Blank Slate

Chapter 173 - Payton Taylor

"Oh my God, Payton," Sabrina cried as I entered our cell and turned my back to the door. I backed up and pushed my hands through the hole in the bars. Fields took his time unlocking the cuffs, once again running his fingers up my forearms and Sabrina cupped my head in her hands.

Entirely too many people were touching me right now.

The second that my hands were free, I twisted out of Sabrina's hold and practically threw myself to the far side of the cell. I could hear my heartbeat in my ears and when I held out my hands, they were trembling. I needed to get a hold of my shit. I was stronger than this. I couldn't let a little touching, being cuffed, punched, threatened, and a head injury affect me this much.

I was stronger than that.

"Payton!" Sabrina cried again and knelt on the ground before me. She tried to once again cup my face and I flinched away again. Sabrina pulled her hands away and looked at me with kind understanding.

"What happened?" she tried again in a softer voice. "You are covered in blood. Did they hurt you because of me?"

I took a deep breath and held it, finally understanding that the pounding in my ears wasn't because I was losing my shit. It was because of my head wound. I let my breath out and touched my forehead. My fingers came back slicked with blood.

"I'm fine. This is from when they made me trip. And no, it wasn't because of you. This one was all on me," I told Sabrina and walked over to our toilet. I wadded up some toilet paper and pressed it into the cut at my hairline.

"Payton, report. How bad is your injury?" Ethan's voice said in my ear.

I turned to face the wall and murmured, "I'm fine. It just looks bad because head wounds bleed a lot. But I know from experience that I don't have a concussion and the cut will heal without stitches."

"I hate that you can know if you have a concussion by experience," Liam's voice came through and for a moment it felt like he was right here, being overprotective and worried about me. That feeling helped me push the residual panic down and steady my hands.

"I don't know much about head wounds but I think that we should get someone to help you. I think that you need medical attention," Sabrina said, still sitting on the floor and eyeing me with worry. I gave her a weak smile and then started to explain our change of circumstances to distract her. I didn't like that we were supposedly aligned with the J gang but I didn't think flat out refusing Joelle's offer would work out well for me or Sabrina.

Who knew, maybe I could draw out our alliance with them long enough to keep Joelle from stabbing me in the back. Or more literally, stab Sabina in the back.

By the time the bleeding stopped, we had about an hour before we had to go to lunch and have yard time. I groaned and laid back on the bottom bunk. I would actually prefer it if they just kept us locked up the entire time and delivered our meals. Lunch and yard time meant that I was going to have to back up my words and join J gang. I had a suspension that Joelle would want me to hurt this inmate in the library sooner rather than later.

"Oliver," I asked in a low voice that I hoped wouldn't carry.

"Hey Payton," he was quick to reply. I wanted to ask how Ezra was doing. Ask if he was healing. Ask if he was figuring out a way to survive in spite of everything he had witnessed. But I didn't. And I don't know if I didn't because of the mission or because I was afraid to hear the answer.

"Can you try to find out who I am supposed to target in the library?" I asked, sounding tired even to my own ears.

"I can do that," Oliver's voice responded and then hesitated before continuing, "In the meantime, there is something that you need to know about. Liam thought that there was something more to a website link that he saw in one of the guard stations and asked me to look into it. The site was password protected and I just got around to hacking in. And Payton it's... it's pretty fucked up. It is a porn site featuring the inmates of High Point Prison. Both the male and female prisoners. I don't know how they are pulling it off, because the two parts of the prison are supposed to be completely isolated from each other. The female inmates aren't supposed to have any contact with the men's side."