Page 44 of Walking Red Flag

I sure the fuck wouldn’t have been so okay with the thought.

Yet, there I was, sitting next to a crime lord’s sister, introducing her to my brother, and I felt…great.

I felt great.

Dorie had never met Copper.

Dorie had never asked to meet Copper, and I’d never asked her if she wanted to go.

Which really should’ve been her first red flag when it came to me.

Didn’t she ever wonder why I’d never asked her to come?

Because on my end, asking her to come would’ve indicated that she actually meant something to me. And since I hadn’t asked, that meant that I’d never seen the relationship going anywhere long term.

“I like you, girl,” Copper said, then lowered his voice. “Don’t look now, but the douche that’s trying to singlehandedly add to my sentence is sitting behind you. Not sure how the fuck he got out here on good enough behavior to get visitors, but there he is.”

“Is that the same one?” I asked.

“Lyle Pennington,” Copper grumbled. “The fuckin’ ass wipe that’s trying to make himself king of the pen.”

Copper had mentioned in his letter the day that Lyle Pennington had arrived.

He’d been transferred from another prison in Tennessee and had immediately started to assert his dominance and solidify his place in the prison.

From day one of his arrival, he’d been a thorn in Copper’s side.

First, he’d tried to win Copper over with his smarmy wiles. When Copper didn’t fall for it and not only refused to speak to him, but have anything to do with him, it’d pissed him off.

Because Copper had been here so long, he’d established himself as a man not to be messed with.

Everyone respected him from inmate to warden.

All the guards loved him.

Hell, there wasn’t a single person in the prison that didn’t respect him.

And Lyle Pennington wanted that kind of pull.

When Copper wouldn’t give him the time of day, Lyle had started to target him.

The last two years had been worse because of Copper having to constantly defend himself from Lyle’s attempts to hurt him.

If I could kill one man and get away with it, it’d be that douchebag.

I hated that my brother was struggling with it and hated even more that I couldn’t fix it for him.

“I…” I started to say, but the woman at my side started to sway.

I turned to her to see her face drained of all color.

There was no life to her face at all, and her breaths were coming in uneven pants.

Her entire body was shaking, and she was swaying on her seat, looking ready to fall over.

“Ahh, look who it is.”

The sound of his voice had me narrowing my eyes, but the absolute blankness out of the woman at my side had me terrified.

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