Chapter Nine

Ibarely feel the sting of the needle against my chest as my cellmate shadows in the angel wings. Since being transferred to State, I’ve been on my best behavior. It’s taken an insane amount of control not to slit some of these pieces of shit from ear to ear, but I’m determined to get out as soon as possible.

I’ve tried to contact Dominic for almost eight days, and I’ve been met with radio silence. Something isn’t right, I can feel it. I have my suspicions of what it is, but for my brother’s sake, I hope it’s not what I’m thinking. If he has so much as touched a single hair on my angel’s head, I’ll slice off each one of his fingers piece by piece.

The Polaroid of my angel is my only possession in this hellhole and my most precious at that. It’s a picture of her walking from her house to the bar. She’s about a block into her walk, and she’s blissfully unaware of the cameraman’s presence. She’s gliding down the street, her blonde hair flowing in the wind around her as she wraps herself tight in that black jacket and dark blue jeans. Those headphones she loves so much are wrapped around her ears, and she’s wearing her favorite pair of tennis shoes.

As soon as I get out of this place, I’m gonna take her away from that shitty city. Somewhere nice and secluded where it can just be us. I’ve already made some calls about purchasing a beautiful cabin on the Snoqualmie River, tucked away in the woods where we can be alone and she can be safe when I have a job. Or maybe I’ll stop taking jobs altogether. The thought of leaving her even for a night sends a prickling feeling spreading across my skin and a shallowness in my breath.

It’s been too long since I’ve seen her. Since I’ve held her. I have to get the fuck out of here, and I have a plan to do so if my fucking brother would bother to call me back.

“Alright, man. Done,” the makeshift tattoo artist says as he begins packing up his prison-made tattoo gun.

I look down at his work and can’t help but grin. Right across my chest is her name scrawled in a pretty font, and on either side is angel wings. It’s not the best work I’ve ever had done, but it’s better than nothing. I didn’t have the opportunity to get a tattoo of her before I got arrested, and I couldn’t go another night without her name inked into my skin.

Leaning back against my bed, I nod in response before closing my eyes, though my cellmate doesn’t leave my side.

“What the fuck?” he says.

I peep an eye open as I raise a brow. “What?”

“You said you’d make it worth my while if I tatted you,” he says as he grabs his pencil dick and shifts it in his pants.

I let out a laugh that sounds every bit as maniacal as I am before I sit up, standing to my full height and towering over the guy.

“You think I was gonna suck you off or something? Let you fuck me in the ass for some ink? When I said I’d make it worth your while, I meant that I wouldn’t gut you like a pig and wrap your intestines around your neck while you sleep. Same can’t be said anymore,” I say with a tilt of my head and a smile that has his eyes rounding and his body shaking.

A pounding comes from our door before a guard’s voice sounds through. “Lights out, inmates!”

I don’t move an inch, forcing my cellmate to squeeze past me as he scurries off to the top bunk. I move back to my bed, laying on my back with my hands tucked behind my head and a smirk on my face.

“Sweet dreams.”