“There’s no rush. We’re going to break it to the girls tonight. Next weekend will be soon enough to pack.” He put a hand on her shoulder. “I’d rather be here to support you in what we’re trying to pull off. I know the anxiety isn’t easy for you.”
She didn’t challenge him on that, either. She was just happy he was leaving, for even a short period of time.
Her smile was strained. “I hope it goes well at home.”
“There’s not much chance of that, I’m afraid.”
Peyton felt genuinely bad about his acrimonious divorce, but she didn’t understand why he had to make her life miserable, too. “Hopefully, we’ll have everything down to a routine by the time you come back.”
“I don’t have to rush off. Would you prefer I came to the prison with you this morning? We could meet with Weston together.”
He seemed eager for any diversion or excuse that would keep him from facing the crisis waiting for him at home, but she wasn’t about to go for that. “There’s no need. It’ll be simple.”
Sighing, he poured some coffee into one of the foam cups she’d put on the counter. “You’re not going to let me in, are you.”
She began to wash up. “What are you talking about?”
“You’re completely closed off. You’re not even giving me a chance.”
“This is a stressful time, Rick. We’ve already discussed it. I’d rather leave it for now, okay?”
He lifted his cup in a small salute. “You’re right. Everything will be different once Virgil’s out of the picture. Then you won’t need to worry about him anymore. He’ll be off somewhere, living his own life, and things around here will get back to normal.”
She felt relieved that he’d been willing to accept such a flimsy excuse. “Right. First things first.”
“Call me after work,” he said, and surprised her with a quick kiss on the mouth before gathering his briefcase. “Think about that while I’m gone.”
As soon as he’d picked up his briefcase, grabbed his coffee and headed out, she wiped her mouth. She didn’t care if it was childish. Then she collected her keys and hurried to Pelican Bay.
When a stocky young C.O. came to get him from his cell, saying the chief deputy warden wanted a word with him, Virgil was told it had to do with the fight. Buzz believed it, but Virgil knew better.
“What’s the matter, man?” Buzz said. “If she was gonna put you in the SHU she would’ve done it already.”
Virgil realized he was scowling. It wasn’t that he was unhappy about seeing Peyton; it was that he wanted to see her too badly. He’d let himself fall into the very trap he’d been trying so hard to avoid.
“Tell her I’m busy,” he said in a last-ditch effort to save himself.
The C.O. brandished his extendable baton. “Get going, and do it n-now,” he stammered.
Had that been anything close to a believable threat, Virgil might’ve refused and let the poor kid go to the stress and trouble of physically removing him. Why not? There wasn’t anything this guy could do that would be worse than what Virgil had in store for himself. He might as well tear his heart out as fall for the chief deputy warden of Pelican Bay. Even if she thought she wanted him in return, it couldn’t last.
But this poor C.O. had to be a new hire. He was so scared Virgil couldn’t make him use his baton.
Cursing his own stupidity instead, he allowed the guard to shackle his hands and feet to a belly chain and moved out of the cell.
The trek through the prison took longer than Virgil expected—because once he knew he was going to let himself see her, he couldn’t wait.
When they finally reached an office that had the name Joseph Perry, Associate Warden, on the door, Peyton was sitting behind the desk. She wore a suit similar to the one she’d been wearing on Friday, and he felt his chest constrict as she looked up. He’d never seen such a beautiful woman….
She ordered the guard, Officer Dean, according to his nametag, to leave. Then Virgil understood why she’d sent such an inexperienced C.O.
“But…Chief Deputy,” Dean responded. “This man doesn’t have a good attitude.”
Virgil cocked an eyebrow at that. He considered himself to be on his best behavior. If he really wanted to, he could disarm the kid in a heartbeat, even with his shackles on.
Peyton gave him a look that indicated she’d handle it. “I’ve got someone else coming for him. In the meantime, I have an alarm box right here.” She pulled it out of her pocket. “Besides, I was a C.O. for years. I can handle him.”
Dean was only about two-thirds Virgil’s size, but he was still bigger than Peyton. He shot Virgil an uncertain glance before asking, “You’re sure you don’t want me to wait until—”
“I’m positive,” she broke in. “I want to make it easy for him to talk, if he chooses to do so. You understand.”
“Oh…” He nodded. “I get it.”
When he acquiesced, Virgil nearly grabbed him and told him that he should never, under any circumstances, leave her alone with any of the other cons, even if she insisted on it. In his view, having him do so today didn’t set a good precedent. Just because he was safe didn’t mean any of the other men in Pelican Bay could be trusted.
“I hope you don’t do this with regular cons,” Virgil said after the boy had left.
“I’m not dying to be alone with any of the other inmates.” She came around the desk to lock the door.
“Who’s Joseph Perry and why are we in his office?”
“He’s one of the associate wardens. My office is outside the fence, so this was my best option, unless I wanted to use a conference room.”
“What if he comes back?”
“He won’t. He’s gone for the day. Let’s get you out of those for a minute.” She removed a key for his handcuffs and belly chain from her briefcase, but she wouldn’t catch his eye while using it. She seemed nervous. For some reason, he was, too.
“Why am I here?” he asked, his voice a low murmur.
“I need to show you a note Weston sent me, see what you think we should do.”
The scent of her perfume clouded his ability to think. He could remember it so clearly from when he was running his lips over her skin last Saturday. Which led to the memory of her smooth flesh against his in the bed, her br**sts bare beneath him in the moonlight….