He recognizes all the guys, of course he does. It's a small prison, a limited population, and not too many people come and go without at least becoming a familiar face. Three of them are from the white supremacy group, the fact that they're standing up alongside two black guys and a well-built latino man means Alex has probably paid them all very well to get along for as long as it takes to break him in. It means no amount of talking is going to do the trick here, and there's no walking away from this without either something broken or a black mark on his disciplinary record.

And then Steve shows up to make matters ten times worse. He's spotless, he's green, if he gets involved he's going to blow any chance he's got of any good behavior time off his sentence and he's going to make a permanent enemy out of seven people.

Barnes heaves a sigh, doesn't even look back at him when he says, "Nope. All good here. Go back to the room, Steve."

"Yes, go back to the room, Steve," Alex agrees, toneless and crisp, with his fingers lacing along his front and a little bounce to his heels. "There's nothing here for you. James knows what he's in for."