Chapter 35

~John’s POV~

With nothing more to do to past the time, I reviewed the timetable once more, glancing over the courses and the times. In the morning we’d be confronting Jason Kelly, the prison guard’s son and hopefully we’d have some answers before lunch.

Hopefully. I sighed, running a hand over my face.

“I think this is the first time I’ve ever seen you so worked up over a case.” Simon commented drily from his seat across the room. In hand he held a beer, his feet, which he propped up on the scarred surface of the coffee table, were comfortably crossed at the ankles.

I dropped the thin sheet of paper I was holding onto the side table next to me and straightened in the narrow bed. Beside me, Kyle groaned then burrowed deeper under the covers, still asleep.

“Yeah well it’s the first time I’ve ever had so much to lose.” I replied in an equally dry tone and Simon regarded me silently, his eyes locked with mine as that powerful mind of his worked out whatever conclusion he would draw from my simple statement.

“Makes sense.” He said finally taking a swig of his beer.

“So I guess the real question is, why’d you put yourself in a position where you could lose so much?”

I shook my head, conversations with Simon always had a clinical feel to it, as if he was more interested in understanding the inner workings of my brain than he was in the actual topic. “Is there a point to this question? You know why…Nate’s my partner, I’m here to keep him safe as always.”

He nodded thoughtfully and I felt my annoyance grow. “Tell me about those two.” He indicated to Kyle then to Riley who was also asleep in the bed across from me.

“What, you trying tell me you haven’t done your background checks yet?” I scoffed and he grinned.

“Of course not, but words on paper don’t mean a damn thing without more.” he continued and I shrugged.

“Nothing to tell really, Riley was framed, we’re trying get him off and in the process we’re going to see what we can do to help Kyle out.”

“They must be pretty decent guys if you and Nate are willing to go through all this trouble to help them out, but Riley’s innocent. You’re trying to break the law for Kyle, why? I mean, he’s a good looking guy, I can see the appeal, but to help him run from his own crime? That’s not like you John.”

My eyes narrowed. “Not everyone who breaks the law deserves to be in prison.”

He raised a brow at that, “You break the law, you suffer the consequences, that’s what you’re taught every day at the bureau, it’s why you do what you do and that’s always what you believed, it’s what Nate believed and now here you both are…wasting your training.”

“And here you are, wasting your training right along with us.”

He smiled at that, then held up his beer. “Touché.”

“Tell me more about Riley, is he good for Nate? Is all this really worth it?”

“Why’s that important to you?”

“Well I wouldn’t want my big brother to be here risking life and limb for nothing. I need to know what type of man he is.”

“Then ask him, you came here to help keep him safe and you two haven’t said more than two words to each other, what’s the point of that?”

He put down his beer then and slid deeper into the chair, “We don’t need to have a conversation to watch each other’s backs.”

“Yeah but if you want any kind a relationship with Nate then that part’s kind of necessary don’t you think?”

He raised a brow. “What makes you think I want a relationship with him?”

“Because he’s your brother and you wouldn’t be here if you didn’t.”

He smiled again, his intelligent eyes dancing with amusement. Then he shrugged. “Maybe you should be my new shrink.”

I flipped him the bird and he chuckled softly. We both looked toward the window when we heard a vehicle pulling into the parkinglot and I sat up straighter in bed.

Nate had gone out about half an hour ago to get some medicine for the kid, who seemed to be worse off than he had been earlier today and Eddie had volunteered to go with him. If that wasn’t them pulling in I’d have to call them…it shouldn’t be taking so long.

A few moments later I heard the key rattling in the door, then Eddie’s cheerful voice on the other side and I allowed myself to relax. Simon sat up in the chair when they finally pushed the door and came in.

Nate dropped a shopping bag onto the table at Simon’s feet then moved to Riley’s side, testing his temperature with the back of his hand. “Think I’m gonna head to bed guys I’m beat.” Eddie announced, locking the door behind them, after which he stood rolling his shoulders and wincing in pain.

I nodded. “Just make sure you get up on time.” Then I watched him cross the room and disappear through the connecting door.

“Yeah yeah.” I heard him mutter and I suppressed a grin, it was damn good having him back.

“Think I’ll do the same. Nice talk” Simon got up then and I watched him take one last swig of his beer, offer me a short nod and a moment later he left the room.

“It’s kind of hard to believe that after tomorrow all this might be over.”

