The Prison Project (by Bethany Donaghy) novel Chapter 139

Coban’s POV

The second Addison slipped out the door, the air shifted

Silence crept in.

Thick.

Tense enough to squeeze up around my throat.

I sat there on the exam bed, elbows braced on my knees, blood crusting under my nese, the cheap paper sheet crackling every time I exhaled.

Waiting.

Listening

Every pair of footsteps in the hallway.

Every beep of some machine.

Every muffled voice drifting through the vents.

None of them hers.

None of them the suits.

My knee started bouncing again, rapid and impatient, until the pain shot through my nose at the movement and forced me to be still.

Where the hell was she? Did she even make the damn call? Say the right thing?

Addison wasn’t smart – but she was usually fast at getting me what I wanted.

A desire to please me at any given chance.

Desperate.

Stupid, even.

Always ready to throw herself into whatever I asked just for a scrap of attention and a slither of hope that we’d grow in to something on the outside in the future…

So why the fuck wasn’t she back yet?

I dragged a hand down my face, only to wince, then let out a breath so sharp it shook in my ches

Time was falling apart now.

if the suits didn’t show before nightfall, I was screwed. Margot was screwed. We’d be separated. She’d be thrown to some other inmate – some bastard who might want to hurt her just to hurt me. Someone who’d grab those soft wrists of hers and-

My jaw clenched so hard it cracked

Fuck that bullshit!

I wouldn’t let it get that far.

I couldn’t.

I’d rip this whole damn place open before letting anybody else lay a hand on her. She wasn’t like the rest. She was pure. She was deserving of more than that.

But if Addison failed to deliver the message….

If the suits didn’t know I was even here needing to talk to them…

Then none of that mattered.

Minutes dragged.

Tiny, careful footsteps passed the door. Squeaky shoes.

A cart rolled by.

Someone coughed.

A nurse laughed somewhere down the hall.

But nobody came for me.

Nobody important.

The clock on the wall ticked loud enough to dig straight under my skin.

Five minutes.

Ten.

Fifteen.

By the twenty-minute mark, I was pacing the small room like a caged animal, breath loud, shouldere tight, hands flexing at my sides to stop from slamming the door open myself.

“Useless bitch,” I growled under my breath. “She’s fucking useless.”

Just when I was about to snap, kick the door down, consequences be damned, the handle dipped and clicked.

I went deadly still!

The door swung wide.

Not Addison.

Not the suits.

But a stern-looking doctor in a pristine white coat, his expression carved from stone. A guard stood behind him, arms folded, watching me like I was about to flip the whole bed over.

The doctor’s eyes dragged over my busted face, lingering on the swollen bridge of my nose, the dried blood streaking my cheek.

“X-ray,” he announced flatly. “Follow me.”

No questions. No bedside manner.

Just an order.

I shoved down my frustration with a huff, wiping under my nose with the back of my hand before moving to follow. “Any longer I could’ve bled out.”

He didn’t even look at me. “You’re bleeding, yes, but I imagine that is something you are already used to.”

Asshole.

But I bit it back.

Picked my battles.

The guard motioned for me to move, his eyes boring into my spine as I stepped out into the hallway.

The fluorescent lights burned overhead, the floors gleaming white, the buzzing hum of machines making my teeth grind.

Still no sign of her.

Still no damn suits anywhere on this floor.

Panic – real panic – gnawed away at the edges of my mind like rats chewing through wires.

Every step closer to the radiology wing felt like a countdown. A trap closing in on us.

If I got too far into the bowels of this infirmary, they’d keep me busy for an entire hour getting scans done, writing their notes, asking questions

An hour was too long.

VERIFYCAPTCHA_LABELVerify