One Chance, Fancy

by Vale, Lani Lynn

  Snorting, I allowed Phoebe to lead me through each security checkpoint, receiving good-natured jibes as we went, and finally arrived at the long hallway that would lead me to my office, and Fancy to her hallway that would lead her deeper into the prison, to the infirmary.

  Something in my gut clenched at the thought of her being too far away from me, but I put it up to worry at the few phone calls I’d received from Ilsa this morning promising retribution for the papers I filed against her for permanent custody of Isa with Ilsa’s termination of rights.

  “Take care of yourself, baby,” I ordered, pulling her into my chest.

  She pressed a kiss to my chin, then pushed away. “I will. You, too.”

  Winking at her, I watched her walk away, then gave Rome, who was on infirmary duty today, a look that clearly said ‘take care of her.’

  He nodded once, understanding the warning look in my eyes, and opened the bars that separated that wing from mine with a nod at the man in the guard station. Thomas waited for Phoebe to pass through and then closed them with a loud clang.

  I watched until I couldn’t see them anymore, and then went into my office to get some work done.

  It took another ten minutes before the representative with the state came in, made me sign off on some paperwork, and then told me to keep my nose clean until next year.

  The feeling of relief as I watched her leave the lot, and then the grounds altogether, was exhilarating.

  Once I saw the last of her taillights, I went back to work, trying to play catch up on some work that never seemed to end.

  That lasted for all of ten minutes before the warning sirens indicating an altercation of some sort sounded throughout the alarm system.

  I was up and looping my utility belt around my waist in about five seconds flat.

  It took me three minutes and thirty-two seconds to get to the area where the riot had broken out—the family visiting area.

  I cursed and took in a quick glance of the room.

  There were fourteen men in the room, all cuffed and chained, and six guards. Two men were going at it on the ground while the guards tried to break up the fight.

  Normally we’d just let them duke it out seeing as it was only two men, but with this being in the visiting area with about a hundred people looking on, some that were talking to the inmates, and others that were sitting in chairs behind them waiting their turn, we needed to step in.

  On the inmate side, the majority of the men were all backed away from the fight lining the walls. They wanted to visit with their family, and they knew that if I arrived and saw a riot, or what I thought would be a riot, I’d be issuing orders that would soon have them in their cells for the next few days.

  Something in which they certainly didn’t want.

  “All right, you two,” I barked loudly as I waded into the fight. “That’s enough.”

  The younger of the two men, a white male in his late twenties, stiffened and immediately stopped fighting.

  “Nope. No. Nuh-uh,” the man said. “I refuse to be a part of this. I don’t want those damn drugs that bad.”

  I frowned and looked at the man with a new understanding. “What are you talking about?”

  His eyes went wide when he realized that he was the one with my attention now, and not the man currently under my boot.

  “I…” he squeaked. “I don’t know. I’m, well, what?”

  “Take this one to the infirmary.” I pointed at the man under my boot.

  Derringer, who’d come up to hear the talking, nodded his head once and hefted inmate #3567, better known as Ben O’Rourke, the man who liked to kill his girlfriends when they moved on.

  “After you, O’Rourke.” Derringer pushed/carried O’Rourke to the first guard station where they cuffed him.

  Once they were gone, I turned to inmate #5535 and said, “Get him up and take him to the infirmary, too. Let’s get his bleeding stopped.”

  My orders were followed instantly by another guard, this one a young guard named Jonesy that had been here for a little over a month.

  Once Jonesy had him started in the infirmary’s direction, I turned to the remaining guards. “Go get the other two guards that are on break and have them get settled in here for the time being. Let’s get this wave of visitors through, then shut it down. Understand?”

  The oldest and most senior guard nodded. “Will do.”

  With that, I was giving each inmate a look that clearly said, ‘disobey me and face the consequences.’

  They all got the point, and I left the room to head to the infirmary.

  Twenty minutes later, we were all in the same room, and I was pissed.

