount of subscribers and they shut down my account. The Warden is freaked out if anything happens to me, it'll make everything worse."
Knuckle blinks in an exaggerated way as if his mind is exploding with knowledge.
"You're a celebrity, kid?" he whispers as quiet as possible, smile widening. I am so mortified at the word I turn to Mace instead, finding it easier to defend myself with him; his grey eyes are kinder than usual.
"I was barely at fifty thousand subscribers before this whole thing blew up," I explain. "I didn't know it'd get out of hand. But Bridges, he—there's no special treatment because he gave me these."
Shoving my sleeves to my biceps, I throw up my elbows dramatically to display the darkening bruises on them; a physical reminder being pushed to the ground minutes after meeting the psycho Lieutenant.
I expect shocked indignation—gasps even—but not the stunned silence I get after my reveal.
"You're just proving us right, kid," Mace advises, tone gentle but serious. I hate that he doesn't believe me—he didn't witness the body-shaking, ground-throwing, or loathsome glaring that I did.
But one dangerous look from Mace when I open my mouth shuts me up. His eyes scream that I'll have time back in our cell to explain my side of things, so I drop it as they continue the conversation.
Knuckle makes an inappropriate joke about Bridges beating off in my shampoo, and Mace kicks him under the table.
"That's not fucking helping, Knuckle," he warns as the blonde rubs his shin and winces in pain. "Leave the kid alo—"
Mace startles me by standing up abruptly at my side. Looking up off the table—and blinking away unhelpful images of Bridges actually tainting my gifts—I watch as the scrawny man they referred to as Trip approaches us. Another inmate is right in tow with him.
Knuckle almost falls over himself as he rushes to stand up too. Domino, however, practically floats out of his seat and side-steps in front of me.
"Wow—the fresh meat must be really good to warrant all this," Trip teases, gesturing how all three are practically snarling protectively. Trip and company stop a short distance from us, but it's still not a comfortable amount of room, and Mace takes a step forward threateningly.
I am amazed that Trip hasn't shit his pants, considering the size difference between them all.
"Calm down, Gramps," Trip intones lowly, raising his hands in defense. Ox used that same nickname for Mace. "I'm just curious what happened to Ox."
The guards at the entrance of Third Block look like they are getting ready to break up a fight that hasn't even started, though they're right to be concerned. I watch the vein in Mace's neck straining with effort to hold himself back. He balls his fists at his side and growls out the next words dangerously.
"Ox is in confinement—where he belongs. Fuck off, both of you."
"Or what?" The inmate beside Trip is cocking his head and widening his eyes in an unhinged challenge. He's quite young; probably the youngest in Commons right now besides myself. His ginger hair is buzzed short, and he is almost entirely covered in freckles.
Mace almost takes the bait and starts to lunge forward; Knuckle manages to pull him back by the shoulder just in time.
"Give me a reason, Roo, I fucking dare you," Mace seethes, lifting his fist as if waiting for the word.
Roo. Mace has mentioned that name before.
"Everyone, settle down," Trip smiles. It's a dark, untrustworthy smile that doesn't reach his eyes. "Like I said, we're just here about Ox. Don't you think it's a bit weird? Fresh meat arrives, and same night he's put in confinement?"
I think what's even weirder is Trip's greasy straw-coloured hair and how long it's been since he's washed it.
The guards, who've been hesitating to act up to this point, decide it's enough. A sharp whistle sounds; it's so shrill and loud I cover my ears. Uniformed guards move in around us and two of them wrestle Mace out of his intimidating stance.
"That's it—move along. Back to your cells—I said back to your cells!"
All six of us are pulled from Commons and marched up the stairs, single file. Knuckle is behind me until we pass his cell. With his absence, my back is exposed to Trip and Roo. My heart explodes with that crippling fear I've only just managed to overcome, but a small, Mace-like voice in my head reminds me they'd be stupid to do anything with multiple guards escorting us.
Finally, it's just Mace and I at the end of the mezzanine. Guards gesture us to get into our cell but, I can't hold back the urge again. I already feel Ox's eyes on me. I turn my head slightly, peeking into Ox's window and I'm not even surprised to see him still there.
His face is still all busted up, but he smiles wide when I look at him. After everything that just happened in Commons, his next words are absolutely chilling.
"Welcome back, Kitty."