PR150N

Chapter 10

I sat on the bed watching the time tick by - literally. The seconds hand was clunky but it ticked by, every time reaching 12 as if it had completed an uphill struggle. The ticking was loud and inelegant too, making me think that despite the fancy equipment dotted around the rest of the prison, the hospital was given hand me downs from the 1980s. There were about fifteen minutes left of what would have been my social time and all I could think was that I'd missed yet another time that I could have been hanging out with Solomon and the guys. I let out a disappointed sigh and lifted my head up to look at the ceiling. I thought helping Toby would have left me in a better position than this. In my head, we all escaped without any bad injuries and we headed to Sol's fancy cell to celebrate. At that point I didn't even care if Stephanie was there, no matter how much I hated her and how she acted. We were meant to be safe and together. It wasn't meant to end like this.

"Someone's looking miserable." The voice brought a smile to my face almost instantly. I lowered my eyes slowly and finally my gaze fell upon him. There stood Solomon, a childish smile plastered on his face. I let out a little laugh as I spoke.

"Why do you look like you just ran over here?" Sol's forehead was sweaty, his normally styled hair wet and partially stuck down. His chest was rising and falling quickly as he let himself in the room and slumped onto the chair beside me. He quickly wiped his forehead with his hand as he let out a silly smile, the one I knew he didn't do to many people.

"Because I did." He said proudly with a shrug. As much as I didn't want to think it, I was flattered that he cared enough to make it over here before social finished.

"They managed to grant you visitation?" I said, surprised. I hadn't yet seen much of this power that I knew Sol had; power to influence decisions and change the thinking of those who were controlling us, yet when he let out his coy smile I could see that cocky demeanour emanating from him.

"Of course." He smiled. "I can visit you every social until you're out." I let out a flat laugh which made him furrow his brows.

"Oh I bet Stephanie loves me even more for that." I rolled my eyes, shaking my head as I thought about last time I saw her and how she had acted towards me. Solomon shifted uncomfortably in the chair as he ran his fingers through his hair, gulping heavily as he thought about something. "What? What happened?"

"Actually..." Sol said with a breathy laugh at the end. "I think I've well and truly fucked that up. She came round at social and I called her Lex." My eyes widened as I bit my lips together in shock.

"You didn't..." I said, elongating the last word to show how astounded I was. Sol leant forwards to emphasise the importance of what he was saying next.

"I fucking did Lex. She nearly tore my head off my shoulders but lucky Eddy saved me. Then she told me I had to - well - make it up to her, if you catch my drift." He wiggled his eyebrows so I knew what he was insinuating. "But the letter saying I could visit you guys appeared, so I got dressed and ran out without even a kiss goodbye." For a moment we sat in silence. I tried to digest everything he'd said while also formulating a nice response that wasn't 'good, it's what she deserves anyway'.

"That's going to be very bad news for me when I'm out of here." I said carefully. "Not only did you call her my name, you left her to come and see me. She's going to be livid. If there's a spike for your head, there's one for mine too." Solomon averted his eyes for a moment as he took a deep breath in and out. He looked around the room to make sure no one could hear what he was about to say.

"Between you and me, I was going to end it anyway. It was fun, but I'm not here for a long term thing." He shrugged again as his lips flattened into a line.

"I don't blame you." I agreed with him, to his utter surprise. He sat back in the chair while he took me in. "No offence, your relationship seems toxic anyway. No point in keeping that going." He breathed out a 'wow' after my response, which only piqued my interest more. What did he mean by wow? My heart raced as I suddenly wondered if I'd upset him with what I had said. My body felt hot and continued to heat as if the room had just gone up twenty degrees. I reached for my glass of water with a shaking hand in the hope of calming myself down.

"Hey, you feeling okay?" Sol jumped up and grabbed the water for me, handing it to me but keeping a couple of fingers on the cup as I took a sip, just in case I dropped it. His gaze never left me as I tried to compose myself, my mind whirring with possibilities of what he meant with how he had reacted. "Lex?" He put the cup back beside me and shuffled the chair closer to the bed, he grabbed my hand in his as he spoke. "Come on, talk to me." His touch seemed to soothe me quicker than anything I'd ever encountered before. I took a deep breath in and out, the room seeming to cool down, my heart slowing down, my brain calming down. It was a weird sensation as normally it was a pain to try and regulate myself after an attack like that. I could see the pain in Sol's eyes as he watched me get worse, and it hurt me to see him look like that. I gave his hand a squeeze as I let out a small smile.

"It's fine. I'm okay. Thank you." He visibly relaxed in the chair, though his hand stayed where it was. I looked down at our hands, interlinked and comfortable, this was something I hadn't experienced before in my many years of life. I had been way too busy with my family and the money troubles to think about anything other than earning. Now that I lay there with someone holding my hand, it made me realise that I had missed some of the most important moments of my teenage years that I would never get back. Now, in my late twenties and in jail, I had realised that it would be a lot harder to achieve. "So, how are the guys? Ty? Eddy? Raj?" I changed the subject quickly to try and help the both of us get back to the here and now and forget about what had just happened however, even with that simple question, Sol pulled yet another awkward face. "Oh god what's happened now?" Sol ran his other hand through his hand and let out a breath.

"I don't think right now is the best time to talk about it. They're doing good, all safe for now. We've come up with a plan to help each other out but it's still in early stages." He spoke quietly, he bit his bottom lip nervously.

"Now is definitely the best time to talk about it. What the hell else do I have to do?" We both quickly glanced at the time, mere moments remained of our time together. I could see him breathe a sigh of relief at the idea he may get away with not telling me the information I needed.

"It's nothing, just a warning. I can let you know tomorrow-" he tried to get out of it once again but I wasn't having it. I sat up quickly pointing my finger at Sol with force.

"You'd better tell me or so help me I will get out of this bed and-" Suddenly pain erupted in my chest and I fell back, clutching my chest with my hands as if trying to undo a tightening knot that was preventing me from breathing. I let out a pained breath as my hands roamed the bed for the emergency button. Suddenly the alarm sounded from above my bed and Sol was stood beside me holding the button, fear etched on his face. Dr Forrester ran in and yanked the sides of my bed down. He got to work pulling some things out of a cupboard beside my bed. Solomon seemed to freeze, watching in horror as Dr Forrester got to work to help me. A quick injection seemed to make all the difference, a wave of silence within my body as the pain disappeared. I let out a relieved breath.

"Thank you." I whispered.

"What happened?" He asked furiously, knowing he had only been gone for a short time. He wrapped a blood pressure cuff around my arm as he jabbed the thermometer in my ear. Solomon went to speak but I got there first.

"Sat up too fast." I said breathlessly, my body tired from the pain that had taken over for a moment. Solomon looked over at me on disbelief, unsure as to why I had kept the blame solely on me. I let out a small smile. "Take care Sol. Hope to see you tomorrow." He seemed to hesitate for a second, his eyes not leaving me as he tried to read my mind, to work out my motives, to understand me.

"Y-yeah, of course. See you." He left quickly, without a second glance. Something in my gut was telling me that this was trouble for our seemingly perfect partnership. Had I just crossed a line that I could never go back from? Had I lost my protection, my friends and my way of surviving this prison?