Page 5 of Rescued By the Convicts
Everyone in the unit had been teaching him to read and write, but he had a long way to go.
“Yup, give up one of your knives for a pen and paper,” Jayce said, intentionally sarcastic.
Reece let loose a growl. This latest bent of Jayce’s—setting people off intentionally—worried him. The man’s talents lay in his ability to negotiate and deal his way out of any situation, not hand-to-hand combat, but if he kept up these comments, he’d find himself on the wrong end of a knife when Reece or Ivan wasn’t around to protect him.
Rescuing Jayce from Hawke last month had been a joint effort between Reece, Ivan, Melina, and Zev—and a turning point in their relationship with each other. All of them had worked as a unit for the first time. They made a great team. It didn’t matter that The Company didn’t allow prisoners on Veenith to formally register as a unit. Reece, Jayce, and Ivan had ringed Melina according to Bacculan custom. To Melina, that was as binding as any law The Company could devise.
Reece had put aside his jealousy that day, realizing how much each of the men in their unit meant to her. . . and him. They would all have a chance at a real life on Veenith if they continued watching out for one another and worked together. But without Zev, it felt empty. Fuck, Reece missed the guy.
“One measly piece of paper and pen, Jayce,” Melina said. “He can shove it in a coat pocket.”
“Why are we arguing about this? We should be discussing when you’ll be sucking my cock again.”
Melina quickly put her hand on Reece’s fist, lucky for Jayce. He may not kill the guy, but he could certainly teach him a lesson or two.
“What’s gotten into you, Jayce? Are you intentionally trying to get Reece to pound you into the ground as some way of punishing yourself?”
“There’s the med-center.” Jayce pointed around the commissary, ignoring her question. A few men were heading in the direction of the commissary. Reece focused his attention on them.
“Reece will take you the rest of the way. I don’t want to be late for second shift. Thorne takes a long break after first shift and I need time to hack his computer to give you access to the bunker.”
Finally.She needed access to the bunker. For her safety.
Melina’s eyes went wide. “Really? When did Ivan decide I should have access?”
“Not everything’s up to Ivan,” Jayce groused.
Actually, it was, but Reece wasn’t going to say that. Even if he could. Melina was right, something was going on with Jayce and it wouldn’t pay to push him. The man would only push back twice as hard. He was scrappy that way.
Reece tapped Melina’s cheek to get her attention as he pointed to her second finger, where Jayce’s ring rested next to his. He wouldn’t tell her how to handle her relationship with Jayce, but a reminder of how she’d accepted Jayce wouldn’t hurt.
Melina bit her lip and then leaned forward, pressing her lips against Jayce’s. “I didn’t mean to insult you. I thought Ivan decided who was entitled to have access.”
“Do you even hear yourself, Melina? Talking as if you shouldn’t have access. Ivan mated you the same as I did, which means he should trust you.”
“He does trust me. Just like he trusts you.”
“Well, he shouldn’t trust me. Neither of you should.” Without another word, Jayce walked away, heading to the warden’s offices for second shift.
Melina stood there, stunned and confused.
Reece pulled her against his side and kissed the top of her head. They’d have to worry about Jayce later. There were too many men milling about despite the cold. He needed to get her inside the med-center, where she’d be safe. Relatively safe.
Chapter Two
MELINA
Once Melina entered the med-center, she found herself in a flurry of activity. Per Davies, a guard shesomewhattrusted, there’d been a minor collapse in Mine #8 right after first shift began this morning. That was the second in as many weeks. Per Ivan, they’d had fewer collapses this winter compared to last year. Fortunately, no one had died. The miners would spend the next few days digging out the rock and shoring up the collapsed section.
She dedicated the first few hours of her morning to rounds, mainly getting caught up with what the med-techs had done in her absence. They didn’t have the best training so she thoroughly checked over each patient to make sure nothing had been missed. She adjusted the medicines in all but one case.
With his leg broken in three places, Cheng needed nanites and a boost of bone-regen to ensure the stability of his femur. Bone-regen had a high rate of rejection by the body. She injected Cheng with both the bone-regen and a sedative, and waited while taking his vitals every twenty minutes.
She moved the chain that kept the prisoner bound to the bed up his arm a half-inch as she turned his wrist over to take his pulse. His prison ID tattoo was gone.
Melina checked his other wrist. No tattoo there either. She pushed against Cheng’s skin, which normally drew out the serilium infused in the ulna, making a prisoner’s tattoo glow brighter than usual. There was a faint glow, but when she released his skin, the glow and the visual markers of the tattoo disappeared.
This was the second patient she’d seen this happen to in two months. Melina scurried to the computer in her office to review the patient records. A month back, she had treated the prisoner Radick for two fractured ribs. His tattoo had been more visible than Cheng’s, but very faded compared to her own. Or even Jayce’s, and Jayce had been on Veenith six years. Cheng three and Radick only one.
