The Warden's Daughter

Noah Fain

        I smile at Peter and he rubs the stubble on his chin. Peter has known me long enough to know what I am thinking. I pull down my camisole and fluff up my hair.

            “Don’t even think about it.” He mutters grabbing my arm. I raise my brow at him. I give Peter a daring look and shake his grip off.

            “Nothing is wrong with looking.” I say. Peter laughs sarcastically. Peter was only a few years old than I and we often hung out when I came back here over the summer and other holidays. He lived in the prison grounds as well, but he didn’t have a family or a girlfriend. 

            “I thought you had a boyfriend? I am pretty sure the warden mentioned one.” Peter pokes. My heart turns cold and I try not to glare at Peter. He didn’t know that Leo was two-timer and liar.

            “Eh, I dumped him so it doesn’t matter.” I say. Peter eyes me. He nor my father or any of the officers has never met any of the boys I have dated. It was hard to keep a boyfriend anyway. I mean who would want a girlfriend that was potentially tougher than her man?

            “The warden won’t be happy when he says what your wearing darlin’.” Peter says. I smile at him and give a little shake of my hips. I wink at him and Peter sighs.

            I wave to Peter and start for the break room. I slip in the door unnoticed as all the chairs are faced up towards Sergeant Allen, my father’s right hand man. Kalso sits in a chair a few feet away. I take a seat at an empty desk where I will be dealing with inmates for an entire hour. I spot fifteen total new inmates which was a small crowd from what I am used to seeing.

            “Did I miss anything?” I look at Officer Wes Handlin who slides into the seat next to me. He was a tough, attractive officer with brown-red hair and mesmerizing green eyes in his late twenties. His two children also had his mesmerizing eyes—yes, I was very disappointed when I found out he had a wife.

            “No. Allen just started talking.” I say. He smiles and gets some paperwork ready. I look around the break room. It no longer looks as inviting as it did just an hour ago when I was speaking with Kalso and James. There was three times more guards and soon enough my father would be coming in.

            I sit back in the seat and Officer Allen goes over all the prison rules and what they would be doing in their day to day life. My eyes burned in the back of that one inmates head. I was sure he could feel my stare because he kept rubbing the back of his neck. I liked the way his biceps flexed when he rubbed his neck.

            “Did you miss the message of dressing nice Hon?” Wes whispers to me. I roll my eyes at him. If I had to suffer helping my father today, I would be comfortable. Although looking at that one inmate was actually enjoyable.

            “No, I just chose to ignore it.” I grin at him and show a flash of my toned thigh to Wes. He lightly laughs and closes one eye, but I can see his gaze lingering. I know that it was wrong of me to tamper with a married man, but it was all innocent. Everyone knew that I was only joking and teasing.

            “Of course. Nora Morris, always marching to a beat of her own drum.” Wes says quietly. I grin and look at Allen who has just handed the spotlight to Kalso. The old inmate stands up on shaky legs. Allen has to help until his feet are firmly planted on the floor. Kalso started talking then and I relaxed a bit. His health was deteriorating and anyone can see that.

            I wasn’t technically allowed to do all the things that my father lets me do. I shouldn’t be sitting in this desk or giving cookies to the inmates on death row or even stepping foot inside the cellblocks, but he was the warden and as long as I stayed away when the big boss came, everything was all good.