“Sorry about all of this,” he says.
“No, no. I get it. Perks of being on the Watch List, huh?”
“Yes.” He grimaces.
“Thank you,” I murmur.
Drake nods. He doesn’t need me to clarify.
“Don’t mention it,” he mutters, his tone low but urgent.
“You’re one of the good ones. Why are you in a place like this anyhow?”
“My sister.”
“What about her?”
Drake just shakes his head.
"No storytime with my meal, huh? That's all right."
I take my time eating, though. If this is the little bit of freedom I get, I’m going to milk it for all its worth.
I’m about halfway done when I can’t stand the silence anymore. “Trevan and Spring have a history. Did you know that?”
Drake nods. “They grew up next door neighbors. She’s older than most of those who attend Light Fae Academy. You were eighteen when you started, right?”
“Yeah.”
“She was twenty-four already.”
“What?”
“Yep. Trevan’s twenty-five. Only a year older. She’s always been obsessed with him. At least, that’s what I’ve pieced together. Trevan doesn’t talk much about her. I think he hates her. I mean, a lot of the guards have a few prisoners here who they have issues with more than most, but Trevan’s only really bothered by her.”
I nod. I know why, but I’m not going to share that little detail.
My heart swells, though, knowing that Trevan shared a deep, dark secret with me. He cares for me. He has to, or else he wouldn’t have shared that with me.
“I hate that she’s hurt so many people,” I murmur.
“Yes, well, nothing can be done about that now, can it? We just have to take things as they come, do what we can to try to survive and move on, you know?”
“Yes, but there’s more to it than that, isn’t it?”
“What do you mean?”
“Why are you a guard?”
“I don’t want to discuss that.”
I blow out a breath. “Fair enough. What do you want to get out of being a guard?”
“Bay, you need to finish eating.”
I take a bite like a good little fairy and stare at him with wide eyes.
He chuckles and shakes his head. “You’re too much, you know that?”
I shrug a shoulder. “Maybe a little.”
“Why do you want to know?”
“I don’t understand why you, a fairy with clearly a large heart, would want to work here at such a terrible place. You take no pleasure in any of it. I understand why dark fae are used as guards here because you have to be a bit twisted and dark to do what’s required. The severing of magic, the root… Anything else I should know about?”
“You don’t want to lose sleep tonight, do you?”
“I don’t know how much sleep I’ll be getting tonight.”
“Why’s that?” he asks.
I finish eating before replying, “I don’t know if she’ll let me.”
“You’ll both be tied up. As much as I would love for only her to be, I can’t risk it.”
“I don’t want you to risk anything for me,” I inform him.
“Oh, and I left her gag off.”
“That’s fine. I’m sorry about the arguing earlier.”
“She sure knows how to get under your skin.”
“I fight back, whether with fists or words.” I shrug.
“You shouldn’t have to deal with all of this.”
“Cosmo,” I murmur.
He blinks at my change in subject.
“When did he transfer?” I ask.
“From the academy to here? A few minutes after you were arrested. Yeah, we all know he’s here for you.”
“The warden knows too?” My mouth grows dry.
“I don’t see how he doesn’t, but he and Cosmo talked, so I guess everything’s fine.”
“Good. That’s good.”
“You and him…”
“We have a history,” I say slowly.
“It just in the past?”
“I don’t know what I want. I don’t know what he wants. My life is one big, giant mess.”
“It’ll get better.”
“Or it’ll get worse.” I shrug and laugh. “I’m sure it can get worse, but I’m here because of me.”
I’m shocked. A part of me wants to tell him everything about my past, but he hasn’t opened up to me, not about himself. Until and unless he does, I see no reason for me to go ahead and admit things that I wish didn’t tarnish my life’s record.
“I realize that you have done some things that earn your place here,” he says slowly, “but in my experience working as a guard, I can tell when someone is truly gone and lost to the darkness versus when the darkness uses them.”
“Great. So darkness has fucked with me, but I didn’t even orgasm,” I complain.
He doesn’t laugh. He’s too serious for that.
“You don’t belong here, Bay. If I can help you to get out of here, I will.”
My breathing hitches, and I gape at him.
“You know Cosmo would do anything and everything for you,” he continues.
“I think Trevan might too,” I murmur. “Maybe together—”
Drake clears his throat. “Finish eating.”
“Yes, sir.”
I finish and glance around. No one else is around, so why he stopped us from talking, I don't know, but I heed the warning just the same.
Still, I ask, “Can you help with Spring?”
"Be careful, but… think like a dark fae."
I nod.
“Shouldn’t be too hard for you,” he adds casually. “Didn’t you have a demon for a boyfriend before?”
29
Drake brings me back to the cell, and I hop on over to sit down. Spring has her head down, but she's not sleeping. She's been lying in wait, ready to pounce. I can tell. Any second now, she'll make a move.
As soon as my ass touches my flat mattress, she springs up, ripping her arms apart. The rope flies, and her arms are free.
