Chapter 16 – The Build

Margot’s POV

The second I saw Cara step back into the assembly room, it was like I could finally breathe again.

Her blonde hair was a little mussed from where she’d probably run her hands through it too many times, and her eyes scanned the room, quickly landing on me with pinpoint accuracy. The moment she caught my expression, her brows tugged together in concern, and she hurried toward me without hesitation.

“Hey,” she said softly, reaching me like she’d been rushing back for miles. “You okay? You look like someone kicked your puppy and then ran it over.”

I opened my mouth, about to answer, but didn’t get the chance.

“Delilah Abbot, Jessie Wade, Samantha Collins… Heather Bowls, Leila Anderson, Erin Greening…!” The guards began calling out the names loudly from the doorway, clipboards in hand.

Three of the mint-green girls instantly turned toward the voices like it was the ice cream truck rolling down the street. The redhead – Delilah, I guess – squealed after they said her name and clutched the brunette's arm, bouncing in place. “Oh my God, that’s us!”

“Yesss, I can’t wait to hear what they have in store for us,” said the brunette, grinning like she’d just won the prisoner prize draw.

“You better hope your guys sound as hot as mine!” the blonde chimed in, fluffing her perfect curls and flicking her gaze toward me for half a second with a smug little smirk.

I quickly averted my eyes again, biting the inside of my cheek and cursing under my breath for being caught guiltily staring for the second time.

The group of girls didn’t say anything else to me, too swept up in their own excitement as three of them strutted out of the room like they were heading down a fashion runway instead of to a serious conversation about their futures.

The room seemed to breathe again as the door closed behind the next lot of girls, their shrill voices finally muffled by the distance.

I didn’t waste a second; I grabbed Cara’s wrist. “Come on,” I whispered, tugging her out of the corner I was currently sat in, moving us toward a quiet row of chairs near the back, where the remaining two mint-green girls couldn’t annoy us.

Once we sat, I let go of her arm and exhaled shakily, glancing sideways to make sure the mint-greens hadn’t thought to follow me.

“What the hell happened there?” Cara asked, watching me with narrowed eyes, full of concern. “Why did that girl look at you like that?”

“They were just being awful,” I muttered, rubbing my palms against my thighs. “Those mint-green girls – they are like a fucking horny prison cult back there. They caught me staring at them while they were going on about one of their inmates like he was some hot celebrity.”

Cara blinked. “Wait, what? You’re telling me that even after hearing all of the details about how dangerous these guys are, that blonde was still excited about this shit? Either she’s missing a screw, or she’s just putting on a front and, deep down, is actually shitting her pants!”

“She was boasting about him, Cara! Literally gushing over charges like aggravated assault and drug dealing. You’d think they were swapping prom stories. She went on to say that her guy had never felt a ‘real connection’ before, like she was about to star in some twisted romance movie.” I grumbled, bobbing my head to see her through the crowd – smiling and flipping her hair around obliviously.

Cara made a noise halfway between a scoff and a gag. “You’re kidding? That’s insane.”

“I wish I was.” I grimaced. “Anyway… I guess I was staring a little too hard – I was just in complete shock that they weren’t freaking out like I was – but then they noticed. Started going on about how I must be jealous, how whatever guy I got was unlucky. One even commented on my bruise.” I touched my cheek self-consciously. “Didn’t realise it was still showing through that makeup.”

“Oh, hell no.” Cara’s voice dropped an octave, her jaw locking tight. “I’ll knock her mint-green teeth down her throat.”

“Please don’t,” I said quickly, trying to smile as though things were okay. “We’ve only just gotten here, and I’d really rather you not start a fight with a pack of wannabe inmate-groupies on day one.”

Cara muttered something under her breath that sounded like mint-colored morons, but she settled back in to her seat, arms crossed.

“It was just some stupid comments,” I said. “Let’s focus on the important stuff?”

She gave me a look like she wanted to argue, but I pushed on before she could get the chance.

“So, what about you? What did they tell you?” I leaned forward slightly. “Who’s your lucky psychopath?”

That made her smile a little – crooked and unsure – but it was still a smile.

“His name’s Luca James. Twenty-five. Drugs. Gangs. Armed robbery. A few assault charges. He sounds… intense,” she said carefully, licking her drying lips quickly. “Apparently he’s the strong, silent type. Doesn’t say much. Spends most of his time in the gym, but if he gets angry, he can snap, so I’ve not to push his buttons.”

“The gym?! My prisoner likes the gym too, so hopefully, we will be together a lot! They also said I could see you during meal times, and on a Saturday, we get a sort of ‘day off’ together.” I said happily, glad that at least one thing had seemed to align for us both.

“Tell me about him, anyway? Who did you get landed with?” Cara shuffled to move closer, evidently intrigued to hear my details.

I swallowed, preparing myself to offload all of my anxieties onto my friend like she could easily fix my problems; “Coban Santorelli is his name… the guard was shocked to even see his file, claiming that he shouldn’t have been accepted to take part in the project! Said his father’s a big mob boss, and so he probably pulled some strings to get him in… obviously, they’re in it for the early release.” I shrugged, knotting my hands together to keep myself still.

“I guess they’re all in it for the early release, though, right?” Cara added, as I nodded and sighed.

“It makes you wonder, though, should some of these guys be getting the chance at freedom? We’ve only been given a brief on what they’ve done…” I mumbled, as Cara nodded along with my logic.

“All we can do is try our best to make it to the end of this for the money… fuck these guys… they need us in order to get out, right? If they killed us, then they’d ruin their only chance.” Cara explained, filling my head with a bit of sense.

She’s right, they can’t exactly hurt us… but scare us, sure, but nothing physical…

“The worst part is, I forgot to ask his age… he could be an old man for all I know!” I stated, my tone shifting as Cara snorted out a laugh.

“You didn’t ask?!” She repeated, as I moved to run my hands down my face.

“He was throwing too much information at me! His age was the last thing on my mind after he showed me a photo of him towering over another unconscious inmate!” I recited the memory, as Cara’s eyes widened. “It wasn’t clear, so I couldn’t see what he looked like other than the fact he looked huge!” I added quickly, as Cara shook her head.

There was no escaping these men now… they were officially ours for the duration of this project.

All we have to do now is learn to survive them.