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

Chapter 14: Visiting hours.

I smiled as I watched him trying desperately to keep the love bites covered as he talked and talked as only Riley could. His mood had seemed to heighten drastically with the coming of the morning and surprisingly; I found I liked him this way. I liked him…happy.

“…but I think I’d rather just get a tattoo… piercings are kinda messy. Did it hurt when you got yours? I hear they do, but I’m sure some people exaggerate.” He was saying then blushed when he caught me looking at his neck.

“Stop looking.” He said then, snapping a hand over the marks and I shook my head in amusement.

It was times like this that his innocence really struck me and made me think back to how far he’d come these past months.

“It doesn’t hurt much, in fact if you think about something else you hardly feel a thing.” I lied and he nodded in contemplation.

“I probably wouldn’t get something that big though, maybe just something on my arm. What do you think they charge to do that stuff in here?” he asked then and I frowned.

“In here?”

“Yeah, do you think they charge cash or like barter stuff?” he continued and my frown deepened.

“It doesn’t matter what they charge, you’re not getting a tattoo in this place. The first thing you’ll leave with is a disease and you can be certain the only bartering they’ll be doing is with your body.” I finished, working to quash the feeling of anger that had arisen at the thought of Riley with any of the disgusting perverts in here.

“Then where do you expect me to do it. I’m not getting out of this place anytime soon remember?” he said and the happiness from earlier all but disintegrated as I watched him.

“You’d have sex for a tattoo?”

“Of course not.” He grumbled, then shook his head and turned away from me, “Just forget it.”

“You’re moody today.” I commented.

“Yeah well the thought of having to stay in this place for any length of time would kill anybody’s mood.” He said, then pushed up from the seat. “I’m gonna finish the rest of REC in the library.” He announced and just like that he was gone.

I shook my head.

“John!” I called, turning to face my fellow agent who seemed just about ready to strangle Kyle who sat by his side across the small room chatting his ear off.

When he looked up and saw me waving him over, the relief on his face was unmistakable.

“You got something for me?” he asked the second he dropped into the seat before me. “We’re doing a drop tonight, then I’m turning the second meet-up over the Eddie.” I explained.

His brow furrowed, “Why Eddie?”

“Because we’ve used you too many times already, I can’t afford for anyone to get suspicious right now. Not even a dying man needs to go to the infirmary as often as you have been. Eddie will get himself in there; I’ll organize for one of our guys to escort him; he’ll form a distraction and he’ll plaster the device close enough to the warden’s office for our guys outside to get a read; if they hear anything worth much they’ll get the message our way and we’ll know how to proceed. And if that doesn’t work we’ve already got a guard slowly making his way up as the warden’s right hand anyway.

“Do I need to remind you how many laws we’re breaking to make this work?” John stated the obvious and I nodded.

“When we uncover the truth, the last thing anyone will care about is the laws we’ve broken. This is bigger than all of us.” I told him and he nodded in agreement.