I stared at the bridge, my stomach squirming with nerves. This was the first time I’d visited Sloan. He hadn’t wanted me to come, determined to be out as soon as possible, but the fact that he’d asked to see me now made me anxious. Did he think he was going to be stuck in here? Fuck, I hoped not. I needed him at my side, in our bed. I didn’t know how to live without him. Weeks had been long enough.
Ronan cleared his throat and held out his hand. “Sir, I’ll need your phone. They won’t let you take it in. Any other personal belongings will be stored in a locker. I brought a lock you can close it with.” He pulled out a padlock from his pocket while I passed him my new phone. “The code’s 5678.”
I stared at him as I took it and slid it into my own pants pocket. “How...do you know that?”
He gave me a small sad smile. “My cousin’s in here. He’s doing ten years for assault. I visited him a few times.”
“Right.” My throat worked as I glanced out the window again.
Sloan. He was so close, yet so far. How did I get him out of this hellhole?
Ronan winced. “They won’t let you take your collar inside, sir. You’ll need to leave it here, too.”
My eyes widened and my hand flew to the collar on my neck. I smoothed my fingers over the leather. “What? But this is—” Of course I wouldn’t be allowed to wear it inside. The bucklewas made of metal and there was a tracker embedded in the clasp. Swallowing around the lump that formed at the base of my throat, I pressed my thumb to the fingerprint scanner and it beeped before the collar released around my neck. I gave it to Ronan. “Take care of it.”
My skin felt bare without the weight of the collar and unease crawled in my chest.
“I’ll protect it with my life, sir.”
I chuckled. “You don’t have to go that far.”
He gave me a strained smile as a white car pulled up beside us. A guard lowered the window, and I did the same.
“Conall Morrissey? I’m here to take you over to Rikers.”
I exhaled, nodded, and raised the window again before I turned to look at Ronan. “I’m fine from here. I’ll be back as soon as I can.”
Ronan clenched his jaw. “Maybe I should take you to the door. I don’t trust someone not to make a move and attack you, sir.”
“No. I can protect myself. But if something does happen to me, get revenge.” I offered him a grin and patted him on the shoulder. “I’m going to see Sloan. He wouldn’t bring me here if there were safety concerns.”
With a final smile, I exited the car and entered the back door of the guard’s vehicle. He drove forward immediately, taking us over the bridge. He stopped in front of a tall fence topped by barbed wire with a small entrance that led into a blue-and-white building.
He turned toward me. “You can go in now, Mr. Morrissey. They’re waiting for you inside.”
I gave him a curt nod and rubbed my chest, willing my racing heart to calm. I stepped out of the car and headed through the small gate in the fence and up a couple of stairs into the visitation area. Another guard met me as soon as I entered.
“Mr. Morrissey?” he asked in a gruff tone.
“Yes.”
He held out his hand. “I need your ID.”
We went through the process. I filled out paperwork and signed consent forms. They instructed me to leave my belongings in the locker like Ronan had said they would.
Then came the security screening. I stepped through a metal detector before enduring a pat down that had my skin crawling and my teeth clenching. When nothing was found, they directed me to followanotherguard. The entire situation was surreal. Despite being involved in illegal activities my entire life, I’d never been in a jail.
The guard spat on the floor as he stalked forward, leading me down a narrow hallway, and I scrunched my nose in disgust. He glanced back at me, giving me a once-over. “You’re Killough’spet, huh?”
“Obviously.” I held my chin high because I didn’t know if he was trying to intimidate or provoke me.
His eyes darkened. “You’re his bitch.”
“I’m his partner.” I gave him the sweetest smile in my arsenal, hoping to hit him right where it hurt. Despite his ridicule, I couldn’t help but raise my fingers to my bare neck. The lack of leather against my skin was uncomfortable and I hated that I was going to see Sloan without my collar. There was a level of betrayal in my heart because of it, but there was nothing I could do.
“Sure, keep telling yourself that.” The guard rolled his eyes and turned his back to me as he shoved open a door and waved me through. “This is the room you’ll be staying in for the conjugal. We’ll bring yourmasterin soon. You have an hour when he enters.” He gave me a final assessing glare as I walked over the threshold, and then he slammed the door shut behind me.
I gave him the finger through the closed metal, even though he couldn’t see it. Arsehole. Maybe when Sloan got out of here, we’d deal with this prick together. It certainly gave me butterflies to think about what we could do to him.No onetalked about us the way he did.
