Chapter 2

Later, though, when we’re banged up and the light’s faded from the sky outside our window, I can hear the mattress below me creaking as Ella shifts, restless. “Mel?” she says, soft as moonlight. “Are you awake?”

Girl like her in the bunk below me? Course I’m awake. “Can’t sleep?” I ask her.

“I’m so cold,” she says. And yeah, the prison blankets are as thin as they are stained, but I know she don’t just mean the chill coming off these bare brick walls. I remember my first night inside, sick with worry and fear. Course, I never let on to anyone. The life I’ve lived, you learn not to let anyone see you vulnerable. But Ella’s not like me.

“I could bunk in with you,” I say. “It’d be warmer together. If you want.”

“Would you?” she says, her voice small as a mouse.

In answer, I just slip down off my bunk and slide between her sheets. She’s warm, so warm, and so tiny there’s plenty of room for both of us.