Page 106 of Freshman

“I didn’t know it was going to happen.”

Gareth nodded. “My advice to you when they charge you over your inappropriate relationship with Nate is not to protest it. The sooner we can start the love-struck narrative, the better. You were infatuated with Nate, and he used you.”

Alfie bit his lip. “Why?”

“Why what?”

“Did he use me?” His ribs throbbed. “I need to get the story straight about the manipulative monster in the cage.”

“He used you for cheap thrills. For sex. That’s all it was for him. It meant nothing.”

“Understood,” Alfie whispered.

His heart ached.

Alfie didn’t protest the charges. He admitted fault and was granted bail under certain conditions. He wasn’t to contact any of his colleagues at Larkwood. He had to stay at his address and give up his passport. He nodded along, but nothing sunk in until he was back at his house, curtains drawn and lights off.

He was going to prison.

A fist thumped against his door.

He didn’t answer.

Keys jangled; the door flew open.

Tia announced her presence with a huff. Her figure was a silhouette against the backdrop of daytime outside.

She rushed to open the curtains. Alfie lowered his gaze to avoid the sign for Larkwood.

“So…what did they say?”

“They charged me for gross misconduct, for a sexual relationship with a prisoner.”

“It’s ridiculous.” She stood with her hands on her hips. “I hope you told them where to shove the charges against you.”

“I accepted them.”

“What?”

“They’re…they’re true.”

She shook her head. “There’s no way you would have.”

Alfie bowed forward and gripped his head with both hands. “Tia. I did.”

“Wait…the guy from work, the one you were cagey about. The one you fucked in a cell.”

Alfie flinched.

“That was him, wasn’t it? You were talking about a prisoner.”

“It just happened. I wasn’t—”

“You had sex with Nate Mathews! He’s all over the news. What he did to those men, his own father, it’s sick, and you slept with him.” She dropped down on the sofa and gripped Alfie’s knee. “Wait, wait. He didn’t force you, did he?”

“No, it wasn’t forced.”

She snatched her hand back. “Then I don’t understand. He’s a murderer, a deranged killer, and you had sex with him.”

---