Page 5 of Exile and Embrace

“That’s what you get,” he says, his voice booming for the others to hear.

I slump against the wall, the air knocked from my lungs with another punch.

“You think that you’re better than us because you’re getting out? Fuck you.”

I spit another mouthful of blood onto the floor once I can finally breathe again. My torso aches as I pull myself off the bars.

His gaze locks with mine, and he takes a step forward in a silent challenge.

Before I make a bad decision, the guards come back around the corner, and the crowd starts to disperse.

Officer Richards looks at me with a shit-eating grin before pulling out his cuffs and snapping them back on my wrists. He makes sure they dig into my wrists.

I press my lips together, not saying a word as they shove me into the elevator and up several floors, back to the infirmary.

When the elevator comes to a stop on the top floor, my heart comes to a screeching halt with it.

I wish I could have locked myself in my cell instead of coming up here.

The guards lead me down the long hall, past walls with windows on one side and offices on the other.

Ava laughs at something one of the other nurses says to her as he leans against the desk. Her long braid sways, the overhead lights making the lighter strands in her chocolate-colored hair shine.

Richards pushes the door to the infirmary open. “Look who’s back.”

He nudges me inside as Ava stands up, her warm brown eyes widening as she looks at me.

Coming up here and having my heart crash through my chest as she looks at me with what appears to be disappointment is hell.

This is just further proof I can’t take her with me. It’s too dangerous. And I will not put her in danger. I can’t.

“Over there,” Ava says, nodding to one of the hospital beds. “And the two of you can step out of the room. I will handle this. Carter, Doctor Marsden wanted to see you too.”

The other nurse looks between me and Ava with a scowl as the guards head out of the room. “You shouldn’t be alone with him.”

“The guards are right outside the door as they are with every other patient I have. Now go. I can handle this, and I’ll shout for the guards if anything happens.”

Carter glares at me before leaving.

I roll my eyes and head over to the bed.

Ava follows me over, takes the chain attached to the metal frame of the bed, and snaps it onto my cuffs.

“What happened?” Her cool fingers grip my chin and turn my head. “You’ve got multiple lacerations your cheekbone and a split lip. There’s going to be some bruising here too.”

“Fell.”

She picks up my hands and examines my knuckles. “These are clean. Not a single scratch. You didn’t fight back?” That last past was barely a whisper as her eyes widen.

I shrug. “Like I said, fell.”

Ava’s eyes narrow, and she arches one of her slender eyebrows. “You know I’ve worked here long enough to not believe that bullshit, right?”

“Then you’ve also worked here long enough to know that I’m not going to tell you anything else.”

I try to get comfortable to put her at ease, even though the throbbing in my face is driving me insane.

She goes over to one of the locked metal cabinets as she pulls out a key from the pocket of her scrubs.

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