“He’s one of my brothers.”
“One of your brothers is in jail?”
“Yeah, but it’s not like what you might think.”
“Then, what’s it like?”
As we headed inside, Menace told me about Dalton and his sister, and how she’d called him after her boyfriend attacked her. There was no missing the anguish in Menace’s voice as he gave me the details of what ensued after Dalton and the boyfriend got into a heated exchange. He described how they’d fought and fought hard. A grimace crossed his face as he told me about the final blow that sent the boyfriend sailing. He ended up hitting his head on the edge of the coffee table, killing him instantly. By the time we reached security, Menace went on about the trial and explained how he’d gone to see Dalton as often as possible. Hearing him talk was the distraction I needed to keep from freaking out over the numerous armed guards. It seemed like it took an eternity for them to get through all the paperwork and IDs, but we finally made our way into the visiting area.
We hadn’t been sitting there long when one of the prisoners started walking in our direction. By the way Menace told the story, I was expecting Dalton to be an average Joe kind of guy, but there was nothing average coming in our direction. This guy was huge with muscles bulging from the short sleeves of his orange jumpsuit and fierce green eyes that pierced straight through you. He was a force to behold, making me feel more than a little intimidated when he sat down at the table and glared at me like I was encroaching on his territory. “Who’s this?”
“Her name is Aubrey. She’s… uh... a friend of mine.”
“Oh yeah?” His eyes skirted over me as he said, “Never known you to have any friends who looked like her.”
“First time for everything.” Menace glanced over to me for a moment, then turned his attention back to Dalton. He motioned his hand over to Dalton’s bicep, where a skull with flames tattoo marked his skin. The red, swollen skin made it obvious that it was fresh and quite possibly infected. “I see you got yourself some new ink.”
“Figured it was time.” Dalton lifted his arm, revealing the different tattoos that marked his skin. “Got one for every year I’ve been in here.”
Menace replied with a hint of sarcasm, “Glad you’ve found something to occupy your time.”
“Do what I gotta do. You gonna tell me why you two are here or what?”
“You ever heard anything about a guy named Rossi,” Menace answered. “He’s connected to the Italian mafia.”
“Can’t say that I have, but I could ask around.”
“I’d appreciate it.”
He leaned forward, placing his elbows on the table as he studied Menace for a moment. “Something going on I need to know about?”
“Just taking care of a situation with Aubrey. Nothing for you to be concerned about.” Menace looked over to me before he continued, “We’ve got it covered.”
Maybe it was because there wasn’t much Dalton could do to help while he was behind bars or that they wouldn’t or couldn’t talk about it in front of me, but Menace didn’t tell Dalton the story behind Rossi and me—or his plan of taking me to see this Billy guy. Instead, he simply said, “Just wanted to stop by and let ya know that we’re gonna be leaving town for a few days.”
“You know I don’t like that shit. This got something to do with that Rossi fella?”
“Yeah, but like I said, nothing to be concerned about.”
“If you say so.”
“You need anything before we head out?”
“A ticket out of here would be great. Otherwise, I’m good.”
I took another glance around the room, and my chest tightened when I realized we were completely surrounded by men in orange. It was impossible not to worry that I’d gotten myself into an even bigger mess than I was already in. I’d been running from criminals for months, and now I landed myself right into the thick of them. It was enough to make me wonder if I should get up and run out of there, but then it hit me. Maybe, just maybe, fighting fire with fire was the only way to survive this ordeal with Rossi. Since Menace and the brothers were going out of their way to help me, I thought it was only fair that I tried to do the same for him. I could tell by the way he spoke that he and his brothers thought a lot of Dalton, so I looked over to him. “Mind if I ask you a question?”
“Okay. What’s on your mind?”
“Do you have a date set for your parole hearing?”
“Why ya ask?”
“Just curious.”
“Well, if you must know, my case goes up to the parole board in a couple of months, but I’m not holding my breath for an actual hearing. These motherfuckers aren’t gonna let me outta here any time soon.”