Page 62 of Enemy of the State

Sean

Lou glared at me as I locked her back in her cell, but I couldn’t very well have her roaming around the base freely while I talked to Jace. That would’ve caused instant chaos in the prison, and I’m already swamped with the damage control I need to do. Thankfully, Borman didn’t have time to fuck shit uptoobadly, but I still have a lot to account—I mean, lie—for.

I tried to ease the sting of putting Lou back in her iron and concrete cage by giving her extra food and water, which didn’t quite have the desired effect, but it’s the best I could do at the moment. The parting look she gave me is all I see with every blink and shutter of my eyelids. I don’t blame her for her renewed sense of skeptical distrust and suspicion, but I couldn’t explain myself to her, not now. I’d be dubious as fuck of my behavior if the roles were reversed.

Something has happened between us. I’m done deluding myself into thinking otherwise. At best, I’m smitten with Lou. At worst, I’m swimming blindly into foreign waters without knowing how to fucking float.

“What did Martinez say when you talked to him?” I ask Jace, bringing the cigarette to my lips, the bright sun streaming onto the rooftop through a break in the cloud cover, evaporating the tendrils of smoke corkscrewing toward the sky.

“Only that Borman showed him a memo from Thompson saying that he wanted him to ensure Louhi was terminated by Friday. I don’t think Martinez knew jack shit about Borman’s plan with Davis and Jones, though.”

“She was never their favorite inmate, and they hated her even more after she killed Stuco, so I’m not surprised they took matters into their own hands. How’d you explain to Martinez what happened to those three idiots?”

He lifts a shoulder casually. “I told him they underestimated their opponent and Lou killed them.” Taking another drag of his cigarette, he adds on an exhale, “It’s the truth, more or less. I wouldn’t want to fuck with her. I’ve seen a lot of shit, but I’ve never seen anything like what she did to Borman. I hate to say it, but she was a damn artist with that blade.”

A rough, gritty chuckle rumbles in my chest as I nod in agreement.

He’s right. Shewasan artist with Borman’s body as her canvas; I was enraptured by her craftmanship. Her skill level is something enviable and the way she carried herself with lethal elegance was fucking enchanting.

The power seeping from her made my dick hard. I don’t typically get off on watching the suffering inflicted on someone else if it doesn’t come directly from me, but I’ll be damned if watching Lou didn’t make me harder than stone. It wasn’t what she was doing either; it was simplyher.

Shemakes me hard.

Deviating from Lou’s impressiveness, I steer the conversation back to the more pressing issue. “Why did Thompson send Borman that memo in the first place?”

“Do you think someone tipped him off that we’d…have a hard time with that order?”

“That’s what I’m thinking, but who? If it was Borman or one of hisfriends, then the issue has been dealt with.”

Jace leans back in his seat with a sigh. “If it was anyone else, we’ve got a big fucking problem. Which way do you lean?”

I run my fingers over the short hairs covering my scalp as I think through my answer. “I lean toward Borman himself.” Lowering my voice, I add, “But we need to get her out of here, especially if that someone else is still breathing.”

Smoke slithers from Jace’s mouth, both of us falling silent. Seagulls caw in the distance, the air feeling denser than usual with a storm looming on the horizon. The humidity is stifling here on the best of days, but this afternoon, it feels overtly oppressive.

I don’t know how long we sit there in contemplation before Jace admits quietly, “I deleted the tapes in the infirmary.”

Whipping my head toward him, I mutter, “Thanks. It was on my long-ass to-do list.” I pause for a second before asking, “Did you watch the footage?”

He snorts. “I saw enough to know I needed to erase them immediately and not sit around and wait for it to get stored on the government’s servers before you had time to get to it.”

The shift within myself is blatantly obvious to me, considering my first thought is concern and rage over the idea that someone could’ve seen a very naked Lou, not what would happen to me or my career over fucking an inmate.

I can’t pinpoint when it happened, nor is it worth analyzing, but I think I fucking love her. It’s the only explanation I have for why I’m willing to throw my own goddamn life away for hers. Maybe I’m an idiot for wanting to protect her soul, her body, her breath with everything I’ve got left to give her. If I rot in Hell over the decisions I make, so be it. It’ll have been worth it for just twenty minutes with Lou.

I trust Jace implicitly, and if he said he deleted the footage, I damn well believe him. It’s one less thing for me to worry about, and for that, I’m grateful. Considering everything going on, thank fuck Jace was forward-thinking.

Jace nods and we fall back into a companionable silence, his head tilting back to watch the steel-colored clouds slide around the sky. I’m nearly done smoking my second cigarette when he speaks again, his voice barely a whisper on the wind. “Let me guess…you have a plan.”

When I glance at him, the lines on his face are tight with tension. I’m sure if I were to look in a mirror, I’d find those same lines on my face tenfold.

“Yeah,” I breathe.

Leaning back against the wall opposite Lou’s cell, I simply watch her. She’s sleeping now, curled up in the fetal position, finally having succumbed to the sleeping pill I slipped into her water earlier. Despite leaving the music turned off for the night, I don’t think she would’ve rested without it, no matter how much she needs to in order for her body to heal.

I never thought I’d say it about a prisoner, but she looks out of place in her cell, reminding me of a caged animal in a zoo. She doesn’t belong here. She belongs in the wild, roaming free, leaving chaos and carnage in her wake.

Clenching my fists at my sides, I resist the urge to barge through the iron door and take her against the wall, regardless of the smell of piss, putrid grime, or literal fucking shit on the floor. Even asleep, her dark magnetism draws me in.

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