The Prison Project (by Bethany Donaghy) novel Chapter 49

Margot’s POV

I woke up with a groan, throat dry and limbs stiff, my body tangled awkwardly in something warm and fluffy.

My legs were half–wrapped, my arms pinned weirdly, and there was a fuzzy softness pressed up against my cheek.

Wait what the hell?

–

My eyes flew open as I pushed myself up on to my elbows, blinking against the bright morning light streaming in through the thin slats of the window. It was definitely daytime. Still early I’d assume with the rising brightness of the sun.

I rubbed at my tired eyes before I yanked the soft material away from my face and stared down at it. The large, thick, fluffy blanket – my blanket – was wrapped around me like a cocoon.

Wait?

What?!

This can’t be right? I didn’t have it last night?

Panic bloomed instantly. My breath hitched as I sat up completely, the little cover falling into a heap around my lap. And then I noticed it- a pillow too. One from the bed. His bed. Firm, warm, obviously now slept on.

I stared down at it like it was radioactive.

Had I stolen it in my sleep?! Did I sleepwalk?! That was a thing people did, right? Maybe I got up in the middle of the night and took my blanket back and snatched a pillow while I was at it?

No… surely I didn’t… did I?

I definitely remembered falling asleep cold. Bitter and coiled up on the hard floor like a cat left outside. There was no way that I’d managed to rearrange this setup in my unconscious state. No way.

Which could only mean…

My eyes shot over to the bed.

And there he was.

Coban. Still laid flat on his back. One arm thrown lazily over his head, the other resting near his ribs. His chest was bare, sheets tangled loosely around his hips, the dark bruises mottling his body now yellowing slightly today. His mouth was parted. Hair a mess. And he was out.

Still sound asleep.

Still laid out like stone. Completely unaware.

How? Why would he?

My mind spiralled looking between him and the items as I gasped… slapping a hand over my mouth at the sound.

He must’ve given them back to me. The blanket at least. The pillow? Well that was an extra bonus.

He must’ve done it? Who else could’ve?

But… why?

Before I could untangle another thought, his voice rasped across the room, groggy and low.

“Up before me for a change, Bella?”

I jumped. My whole body flinched as I turned sharply to find his eyes half–lidded, neck craned up in my direction, his face still slack with sleep. He looked devastatingly good like that. Less dangerous, more human.

“Uh… uh…” I stammered, gripping the edge of the blanket like it could save me. “Guess so?”

My voice cracked like glass.

I panicked and did the only thing I could think to do- I bunched the blanket up into a massive ball and hugged it, as if maybe he wouldn’t realise what it was or what he had did.

What if he had given me it in a half dazed state? Unable to remember doing it in the first place himself? Demanding them back?!

1 lowered it, as if maybe he’d forget that he’d literally handed it over during the night like some shadowy bedtime Santa Claus.

But he didn’t address it, not yet at least….

“Come on up here then,” he mumbled, voice gravel–thick, and without opening his eyes again. “It’s a new day… you can start it by heating me up.”

My brain glitched.

What?

I blinked.

What the hell?!

I didn’t breathe. Not at first.

Were we actually fucking cuddling together now?

“See, Margot?” he whispered, voice thick with sleep, with heat. “This is the treatment that well–behaved girls get.”

A shiver raced down my spine so fast that I almost curled forward from the impact. My fingers twisted in the blanket, my heart ricocheting inside my chest like it wanted out.

Oh my god…

That’s when I felt it.

The other thing.

Hard. Pressed against my ass firmly. Hot through the thin material of his boxers. Unmistakable.

My whole body stiffened…

I forgot how to breathe for a full five seconds.

But he didn’t move. Didn’t grind or react or even flinch to it. Just held me like this was normal for us. Like this was suddenly allowed now.

And in some strange, messed up way, I didn’t want to move either.

I stared at the wall across from us for only a moment, unsure whether I should feel terrified or flattered or just plain confused. Because right now… I felt everything.

Everything all at once.

Trapped in warmth. In silence. In this strange, stolen moment I hadn’t asked for but wasn’t ready to give back.

I didn’t know what the hell today would bring.

But this morning… this start… was already more dangerous than any punishment I’d ever known from him.

Because I actually sort of liked it…