Page 12 of I Regret Nothing
I
didn’t currently have a cellmate, and I didn’t know how I felt about that. On the one hand, I enjoyed talking, and it wouldn’t hurt to have someone watching if Venus turned her toothbrush into a shank and came in here to stab me. On the other, I could pick which bunk I wanted. Both of them were pretty fucking uncomfortable.
Faust didn’t say a damned thing to me when he came down to do a headcount to make sure everyone was in their cells and lock us in for the night, but he sure sniffed the air a lot, and his amber eyes never left me until he had to leave to go to another cell. I didn’t mind being locked in. I wanted a locked door between Venus and her toothbrush. I didn’t like being locked in knowing Faust had a key.
I liked Dakarys and Rajack, but they asked me more questions than I got to ask them. Rajack knew I was leaving things out and didn’t trust me as much as Dakarys did, but until he started answering some of my questions, I didn’t trust him much either.
I knew I needed to. Hauser said to keep my demon lineage a secret, but I needed help keeping Faust and other shifters away from me. It wouldn’t do having the entire prison on some fucked up hunt. I wasn’t stupid enough to think I didn’t need their help. They needed mine too. We needed trust all around because I had a feeling whatever theft they required me to do was going to be significant.
I managed to get some sleep on the very uncomfortable cot. Being a thief meant I got to sleep in and not have to get up early and go to an office. Why the entire world expected everyone to be morning people was beyond me. Prison was no different. This awful bell started blaring throughout the whole prison, and the lights came on at some dreadful hour I wasn’t usually conscious.
I pulled the blanket over my head and intended to ignore it. Someoneripped my blanket off.I rolled over, and there was fucking Faust.
“Out of bed, princess. It’s time for count.”
“Count me from here,” I moaned, burying my face in my pillow.
He grabbed my ankle and yanked me out of bed. I hit my funny bone on the edge of the bed as my ass hit the floor.
“Asshole!” I hissed.
“You will get your ass to the front of your cell and stand for count. After that, you will take a shower and get to the mess hall for breakfast. I haven’t assigned your work detail yet, so don’t get into any trouble with your free time. There’s a library with a computer. Why don’t you go study how to better yourself when you get out of here?”
“I want to work in the mailroom,” I said as I brushed myself off and got to my feet. I was pretty sure he broke my ass, and my funny bone still hurt.
“You’ll work where I say you work. I’m your CO. My opinions are your opinions. I own you for the next seven years, inmate. Now, shut up and stand outside your cell.”
I hoped that meant I survived the next seven years if what Dakarys said was true about Faust. I hated him, but I didn’t want to give him any reason to kill me, so I went and stood outside my cell. My stomach let out this massive rumble as Faust stalked down the hall as slowly as possible, clicking something at all us criminals. Faust finally got to the end of the hall and turned to glare at us.
“I hope you all hit the showers before breakfast. You reek of crime and shame.”
Asshole.
I followed the crowd to the showers. I already knew it was a group shower kind of thing, but after living with a wolf, nudity didn’t offend me, and I’d never really been ashamed of my body. I shrugged my jumper off and placed it in one of the lockers. There was shampoo and soap in the bag Faust threw at my head, so I carried it with me to the showers.
I was glad I watched my back in the showers. I wasn’t worried about the fact that there were naked men here. Hauser taught me how to defend myself against a bigger foe. Venus came strolling into the showers flanked by two witches and zeroed in on me right away.
“Nice tits,” she growled.
“Those paper shoes are a huge downgrade from your usual Louboutin’s, Venus.”
“Bitch!” she shrieked, flying at me.
The one thing that Venus was super sensitive about was shoes. When Hauser agreed to take that job with her, she always wore these tall heels. The first time she came to his house, she snapped a heel in his kitchen. She pitched this massive fit and got dramatic about it like it was somehow Hauser’s fault she stepped wrong.
I ducked as Venus’s fist flew at my face. She shrieked when her hand connected with the tile. She brought two witches with her, but they weren’t helping her. I could fight Venus off, but I’d have issues fighting off three of them. They were both exchanging looks like they didn’t know if they should jump in. The other inmates had formed a circle around us and were chanting. They didn’t know either of us to root for either one. They just wanted to see us beat each other up.
Venus tried to grab my long hair. I was a goner if she got ahold of it. My fist darted out and clipped her in the mouth. I laughed and danced around like a boxer.
“That was for Hauser, you double-crossing bitch.”
“I’m going to kill you, Rei!” Venus shrieked.
The witches finally stepped in, but not like how I thought. They pulled Venus away from me like I was one of them. How curious.
“Stop it! Astrid didn’t approve of this. You can’t kill anyone here unless she says so. Do you want to piss off every witch in Silverhold getting on her bad side?”
“I’m only in here because of that stupid fox! She has it coming.”
