the machine the attention it deserved. He wouldn’t be the first to lose a limb or worse in the large warehouse-like structure.
“Cyclops. You gotta minute?”
Cy cut his gaze to the newcomer. “What’s shaking, Lawson? It’s been a minute,” Cy said in lieu of a greeting. “This about Gertie?”
Lawson’s reddish-brown eyes lit up at the name of his dog, but he shook his head, shoving one hand into the pocket of his orange coveralls and shoving the other through the shaggy russet hair falling over his face in a way that would have annoyed the fuck out of Cy while working. “Nah, man. This is about your boy.”
Wasn’t everything. Unlike Preacher, when Lawson said ‘your boy’ it sounded more like he meant a friend, even though the awkward pause in his phrasing made it clear he knew they were much more than that. He took his place at the machine beside Cy, gesturing with his head to the other guy currently working the machine to take a hike. The guy shrugged and walked away as Lawson began to feed his bundle of sheets through the machine.
“What about him?” Cy asked, tensing but still not looking in Lawson’s direction.
“You know my second cousin, Travis?” Cy gave Lawson a quick head shake. “He runs with Thor and his group.” At Cy’s shrug, he looked embarrassed, scratching at the back of his neck. “He’s got a tattoo of a naked girl straddling a cannon and holding a confederate flag on his neck.”
Cy actually hadn’t known that the man in question was named Travis or that he was in any way related to Lawson. That’s why Cy found Lawson so curious. The dude kept to himself. “Oh, yeah.”
Lawson hesitated for a second before saying, “Listen, I overheard them all shit talking about your boy. They paid off Rogers to turn a blind eye while they take turns with him.”
Cy’s stomach clenched, his fingers pulling back from the sheet almost a half minute too late. His heart hammered against his ribcage. Fuck. “When?”
“Tonight. The showers. You didn’t hear none of this from me, you hear?” Lawson said, his West Virginia drawl thicker than usual. “Last thing I need is to piss of the rest of my fucking family, no matter how goddamn stupid they are. Besides, Rogers will get me thrown in the SHU, and I can’t fuckin’ do another stint in there. Too much time alone makes my skin crawl.”
“Noted.”
Lawson dropped the sheet that was in his hand. “Keep your eyes peeled, man. They’re gonna do whatever they can to get you out of the way. Don’t engage if you don’t have to, and sweep your room for contraband. Something big’s coming. I can feel it.”
Cy grunted in the affirmative, watching Lawson disappear the way he came. He worked in the laundry as well, but Cy rarely saw him, so he must make himself useful somewhere else in the facility. It didn’t matter. Cy didn’t fuck with Lawson. They weren’t friends, but he believed his intel. Lawson had never been known to hang with any one group. Like Preacher, Lawson had found a way to navigate the prison system without a pack. Maybe it was Travis’s connection to Thor’s crew, maybe Lawson just wasn’t worth the trouble, or maybe, as Cy suspected, Lawson had found a way to make himself useful to the right people, even if Cy didn’t know exactly how.
Cy continued his work, pondering the situation. If he went with Nicky to the showers and things went south, Cy would end up in the hole, aka the SHU. Solitary housing unit. It was enough to drive anybody crazy in there, but worse than that, he’d leave Nicky to fight alone. No matter how good a fighter he claimed to be, he wasn’t good enough to take on Thor’s whole crew, and there was nobody crazy enough to jump in and save him. Nobody but Cy, it seemed.
When the work day ended, Cy tried to get the guards to let him swap shifts with Lawson to care for the dogs in the kennel, but Kemp just sneered and said no. Cy worked with Rosie and cleaned the kennels with his heart in his throat. It was impossible to concentrate. Each minute that passed seemed to take an hour, scooping out a piece of Cy’s soul as he tried not to think of what was happening to Nicky minute by minute. He would do his best to fight, but nobody could survive six to one.