“Aren’t you two adorable.” Ivy approached and leaned against the stands. “I’m starting to think this prison is a hook-up pad.”
“Uh, what?” Marcus said, and he let out a nervous laugh.
“You’re the one that’s open for business, so you tell us,” Kallie said in a tease. “Any juicy details on new clients?”
Ivy hesitated. He chewed his lip before he said, “I, uh, haven’t started looking for clients. I’m just trying to get settled in, feel out this joint, you know?”
Bullshit. He was trying to feel out Chancey’s cock, and that was about it. Those two had a thing for each other, I was certain. They weren’t just fucking to fuck.
There were a couple of laughs to the left. I turned my head, and was surprised to see Ezekiel playing basketball on the court with a couple of guys I didn’t know.
What was he doing here? Didn’t he have Work-Study?
“I think you need to prove to me you can handle your own around here,” Kallie said to Marcus, and she took a wide stance. “Do they practice combat in the Miriamic Coven?”
Marcus went white. “Kallie, I—”
Kallie full-on tackled Marcus to the grass, and he let out anoof.Rishi yowled, hopping circles around them as Kallie wrestled Marcus into submission.
Which, you know, wasn’t hard. He didn’t know what to do. Marcus just laid on his back and took it. Kallie pinned his wrists to the ground. “Pathetic. I’m not always gonna be around to save your skinny ass.”
Marcus smirked. “You know, this is the second time you’ve been on top of me this month. I’m starting to think you’re looking for excuses to straddle me.”
Kallie’s cheeks reddened. “I’m trying to make you man-up! Fight me, you limp noodle!”
Marcus weakly tossed Kallie off of him, but she had him in a choke hold seconds after— which suspiciously looked like she was smashing her boobs into his face. I left those two to do… whatever they were doing, flirting or otherwise, and headed to the basketball court.
I waved Ezekiel over. “Hey. Aren’t you supposed to be at the mines right now?”
“The mine we’d been working on collapsed yesterday after we got done working,” Ezekiel said. “We won’t be able to work for a few days.”
“Really?” My eyebrows raised. “Was it an accident?”
“We dunno.” Ezekiel shrugged. “We’d just left the mine to get back on the bus, then it crumbled to pieces right in front of us. It was totally random.”
“Siren screams are powerful enough to collapse mines,” Ivy chided. “And the sound of the mine collapsing would be loud enough to cover the scream.”
“Yeah, but who woulddothat?” Ezekiel wondered. “My shift doesn’t have any mermen on it. It’s not like people are trying to get out of work.”
Ivy and I gave each other flat looks, and I said, “No one, Ez. Absolutely nobody at all.”
I knew Opal had been working inventory for the mines, recording how much noxite came out in the mining office. She was one of the few girls who was bussed out to the mines for her prison duties— on the same shift as Ez.
Opal had definitely collapsed that mine for Ezekiel. And my brother was completely clueless that she had.
“Anyway, I’ve gotta get to class,” Ezekiel said with a shrug. “See you guys later.”
Ivy turned to me as Ezekiel walked away. “Iknowyour brother’s not stupid.”
“He’s just oblivious,” I said, waving my hand. “He never notices what’s right in front of him.”
Ivy let out a huff. “He isn’t the only one.”
That sure seemed like a dig at Chancey, but I didn’t comment.
“What was Mad Dog saying yesterday about Opal?” I asked. “Those insults seemed… personal.”
Ivy sighed. “Listen, precious. Opal’s family—ourfamily I should say— is messed up. Like, my mermaid side is so fucked, I had to move to Chicago to be with my vampire side just to get away from them. I didn’t fall into prostitution because I thought it was a great career choice. It was what I had to work with. And for as sweet as Opal is, she’s in here because our family… well, it’s bad, no other way to go about it.”