I glanced at Nate who was pulling off his boots and nodded. “Feels like we’ve been going at it for years doesn’t it?”

He grinned then pulled off his shirt, turned out the light and got in bed with Riley, who automatically curled around him when he felt the contact of his lover’s skin.

Nate sighed, his arm looping around Riley’s waist “I don’t know what I’ll do if it turns out it’s not the guard after all.”

“You’ll do what we’ve been doing all this time…we’ll get the person responsible, if not tomorrow then someday.”

I watched him run a hand through Riley’s hair “I don’t want him on the run for the rest of his life.”

“Yeah well anything’s better than jail right? If he’s innocent then he doesn’t deserve to go back.”

“If?”

I shook my head. “You know what I mean… I know the kid didn’t do it.” I trailed off and the silence descended.

“What’re you gonna do about your brother?” I asked then changing the topic.

“What do you mean?”

“He’s trying to connect with you again Nate…maybe you should give him a chance…like you gave Riley a chance.”

He remained silent and I slid down onto the bed, stuffing the pillow under my head as I tried to get comfortable.

I cleared my throat “I’d give anything to see my family again….anything and you have the chance to make it right with yours... I say don’t let it go to waste.”

He didn’t reply to that but I didn’t push him, and pretty soon I was listening to his deep breathing as he fell asleep.

………………………………………

It was hours later, way past midnight and I still couldn’t sleep. My eyes trailed the dark ceiling and my mind drifted from thought to thought. In the other room I could here Simon and Eddie mumbling to each other and across from me Nate and Riley still lay sleeping. It wasn’t often a person got the chance to be in the same space with all the people in the world he cared about and despite my tiredness it felt oddly at peace.

Kyle shot up with a gasp then and I froze as his hands found my chest patting me as if to see if I was really there.

“You okay?” I asked and when he looked around at me, his eyes were wide with fright.

A nightmare then. He took a deep breath then nodded slowly, one hand still wrapped tightly around my wrist. “Yeah, just a bad dream.” He chuckled nervously and after only a brief pause, lay back down, his head once again buried under the covers.

As the minutes ticked by with no sound from him I’d have thought he had drifted back to sleep if it wasn’t for the fact that his hand was still gripped mine and hadn’t loosened once.

I reached down and pried his fingers from my wrist and he pushed out from under the sheet, watching me warily.

“Come on let’s go get some air.”

I hopped out of bed and pulled on my shoes and he sat up watching me. When I grabbed a hooded sweater and threw it at him, he caught the thing and pulled it on quickly before turning to stuff his feet into his own shoes.

Within minutes we were outside, Kyle’s face hidden under the hoodie and my hands shoved deep into my pockets as we walked across the parking lot then came to a stop beside a ledge further across the compound. I took a seat enjoying the cool breeze against my face.

For a while neither of us spoke and I watched as Kyle paced back and forth in front of me, his bottom lip caught between his teeth. He seemed lost in thought.

“I know you were just doing your job and you couldn’t tell me the truth.” He said finally coming to a stop directly before me.

I nodded slowly, pretty sure there was a ‘but’ coming.

“I guess I just thought we’d both made mistakes and we could work it out together, then I found out you were FBI and I was the only real criminal here and that’s probably the reason you didn’t want to be with me in the first place.” He went on, sounding completely serious for the first time since I’d known him.

“It’s a lot more complicated than that.”

He shook his head. “No it isn’t and really I just don’t care anymore. I love you, you love me and that’s all that should matter right?”

I shook my head, “Kyle, don’t start this again, I told you I don’t lo-”

“Yes you do, stop it!” he scolded me as if I were a child and I glared at him, this was getting out of hand now.

He didn’t back down, looking me straight in the eyes, his glittering with determination. “You’re mine, I’m not letting you go.” He said seriously, then before I knew it he was pulling himself into my lap, his arms going around my neck.

It was wrong that his words left me feeling warm and secure and I forced myself to snap out of it; apparently I was more tired than I’d thought. I gripped his arms to pull him away but they tightened around me and I just gave up, deciding to let him do and say as he pleased because in the end it really wouldn’t change a thing.

When I felt his lips against my neck I gritted my teeth. “Kyle…”

“I like your hair like this.” He interrupted, pushing his fingers through the short strands which I’d allowed to grow out over the past few weeks after two years of shaving.

Then he sighed and moved to rest his head against my chest. “You don’t have to say the words right now, but one day you will and I’m gonna be crazy happy.”

