MAMI ✔️

Chapter Twenty One

SANTIAGO'S POV

As soon as Hannah is clear I change out of the cleaners uniform and back into my kitchen uniform. I do not want to get into trouble with the CO's if they see me in the wrong uniform. Since Hannah wore it for more then twelve hours, it has her scent , fruity and sweet. I definitely won't wash it till her scent fades away completely but gievn my nature of work that won't be long but a man can hope.

I walk out of the charred cell block and make my way to the laundry room in search of Julius. I know the guards are on high alert searching for stragglers and there will be a count soon to make sure everyone is accounted for. If we want to avoid solitary confinement which I can't afford to be thrown in now that I am up for parole I need to find Julius and get him back to our cell fast.

The laundry room is devoid of human presence when I get there but the place is massive so I can't search it inch by inch. I settle for the next best thing.

"Julius! You in here?!" I yell out loud.

My voice echoes throughout the place enhancing just how desolate it is.

I hear a faint shout before the kid jumps out of an industrial size washing machine.

"Were you in there all night?" I ask helping him up.

"You told me to hide in there." He replies.

"I know but how'd you survive?" I question.

The machine is big enough to fit him but there's not a lot of breathing space left.

"I cracked it open." Julius says with a shrug.

"Smart but we need to go back to our cell. They'll begin count soon." I inform him.

He nods and follows me out of the laundry room, hastening our pace to avoid getting into trouble.

"What about Hannah? What happened with her?" He inquires.

"She's safe." I assure him.

"You were with her the whole night?" He insists.

The kid just won't let it go but this is not the time nor place to be talking about this.

"Less questioning, more walking. Hustle kid." I yell.

"Fine I'm coming." He grumbles picking up the pace.

We are on the cell block below ours, one flight of stairs away from safety when we run into Callahan.

"Fucking hell." I cuss out knowing this can end up being a really ugly situation.

"Well. Well. Well. What do we have here?" He aks with a menacing grin slapping his baton against his palm.

It has blotches of what looks like blood on it meaning we won't be the first people he uses it on. Callahan has always been brutal, I won't be surprised if he sent a couple of inmates to the medical wing with broken limbs yesterday. I don't want to end up like them so the best option is to submit and show him we aren't a threat.

I lift my hands up and nudge Julius to do the same which he does begrudgingly.

"We're on our way back to our cell." I inform him.

"Causing trouble are we? I haven't seen you two all night. Where have you been?" Callahan asks.

"Not causing trouble. We were hiding." I reply.

"Like a couple of pussies." Callahan laughs.

"Would you have preferred if we were burning down the place." Julius retorts.