small part in making Thor’s life as miserable as he made Webster’s. That in and of itself was enough for the moment.
Webster was nearing a full month behind bars and had somehow managed to stay ahead of the guards, but not without all of it taking a toll on him. If it wasn’t for Cy, Webster would have given up weeks ago. But being in Cy’s arms every night, being able to escape under the weight of his body, the heat of his skin, the way he kissed Webster like nobody else in the world existed but him… It let him reset the clock every morning and vow to get through another day.
“Time to get going. You gotta lot of deliveries today.”
Webster looked at the rolling cart stacked full of books with tiny pieces of paper with inmates’ names stuck in the folds. “I’m on it,” Webster said, setting a book back on the return stack. “I’ll finish these when I get back.”
Javier gave an uninterested nod. Nobody gave a shit about the condition of the library, least of all the people who ran the prison. It was far more beneficial to them that they all remain ignorant of the laws and their rights. The only part of the prison library that ever saw any real action was the law section where the inmates worked to become jailhouse lawyers.
Webster made his way to pod A, finishing his rounds in a little under an hour. It was nice wandering the other pods because he was unknown to everybody, even some of the guards. There, he was just another inmate. It was easier to let his guard down when he was far away from D pod.
That was why he never saw them coming.
They came at him from behind, grabbing him somewhere between B and C pod and dragging him into a dark empty room. Blood rushed in his ears as he tried to force his eyes to adjust to the sudden dark, but then his glasses were knocked from his face and a dirty rag was shoved in his mouth, the taste of dirt and oil coating his tongue a split second before the first blow came.
It was like somebody drove an anvil into his stomach, his whole body seizing as pain rocketed through him. Two people held him against the wall and pressed the rag harder against his face as his attacker continued his assault. Another blow to the stomach, his solar plexus, his right side. He might have puked if not for the rag stuffed in his throat. Two blows to the face, and he wasn’t even sure what was upright any longer.
“Turn him around,” Thor said with a laugh. “I’ve been waiting for this for weeks.”
Webster couldn’t even fight back. When Thor’s henchmen turned him around, driving his face into the wall, he let his brain shut down, not really wanting to remember anything he was about to endure. He could feel hands tugging at his clothing, but then nothing.
“Well, this hardly seems like a fair fight.”
Javier.
“Mind your business. This ain’t your affair,” Thor said.
“That’s my employee, and you’ve interrupted my work day. Seems like this is definitely my business.” Javier sounded bored, but there was a sharp edge of warning to his cadence—something that insisted he wanted them to start something. “You boys would do well to remember that I have plenty of friends on the outside. It would be a shame if anything were to happen to people you care about all over one little nerdy white boy, no?”
Thor’s frustrated snarl would have made Webster laugh if he wasn’t a little afraid his teeth would fall out. “What the fuck do you care about this? You can find somebody else to peddle your shit. This one’s mine.”
“No. He’s not. My boss has designated this white boy as off limits. He’s a special friend of his. I know that your boss would hate to lose access to my boss’s toy box. So, you’re going to have to content yourself with a different toy. Unless, you want to explain why exactly you blew up such a valuable relationship just to get your dick wet.”
“This isn’t over,” Thor promised.
The hands holding Webster disappeared, and he could no longer bear his own weight. He slid down the wall, his face feeling wet and pliable. A foot stomped on his kidney, and then he just laid there, the pain so diffuse he wasn’t sure where it started or ended. Light suddenly flooded