I rock back on my mattress, bringing my legs up, and I kick her as hard as I can in the stomach. I miss, and my feet collide with her ribs. A loud snapping sound echoes in the cell. I might’ve just broken a rib or two, but does that slow down Spring at all?
Not a chance.
She lunges at me, and I duck down. Either Drake didn’t tie her knots tight enough, which I doubt, or else maybe she has a stash of fairy dust somehow.
With a wild shriek, Spring goes to her bed. She dumps off the mattress.
Whatever she’s looking for, I don’t want her to have, so I scramble after her. My knots are loose, but not loose enough for me to free myself, but I just go up behind Spring and capture her head within my arms. I yank my arms upward so that the rope catches on her throat.
“Are you going to stop?” I demand.
“Not a chance!” she roars.
So much for her trying to keep our fighting on the down-low so no one will know, but no one is cheering us on. No one is clapping or calling for the guards.
We’re on our own. Somehow, she convinced the others to let us go at it.
Fine. Whatever. I don’t need anyone’s help.
Spring slams her head back. Just in time, I turn my head to the side, so she slams into my cheek instead of my nose. It still stings, but it could've been worse.
She ducks down, slams her elbow into my gut, and I go down, wheezing. Immediately, she’s back at her bed, but I have to let her go. In seconds, I’ve undone my wrists. My arms are free next, but my ankles remain bound as she rips a chunk of the metal frame right out of the stone wall.
The fuck is up with her strength?
Spring swings with the jagged metal piece, and I hop back again and again and then duck. Air whooshes overhead. That had been too close!
I go down on one knee, or at least I try to. I
can’t because of the rope, but I’m low enough that her next swing also misses me. Quickly, I roll beneath what’s left of her frame and untie my feet.
Spring jumps onto her bed. I roll out, but I’m not fast enough. The metal frame juts down, carving into the back of my left calf.
I bite back a scream, hating the feel of my warm blood gushing down my leg as I force myself to stand.
Spring laughs and laughs and launches at me. I judge where she’ll land, back up so she won’t be on top of me, and now I finally go down onto one knee. The metal piece barely misses me, and I glide forward on that knee, wrap my arms around her knee, and then just drive her backward. Her head slams into the ground, and I grab her wrist with both hands. I bash her hand against the stone floor until she releases the jagged metal piece, which goes flying. I’m not sure where it lands, but I can’t worry about that now because Spring is trying to punch me.
I block her blows at first but then rain down punches on her, even elbows. At one point, my elbow connects with her nose, and blood gushes. I still keep going, though, because she’s punching me too.
Until she wraps her legs around me. Her legs drive me back, and I can’t reach her face to punch her anymore.
She lifts her hips but not to bump me. Not this time. No, she’s dragging us on the stone floor.
Closer to the metal piece, maybe?
Fuck that shit.
I dig my elbow hard into the meat of her thigh and force that leg down. Immediately, I slide my knee over that leg to hold it in place, and then I swing my body over so that we’re chest to chest, my one knee by her ear, the other by her ribs.
She wiggles and struggles beneath me, but I bring one knee back to hit her in the ribs and then the other against her head. Spring’s shouting something, but I can’t make out the words. If she is high on fairy dust, she’s not happy, that’s for sure.
Spring shoves me aside. Her strength is back, but I kick out my legs, forcing all of my weight to be down on her. Before she can react, I grab her jumpsuit and then drop her hard against the stone floor.
She grabs my throat and squeezes. This time, her grip is impossible from the start, and my sight is almost black right from the get go. My eyes shut because seeing the blackness with my eyes open freaks me out, and I lift up her jumpsuit again and again. Her head connects with the stone again and again.
I can't breathe. My lungs are burning.
She's killing me.
I’m killing her.
One more thud, and that’s it. I can’t handle this anymore. I’m going to die.
But then I feel wetness against the hand bracing me on the floor. The hand around my neck loosens, and I dare to open my eyes.
My breathing is frantic and desperate as I stare down at her dead form. It was kill or be killed.
Every time it’s going to come down to that, I will choose kill. Every single time.
Whatever it takes to survive, I will do it. This place won’t be the death of me, and I will find a way out of here, hopefully with the help of three sexy guards.
30
The cell clicks open, and I drag myself away from Spring.
“It was… I didn’t mean… I didn’t want to. I had no choice,” I babble.
My vision still isn’t perfect yet, and I blink frantically, trying to focus on the guard.
“Trevan?” I ask doubtfully.
“Yes.”
“Oh, thank the moon. I… She… She came at me, and I didn’t… I had no choice. I did what I needed to survive.”
“I know. Come with me.”
For new clothes? I hope. To get medicine to heal? I hope that too, but no. That’s not the case.
Trevan says nothing, and I have to practically run to keep up with him. We head to a part of the prison I’ve never been to before. It’s darker here, colder too, and there’s no life whatsoever, not in the stones, not anywhere.
“Trevan, where is this place?” I murmur.
“Go in here.”
The cell he leads me to has a solid door. I just know that inside isn’t a bed, isn’t a window. Nothing at all.
