The Prison Project (by Bethany Donaghy) novel Chapter 92

Margot’s POV

The sound pulled me out of my sleep before I was ready.

A low murmur.

Barely there at first, but enough to prick at my ears and snap me from whatever half–dream I had been floating in…

I blinked into the dark, confusion coating me like fog. The cell was still cloaked in shadows, only faint streaks of pale gold beginning to creep through the barred window from the early sun.

The air was thick and cool, my lungs still heavy with sleep as I turned my head slowly.

That was when I noticed him…

Coban.

On the bed.

Beside me.

His face was twisted up, jaw clenched, brows furrowed so tightly that deep lines cut across his forehead. His lips moved in fits, mumbling in a tone so low I couldn’t piece together the words. But his chest rose and fell sharply, faster than it should have, and his entire body radiated tension, even in his deep slumber.

My pulse skipped.

He looked… angry?

No… furious!

Not the usual restrained anger I was used to when he snapped at me during the day, but something rawer. Something unguarded, stripped of his control. His head twitched faintly against the pillow, sweat dampening the hair at his temples.

“Sorry…” The word dragged out of him like gravel.

I froze.

Sorry?

It was a word he never used. A word that sounded as if it should never have even been in his vocabulary.

But before I could process the shock of it, his next words gutted me.

“Stop hitting me!” he growled, his voice breaking into a jagged edge as he thrashed a little and flinched…

My jaw fell slack, the breath hitching in my chest.

What the hell… what kind of nightmare was this? Who was hitting him?

Who had ever even made him – Coban Santorelli, the most dangerous man I’d ever met sound so… helpless and scared?

“Stop it!” he barked louder this time, his head rolling restlessly against the pillow. His fists twitched, clenching and unclenching.

My heart pounded. I couldn’t just watch this!

“Shit!” He hissed, as though he could actually feel the imaginary blows landing on him, flinching again as the sweat only increased… and that was when I made my decision.

I had to do something!

“Coban…” I whispered, my throat tight, as I reached across the short stretch of mattress separating us. My hand trembled slightly, but the sight of his torment cut deeper than my fear. I placed my palm on his shoulder, fingers curling against the heat of his damp skin.

I gave him a soft shake. “Hey, Coban, wake up-”

But everything happened in the blink of an eye…

One second, he was tangled in his nightmare, and the next he exploded awake with a feral intensity that made my blood run cold. His hand shot up, closing like steel around my throat, and before I could react or yell for help, he had me pinned beneath him, his weight heavy and suffocating down on me in a crushing force.

“You trying to fucking hurt me?!” he snarled, his voice animalistic, nothing human left in the sound.

Terror ripped through me instantly.

I’d woke the beast! What the hell had I done?!

His eyes oh God – his eyes were pitch black, endless, soulless pits that locked onto me with sheer rage.

He raked his hands through his sweat–damp hair, pacing a short line in the shadows like a caged animal losing its mind. “Fuck! Fuck!”

He suddenly yelled and turned to slam his fist against the wall, the noise making me sob once more, my eyes slamming shut as the sudden fear settled in me.

He almost killed me….

The thought pounded louder than my heartbeat, echoing through my bones.

“Goddamn it!” Coban growled, punching the wall once more, his whole body shuddering under the weight of his fury. But when he turned his face back toward me, I caught something unexpected flicker in his expression…

Fear.

He looked afraid.

I wiped a trembling hand across my damp cheeks, flinching at the raw ache of my throat as I swallowed.

“Coban…” I attempted.

He froze.

His eyes, no longer black pits but stormy and bloodshot, snapped to mine.

His jaw tightened, his chest still pulling harsh breaths, and I saw it – the raw guilt plastered across his face.

“I didn’t…” He cut himself off, shaking his head as if he couldn’t bear to finish it. His hand dragged roughly through his hair again. “I wasn’t fuck, I wasn’t awake. I thought you were…”

He broke off once more, his voice thick…

My heart hammered, my body still reeled from being so close to death, but seeing him unravel like this… it shook me almost as much as what he’d done.

For the first time since I’d met him, Coban Santorelli looked like he might actually shatter…