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chapter thirty-one

“’Good things happen in prison,’ said no one ever. Word to the wise, if you want to prove your manhood to your woman, just pull it out and show her, feel me?”

~From Max Emory’s Guide to Dating and Other Important Life Lessons

Jason

“I knew we would end up in jail,” Milo groaned. “I had an inkling, and I ignored it. I should have listened.”

Max adjusted his jaw. It cracked as a bit of blood dripped down his chin.

He didn’t look as bad as I felt, as I begged Mendoza to let us out. I gripped the bars and bit back a curse. “Mendoza, this is bullshit. I was defending myself.”

The officer on the other side of the bars sucked on a lollipop and grinned. “Oh yeah?” He pulled out a folder. “Looks to me like you threw the first punch after you got offended by that tool over there.”

“That’s abuse!” Levi shouted in a separate cell next to ours. “I want my attorney.”

“Oh, you do?” Mendoza said in a serious voice. “You hear that, Jason? He wants his lawyer.”

I rolled my eyes. I knew what Mendoza was doing; the guy was king at talking shit.

“Let me think about it.” He tapped the lollipop against his teeth then shoved it back in. “Nope.”

Levi slammed his hands against the cell. “This is bullshit. I did nothing wrong!”

“You kidnapped a woman when you were eighteen, but sure…” Max said from his corner, obviously peaking Mendoza’s interest as he looked between the two.

He jerked his chin up. “That true, Levi?”

“She came willingly,” he said in a bored voice. “And that was almost ten years ago! She practically begged me to save her from this guy! Clearly, he’s insane. Look what he did to my nose!”

“Stitches.” Mendoza shrugged.

Maddy hugged her knees to her chest and glared at Levi.

“I practically rescued her,” he sneered.

“That’s it!” Maddy shouted then dropped her feet to the ground and made her way over to the bars separating our cells. “I asked you for a favor because I knew you wouldn’t try anything. I thought you wouldn’t ask questions. But instead, the first thing you did when you got me into the city was ask if I would thank you properly with ‘a ride for a ride’!”

I saw red.

Absolute red.

Mendoza gaped. “That true, dipshit?”

Levi looked at me and then away. “It was forever ago. Kids say stupid things.”

“I had just ruined my life, and you wanted sex!” Maddy screamed. “How dare you betray my trust like that! I lost everything! Everything!”

She was shaking the bars so hard I was afraid she was going to take down the jail cell.

I moved toward her just as Mendoza buzzed the door open, grabbed her by the arm, and pulled her out. “Go home.”

I wondered if he remembered the trauma. He was three years older than us, but it had been the talk of the town.

How Jason Caro had lost the love of his life.

I hung my head as the cell door closed. Sure, I could have escaped, but what would be the point? Maybe I needed to suffer some more. I’d had no idea that bastard had put his hands on her. If I’d known, I would have actually killed him, rather than just physically altering the shape of his nose.