Cell Mates (boyxboy) (Book 1: Behind Bars)

Chapter 20: Chaos

Chapter 20

~Nathan’s POV~

I didn’t wake to soft kisses and a warm body pressed against my side. I opened my eyes and looked around me; no Riley. My brows furrowed.

“Riles?” I called and was surprised to hear him awake and alert down below.

“Hmm?”

I glanced over the edge of the bunk and spotted him sitting crossed legged on the chair, face planted in his latest novel.

“What’re you doing? Come here.” I called rubbing the sleep from my eyes.

“Reading.” he said almost coldly and the previous night came back to me in a flash; I gritted my teeth.

“You’re not starting this shit again are you?” I returned and he chose to remain silent.

I wasn’t about to obsess over this new behavior; he was being childish, giving me the silent treatment and refusing to tell me what was bothering him. It was absolutely fine with me if he wanted to keep it all to himself. I jumped from my bunk and landed with a soft thud below; then went to pull on the usual outfit.

He didn’t glance up from his book once and I felt a flash of annoyance go through me before I quashed it and focused on what I was doing. When that was done I lowered myself onto his rumpled sheets, waiting for the guards to come free us from our cage.

I sat through twenty minutes of silence before the buzzer sounded and our gate was being opened. He ignored me on the long trek down to the showers and the walk to the cafeteria and when I sat in my usual seat amongst the guys, despite his earlier actions, I was surprised when he didn’t come to sit by me as he usually did. Instead he took a seat next to Kyle and John and everyone around our large table took notice.

“Well this is new.” John commented, looking between us and I ignored him.

“Mind your own business Johnny.” Kyle scolded him and a few of the guys snickered when John only gave him a pointed look.

The John we all knew would have decked a guy for that. He was getting soft and all because of this fruitcake sitting across from me. Just then, said fruitcake turned to offer me a small unwelcome smile and I stared at him blankly.

“You need to shave babe.” Unfazed, Kyle had turned back to him and was running his fingers through the stubble on John’s face. We all watched with varying degrees of amusement and in my case indifference, as John slapped Kyle’s hand away and turned to the meal before him.

“What’s up with you two lovebirds?” one of the guys nudged Riley who rolled his eyes before regarding me with a bored stare.

“Trust me dude, love has nothing to do with it.”

“Ha-ha Nate what’d you do, kid looks about ready to beat your ass.” The guys joked and I shrugged.

“I couldn’t tell you...” My gaze settled on Riley as I said it but like this morning he continued ignoring me, looking completely unconcerned as he listened to something Kyle was telling him.

“Any news?” I turned my attention to Eddie.

“Nothing as it relates to Riley’s situation and as for our case; everything’s going as planned. We’ll be outta here before you know it.” He grinned and I could understand his excitement; he had a girl on the outside he planned on marrying; we all had lives we were eager to get back to and this case had affected so much already it was time for it to end.