  O’Rourke had Derringer on him still. I was on the new kid, Kickey, inmate #5535 and Rome was standing next to Phoebe with his feet planted wide and his arms crossed over his chest, ready for anything.

  Then there was Diane, flitting around like she hadn’t a care in the world.

  I turned to Kickey and glared. “Explain.”

  The man swallowed hard. His eyes turned to O’Rourke, then Diane of all people, and then he started to spill.

  “We were to start fights while she did her thing,” Kickey said, looking like he was a caged animal. “She smuggled in the drugs in her clothes, and then we paid her by doing things for her, like kick a certain guy’s ass. Or get some information that she wanted.”

  My brows rose. “Really?”

  Diane looked like she was about to be sick.

  “Yeah,” he said. “That’s what the fight was about with ol’ O’Rourke. I wanted some shit that would take me away from this place for a while. She said she could give it to me…for a price.” He swallowed hard. “All I had to do was deliver a message in the form of an ass kicking and she’d give me my stuff when I visited the infirmary.”

  I flicked my gaze back to Diane to see her green around the gills now. Oh, and she was slowly making her way to the door.

  I wasn’t the only one to have caught the action, either. Phoebe and Rome both noticed and were also slowly easing toward the door.

  “I wasn’t supposed to say anything, but Jesus Christ, she said that whatever happened, I wouldn’t have to deal with you!” He started to cry then, and I pinched the bridge of my nose with my thumb and pointer finger.

  “Fix him up, Phoebe,” I said softly. “Then we can send him back to gen pop.”

  “That’ll get his ass kicked,” Rome pointed out. “O’Rourke is pretty popular. Plus, he has the backing of a few of the baddest of asses out there. You send him out, he’s going to die.”

  I growled low in my throat. “Son of a fucking bitch!”

  Kickey flinched.

  I got even more pissed. “O’Rourke is twice your goddamn size. What the fuck were you thinking?”

  O’Rourke started to laugh.

  I turned a glare on him.

  “He’s fat! How was I supposed to know that he’d have a right hook like an anvil?” Kickey grumbled.

  I groaned. “Take him back to his cell. He can spend the next week there while I think about what I’m supposed to do with his stupid ass so he won’t get killed.”

  Rome nodded. “There’s nothing really wrong with him, though. Just a broken nose and those can’t be fixed.”

  I walked up to Kickey and inspected his face. Then lifted my hand and roughly yanked his nose back into place, causing him to scream.

  I nodded once at Rome. “Okay, he can go.”

  Rome gave me a look that said ‘what about her?’ and I shrugged. “I’ll handle it.”

  Rome moved toward Kickey, and Diane made a run for it.

  Phoebe stuck her foot out and tripped Diane, causing her to fall to the floor.

  “Oh, shit.” Phoebe sounded almost genuine in her words. “Are you okay? I didn’t see you there.”

  Diane groaned and rolled over, trying to scramble up to her knees.

  I stopped her by walking up to her
and standing over her head. “Don’t bother getting up.”

  Then I dropped down and threaded a pair of handcuffs around her wrists, then propped her up so that she was leaning against the wall. “Now, explain.”

  Diane sniffled. “I don’t have enough money!”

  I frowned at her. “For that reason, you decided to start selling drugs to my prison population?”

  Diane looked away. “I needed the money, and somebody offered it to me. Who was I to say no?”

  “Who?” I asked.

  She licked her lips. “Someone.”

  “Someone…who?” I paused. “And think very carefully here. I can get you into a place where this prison seems like a cakewalk. I know plenty of people being who I am.”

  Diane swallowed. “A woman. She hates you. I don’t know her name. She pays in cash. She has a kid, though. Looks exactly like you. At least, she did. I haven’t seen that kid in a while.”

  My eyes lifted up and met Phoebe’s on the back side of Diane. She was thinking the exact same thing that I was.

  Ilsa.

  Son of a bitch.

