Watson by Kathi Barton (ebook reader txt) 📕

was a source of pride for her to be argumentative whenever possible. Eita would have been so proud of— “We do this the easy way, which is you sitting in this chair, or I knock you out and stitch you up while you’re under. It’s no sweat off my back.”

“Your bedside manner is wonderful. I’m betting that is why you’re here putting stitches in people that have been abused.” She told her she was like her. “Doubtful. I’m a Wilkerson. I am well above anyone here. Most of the world, too, I would imagine.”

“I’m an inmate like you, dumbass. I killed my husband.” Tina jerked back from the woman so quickly that they both went to the floor. “What is it with you, bitch? You want someone to hurt you? Sit the fuck still, or so help me—”

“I’m not going to allow an inmate to touch me.” The woman was larger than Tina by a great deal, but it was a matter of principle now. No criminal was going to touch her. “Get a real doctor here right this minute. I’ll not allow— My son. He said he was some sort of doctor. Call him back in here to do this for me. It’s the least he can do since I’m not at home yet.”

“You’re not going to be going home either. You’re here for three lifetimes. You were told that several times. Also, you were told that no one from your family will come back here.” The woman laughed. “At least my family will come to see me. Every weekend, like clockwork.”

“They’ll have to come and get me.” At least Tina hoped so. A pinch to her arm was all the warning she got before she simply fell back on the floor. “Fucking bitch.”

When she woke up, she was tied to a bed by leather straps. Trying to lift her head made her sick, so she just closed her eyes and laid there. After what felt like forever, she started calling for someone to come and get her. Tina wasn’t used to being treated this way, damn it. She wanted to go home and be pampered.

“There you are. How do you feel?” She told the criminal that she was sick to her belly. “Yes, I guess you might be. But it’s done now, and as soon as a guard comes to get you, you can go to your new room.”

“I have a new room? Oh, how wonderful.” She was so excited she nearly forgot about being chained up. “I do hope my family sent me some of my things. I think when I leave here, I’ll just leave them behind. Surely he wouldn’t have brought up my good things for this place.”

“Good things? You don’t have anything. You don’t pay attention well, do you? You’re getting a new place to live, not a new makeover. Speaking of which, you should have a look at my handiwork. Your lip is going to be scarred, I’m afraid, but nothing I can do about that.” She told her she’d be able to get her face done when she got home. “Yeah, you keep thinking that, and they’ll put you in a locked cell for your time here.”

When the guard came to get her, Tina was giddy with excitement. Of course, the man didn’t say a word to her, not answering any of her questions. Before they entered a set of doors she’d never seen before, he finally turned to her.

“You are no longer to get special treatment around here.” She asked him if he thought she was getting any in the first place. “You have been. All three of you have been. However, the moment your ex-husband told us that he wasn’t going to have anything to do with you, we figured he’d be all right with you being put in the general population. You and the other two will be with all the other inmates.”

“I don’t understand.” He nodded as if he’d expected her to say that, and the door was opened that they were by. Peeking in, she saw that there were three other people in the room she was standing by. “Where is my room? I mean, I haven’t had to share with anyone before this. I don’t want to now. Do you know that they’re criminals? I’m not.”

“You are as well, Inmate. You’re just like all the other women in here. A criminal. However, these two ladies will be leaving here in a few weeks. We thought we’d introduce you to prison life easily.” She started to back away from the room. “Don’t make this hard, Inmate. This is where you’re going to be spending the rest of your life. This will be your cell.”

“No. I don’t want to be in there. My family—” He said no one was coming to get her. “They will. They’re just upset with me because we killed that bitch Holly. But I’m a Wilkerson, and we have to keep the bloodline pure. She wasn’t anything but a slut.”

“You’re no longer anything but Inmate. If you have to be referred to, your number on your shirt there is what you’ll be going by. Remember that number. I’ve already been told that you’ll not get any mail from anyone. There isn’t a fund set up for you, so you’ll need to work for—”

“I’ve never worked a day in my life, and I have no intentions of doing so now. You’ll just have to bill my husband for this.” He shook his head and said that wasn’t how things were done. “Well, perhaps you should change your rules for special people like me.”

“Look, Ruth, she thinks she’s special.” The two women in the cell laughed. “Nobody is special around here, girl. You’re just going to have to get friendly with a couple of dykes, and you’ll be fine. Just make sure you get you a nice big girlfriend, or you’ll be beating them off. Get it? Beating them off.”

She didn’t get it. When Tina was