Sunflower (Clyde Logan x Reader)

Chapter 17

A/N: I'm back! Hope this fluffy chapter and future promise of smut is worth it. I hope everyone is doing well and is hanging in there! I appreciate and love you all:) (Also, a slight plug for my AO3: soupremeleader ; and I now have an instagram: swoonforbensolo). 

You paced around your room, frustrated and upset. It was prison protocol to often remain in lock down after certain security measures had been breached. Considering that guards had been taken hostage and a fire had started in the wake of the riot, Monroe county's correctional facility was not open to any nonessential workers the next day.

Getting the call to not come into work should have been somewhat of a relief - that is, before Clyde. It was usually intimidating and scary and didn't happen often, but it always meant a paid day off to lounge around - wondering what happened but trusting those in charge to take care of the situation and suss out the root of the problem. But now? With Clyde in the picture? All it meant was anxiety and skittishness - hence the pacing.

It wasn't like you could call and ask. If you called and asked it had to be about your brother. Any other lingering questions, especially about another inmate, would be incredibly suspicious. And you had no reason to call because if Paul had been hurt then you would have already been informed, as you had been last time he got into a fight and ended up in the clinic.

So all you had was your nervous energy, errant thoughts that kept spiraling, and an itching need to drive over to your workplace as soon as possible. You rolled your eyes, folding your arms as you plopped yourself on the couch. Okay, just calm down, it's fine, you told yourself, trying to breathe deeply.

Either way, there was nothing that you could do until tomorrow, so you settled onto the couch, ready to drown in distracting movies and shows that you later wouldn't even remember watching.

***

When you woke up the next day, it was early and before your alarm, nervous energy still buzzing around in your system. You took a warm bath to calm yourself, using a lavender soothing bath fizz to help you unwind. Afterwards you washed your hair and got ready, hands trembling as you put on your mascara.

You decided to head into work before your shift, swinging by to get a coffee and bagel from a local bakery, eager to make your way to work as soon as possible. When you came in the guards greeted you as normal, checking you in and helping you get through security.

They acted as if nothing unsettling had happened, easing your stressed thoughts somewhat. You knew the guards that had been held hostage would probably take some time off if it had been a particularly dangerous situation, and that there would have been some sort of gossip as you passed through the check in point if a lot had gone down during the riot. You wondered which personnel had been involved, a small shudder passing through you at the thought.

You thanked them for doing their jobs, flashing a smile as you took your things, your coffee, and your bagel to the library. You sat down at one of the work tables, toe tapping nervously on the floor.

You thought about what you had to get done, thinking back to the curious phone conversation you had had with the warden. Ordering the books he had requested wouldn't take very long, but maybe you could hunt around and see if there was some type of deal going on that would allow you to get more titles along with the requested ones.

There were a few other books that had been in high demand lately, and maybe it would ease some of the tension if the inmates had something more productive to do with their time and able to read books they were interested in. You decided to take the time to search around the usual retailers, anything to preoccupy your time.