Page 94 of Sycamore Circle

Seth drew in a breath, obviously about to add his two cents, when Lincoln’s door opened. Their boss looked at the three of them, almost seeming surprised that they were standing there waiting on him.

“Did you knock?” he asked.

“No,” Seth answered. “I thought you were in a meeting.”

“Oh. Yeah. I guess I was...” Lincoln’s voice drifted off. “Sorry I kept you guys waiting out here in the hall, though.”

Bo exchanged glances with the other two guys. If he hadn’t been worried, he was now. Lincoln was a lot of things but forgetful and absent-minded wasn’t one of them. “You want to talk now, Boss? Or do you want us to wait a spell?”

“Now’s fine. Come on in.” He turned and walked to his desk. Sat down behind it and motioned to the empty chairs. “Have a seat. Oh, and Mason, close the door, yeah?”

After closing the door, Mason leaned against it. Whether he was hoping to get out of there fastest or wanted to be the first to approach anyone who knocked on the door, Bo wasn’t sure.

Bo and Seth sat down on the two chairs next to Lincoln’s desk while Lincoln reached into his pocket. They all remained quiet while Lincoln looked at something on his phone.

After a few more seconds passed, Lincoln said, “So, there’s some crap going on. First, I heard from Evan Hayes, the new warden over in Madisonville. There was a fight two days ago involving Sammy.” His scowl deepened. “I’m sure you guys remember him.”

“Oh, yeah,” Bo muttered. Sammy had been every new inmate’s worst nightmare in the pen. He was every cliché, nightmare, and rumor about an inmate personified. Once a guy put him in his place, he left him alone, though. Bo had given Sammy a bloody nose when Sammy had made the mistake of thinking that Bo was okay with being grabbed. The only person he knew of who hadn’t had a go-around with Sammy was Lincoln. The story was that Lincoln was so big and looked so hard when he entered, even Sammy had thought twice about giving him grief.

“He was hard to forget,” Mason said. “Don’t understand the concern about the fight, though. Half the population in that prison has had words with the guy.”

Seth chuckled. “Love how you say words instead of punches.”

“You know what I mean.” Looking restless, Mason shifted on his feet. “What’s going on? Most of the guards practically looked the other way when someone was fighting off Sammy.”

“Yeah, well, this fight was a little different. It was between Sammy and Colt.”

Bo frowned. Colt had been paroled and gone into their program almost a year ago. Bo had worked with him, but they had ultimately kicked him out of T-DOT when he’d failed to show up at work—and Bo had seen him mistreat a woman.

He’d read Colt the riot act—both about his laziness and about his disrespecting women. As he’d expected, his lecture hadn’t gone over well. Colt had flipped out and actually tried to hit him. Pinning him to the wall, Bo had ordered the man to leave.

A lot of guys coming out of prison weren’t exactly gentlemen, but Colt’s actions were on a whole other level. Bo had never had a moment’s regret about his decision, though he’d had a bitter taste in his mouth about the guy moving into their program in the first place. He’d contacted Colt’s parole officer and given him a heads-up too.

Less than a month after being turned out, Colt had been in the local jail with charges filed against him for attempted rape. “I thought for sure Colt would’ve gotten sent someplace else besides Madisonville.”

“Me too. I was hoping he’d get sent down to the maximum over in Lebanon, but he didn’t.” Lincoln’s blue eyes turned even more stormy. “Anyway, Colt and Sammy got in a fight, a lot of words were said, and somehow Sammy was declared the winner. He’s also scheduled to be released on Friday.”

Mason cursed under his breath.

“I’m guessing some of those words were about you?”

Lincoln shrugged. “Some. He talked about all of us. From what I heard, he not only has a beef with me, but with Bo and you, Mason.”

“Bring it on,” Mason grumbled.

“Settle down, Mason. What I’m trying to convey is that the kid has some issues, and they aren’t good. Rumor has it that he’s going to try to make a name for himself.”

Bo tensed. “We need to up your security, Boss.”

“Yeah, maybe,” Lincoln allowed.

Bo turned to Mason. He nodded, showing Bo that he was already thinking about who to put on security over at Lincoln’s house.

Seth, on the other hand, was still looking at Lincoln intently. “Is that it, Boss?”

Lincoln took a deep breath. “No. Jennifer’s pregnant again. She’s feeling a little tired, so I’m going to take her away for a couple of days. Her mother’s going to watch Hunt.”

Mason grinned. “Congratulations.”

---