“Well, well, look what the pigs dragged in. If it isn’t Wesley fucking Dover, the Sheriff’s little fuck up.”
I know that voice. I know it too damn well.
My eyes snap up to see JP, the same kid that tried to terrorize me in juvie, waltzing up to me with his chest puffed out, that mocha colored skin now covered in tattoos from head to toe. He’s a lot bigger now, muscles eating muscles, his hair braided close to his head. There’s a scar above his left eyebrow, one that stretches all the way down to his cheek, and his left eye looks cloudy, like he’s lost some vision in it.
“JP, how are you? It’s been a long time.”
He cracks his knuckles. “I don’t see your usual posse with you. What’s the matter, Dover? They ditch ya?”
My friends would never ditch me on purpose, and he knows it. “Prison isn’t a good look for you, JP.”
His mouth pulls into a sneer. “Keep it up, Dover, and you won’t make it to your court date.” Four guys step up behind him, all of them pounding their fists into their palms like five against one is the fairest odds ever.
“Inmate Brown, that’s enough!” a correctional officer barks, stepping out from where he was standing against the wall.
I’ve been to actual jail twice before this. Every time I’ve gotten out after a few months, or spent a couple nights locked up before being released. This feels different.
“I’ll be seeing you around, Dover. Might want to sleep with one eye open.”
He and his posse move away from me, allowing me to eat my breakfast in peace. At least for the most part. A strange guy sits a few seats down from me, building some kind of sculpture out of his oatmeal and bacon. He looks up, grins, showing off an empty mouth of teeth, then goes back to sculpting. “I’m Picasso,” he says to his plate of food.
Someone slaps me on the back and takes a seat next to me. It’s a guy I remember from the last time I was locked up in Parr. “I knew I’d see you back here eventually,” Mack exclaims, lifting an eyebrow at Picasso a few seats down. “Didn’t I tell you to stay away from this place?”
I nod, relaxing a bit when I realize I do have friends here. Mack was one of the few guys I hung out with the last time I got locked up. They caught me boosting a Ferrari and gave me a year. My dad talked them down to two months and eight months of probation, but that was only because the judge owed him a favor. That won’t work too well now.
“It’s good to see a familiar face,” I mumble between miserable bites. The food here has always been awful.
He nods. “What brings you in this time?”
My Spork picks at my bowl of oatmeal, and I groan. “I guess attempted murder.”
Mack whistles. “Fuck, man. How’d you go from boosting cars to attempted murder?”
This oatmeal tastes like my future. Bleak. Bland. Ready to sit in a hole and die. There’s no way a judge is going to let me go this time, not with this track record.
“Met a girl, a guy tried to touch her, so I rearranged his face.”
Mack’s smile elongates, showing off a gold tooth that wasn’t there before. “Sounds like a pretty special girl.”
A laugh bubbles out of my throat. “Honestly, she fucking hates me. Loathes everything about my existence.” There’s a long pause before I briefly look up to meet his gaze. “But I’d do anything to protect her.”
He slaps me on the back. “Ah, one of those girls. I get ya. I have one of those myself. Her name is Melanie. We’ve been off and on for years, but no matter what, I’d do anything for her.”
“I’ve never dated mine before, though I would love to. She’s just a girl that I’ve become rather attached to. Her hatred towards me only makes me want her more.”
Mack’s eyes snap to the table where JP and his goons have removed the poor guy sitting there and commandeered it. “You need to be careful of him, Wesley. He’s not the same guy you met in juvie.”
“What’s he in for?”
His voice lowers so only I can hear. “Murder. Two counts. Killed his girlfriend and her lover mid fuck. You know, once a man has tasted blood, it becomes an addiction.”
The heat of JP’s glare can be felt from across the room.
“I’ll keep that in mind.”
“You think your dad’s going to bail you out again?”
I shake my head. “Nope, this time he’s going to make me serve my time and learn my lesson, so to speak.”
