Page 17 of Restitution

We’re silent for a beat, the smell of cigarette smoke filling the cells. The only sounds are the dripping taps from our sinks and the rumble of a car driving over the gravel road above us.

“I need to find Luciella before I die.”

I lower my head, nodding. “We need to find them both before we die.”

“You die, I die.”

“You die, I die,” I say back, taking a draw to stop the uncontrollable twitching in my hands and face. I blink a few times, fighting the uncomfortable feeling, and blow out another smoke cloud. “Just try to get better and we’ll figure out a plan.”

I move back to my bed because the cell is spinning – Base stays in position, probably too weak to move, with the cigarette between his lips. “Trying to keep people safe is so exhausting,” he says. “I don’t know how to get rid of all the threats.”

“By killing. Everything I’ve been doing for the last three years has been to keep everyone safe. And I fucking miss Stacey more than I can explain. But if I show that? More ammunition for Bernadette. I simply cannot show it anymore. I trained myself not to, so you need to do the same. If you make my sister more of a target, then I’ll need to kill you too.”

He’s quiet, smoking the rest of his cigarette before flicking the butt across his cell. “Tell me about her.”

“You know who Stacey is,” I grumble. “Don’t make me talk about her.”

“We have fuck all else to do,” he replies, the mattress squeaking as he lies down again. “Come on. I’ve sucked your dick, for fuck’s sake. You can at least appease me by telling me who actually madeyou hard.”

I grimace. “If you ever speak of that again, or any of the other times, I’ll put a bullet in your heart.”

We were forced. It’s always forced between us. Entertainment for Bernadette. We just don’t let it break us. Base has an awful and dark sense of humour and likes to bring it up whenever he’s bored to death. It pisses me off more than anything.

“You have to admit, it’ll make for awkward dinner-table chat when I’m married to your sister. Do you think your dad will snap me in half when he finds out I’ve made both his offspring come?”

My eyes close. “Please stop saying your thoughts out loud. And talk about my sister like that again and I’ll break through those bars and hit you.”

Base halts the images of me murdering him by scoffing and saying, “Talk to me about Stacey, and I won’t mention it ever, ever again. I know you can’t see, but I’m holding up my hand, swearing to the Lord that I shan’t ever discuss those nights with your sister, nor will I ever speak about your sister’s orgasms out loud.”

I shake my head. He’s fucking insane. A ruthless killer when we’re working together, usually getting jobs done a lot faster than me, but then he’s a goofy prick that has heart eyes for my sister.

He’s like the sun shining into a ditch full of dead bodies.

Bernadette likes his work ethic and firing precision, and often tells me to be more like him. In a fistfight, I’ll kick the shit out of Base, but in a shoot-out, he’d blow my brains out before I could even pull the trigger.

Not that I ever would shoot my friend.

“The night we all played dares when we were younger. That was the first time I kissed her – the first time I kissed anyone.”

He hums. “I remember. The best night of my life. I was seriously rooting for you to at least kiss someone. Were you quick off the mark when you fucked her? You were only in there less than five minutes.”

I roll my eyes for what feels like the millionth time since we got locked in here. “I only kissed her.”

“Ah. I forgot you were a virgin for a bit longer. Was she your first?”

I make a noise of acknowledgement. “Yeah.”

“The night in London? You were strangely cheery after that.”

“Yeah.”

“I still can’t believe you were in a relationship with Rhodes and told no one.”

“Yeah.”

“Mate, if you keep giving me one-word answers, I might peel off this bandage and hit you with it.” He chuckles at himself, then it cuts off with a wince. “No, but seriously. Stop being fucking vague. Tell me about your relationship with her. You never answer me when I ask shit. Stacey was pregnant, was raped, and you left her. Her dad died a few months later, right? How can you lie there and declare war on the world when you treated her like that?”

“Base, shut up.”