“Sammi,” he replies, and my eyes widen and I actually choke a bit.
“The whore-nun?” I ask incredulously.
“Don’t call her a whore,” he snaps back, and I hold my hands up in mock surrender. Shit. I hadn’t even thought about that bitch since I gave her to Ethan weeks ago. I certainly enjoyed her monthly visits but didn’t think twice after Ana came along. I can’t help but smirk as the realization comes to me. Ethan’s haggard appearance and strange demeanor. His concern over the shipments, which used to coincide with a visit from Sammi.
“You’re pussy whipped,” I say succinctly, a statement rather than a question. The air is knocked out of me when Ethan rushes forward, throwing his forearm against my neck and pinning me to the wall. The fire in my bones grows at the unwanted touch.
“Don’t fucking talk about her pussy again, you hear me?” he threatens. Shoving back, I point a finger.
“Fair enough,brother,” I reply with emphasis, “but don’t fucking touch me again or next time you lose your fucking arm.”
With the threat, Ethan seems to deflate, sitting and putting his head into his hands.
“I’m losing it, man,” Ethan says again, more quietly this time, all the fight out of him, “We’ve never had a missed shipment before, much less a week late. Ana is fucking running this place now and shit is about to boil the fuck over. I know I need to help, we all gotta keep this shit together, but all I can think about isher!”
I nod to myself before taking up a spot next to him.
“Women certainly change things,” I agree with him, unsure what else to say. Ethan turns to me, desperation in his eyes. “I need to see her.”
I nod, trying to keep the pity out of my eyes. He doesn’t need that shit.
“We’re doing what we can with the shipments…but I don’t know what’s going on any more than you,” I tell him. “And I don’t know if when the shipments start up again, if they’ll honor the deal I made. I’ll do what I can, brother, but I don’t know what that will look like.”
Ethan nods, misery written on his face. Damn. Sammi really did a number on him. He goes to stand, stopping in the doorway.
“Tell Ana I’m sorry I missed the meeting,” he says in a soft voice before leaving. I sit there a few more minutes, grateful at least Ethan managed to distract me for a bit.
Fuck, though. This shipment thing is fucking bad. In all the years I’ve been running things, there has never been more than a day’s delay and even then, the guards told us about it. This time, though, the silence is deafening.
Not wasting another minute, I go to find Ana.
Five
Ana
“And this is all stuff you’ve had arranged in the past?” I ask Doc, adding another giant pile of bullshit to my mental list. My eyes drift to the door, a few low moans coming from the patients within.
“Not in the main shipments,” Doc clarifies. “Most of it was stuff Axle added on to his special ones, at my request.”
“And how long do they have?”
Doc shifts a bit at the bluntness of the question. “I have one patient who is basically beyond saving. If we got antibiotics in him right this second, maybe a small chance, but obviously that won’t happen. Otherwise, I have enough basic supplies for wounds and other things to last another week to ten days, maybe a little more if there’s no new injuries. For those withdrawals, there’s no way to really tell, but as long as they stay clear of the bad hooch going around, they should all be fine.”
I nod and am about to thank him when I hear footsteps coming up behind me. Based on the nod from Brutus, I can make an educated guess who it is.
“Hey Doc, how’re tricks? Figure out your name yet? ” Ax asks, receiving a small chuckle from the man.
“Your name?” I ask. Doc smiles at me. I’d always thought it was kind of ironic the man who acts as our prison “doctor” was named Doc, but never guessed there was a story behind it.
“When I arrived, it was with a head injury and severe amnesia,” Doc explains to me. “My training and everything else came back over time, but not my name.”
Axle smirks, “And I’m still convinced he remembers everything and was an infamous killer outside these walls and doesn’t want us to know.” I laugh along with them but eye Doc in a new light. I mean, come on. Remembering everything but your name?
“I’ll remember to keep on your good side either way,” I joke and get rewarded with another chuckle from Doc.
“Anything else I can do for either of you?” Doc asks and I shake my head for both of us.
“Thank you again. Please let me know if anything changes, otherwise I’ll be back in the next few days.”