My Prison Pen Pal

Chapter 6

I quickly remember that I am still staring at him, like a lunatic, and snap out of it. I clear my throat and carefully walk over to the silver metal table. He does not take his eyes off of me. I stand right in front of Braden and gingerly reach out my hand.

"Hi. I am Lucy. It's nice to meet you."

Braden slowly gets out of his sitting position and rises to his full height, towering over me at 6'4. The height difference of a whole foot makes my knees weak as I look up to meet his eyes. He is standing just close enough that I can slightly smell his scent of morning coffee and some sort of spice. It wraps me up and makes me want to take a step closer to him. Braden delicately takes my outstretched hand and shakes it. As soon as our hands touch I blush and look away for a second.

"Nice to meet you Lucy, I'm Braden."

I slightly freeze as his smooth voice came out of his mouth. It is deep and smooth, but has a slight grit to it at the end of his words. I take a slow swallow and sit down on the metal bench connected to the table because the burning tension is getting higher and higher.

"So, is it what you expected?"

Braden asks while he rests his hands on the table and slightly leans towards me. I look down and notice his wrists are handcuffed together. A rush of heat travels right down to my core as I imagine those on me, in a different context. I immediately clear my throat and look back up to his eyes.

"What?"

Braden smiles.

"The prison. Is it what you expected it to look like?"

I unwrinkle my eyebrows and give him a small smile back.

"Sure. I mean I did not expect it to be this light and spacious, but I could see how movies and TV exaggerate the space."

"Nobody gave you trouble though, right? When you came in?"

He looks straight into my eyes and looks at me with a slightly concerned expression.

"No, no. For the most part everyone was nice. Cynthia especially, I really like her."

Braden furrows his dark eyebrows.

"What do you mean for the most part? Did something happen?"

He repositions in his seat to be more angled toward me. I also notice that he subtly starts to scan the room with an intense look.

"It really wasn't that big of a deal. I just got a weird vibe from Rick at the front desk but that's it."

Braden sighs and sits up straighter. He takes his hands that are tied together and lightly brushes through his thick dark locks.

"Yeah. Rick is rude sometimes. Let me know if he gives you any more trouble and I will take care of it."

I blush, exhale, and look down. He's already trying to protect me and he hasn't even known me for more than a few weeks. I wonder what he is like with the other people in his life, and if he is even more of an alpha male.

"Hey, speaking of Cynthia, she mentioned that I was your first guest in months. Do you not like the company? We can totally just talk in letters if you prefer."

My heart sank at the suggestion, but I would do whatever was most comfortable for him.

"Oh no! I love the company, it truly means so much you came."

Braden squeezes my hand that I have resting on the table and my stomach fills with butterflies.

"Honestly, I don't have a lot of people to come and visit me. I am an orphan and my only friends I had were the ones that I took the fall for. We all would sell illegal drugs to make some extra money and when we got caught, they threw me under the bus. I could have fought for less time but honestly, they had families and I didn't. I know it's messed up but I knew I could handle it."