“Are you okay?”
“Said I was.”
He scrubbed at his cheeks with the heels of his palms. “Gaffin. Fucking be real. I’d be shitting my pants if that motherfucker had me on the floor half dressed. It was Beast, right? I saw him heading pretty quickly away from your cell.”
I shrugged a shoulder. “You saved my ass, literally. You can call me Pete, if you want. You earned it.”
He glared at me. “Do you need to go see the doc?”
It took a lot of restraint not to do something degrading like burst into tears. I bit hard at the inside of my lip as he rested a hand on my knee, and I shook my head. He didn’t move his hand, and I was glad.
“No. You showed up before… you stopped him from….” I couldn’t finish that sentence. I’d never told anyone about the things that had gone on with me when I was in the AS, despite what Tatum thought about Angie, and most of my memories were just like this—minus the hero in front of me. My throat felt stuffed up with a rock when I thought of telling him how I’d been used far worse by Tatum.
“What is going on?” His lips thinned and he squinted as he kept staring into my eyes. “Three times you’ve been attacked, now. Am I wrong? Your sentence has barely started. That’s a lot of altercations for one man. Most guys might get in half that amount of shit the whole time they’re in here, and this is your second day. This is medium security and we run it more like min. Tatum Black is not a good man and doesn’t belong in this prison, but we’re stuck with him. What thefuckdoes he want with you?”
My stomach churned and I shook my head.
He picked up my hand and I let him. His palms were sweaty when he cupped my hand between his, and I didn’t care. It felt fucking good to be touched this way. “I can’t protect you from him without something to go on. If you told me, maybe there would be something I could do. Please.”
“You don’t know it was him in my cell. You only found me on the floor. Maybe I tripped on my way to take a piss.”
He gave me a look like I was being a dick, and he was right. “And you strangled yourself and bruised your own neck?” He brushed his fingertips across the collar of my shirt, and I shivered. “Why protect him?”
“I’m not. Trust me.”
He lightly squeezed my hand. “Make a statement. Maybe I can get him moved to the fucking moon.” He mumbled that last part under his breath.
I shuddered, and his grip tightened. “No… He… No.”
Greene’s lips twitched, and his cute buttonish nose wrinkled a bit. “Okay.”
“What do you care?”
His throat bobbed, and there didn’t seem to be any answers waiting for me.
“You like guys in a chair or something? I’ve met a couple of those over the years.” My stomach sank. I hadn’t been a monk since Angie left, but those types of encounters always left me feeling hollow. Plus, no one ever stuck around.
He smiled a little. “It’s not a kink of mine.” His thumb took a gentle journey over the back of my hand and rubbed a circle on my wrist. “You’re an attractive man.”
“You want something for all this pushing me around?” My stomach coiled into a tighter ball.
“No! That’s not… I’m sorry. I didn’t mean to make you think I was that way.” He began to rise to his feet, and I panicked. I didn’t want him to go. I grabbed his shoulder and leaned up. My back hurt with the movement, but it wasn’t nearly as bad as being thrown on the floor had been, and I had a goal.
Greene stopped, stuck awkwardly between standing and kneeling, and I pressed my lips to his warm, soft ones. He braced his hands on the arms of my chair and leaned in so I could settle back. His tongue was aflutter against my lips, but he didn’t shove into my mouth, only teased there until I worked up the courage to meet him. Sparks streaked through my groin and danced on my cockhead. He kept his mouth sealed to mine.
Heat uncurled the tension in my body and I wrapped an arm around his neck. He chuckled against my lips as he sank back to his knees next to me. I was shocked when he sucked on my bottom lip, a sweet, kind move that sent a shiver of pleasure through my body that wasn’t only sexual. It made mehappy. His stubble scratched my skin and I let out a soft moan I couldn’t hold back.
He leaned away. “I’m Drew.”
I nodded, and he brushed his lips to mine again.
“I’m going to help, okay? You only have to do your time and get out alive. The rest of this shit doesn’t need to touch you. I’ll try to make sure it doesn’t.” He punctuated that last word with another quick peck on my lips.
“If I can survive this, I’d like to… work on myself. I see there might be some things still worth doing.” I forced myself to loosen my hold on him.
He kissed my cheek, then hopped to his feet fast. “I’m taking you to the NA meeting.”
“Why?” I asked, appalled, and I probably looked it, too, because he huffed out a laugh in spite of the worry tightening his features. I probably should go because of my very great love of pain pills, but I didn’t want to talk about my shitty life in front of others.