  “Anything else?” I asked, trying to come off as neutral as possible and doing a terrible job at it.

  Rage was a live thing inside of me, and I wanted nothing more than to unleash it on the woman in front of me, and the woman that was plotting to fuck up my life behind my back.

  “N-no,” Diane stuttered. “Nothing else. She texts me when and what to do, and I do the stuff on my end.”

  I stood up stiffly, then pulled my phone out of my pocket and called the cops.

  Castiel arrived with two more cops an hour later, and by that time we had Little Miss Fuck-My-Life-Up on the front stairs with about thirty pissed off family members that’d been hoping to see their family today and were pissed that they couldn’t.

  “You can thank her,” I wanted to say to the family members. Instead, I kept my expression neutral and waited for Castiel to get Diane in the squad car before I said, “Come to my office and I’ll tell you what happened.”

  I was eyeing the family members that looked like they were getting more pissed by the minute.

  “Hey, do you realize it took me three hours to drive here?” someone called out.

  “Yeah, it took me four!” someone else bellowed.

  I turned to gaze at the crowd. “I have the right to take away family day just like you have the right to come visit the inmates. I’m sorry that an unplanned prison fight in the family room area happened today, but it was out of my control.”

  “I’m calling the newspaper,” came another reply. “Maybe they’ll want to know what you’re doing here.”

  I ignored him and started up the walk, Castiel at my back.

  “Loitering is an arrestable offense. I suggest you move along by the time I get back out.” He paused at the top of the stairs. “Book her, Danno.”

  Danno, better known as Daniel, just nodded and circled around his cruiser.

  Castiel followed me inside.

  By the time we made it to my office, I wasn’t surprised to find Phoebe there, sitting in my chair, waiting for me to arrive.

  She was surprised that I had a guest, though.

  Otherwise she might not have been twirling around in the chair like a five-year-old. Putting one foot on the ground, she’d spin it wildly, then pull her foot back up so that it would go faster.

  She came to a stop when she noticed us standing in the doorway watching her, amusement on Castiel’s face and a look of relief on mine.

  Her eyes were wide, and her head was bobbing on her shoulder as she tried to find her equilibrium again.

  “Anyway, what happened?” Castiel finally asked.

  I sighed, fighting a smile and pushed inside the small room, kicking out one of the guest chairs for Castiel to sit in while I leaned against the wall.

  “I’ve been having fights, bad fights, all month,” I started. “Hell, if I’m being honest, it’s gone on for almost two, but I can’t tell if those were normal fights or fights related to what I learned today.”

  I then went on to explain that Diane was offering the inmates payments in drugs and other stuff I hadn’t cared to ask for in exchange for starting fights, and even better if it happened to cause a riot.

  “Why?” Castiel asked.

  “Apparently she’s been paid by a woman,” I said.

  “You forgot the part that the woman had a kid that looked ‘exactly like you,’” Phoebe said.

  I turned to her. “I was getting there.”

  “Well get there faster. I’m ready to go home. I want to take these pants off, and I want to lay down on my couch,” she snapped.

  I felt my lips twitch. “You mean, you’re ready to go home and lay down on our couch.”

  Her eyes went soft. “Yeah, that.”

  I turned back to Castiel, who was watching us both with amusement.

  “Anyway,” I said softly. “There’s no doubt in my mind that this all has to do with Ilsa.”

  “I’ll get a sketch artist in and get Diane’s description of the woman,” Castiel stood. “And I’ll find out the rest. I’m sure there’s more.”

  “She has these stacks of inmate meds that she faxes out at the end of the day,” Phoebe said softly. “You might check to see if there’s anything in there that might help you find out what more she was doing.”

  Castiel nodded and stood to go. “I’ll do that, but I have to go. They won’t like holding her without knowing what they’re holding her for.”

  With that, he was gone, and I was looking at Phoebe with a wary expression on my face.

