The Prison Project (by Bethany Donaghy) novel Chapter 174

Margot’s POV

By the time I finished telling Cara everything, the storm inside my chest had finally started to settle.

Not completely.

The ache of Coban’s words were still lingering there, but it wasn’t the suffocating, overwhelming kind anymore where I felt like I couldn’t breathe…

Talking to Cara had helped a lot.

More than I had expected it to.

Cara had listened to every single word without interrupting, her arm still looped around my shoulders as we sat on the cold tiled floor beside the sinks together.

She’d let me cry when I needed to cry, vent when I needed to vent, and curse Coban Santorelli to hell and back without once telling me I was being dramatic.

If anything, she’d been more outraged than I had.

Which helped in its own strange way.

It reminded me that I wasn’t crazy for feeling this way about a damn criminal who id only known for just short of two weeks…

I had fallen for him, and hard!

But I wasn’t just some emotional wreck over nothing… Coban had orchestrated my feelings for him from the very start…

I stood up to my feet, staring at myself, and I still looked like I’d lost a boxing match with my own emotions, but at least I wasn’t actively falling apart anymore…

“You feeling a little better now?” Cara asked gently, squeezing my shoulder. “A little,” I admitted with a small sniff. “At least I can breathe agam.”

“That’s something,” she murmured, as I shook out my stiff legs from sitting on the floor so long.

“Your neck looks better too…” Cara breathed, as my eyes widen slightly, before glancing to what she was talking about in the reflection…

The bandage around my neck had loosened and dropped on the left side, and the bruises hidden beneath looked less aggressive today.

Progress…

I nodded slowly, before my fingers reached up to find the bandage, starting to unravel it completely at a quick pace.

I was done wearing it.

Done hiding it.

Cara watched in silence, as I freed my skin from the material, examining the dulled finger print markings left behind.

Without a word, I tossed the material in the trash, turned on the tap and splashed cold water across my face, the chill helping to clear the last of the brain fog still lingering.

Behind me, Cara leaned back against the sinks with her arms folded, watching me carefully like she was making sure I didn’t suddenly combust again.

“I still can’t believe he just walked out like that,” she muttered, shaking her head.

I shrugged weakly, grabbing a paper towel from the dispenser.

“Honestly… I kind of pushed him to go.”

Cara’s head snapped up. “Margot.”

I glanced at her through the mirror.

“What?”

“You did not push him to do anything,” she said firmly. “That was his choice, to leave you in here alone.”

Before either of us could say anything else, a knock suddenly sounded against the bathroom door.

Both of us froze.

For half a second my heart jumped straight into my throat.

Coban?

But would he even knock? He hadn’t before?

“You two still in here? Everything good?”

Leo.

The tension immediately drained from my shoulders.

I moved quickly to splash my face one more time while Cara pushed herself off the counter and headed for the door.

The handle creaked as she pulled it open.

Leo stood on the other side, one arm braced against the frame as he leaned in slightly. His head was damp with sweat and his shirt clung to his chest from whatever workout he’d been doing while we’d been hiding out in here.

His eyes flicked past Cara instantly.

Searching. Checking.

They landed on me by the sinks and softened slightly when he saw I wasn’t actively crying anymore.

“She’s fine now,” Cara said before he could ask, stepping aside slightly. “I’d imagine he’s already told you his side?”

Leo let out a slow breath, rubbing the back of his neck.

“Yeah…”

He exhaled slowly. “Look,” he said, lowering his hand, “I don’t think either of us actually have the willpower to ditch either of you once we get out of here.”

That caught my attention.

“We’re both… possessive men,” he continued carefully. “And we like to keep what belongs to us.”

My stomach flipped slightly at the blunt wording.

Cara didn’t look impressed though.

Leo lifted his hands slightly.

“But that doesn’t mean we can just rush into this blindly either,” he finished. “We just need time to figure out the safest way. That’s all.”

His patience was starting to wear thin now.

It sounded almost exactly like Coban earlier.

That same frustrated edge creeping into his voice.

But Cara huffed loudly.

“Whatever.’

She pushed past him into the corridor.

“Let’s just go back.”

Leo glanced toward me again.

“You good?” he asked quietly.

I nodded.

“I’m good.” Or at least… good enough.

He stepped aside so I could pass.

The corridor outside felt cooler after the stuffy bathroom air.

Cara was already a few steps ahead, her shoulders still tense as she walked with a new found agitation towards Leo now too…

My heart thudded nervously in my chest with the closer we got to the gym.

Because I knew this wasn’t over…

I knew I was going to have to face Coban…