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.
"What did you just say to me boy?" Callahan sneers taking a step closer to us.
I step in between him and Julius knowing the kid is one word away from getting us into a lot of trouble.
"Sorry, we're just on edge. He didn't mean anything by it." I apologize.
I hate sucking up to Callahan but then again I know I won't be doing it for much longer. I am getting out with no intention of ever coming back here.
"Get out of my sight before I send you both to solitary." Callahan threatens.
"Thank you." I bow politely.
I take Julius' hand and push him ahead of me before he thinks of saying or doing something stupid.
We are only two steps ahead when something hits me hard on the back. I stumble forward and end up tripping Julius. I fall to my knees and turn my head to find Callahan grinning menacingly at me.
"That's for being a smartass. Now get going, if you miss count, we are going to have fun in solitary." He chuckles.
The man is evil and it takes everything in me not to fight him.
"You bastard. He did nothing wrong." Julius cusses him out loudly lunging forward.
I catch him in time and toss him over my shoulder in spite of the pain in my back and carry him the rest of the way to our cell.
"Put me down boss. I need to teach that motherfucker a lesson." Julius screams as I toss him into our cell.
The door is open but as soon as we walk in, it automatically closes behind us.
"You are doing no such thing. That mouth of yours will get us into trouble. Now shut up and sit down." I demand.
Julius looks at me frustratedly as if he wants to challenge me but he thinks otherwise of it and jumps onto his bed.
I stretch and crack my back feeling my body protest in pain after being hit by Callahan. The man should have been sent to the ICU by the rioting inmates but there's just something about the terrible CO's. It's like they are invisible and keep surviving even the worst of riots. But one day soon I know for a fact that he will get what's coming to him.
A shrill bells rings out five minutes later meaning they are starting count. Julius jumps off the bed and stands against the cell bars with me, in line of sight of the CO's performing the count. Callahan is amongst them taking longer than is needed on our cell.
"I've got my eye on you two." He grits out menacingly banging his baton against our cell bars making us jump back.
As soon as he is gone, I walk back and lie on top of my bed kicking off my shoes. Julius takes a seat on the only chair in the cell setting it to face me.
"The day someone shanks that man, I will buy out the whole commisary and throw a fucking party." Julius grits out clearly angry.
"Me and you both kid but it'll probably never happen. All we can do is stay out of his radar. You can't talk back to him like you do with me Julius, he has the power to make your life in here hell." I warn.
"My life here is already hell." Julius grumbles.
"More than it already is then. Solitary is not for the weak minded. I've never been but I've known people who have and they were never the same afterwards. Just keep your head down." I advise Julius.
Callahan makes everyone angry but he is not worth getting into trouble for.
"I'll try. Anyway, how was your night? Definitely more interesting than mine." He teases wriggling his eyebrows at me.
How does he have the ability to switch moods so fast?
"You're still on that." I grumble.
I turn away from him and lie on my back, covering my eyes with the back of my hand.
"Yes I am and I won't let it go till you give me something good." Julius insists.
"Gossiping is for old ladies." I scold him.
Spending a whole night with Hannah, albeit in prison is a treasured memory that I am not ready to share with anyone just yet. I want to soak in on that feeling for as long as possible and keep the memories alive and all to myself.
"Then for the next ten minutes I am officially an old lady. Come on boss, where did you two go? I hope you didn't do the nasty. Your first time should be special, roses, candles and all that shit." Julius insists.
He's like a dog with a bone, just won't let it go.
"Oh God! This is not a rom com." I groan.
"You fucked Hannah here!" Julius exclaims.
I jerk my head towards him at his choice of words, giving him a hard glare. He recoils when he realizes that he's gone too far with his words this time.
"First of all I never want to hear the name Hannah and the word fuck come out of your mouth in the same sentence ever again. And second we didn't do anything but talk and sleep." I warn him.
Vulgar words and my sweet Hannah do not belong in the same sentence, jokingly or otherwise.
"Sorry I'll watch my words but seriously nothing, not even a kiss." Julius insists.
At the mention of kissing, my mind immediately goes back to my first kiss with Hannah. Her lips were so soft and fruity, I never wanted that kiss to end but it did until we kissed a second time then a third and countless more times before dawn.
I turn to Julius and smirk.
"Yes! I knew it." He cheers getting up to do a happy dance.
"You are so full of shit! Sit down or better yet go to sleep." I demand stifling a laugh.