I said nothing and he went on, tracing the stripes on my jacket with his fingers. “You know sometimes I stay awake and I can see our whole lives when this is over.” I felt his smile against my shirt.

“You shouldn’t do this to yourself you’re only going to get hurt.” I warned him and being Kyle, he ignored my words.

“We’d have a house by the beach and a cute little pet hedgehog…you know their quills are as sharp as needles but when they get to know you, they’ll lower them whenever they smell you because they feel safe…kinda reminds me of you.” He chuckled.

“And we’d have to make sure we have a guest room for when Nate and Riley come over. Maybe we could even get a gold fish...they’re kinda stupid but I like to look at them.” he continued despite the fact that I hadn’t acknowledged him even once.

“Maybe later on we could think about adopting….but then again maybe not, kids tend to run away from me.” he said thoughtfully and I couldn’t help but laugh at that.

“What about you Johnny…how do you picture our life together?”

“Kyle-” I began in annoyance, I couldn’t understand why it was so hard for him to accept how it was going to be.

“Okay okay…let’s pretend then.” he said quickly, “Let’s pretend you love me, everything will work out and we actually get to have a life together, describe it to me.”

I shook my head. “What’s the point of that?”

“Just humor me…please.”

I said nothing for a few minutes refusing to play along with his silly game but he waited me out, clearly expecting me to do what he wanted and I released a breath.

“Okay…this is only us pretending” I said firmly and he nodded.

I paused, letting the silence in for a few more minutes before I began.

“…We…we’d have a huge deck out back and we’d grill out there on Sundays…” I paused again, this felt stupid.

“Go on.”

“I like cats.”

Kyle grinned. “I don’t mind cats.”

I nodded. “Then…then we could maybe get married.”

“Really? Where?”

“…Anywhere you wanted.”

He kissed me then, slow and gentle and I let him. When he pulled back I couldn’t quite look him in the eyes.

“What else Johnny?”

“A house on the beach doesn’t sound too bad...and we could bury your hedgehog in the sand.”

He looked up at me, his eyes bulging in horror. “We’re not burying my hedgehog in the sand!”

I raised a brow. “Isn’t this supposed to be my fantasy?”

I watched as he opened and closed his mouth a few times without saying anything then he nodded and waved a hand to indicate that I should go on.

“I’d probably have to quit the bureau, work with Nate…He’s planning to start up a securities firm.” I explained and he nodded.

“You could be my secretary.”

He laughed at that and I grinned. “Yeah and we could have hot and heavy sex on the copy machine afterhours.” He joked and I groaned.

That earned me another kiss and when he pulled away, his eyes were twinkling with what I could only describe as happiness. I swallowed hard. “But that’s all just pretend…I already told you it’s going nowhere.”

He kissed me again and smiled, one that lit his entire face. “Nah Johnny, we’re gonna have that life.” He said with certainty then pushed up from my lap to stand.

“Come on let’s go get me some chocolate.” He said and I watched him walk away shaking my head as he did. The entire conversation had left me feeling hollow and maybe a little disappointed and not for the first time I thought about how much easier it would all be if I’d never met him.

With a groan, I pushed up from the ledge and followed coming to a stop when we got to the vending machine and Kyle stood there looking up at me expectantly. I shoved a hand into the pocket of my jeans and pulled out a dollar which I handed to him and a minute later we were walking back to the room, Kyle as happy as a damn lark as he bit into his chocolate bar.

It was warm and quiet when we entered and we carefully pulled off our boots and pants and got into bed without a sound. I felt drained as if the simple walk outside had completely sapped whatever strength I had left and when I pulled the covers over me I felt as though I could sleep for a year.

“Go to sleep Kyle.”

He dropped the other half of his chocolate bar onto the side table, still chewing whatever was left in his mouth then he reached across and kissed me before settling comfortably against my side.

“Maybe we could get two hedgehogs so the other one won’t be lonely.” He whispered into the night and I fought not to roll my eyes.

“Goodnight Kyle.”

“Night Johnny.”

AUTHOR'S NOTES

Like this book? Give it a review on goodreads: https://www.goodreads.com/book/show/22910293-cell-mates?ac=1

NOTHING TOO HEAVY IN THIS CHAPTER..HOPE YOU ALL ENJOYED IT AND REMEMBER I UPLOAD EVERY SUNDAY SO SEE YA NEXT WEEK!

KEEP SWEET <3

-DoUbLe.

-unedited.