“Stop,” I ground out.
With a snort, he let go of my throat to use both hands on my shoulders as he flipped me. The rough handling hurt, and the air was knocked out of my lungs. I tried to throw an elbow backward, but he just chuckled—and grabbed my asscheek. His grip bit into my muscles and ached.
I knocked my forehead against the floor as his rough fingers slid along my crack, and I shook my head, trying to inch away, but there was nowhere to go. He pressed at my hole, and I tried not to tense up, but there was no way to relax. “Stop.”
“Guard coming,” someone hissed out. The sound of shoes moving away quickly followed. Beast swore and was up and off me fast. My whole body ached.
“This isn’t done.” In spite of what he’d said, he left like the hounds of hell were after him, so it seemed like he was afraid, which was nice.
There were no feelings in me as I tried to drag my pants up. I was a hollow stone. More than once I’d done the same thing after being with Tatum—picked myself up off the ground and cleaned myself up. Washed away the cum and blood. But it was harder now since I couldn’t move very well, and I was gasping with the effort. My vision blurred with hot tears as I tried to work my pants up without moving too much. I went up on my elbow and it put my back at a bad angle, but I didn’t care. I fought through the pain. My vision went gray before I got the right side of my pants up, but half my ass was still hanging out.
“Fuck. Gaffin?”
It was an effort, but I glanced over my shoulder. Humiliation burned bright in my chest as the man I most wanted to see, although I sure as fuck didn’t want him to find me this way, stopped in the open cell door. Greene rushed in. “Are you okay?”
“Yeah,” I huffed out, and was ashamed of how I jumped when he went to his knees beside me.
A gentle hand rested on my shoulder, and a soft finger brushed along the nape of my neck near my collar. “I’m going to put you on your back. I think it’ll be easier to get you sorted out that way. Can you help me?”
I nodded, and my entire body was a nuclear burst of shame as I flopped onto my back. My cock was hanging out, and I’d never been embarrassed of that part of my body, but I wasn’t sure about him seeing all of me, not when I was feeling so stupid about him. After what Tatum had done, it was a shock to realize I was firming up under the warmth of his gaze.
Greene wasn’t enough of a degenerate to stare, even though I wouldn’t have mindedhimdoing it, and he quickly helped me get my clothes fixed. My insides trembled as he straightened the waistband on my pants and rubbed a thumb around my belly button that had me sucking in a deep breath. He glanced up at my face and his finger stopped teasing me. He yanked my T-shirt down and patted my stomach for a second.
“You can leave me here. I’ll get on the bed.” I glanced at the cell door, though. This would be a temporary reprieve. The second Tatum thought he could get away with it, he’d be in here, shoving himself into me. I closed my eyes and steeled myself for the inevitable.
Greene tapped my face, and when I opened my eyes, it was to his scowl. This was the first time I’d seen him looking angry. I sort of liked seeing his rage, messed-up as that probably made me.
“Come on. I’m not leaving you on the floor.” He bent and… hugged me, for lack of a better term. It felt good and wasn’t too awful as he gently eased his arms around me and sat me up. He leaned back and got his feet under him, and between the two of us he probably did more of the hefting as he stood, then set me on the bed. He didn’t move too quickly to let go, and I didn’t either.
“Your neck is red.” He brushed a finger to my Adam’s apple. I wished I could bottle the delicious tingles that broke out and raced through my stomach so I could take them out later when I needed something nice.
I shrugged.
Greene’s face scrunched up for a second, and then he turned and dragged my chair over. “Come on. Get in.”
“Why?”
He leaned forward and put his face within an inch of mine. I didn’t blink, and neither did he. “What just happened?”
“Nothing.”
“You want to stay here sonothingcan happen again?”
I shook my head and made myself stand enough to get into the chair without his help, even though I was tired and my muscles were burning from use. I’d done more moving around in the last few days than I had in the last five years.
It didn’t seem smart to ask where we were going when Greene rested a hand on my shoulder and pushed me out of my cell. The men across the way were back in their cell, and they watched us with interest, but I dropped my gaze to the floor.
No one had helped me.
Theme of my life.
No one had cared.
But I couldn’t really be mad at anyone. Tatum would have killed any man who had the balls to interfere, without a second thought, or at least the old Tatum would have. This new-and-improved version seemed even meaner.
Greene pushed me along through the blocks, which were filling up for the end of the night count, until we were at the library. He didn’t ask me to help with the door, simply turned around in a way that always made me seasick. He used his back to push open the door and took me through backward. We spun to face front fast and my stomach jostled. There was only one other person at the tables, but he pushed me far back between two shelves of books that reached to the ceiling and appeared to contain old encyclopedias. He glanced around, then dropped to a knee in front of me.
His concerned brown eyes were all I could see. Had I ever had anyone stare at me this way? My chest squeezed as he studied me like he might find the answers written on my face to questions he wasn’t asking.