"Yes boss." Julius nods grinning at.
He kicks off his shoes and jumps onto his bed.
Finally I've gotten him to shut up but I don't get to bask in the silence long because the stupid idiot breaks into song.
"Hannah and Santiago, locked in a cell, K. I. S. S. I. N. G ... " He starts singing.
"Julius if you don't shut up right now, I'll come up there, break off your leg and stuff it into your mouth." I threaten already done with his games.
"Damn, do you kiss your girl with that mouth." He teases.
"Julius ... " I warn kicking his bed.
"Okay sorry, no more. I promise." He laughs.
I expect him to start up again so I'm ready to get up there and teach him a lesson but this time he actually keeps his mouth shut giving me some much needed peace and quite.
Now that all the chaos is over and done with, I can take my time reminiscing on last night's memories with my girl. We had our first kiss. I had not planned for it but I couldn't help myself when she was looking at me with those big beautiful brown doe eyes.
I had no idea when the riot started that Hannah and I would be spending the whole night together but I'm glad I could keep her safe. I wouldn't be able to forgive myself if anything happened to her. I let Darius die under my watch, so letting the other Johnson sibling perish in the same way would have been a catastrophe. But thank God that didn't happen. Instead we were together the whole time, getting to know each other better amidst all the chaos around us.
Now that I know what it feels like to have Hannah sleep in my arms all night, I want more of those. That's why I will try to expedite the matter of my parole so I can go be with her on the outside. We both agreed that for her own safety and because I am getting released soon she won't come back here.
A couple of hours later the CO's start releasing us one cell block after another to keep us contained. There is still some tension so they have to be careful before we start rioting all over again.
Finn passes by our cell on one of his rounds and bangs on the cell bars to get my attention. I get out of my bed and approach him to keep our conversation more private.
"Why are you still here?" I ask him since CO's are normally rotated out after a riot.
"Debriefs." He replies with a shrug.
"Makes sense."
"Anyway I just wanted to come by and say thank you for saving my ass yesterday." He expresses.
"I benefited from it too."
If it weren't for Finn, spending the night with Hannah would have been impossible. If it had been a CO like Callahan, I would be in a deep dark hole right now for suggesting something like leaving a civilian in an inmate's custody.
"I was worried you wouldn't keep your word." Finn admits.
"I had no reason not to." I assure him.
"Well I owe you one." He says and that gets me thinking.
"Can I cash in now?" I request him.
"Sure." He nods.
"May I borrow your phone? I need to call my girl and make sure she got home okay." I ask.
I know for a fact that as punishment the warden will take away all our privileges for a while including calls so this is a chance I have to take.
"You'll get me into trouble Delgado." Finn protests.
"I'll be careful, I promise."
He looks conflicted but eventually he gets his phone from his pocket and unlocks it.
"You get five minutes." He asserts slapping it into my hand.
"Thank you." I smile appreciatively.
I step away from him and into the darkest corner of the cell to make the call. I punch in Hannah's number from memory and wait for the call to go through. It's been a couple of hours since she left so I'm hoping she's settled in back home by now.
"Hello." Hannah's confused voice comes through.
It's so good to hear her voice especially now that I know she sounds the same through the phone as she does in person.
"Mami, it's me." I introduce to put her at ease.
"Cesar." Her relieved voice sighs happily.
I hear some movement on her end followed by who I assume is Jada's voice speaking up. I've heard both her best friends over the phone a couple of times so I know who is who by now.
"Cesar? Weren't you together a few hours ago. Why is he calling you?" She inquires.
"Shut up Jada." Hannah scolds followed by more shuffling.
"So rude." Jada grumbles from a distance so I assume Hannah has moved away from her.
"Sorry about her, she's pricklier than usual because of what happened last night." Hannah apologizes.
"I would be too. It means they care." I assure her.
"Yeah I know. Wait who's phone is this?" Hannah asks.
"Finn's, he let me borrow it for a moment. The call room is locked as one of the punishments for the riot but I promised you a call so here I am." I explain.
"I would have understood." Hannah assures me and I know she's hiding a smile.
She's glad I've called no matter the circumstances.
"I know but I am a man of my word." I assert.
"Indeed."
"How are you?" I ask getting serious for a moment.
I may have tried my best to shield her from the animals I share a prison with but I know she saw some things that a lady should never be subjected to.