“Solitary? Are you fucking kidding me? Why couldn’t I have been sent here before to be kept safe from her? Why the fuck wasn’t she sent here after killing not one but two fucking roommates?”
Trevan opens the door. “Go inside, Bay.”
“That’s it. That’s all you have to say? Are you pissed because I killed her? Because I didn’t murder her. She came at me. It was self-defense!”
He says nothing.
“Check the cell. I’m sure you’ll find that she managed to get her hands on some fairy dust. Maybe you should be trying to see who the fuck is supplying prisoners with… A guard. It has to be a guard.” I stare at him.
A flicker of something crosses his features.
For a moment, I wonder if he did it, if he gave it to her. Maybe he lied about himself and Spring. Maybe he fooled and played all of us, including Drake, but no. That’s not Trevan.
“You’re just doing what you’re ordered to do, aren’t you?” I ask softly. “Fine. I’ll go in. I’m still uber pissed, but not with you. For what it’s worth. If you care.”
His lips curl into the tiniest of smiles, and I know for certain that he didn’t do it. He’s still a fucker for putting me in here, but I might be more willing to forgive him. If he can make it up to me. Maybe I’ll daydream about how he can.
I go inside, and he shuts the door.
Time passes. I have no idea how long. When the door finally opens, I’m thrilled, even more so when I realize the guard is Cosmo.
But then he closes the door behind him.
“Cosmo?” I murmur. “What are you doing?”
“Bay, I just wanted to talk. Is that all right?”
“Yes, we can talk. Got any food on ya? I’m starving.”
He chuckles and hands me something. A bar. I unwrap it and take a bite. It’s delicious, whatever it is. Chocolate and nutty…
“What is this?”
“A human candy bar. Do you like it?”
“I love it. Thank you.”
“You’re welcome.”
My eyes had been adjusted to the entire darkness that is inside the cell. His opening means I have to wait for them to adjust again. I hear rather than see him sit against a wall, and I feel around for him so that I can sit next to him.
“What’s it like?” I ask.
“What’s what like?”
“Being a guard.”
“Here or at the academy?”
“Either.”
“At the academy? I loved it. Well, loved and hated it. I thought that having a second chance at life, you know, with Thistle going after me, with my surviving… I thought it meant I was supposed to help keep people safe. That’s why I became a guard.”
“Then why transfer here?” I murmur.
“Being a guard at the academy didn’t stop the bedlam, didn’t stop the mayhem.”
“I’m sure the academy is a perfectly safe place now that I’m not there to be a bad influence on everyone,” I mutter.
“You didn’t cause all of that,” he protests.
"No? I supplied the fairy dust. Thistle fell for Rosemary because of her solving the first crime spree, so he started the second one. And then, the third, obviously…"
“Yes, but you didn’t directly cause any of those crimes.”
“No? Because Zoth killed Professor Luna because of me. Don’t forget that detail.”
“You have to stop—”
“And I killed Spring. Self-defense, yes, but now I’m going to be stuck in here forever. Cosmo, get out. Transfer back to the academy. It’ll be nice and boring and—”
“Fuck boring,” he says.
I laugh. “I know, I know. You want daring adventures, but you won’t get that here?”
“Are you sure about that?”
“Yes.”
“I think you’re wrong.”
“Never tell a woman she’s wrong
. What a rookie mistake. Come on, Cosmo! You’re better than that!”
“You know me better than that,” he says, his tone serious.
“I do know you.”
“And you understand me.”
“You and I, we’re a lot alike.”
“Exactly alike.”
“Too much alike?” I murmur.
“I don’t think so.”
“But…”
“You’re afraid. After everything you went through with Spring, you’re afraid of a conversation.”
“Who says I’m afraid?” I retort.
“You’re trembling.”
“I am not.”
He reaches over and touches my lips. “You are.”
Fuck. I am.
“Cosmo…”
“We haven’t while sober,” he whispers.
“We haven’t, but I want to.”
“You want to right now, don’t you?”
I nod. Can he see me?
“I can see you.” He chuckles. “I can see you, and I see everything.”
“My flaws, huh?”
“You’re beautiful because of your flaws.”
“If you say so.”
“I do. You should trust me.”
“Why?”
“Because I won’t break or hurt you.”
“What if I’m used to being hurt?”
"Then, I'll do what I can to help soothe that and change your normal."
“And if…”
I want to ask if he isn't enough to keep me happy, but that's so fucking selfish, and at this moment, he is all I need.
Tears stream down my face as he cups my cheeks and presses a tender kiss to my lips. Fuck tender, though. I rip off his clothes, and then he goes to remove my clothes.
I laugh as he touches my cleavage. “You didn’t see me when you had the door open?” I ask.
“No. It was dark inside. It still is.”
“I removed my black jumpsuit. I’m wearing what I wore to this place.”
“Fuck me,” he says with a sigh as he runs his hands over my body to feel my clothes.
“Don’t mind if I do.”
I allow him to remove my clothes, and he proceeds to worship my body, paying every inch of me attention. He loves my body, that’s clear to see.
But I think he might just love me.
Dark Fae Penitentiary: First Transgression Page 14
