Page 40 of Diamond in the Rough

Ernie elbowed his side. “It’s not gonna get any better.”

“You said the food wasn’t so bad.”

“I said some of the food wasn’t so bad. The porridge is terrible.”

Gavin sat down opposite Ernie. “It’s my favourite.”

“Tastes like glue,” Ernie muttered.

“Can Frank and Keiron sit with you?”

He directed his question at Maddox, and although every atom of Maddox’s being wanted to say no, he went against it and nodded. “I don’t own the tables or chairs.”

Gavin waved his friends over. Frank, a huge muscular guy, and Keiron, feminine guy with his eyebrows done and his hair dyed purple. Frank sat down and Keiron slid on his lap and wrapped his arms around his neck. Maddox was caught off guard by the affection and lowered his gaze. It was clear some of the inmates were in relationships, but Maddox had managed to block them out.

“You don’t have an issue with gays, do you?”

Maddox looked up at Keiron’s furious face. “No.”

Ernie slapped his hand down on Maddox’s shoulder. Maddox could feel his bones, and when he looked at Ernie’s hands, the skin was thin.

“Not this one, he was a gay Lothario in his twenties.”

Keiron grinned. “Yeah?”

“I wouldn’t say so,” Maddox said.

“You got anyone on the outside?”

An ache grew in Maddox’s chest and a lump in his throat.

Ernie laughed. “From what I remember, it was a new guy every time I saw him, never serious, always fleeting.”

Maddox didn’t bother correcting Ernie. Instead, he gestured to Frank and Keiron.” So how long?”

Keiron grinned, and Frank matched his loved-up expression. “A few months, still in the honeymoon period.”

“Good for you,” Maddox said, forcing a smile.

“So I saw what you did to Mickey,” Keiron whispered, darting a look at Maddox’s hand.

Maddox looked over to the battered man at the far end of the room. “He had it coming to him, although, why couldn’t Frank have sorted him out for you?”

Frank gawped, then lifted his chin. “What, because I’m muscular I’ve got to go around beating people up? I don’t like violence.”

“What you in for then?”

“Murder,” Ernie said, “like most of us.”

“I used poison. I’m not a brute. I don’t smash people’s faces in or blow their brains out.”

Maddox saw the exact moment Frank realized he’d said something wrong. His eyes widened, and his throat bobbed.

“You calling me a brute?” Maddox asked.

“That wasn’t directed at you. I’m sorry, I didn’t mean anything by it.”

Ernie chuckled. “Maddox is messing with you, Frank.”

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