Page 22 of Mask and the Magnolia

“This is Nurse Hubbard,” Stevenson says as we stop at the nurse’s station. “You remember her from intake?”

I nod as the clearly alpha and ancient female looks up at me, her eyes narrowing on my face briefly before she gives me a tight lipped smile. “Let’s get to it, Severe.”

Arching a brow, I follow her as the guards get behind me, O’Brien chuckling while he whispers, “She’s not much of a talker.”

“But neither are you,” Stevenson adds. “So, I’m sure this is going to be one awkward as hell exam.”

As soon as we’re inside the second of the two rooms labeled for exactly that, they let me know they’ll be back for me shortly, then disappear into the hall while I’m left with Nurse Hubbard.

“Inmate number 11936.” She grabs a clipboard off the counter and stands in front of me. “Korvin Severe.” The nurse glances up at me again before she starts circling me. “Thirty one years old. Incarcerated at seventeen. Parents, deceased. Younger sister, Maisie, is the only one who ever tries to make contact.” I can hear her flipping through my file and something about it makes me uneasy.

Especially when she says, “Unmedicated sociopath.”

I’m not sure why hearing her read that makes my stomach churn, but it does, and I’m suddenly grateful she’s not in charge of my treatment.

“Vegetarian,” she scoffs. “Is that right?”

I nod as she comes around and stops in front of me again.

“Did they honor that in prison?”

I shake my head.

“Did you eat what they gave you?”

I didn’t have a choice, which is why I nod again. If I didn’t eat what they gave me, I wouldn’t have been able to defend myselfwhen I needed to, and I definitely would have starved to death at some point. I saw it happen with a few guys over the years, trying for a hunger strike in the seventh circle of hell and having it backfire horribly.

“For some reason.” Nurse Hubbard scribbles something down on my file. “It’s important to Dr. Lowe for youresidentsto have the freedom to make as many of your own choices as possible while you’re here.”

Something she obviously doesn’t agree with.

“You’ll be allowed a vegetarian diet while you’re at Blackhurst Ridge if you so choose to follow one. I will be monitoring your intake and appetite as well as your daily activity, exercise, perform regular wellness exams, and oversee your medications.”

My brow furrows as she looks up, and a borderline malicious grin splits her weathered features. “Yes, I said medications. If I have anything to do with it, all of you will be drugged so heavily that you’re nothing more than zombies walking the halls up here.” She pulls her clipboard against her chest, crossing her arms against it as that smirk on her face grows. “Dr. Lowe might think you’re misunderstood, that underneath that calculating, bloodthirsty exterior you’re all still men who can be reformed, but I know better. All six of you are animals, disgusting dogs who should be euthanized, and I’m going to see to it you are.”

Then she turns, sets my file on the counter, and proceeds with a routine exam as if she didn’t just show me my gut was right about her, and she might be more dangerous than any of us with life sentences.

FIVE

SO IT BEGINS

MAGNOLIA

“That one’s cute,” Evie chirps from my bed, her tone full of positivity despite the fact that she’s ready to knock me out. “It makes your butt look good.”

I turn to the side before twisting to look at my ass, checking my reflection from all angles in the full length mirror. She’s not wrong. This skirt does make my butt look good.

“Ugh,” I groan as I unzip the pinstripe pencil skirt and start to shimmy out of it. “Why do I even give a shit about this?”

Evie pops up and quickly stops me from stripping. “Because you want to look nice.” She swats my hands away and starts fixing my black crop top, too. “Because you finally feel like you can be yourself while looking nice.” Eve grabs my cardigan from the floor and shakes it out before making me put it on. “And because Dr. Lowe is a serious babe who makes you feel all the things you haven’t felt since you found out you’re getting chained to Camden at the end of the school year.”

Once again, my best friend is not wrong.

Dr. Lowe did not look the way I expected him to look when I met him.

He’s sexyandnerdy, which is basically catnip for me. He’s intelligent and awkward, kind of adorable, and more passionate than anyone I’ve ever met. Dr. Lowe, Isaak, has that whole oblivious Adonis thing going for him, and it works so well with an enthusiastic brainiac that I’m finding myself more and more attracted to him. The fact that he’s older, semi-off limits, and doesn’t seem to be afraid of my father isn’t helping, either.

There’s no chance in hell for anything to happen between us, I can tell he’s not interested in that without him saying anything, but it doesn’t mean I don’t wish that he was. It also hasn’t stopped me from stressing out over what I’m going to wear every single day because I want to look nice forhimalmost as much as I want to be taken seriously as a psychologist despite dressing a little edgier than most of the ones I know.

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