“Here’s one for you—why law?” Merrick asked.
Nolan thought about it for a moment. “It interested me. Preston was helping people in his own way, and I wanted to do the same, but contracts and law stuff just made sense to me. Maybe my brain is fucked, but I like it and decided to go for it.”
“You’re smarter than all of us here, then.” I laughed.
Wilder shook his head. “Nope. This one once accidentally brushed his teeth with jock itch cream.”
My mouth dropped open, and next to me, Merrick cackled.
“In my defense, you left the creamon my sink, and the tube was the exact same color as my toothpaste.” Nolan glowered at Wilder.
I winced. “That had to taste horrible.”
“Vile,” Nolan agreed with a grimace.
I couldn’t hold back my giggle, so I decided to add my own humiliating story into the mix.
“I once took a bite of wax fruit. It looked so good, I thought it was real. We really need to be more careful about what we put in our mouths.” I giggled, smiling at Nolan, whose eyes darkened at my words, hunger leeching into them.
Maybe it’s a little early to talk about putting things in our mouths…
Chapter 21
Preston
Prison sucked.
I wasn’t even in prison; I was in a convict firefighting camp. The state of California allowed convicts with good behavior to take part in a program where they stayed at a minimum-security facility and were trained to support the LAFD.
According to my paperwork, I’d been in prison for several drug-related charges before my approval for the convict firefighter program. The facility I transferred from stated I was amodelprisoner and a good influence.
It almost made me laugh, considering one of my closest friends wrote the thing. When I’d taken this job, I knew I was going to be away from my pack for a while, but I hadn't foreseen the fateful situation with the blonde at the bar.
Hailey.
I’d bonded with an omega and then had to flee. The moment I pulled out of her and ran, I felt like the lowest of the low. It was horrible.
As soon as I’d been able to contact my pack, I’d begged them to find her, only I didn't have much information or time to explain what’d happened.
Being apart from her had been brutal, and I could only imagine how muchshewas suffering. If Nolan and Wilder had been able to find her, she might have been doing slightly better than me, though.
For weeks, I’d felt like a complete ass wrapped inside a decaying burrito of self-loathing and rusty nails.
All I could do was go through the motions and continue my work.
Work that my pack mates knew nothing about.
Sucks. Everything just sucks.
Lying in my bunk, I stared at the wooden ceiling. As far as prison facilities went, the convict firefighter camp was actually pretty damn nice. Sure, there were guards, but they were fairly relaxed, which, from what I knew about prisons, was a real one-eighty.
Still, they carried guns, and if I attempted to leave the premises, they would shoot me without question.
“Manville! You’ve got a visitor,” the warden shouted.
Sitting up, I looked at him, my brow cocked as I hesitated to move. Who the hell would be visiting me? No one knew I was here.
Manville wasn’t even my real name, as if that weren’t obvious enough.
