The Prison Project (by Bethany Donaghy) novel Chapter 186

Coban’s POV

The guard didn’t speak right away.

Instead, he let out a long, tired sigh and glanced down both ends of the hallway as if making absolutely certain no one else was close enough to overhear what he was about to say…

Leo and I watched him silently.

The tension in my chest tightened another notch.

Just say it…

Just fucking say it already…

He planted his hands on his hips before finally looking back at us.

“Look… first of all, I’ve gotta give you two credit.” He starts, as my eyebrows pull together instantly.

Credit?

The hell was he talking about?

But before I could ask, Leo beat me to the question-

“Credit for what?” he asked, leaning forward slightly.

The guard shifted awkwardly before lowering himself down into the chair opposite us. The metal legs scraped softly against the floor.

“For how you’ve handled yourselves since this project started,” he said slowly. “I’ve been watching… most of us have.”

I stared back at him.

Completely confused now.

He rubbed a hand down his face before continuing…

“You two stepped up,” he admitted reluctantly. “In terms of looking out for those girls.”

His eyes flicked between Leo and I.

“I hate admitting it,” he muttered. “But you two were the underdogs walking into this project. Nobody expected much from either of you thought you’d be gone a day in…” My jaw tightened slightly at that.

No surprise there…

“But what I’m getting at,” he continued carefully, “is what happened to that girl had nothing to do with you, Santorelli. You’ve done good by her.” He nods, as my eyes snapped up to his.

“The poor thing just got caught up in it…” He adds, while my stomach twisted at that. “Wrong place… wrong time.”

For a moment, the words didn’t even register properly…

My patience snapped first…

“Just tell me what happened to her,” I growled, leaning forward. “And who the fuck did it?!”

My voice came out harsher than I meant it to, but I didn’t care.

The guard rubbed the back of his neck nervously now…

“See… that’s the thing.” he said hesitantly.

Something about that hesitation made my blood run colder.

“There were too many of them,” he admitted. “We couldn’t tell you who did what to her…”

My chair scraped violently across the floor as I shot up to my feet.

“What the fuck did you just say?!” I raged, the thought of numerous men taking advantage of her knocking me ill…

The guard immediately stood up too, hands raised.

“You’re telling me an entire group of inmates got their hands on my girl,” I barked, my voice echoing through the hallway now, “and you don’t know who the fuck it was?!”

“Woah, hey! I haven’t even told you what happened yet!” His voice lowered urgently. “Sit back down! It’s not what you’re thinking!”

Rage surged through me so fast made my vision blur for a second.

Then I felt Leo’s hand grab my arm…

“Cobe.” He tugged me back down into the chair. “Just sit down and hear him out first before you flip out.”

My jaw clenched so tight it hurt, but I forced myself to focus.

“Then fucking spit it out.” I snapped, as the guard quickly nodded once.

“Your girl was walking through the corridor,” he started. “We’re assuming she was heading back toward your cell block.”

Of course she was.

Walking around this place alone…

All because I’d left her…

“A fight broke out in the common room nearby. A big one. Gang related, from what we can tell so far…” He paused briefly…

“But whatever triggered it, happened so fast. Within seconds it escalated. More inmates jumped in. Guards rushed in. Then the whole thing spilled out into the hallway before it could be stopped…” he explained.

I felt my fists slowly clenching on my knees.

“So then what?” I demanded.

As the guard exhaled slowly.

“She got caught in the middle of it.”

My chest tightened hearing that…

“We later found her on the floor,” he said. “Unconscious.”

My heart seemed to drop straight through to my stomach.

“She was pretty beat up,” he finished quietly.

I barely heard the last part.

The guard gave one final nod before walking away down the hall, leaving Leo and I sitting there in silence.

For a few seconds neither of us spoke.

Then Leo leaned closer.

His hand landed on my shoulder again.

“Cobe… listen to me.”

My body felt like it was vibrating with tension.

“I know this is hard,” he continued quietly. “But you’ve gotta look at it realistically.”

I didn’t answer.

He squeezed my shoulder.

“This could’ve been a hell of a lot worse.”

My jaw tightened again.

“I know it’s still bad,” he went on, “but we both know what we thought that guard was about to tell us.”

Yeah.

I knew.

And that thought alone made my stomach churn.

Leo leaned closer. “At least that didn’t happen…”

My hands curled together between my knees.

“But

could have,” I said quietly.

My voice sounded different now.

Raw.

“And If it had…” I swallowed hard. “I wouldn’t be able to live with myself.”

Leo didn’t interrupt, hearing my voice crack.

I didn’t feel like the man in control of the situation anymore…

I felt like the man who had just let down the one person who never deserved it.

How would I ever come back from that?