The Prison Project (by Bethany Donaghy) novel Chapter 104

*Margot’s POV *

The gym was filled with the usual rhythm of metal clanging and giant bodies moving in choreographed chaos.

This place already felt like a second home to me here, finding myself longing to meet up with Cara on the daily just to have some alone time with her.

I was already learning to recognise the hierarchy too… who lifted alone, who stayed in groups, who claimed the corner benches like thrones, who Coban seemed to acknowledge and who he seemed to ignore…

It was a growing routine plastered in to my memory.

But as we got inside, my eyes scanned around quickly, searching for her….

There.

Cara.

By the window, exactly where she always gravitated, the sunlight pouring down on her hair like it belonged there. But she wasn’t alone this time.

Leo was with her.

The sight of them together should’ve brought comfort, maybe even a little relief.

But something about the way Leo leaned in close, his lazy grin stretched wide, made my stomach coil tight.

They were always so comfortable looking compared to us…

As though they were a normal couple living on the outside…

They didn’t notice us at first – not until Coban’s steady march carried me right across the room, tethered to his side like nothing more than his shadow.

Cara looked up then. Her face lighting instantly. “Hey!”

I lifted my hand in a wave, forcing a smile up to my lips, but the brightness of hers faltered as her gaze dropped lower, narrowing in on my neck.

Her eyes widened, then sharpened again.

“What’s that?!” she blurted, scrambling up to her feet so fast the chair screeched under her.

She rounded towards me before I could even brace myself, bobbing side to side to get a clearer look at the bandage that peeked out despite my attempt at covering it with my hair.

Heat flooded my face. “Uh… nothing…” I mumbled quickly, fumbling to tug my hair forward like a curtain, praying she wouldn’t push it back with her fingers.

“Show me!” She pushed on, ignoring Coban completely as her concern for me broke through…

Beside me, I could feel his hot stare boring into me. Wild, dangerous, warning me without a single word to be careful with my words…

But before I could respond again, Leo’s laugh cut through it all, loud enough to drag more eyes across the room towards us.

He stood, stretching his arms out wide in exaggerated disbelief. “Left a bad hickey on her neck then I take it, Santo?”

The word sliced through me.

A hickey.

A God damn hickey?!

If only it were that harmless.

A love bite instead of bruises in the shape of fingerprints.

Your friend nearly choked the life out of me this morning Leo – but sure, let’s go with the hickey.

“Yeah but…” I tried, but she only cut me short once more.

“But nothing! Margot, it’s unacceptable! I don’t even want to see the marks, It will only piss me off more! I feel like going over there and putting one of those damn weights right over the back of his skull!” Cara seethed, turning to shoot Coban a glare which I turned to find he most definitely saw.

He didn’t look happy, but I didn’t care.

“Stop a sec and let me tell you what happened!” I huff, suddenly irritated that we still hadn’t fully gotten in to the details yet.

Cara blinked at me, startled by my sudden edge. Then she leaned back, her jaw tight but eyes softening, giving me the room l’d demanded. “Alright. I’m listening.”

I swallowed, my gaze flicking across the room once more. Coban had Leo pinned in conversation, but he was still watching me. Always watching.

My stomach twisted at the weight of it, the reminder that no matter how far he stood, his presence pressed in like a shadow that refused to lift.

“He… was having a really bad dream,” | started carefully, feeling Cara lean in again. “In the dream, he was angry at someone, before it quickly turned to fear… and I could only watch him toss and turn like that under the pain for so long before I had to try wake him…” I began, remembering it all fully for the first time since it had happened…

“When I woke him, he shot upright like a bullet and before I could even process anything, I was underneath him… under his grip…” I swallowed, my voice growing quieter with fear.

Cara’s sharp inhale made my pulse skip. “Jesus, Margot…”

I forced a shaky breath, “He just blacked out. I didn’t think he was going to stop.

Thought he had lost his mind and had decided to just kill me… But after I managed to hit him a few times, he eventually let me go. It was only then that he realised where he was and what he had done…”

“Holy shit…” Cara breathed, as I nodded.

Holy shit indeed…