to growl at her; this fucked up situation wasn’t Shannon’s fault, despite her father being at the top of the food chain. I stared down at the melting sugar in the bowl, pressing my lips together. Then again, maybe he wasn’t top of the food chain. When Doherty had demanded to talk to Ember yesterday, the warden had cut him off. Doherty’s eyes had narrowed, a muscle twitching in his jaw as he had argued she had something that belonged to him, but the warden had refused point blank. There was no point wondering what, Doherty wasn’t likely to share that information.
“You okay about tomorrow?” I asked Shannon instead.
Shannon’s face dropped for a second before she did what she always did and painted on a tough mask.
“I’m fine.”
“Talk to Ember…”
“Why? I don’t want to know what sick shit I’m going to face out there, courtesy of my ever loving father. I’ll either survive or I won’t, but I’m not spending today cowering away from everyone. I’ll fight as hard as I can, but if I die then I guess that’s my fate and I’ll be reunited with Ava again.”
I stirred in the sugar to Ember’s porridge. “I never said sorry for Ava,” I said quietly, unable to meet Shannon’s eyes.
Shannon turned to me, her eyes hard and cold, her mouth tight. She flicked her blonde hair over her shoulder until it cascaded down her back. “No, you didn’t, because until you were shat on by my father, you believed the sun shone out of the SBI’s arse, even if you didn't like him.” She paused and took a breath. “You never really loved Ava, did you? She was just a distraction from the person you really wanted.” Her chin dipped towards Ember. “Her. After Ava, I thought if I tried hard enough I’d get you to notice me, but it took me being thrown in here by my father to get you to even look my way. Ember’s a lucky girl. Even when we were young, I saw the way you looked at her, and I wanted that.”
“What? You wanted me to look at you like I look at her?”
She smiled and rolled her eyes. “You always were hot Connor, but no, not just you. I wanted someone, anyone to look at me like I meant something. No one ever has.”
I stopped walking. She halted and looked back at me. Her cheeks were tinged with pink and a rare vulnerability shone in her eyes.
“You wouldn’t have to look far, Shannon.” And I looked with meaning at Stone.
She laughed out loud, causing even Ember to turn and look at us. “Now you really are taking the piss. Him? He hates my guts.”
I smiled back, but if she couldn’t see it yet, maybe Stone wasn’t ready to let his feelings for her show. I just shrugged. “You sure about that? I agree, he’s a shit to everyone, but think about how much time and attitude he’s expended recently, just on you.”
She watched me place the bowl of food in front of Ember before she walked away with a frown creasing her brow.
I sat down.
Ember’s eyes followed my movements. “What did she want?”
I smiled, and ignored the question knowing it would wind her up and ignite a spark of fight in her, one that had been lacking so far that day. “Eat.”
She glared at me, her green eyes flashing like emeralds in her ashen face. Resting her forearms on the table, her fists curled.
“Ember.” I growled a warning, loving these little moments of challenge she threw my way; they gave me something to live for. “Eat, or I will feed it to you, even if I have to tie you to that chair to do it.”
She held my gaze a bit longer, but I was more practiced. I gave her a few more seconds, then shrugged and reached my hand towards the bowl, ready to carry out my threat.
“Fine!” Her hand shot out and grabbed the bowl and the crappy, cardboard spoon.
It was almost painful watching her force food down that she clearly didn’t want, but it was necessary. I didn’t pay attention to anyone else, just kept my unwavering gaze on Ember. Every now and then she glared at me, but otherwise kept her eyes down and ate.
“There, done.” She pushed her dish away.
The speakers crackled and everyone stilled. All noise ceased as the next batch of names were announced. I met Stone’s hard gaze before looking at D. My brothers eyed