  “I have a few other things to sort out here,” I said softly. “Do you think you can go get Isa and get her dinner? Shit, this is hard.”

  Phoebe stood and rounded my desk, walking straight to me.

  “Even if you didn’t have me,” she said softly. “You have a whole club that’s willing to do just about anything for you. You’re not alone.” Then she pressed her mouth to mine. “And with me at your side, you won’t ever be by yourself, even if you’re club miraculously isn’t.”

  I pulled her in for a hard and fast kiss.

  “Love.” Kiss. “You.” Kiss.

  She snickered and wrapped her arms as tight around me as she could and squeezed. “Love you, too.”

  “This is such a mess.” I sighed.

  “My guess is that she knew this was coming,” Phoebe said softly. “Ilsa must’ve known that things were about to go south for her, and she did the only thing she could, make your life difficult. Bonus points if you happen to die in the process.”

  Rage once again started to churn in my belly.

  I disentangled myself from her arms and started to make my way outside, only for Phoebe to latch onto my wrist and hold on tight.

  I could’ve easily slipped free of her hold, but that wasn’t the point. This was Phoebe. My Fancy. I wouldn’t do that to her.

  “Don’t,” she said softly. “This will work out. I know it.”

  “This won’t work out,” I said softly. “She’s paying my staff to fuck with my prison. These men are some of the most dangerous men in the world. The only thing that keeps them in line is me and the guards. If she can figure out how to do this, I have no doubt in my mind that she can figure out other ways to fuck with me, too.”

  Oh, how right I was.

  And oh, how I wish I hadn’t been.

  Chapter 19

  I’ve never cleaned a crime scene, but I have cleaned out my car…so same thing, right?

  -Phoebe to Bayou

  Phoebe

  I snuggled one of the twins—the clean one—to my chest and breathed in his baby scent.

  My sister, who was bathing the non-clean one, started to laugh.

  “When are you having one?” she teased.

  I shook my head. “Not any time soon. I’m fairly sure that if I was pregnant, I’d be fired from my job from the
most overprotective man in the world.”

  Pru made a snorting sound. “That I can more than see.”

  I could, too.

  The moment that I turned up pregnant, Bayou would go into super protective mode and either fire me or temporarily sideline me until I was no longer pregnant. Either way, it wouldn’t be good—at least not for my sanity.

  “Anyway, as for now, we’re going to focus on Isa there.” I gestured to the girl that was sitting on the counter next to where Pru was bathing the twins. “And honestly, we haven’t even discussed kids. I don’t even know if he wants anymore.”

  Pru looked at Isa, then smiled. “He hasn’t had much time with Isa. Nor have you had it with each other, if I’m being truthful. But, saying that, neither did I with Hoax, and I couldn’t be happier. Though, I would recommend not having two at once.”

  I looked at my sister and laughed. “Like that is something that I can control.”

  She sighed. “You’re right. My luck, I’ll have another set of twins the next time we decide to try, and you’ll have all singles.”

  One could only hope.

  I sighed. “I have to go check on Phantom and exercise her.”

  “If you’ll go out there and hand him off to Hoax, I’d love you forever,” she pleaded.

  I did as requested only after I situated a new diaper over Dean’s cute little tushy.

  “Here ya go,” I said as I handed Dean to Hoax and then tossed him the cute little sleeper with baby owls on it that I’d managed to grab as I’d put the diaper on. “I have to go.”

  Hoax took Dean into the crook of his arm, then squeezed his eyes tight as I hit him in the face with the sleeper.

  “You know, my favorite sister is Piper,” he teased.

  My brows rose. “Piper is a bitch. I love the bitch, but still, she’s a bitch.”

  He snorted as he pulled the sleeper away from his face. “I wouldn’t really know. I’ve only met her a handful of times, and talked to her about twice that.”

  I yawned wildly as I turned to head to the other room.

  “You’ll get there,” I told him. “She’s in the nice stages right now. Making you unable to hate her while she reels you in with her false niceness.”