Darren whipped his head in the direction of the counters and squinted at the sad-looking fake meat curry and dry rice. “Don’t bother. Just the fruit will do.”
“I heard it’s bananas today,” Nyle mused, his smile turning sultry as he licked his lips.
Darren didn’t miss the insinuation. He let his eyes roam Nyle’s body with intent, then stepped in and stroked Nyle’s delicate jaw. “Definitely save me one. And make sure you get the evening kitchen shift so we can go over the stuff together. I’ll see you later.”
Nyle crossed his arms and grinned. “You don’t have to worry about that. I’m already on it. Catch you later.”
With that, the blond man left to join the queue for lunch. Darren watched for a few more minutes until everyone was too focused on the shitty food to pay him any mind, and made his way to the gate on the floor above. His guard buddies—Mike and Louis—were on duty, just like he had hoped based on what he knew about the staff rotations.
“What brings you here, Howe?” the redhead, Mike, said in a voice that sounded a little snappier than usual.
A bad feeling settled in Darren’s stomach, but he forced it down and smiled. “Heard you got a nasty cold. Glad to see you are back.”
Mike frowned, sniffling. His shoulders tensed and he shifted his taser gun from one arm to the other. Along withthe bracelets, the guards at the gates carried guns with higher voltage as well.
“What do you want, Howe?” he demanded in a low growl, and it became clear to Darren that Mike was definitely not in a good mood.
Great.
Catching Louis’ gaze, Darren said, “We are short on pasta for dinner, like I told Louis we’d be the other day. The kitchen staff sent me to get some from the storage area.”
Louis glanced at Mike from under slanted eyebrows. “Yeah, uh… We forgot to get that on Thursday, so gotta go now, Mike.”
Mike didn’t look like he was following. Or buying any of it.
Fuck.
Darren gave Louis a meaningful look. They had anarrangement, and he really didn’t have time to explain now, especially since Mike didn’t look like he was particularly interested in cooperating.
Nerves swamping him, Darren shifted his weight. He needed to get the boxes before his window of opportunity passed and the rest of the staff was back from break. An inmate had no business in the storage areas outside the allotted times and those were only on Mondays and Thursdays, so if they didn’t go now, he’d have to wait another full day at the very least when he already had dozens of clients lined up for tonight.
Mike rubbed the side of his head and turned to Louis. “The fuck is going on?”
Darren flinched internally. The last thing he needed was to cause a scene and get his and Nyle’s little smuggling ring shut down before they’d even realized any profits. Louis was supposed to have briefed Mike or whoever thesecond guard on duty would be today, but by the looks of things, he’d failed to do that. Darren had a pretty good guess as to the reason already: after all, why split the profit with a buddy if you can take it all for yourself, right?
He really should’ve seen that coming, but he’d thought Louis wouldn’t try to screw Mike over, considering how tight those two were.
“Nothing, I told you,” Louis tried, staring at his shoes. “Kitchen needs more pasta, so Howe and I will go get it.”
Darren wanted to punch Louis. He couldn’t have made it more obvious that he was lying.
Mike didn’t miss that either. “The fuck you are!” he grumbled, aiming his angry mug Darren’s way. “Howe put you up to something and you two think you can pull it off without me.”
There it was, the real issue. Whether it was because he was still a little sick, or because it was just one of those days when a guard decided he was due a power trip, Darren didn’t know, but the fact that his entire plan was about to be ruined remained.
“C’mon, Mike. Like I would do that!” Louis tried to defend, but it only made Mike’s expression turn even sourer.
“Hell yeah, you are! You think I’m stupid or something, huh?”
Anxiety twisted Darren’s stomach as he watched the two men argue. Things were escalating quickly and he was running out of time. Squaring his shoulders and taking a deep breath, he cleared his throat and stepped between them. Both guards clamped their mouths shut and looked at him, anger and dejection ruling on their faces as they put some distance between themselves.
Squeezing his hands into fists, Darren said, “Okay, Mike. Here’s the deal. I have to pick up a few boxes of stuff from outside. My… associate and I are scaling up. You were supposed to be in on that”—he glared pointedly at Louis, though not too pointedly because Louis was a guard and Darren was still just a prisoner—“but I forgot to mention it to Louis since you weren’t around that day. Hence the confusion.”
Mike’s face relaxed a little, but the spark was still in his gaze. “Yeah? You forgot, Howe?”
No, he hadn’t; Louis had just decided he could play it smart and screw him over, and now he was the one who was going to have to fix it. “Thought you might be off until next week. Was going to make it up to you then,” Darren explained, tossing Mike one of his professional smiles that had saved him so many times when he’d had to deal with a hotheaded client.
Mike squinted and studied his face. “Fine.” He nudged the gate with his metal-soled boot, producing a clank-like sound. “What’s in the boxes?”