"I'm okay Cesar, a bit sore since I'm not used to sleeping in such an uncomfortable bed but it's worth it as I got to spend the night with you." She replies downplaying how she's really feeling.
I know her well enough by now to know when she's keeping something from me but I hold myself from pushing. I know she's withholding to protect me from worrying about her. She has her best friends there and I'm sure they will help her through everything. We will discuss everything after some time has passed and the wound is no longer fresh.
"I'll fight to get paroled soon, I owe you a date." I promise her.
"And a couple more." She insists.
"Yes, so many you'll get sick of me."
"Impossible but I'd like to see you try. So how long till you can call me again?" Hannah asks.
"I'm not sure." I answer honestly.
McKinley is unpredictable and I've already used up my favor with Finn, plus I don't want to get him into trouble.
"What about letters?" She inquires.
Letters are our thing and I don't want to take that away from her.
"You can still send those, I'm just not sure when I'll get to receive them." I explain.
"At least we have last night and we'll be together in a few months when you get out." Hannah sighs defeatedly.
It sucks that after last night, there will be a lull in our communication but it's unavoidable given our circumstances.
"Yes mami, soon it'll be just you and me." I promise her.
"I can't wait. Take care of yourself in there, after last night I know how terrible it can get." Hannah expresses sounding worried.
Now that I've exposed her to how ugly life in prison can be, I know she will always be worried about me until I get out but that will be soon.
"Be safe as well. Goodnight mami." I reply.
"See you later Cesar." She whispers.
"Later, beautiful." I respond and hang up.
My forehead thuds against the wall in frustration before I remember that I have to hand Finn his phone back.
"Thanks man." I appreciate him.
"Debt paid, we're even now." He replies.
"Yes, we're square." I affirm.
He nods and leaves. I am about to walk back to my bed when Moreno passes by with his goons in tow. Half of them are missing and the other half looks like they've survived a small war from the cuts and bruises on their faces. I'm probably the only one in the whole gang without a mark on me. Moreno is unscathed too meaning he was protected being the boss and all.
"We good?" He asks curtly and I know exactly what he's talking about.
"Yes jefe." I assure him.
"Glad to hear it." He nods and moves forward.
One of the members gives me a once over, then spits at my feet but that only earns him a slap in the back of his head from Moreno. I just saved all their asses so they should be thanking me, not looking down on me.
I turn around and find Julius standing in the middle of the cell with his hands crossed over his chest.
"What now?" I ask noticing the angry look on his face.
"What was all that about?" He asks jutting his chin towards the direction Moreno and the crew are headed.
"You know you need to learn when to keep your mouth shut." I warn the kid.
"It's a talent." He says shrugging at me.
"That will get you into deep trouble one day." I grit out.
I make a move to get back into bed but Julius' next words have me freezing in place.
"You're leaving me?" He asks his voice broken.
"What?" I retort straightening up to face him.
"I heard you mention parole to Hannah. You're getting out and abandoning me in here." He explains.
So that's what this is all about?
"Yes I am leaving but I am not abandoning you." I assure him.
"Yes you are." He insists.
He looks right about ready to cry so I bridge the gap between us and place my hand on his shoulder hoping it'll give him some comfort.
"Julius, listen to me kid. You've grown on me these past couple of months so even if I get out earlier than you it doesn't mean I'll forget you. I do remember you saying that, I'm stuck with you for life." I reassure him.
"Yes you are." He sniffs relaxing a bit.
"So chin up and besides didn't you tell me that your parents are fighting to have your sentence reduced." I remind him.
"Yeah." He mumbles.
"Then we might be getting out at the same time."
"That does sound cool." He whispers.
"Not so much. You're like a fungus I can't get rid of." I tease.
"Fungus is good." Julius defends and I finally manage to get a smile out of him.
"Keep telling yourself that." I snort.
"I am the good kind of fungus, like penicillus or mushrooms." He defends getting into a nerdy ramble.
Our cell doors open just in time.
"Agree to disagree. Now come on, let's go to the kitchen. The commissary is locked down but I know you're hungry." I say wrapping my hand around his shoulder.
"Yes I am."
"Let's go feed you then."
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Sorry for the delayed update, I got caught up in some personal things. In the last chapter I thanked you guys for 2K reads and now we are at 5K. I am counting my blessings and currently this book doing so well is one of my biggest. Thank you all so much. God bless you ❤❤❤.