The Prison Project (by Bethany Donaghy) novel Chapter 172

Chapter 172

Coban’s POV

I stormed back into the gym like I was trying to tear the place in half.

The door slammed open hard enough to rattle the metal frame, and the clang echoed louder than it should have. Leo nearly dropped a dumbbell on his foot as he glanced up, sweat slicking his skin, veins standing out along his arms.

“Where is she?” he asked me immediately. “Whats happened now?*

My jaw locked.

“I’d send her out to go get her if you want, I barked out, pointing across the room at Cara. “She won’t quit fucking crying, so I’m done.”

Cara stiffened, eyes wide.

But I didn’t care, she was her problem to deal with now!

“She’s in the nearest female bathroom,” I snapped, finally glancing toward her again. “You can go this time, because I’m getting fucking

nowhere!”

She hesitated just for a second – looking between Leo and I.

–

“Go see her.” Leo gave his stiff go ahead to the silent question she was begging him to answer, before she then nodded, moving up fast.

She walked towards the exit with quick steps, before the door finally creaked open from behind me, then shut over again, leaving the room heavier than before with only myself, Leo and my boiling temper.

Leo exhaled out through his nose. “Okay come on now, you need to calm down, Santo.”

That fucking did it…

“Me?” I scoffed, stalking toward him before dropping onto the bench hard enough to make it groan. “Calm down? I was calm! I was more than calm with her! She just won’t listen to a single fucking word I say.”

Leo shook his head, a half–smile tugging at his mouth like he was trying to defuse a bomb. He bent, picked his weights back up, and resumed his set like my meltdown was just background noise to him…

“She thinks that you’re not interested in her,” he said easily. “Her feelings are hurt. And if anything, you should be flattered that she even likes you this much after some of the shit you’ve done to her…”

I only glared at him.

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Chapter 172

If looks could kill, he’d be buried under this gym floor already…

“I only told her that my life on the outside is dangerous,” I snap. “That it’s not safe for her. And now she thinks I’m stringing her along to

I can ditch her the second I get out? As if I’m just using her? If I didn’t care, then I wouldn’t be so worried about any of this shit in the

first place!” I seethe, shaking my head.

Leo paused mid–rep, lowered the weights slowly, and straightened. “Well,‘ he said, grabbing his water bottle, “Yeah. I guess I can te why

she would think that…”

I shot to my feet in an instant. “Oh, don’t start!”

He drank calmly, deliberately making me wait for his next response – before placing the bottle back down and dusting his hands down his sweats. “But listen to how that sounds, Coban. ‘I want you, but you’re too fragile for my world. That doesn’t exactly scream commitment,

does it?”

“I told her I needed time to think about it,‘ I shot back. “Time to think. Time to make sure she’d be safe before I promised her anything.

Surely that’s reasonable?!”

Leo hummed. “Logical? Yeah, of course it is. But comforting for her? Not even close.”

I clenched my fists. Then I can’t win! I’m not about to drag her into something that gets her hurt, not unless I come up with a way to keep her risk free!‘

“I get that,” he said, surprising me. “I really do. I feel the same way with Cara. This isn’t exactly a life built on stability and white picket fences – but I don’t know? Maybe you should’ve just lied until you figure it out?” He shrugged.

Great advice! Thanks for nothing, Leo!

“Lied? Woah, that sounds a whole lot better than being as upfront and honest as I’ve been!” I state sarcastically, knowing that this whole thing seemed completely backwards.

That earned him a nod followed by a short laugh…

‘Well, Leo continued, shrugging, “maybe you’re just not giving them enough credit.”

1 scowled. “Credit for what?”

He took another drink, unbothered by my glare. “They aren’t as sweet and innocent as you keep acting like they are. I mean, come on, Cobe, what kind of innocent girls sign up to live one–on–one with violent criminals?”

1 stilled.

“They walked into this place knowing exactly what it was,” he added. “Despite the money, that still takes guts…“

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Chapter 172

The words hit deeper than I expected them to.

He’s right.

a

I leaned back on the bench, elbows braced on my knees, staring at the floor as my thoughts started spiraling whether I wanted them to or

not.

Margot had walked into this hell willingly.

She hadn’t cowered.

She hadn’t broken and gone home.

She’d looked me in the eye and challenged me. Called me out. Refused to shrink just because I told her she should.

And I hated how much I respected that…

Maybe Leo was right.

Maybe she wasn’t as fragile as I kept telling myself she was.

Or maybe I just wanted her to be fragile – needed that as my excuse.

Because I was scared.

Not of my world.

But of wanting her in it…

“I’ve watched people die for simply being close to me,” I muttered. “You don’t just… forget that… I don’t want her to be targeted…”

“No,” Leo agreed. “But you don’t get to decide for her either if she’s willing to take that risk. And who’s not to say that she isn’t already on some hit list for simply being your partner in here? The girl who set the Santorelli son free? I reckon the lines already been crossed, Coban, even if that’s a hard truth to hear…”

I clenched my jaw tight.

He was right.

And I hated it.

My families enemies might want her dead just for getting involved with me and this project to begin with… and if that were the case, then I would probably be the only one with a fighting chance of keeping her safe… keeping her close to me.

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Chapter 172

歲

She might actually need to be a part of my world after all, because she might already be too deep in it…

Leo finally spoke again, quieter now. “Look, you don’t have to have all the answers today. But if you keep running wyry time it gets

heated, then you’re gonna lose her.”

I swallowed hard.

The thought of Margot walking away and icing me out, not because I didn’t want her, but because 1 wouldn’t let myself chrome for something twist painfully in my chest.

But I wouldn’t let her go.

I was addicted, I knew that much…

She was mine.

And maybe the real danger wasn’t my life on the outside…

Maybe it was the fact that, for the first time, I actually cared for what I might lose…

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