The Prison Chapter 24, 25 & 26

-

˚⋆。★ ˚ ᴛᴇssᴀ ˚★⋆。˚ logging in ₍  ₎ ˎ ́-

˗ˋ  ˊ˗

-   ͙۪۪̥˚┊❛ welcome ❜┊˚ ͙۪۪̥◌

﹉﹉﹉﹉﹉﹉﹉﹉﹉

❛ introduction *·˚ ༘

Hey sweethearts ! welcome back

to my blog ! I am so happy to have seen you guys liked my fan fiction and I think i will continue it as long as there is an interest and comments showing there is interest🤷🏼‍♀ :see_no_evil: because it’s hard to know with “likes” and easier to tell if people are interested by comments. Anyway let’s get into it!

Chapter 24 have been restricted. Comment for the original unrestricted version.

The others are a bit short sadly but that’s how it is for this time :see_no_evil:

The work on this fanfic is dedicated to:

Turtle twin :turtle: :heart: :turtle:

Sarah-tarah🦋

My cutiepie :hatching_chick:

Kimmy :heartpulse:

Hardin

Inspiration and base this story upon an : audiobook

Twenty-Four

~ Hardin ~

Nate doesn’t quite meet my eyes when I him. He’s just outside the kitchen, checking his phone, well in my line of sight but removed.

Separate. As if an extra four feet can keep him apart from what I’m doing to Tessa in here.

The way he’s acting, he must have said something about me, something I won’t like. But I’m not worried about it. We’d never move against each other. We’d kill for each other.

We already have.

Tessa is sitting where I left her, in the kitchen chair, blindfolded. The glass of orange juice in front of her is full.

She hasn’t touched it.

I need sleep. Which means she needs sleep. I crush the pills I pulled from Nate’s stash. A sedative meant for dogs and cats.

I stir it into the juice. She’ll be able to taste it, but that won’t matter. I’m not trying to hide the fact that I’m drugging her.

“Here,” I murmur, taking her hands and showing her where the glass is, making sure she has a grip on it. She takes a sip and makes a face. I catch the glass before she can knock it away.

“What is that?” she asks, sputtering.

“Something to help you sleep.”

“You drugged me?!”

“Not yet,” I say evenly. “One sip isn’t going to do anything. You’re going to drink this whole glass.”

“Like hell.” Her swearing gets me hot.

And that’s a problem, because in an hour she’s going to be asleep.

“You are going to drink it, because the alternative involves cages and metal handcuffs. And then I’d probably stick a needle of horse tranquilizer in you for good measure.”

Because judging from her bruised wrists, she might be willing to break her arm to get out. Most people think they’ll do anything to escape, but they won’t.

Something about her is different. She’s fierce and a little bit crazy.

It means I can’t trust her.

It also means I really, really want her. To have all that wildness beneath me.

“But why?” Her voice is thready, afraid.

She’s afraid. It twists something in my chest.

“It’s just a light dose, Tessa. But the truth is, I can’t trust you after what happened at the motel.”

She flinches as if I hurt her.

Maybe I did. But I can’t risk her getting loose from me while I sleep here. I can’t make Nate watch her. And, above all, I don’t want to have to tie up her wrists when they’re already fucked up.

I won’t hurt her any more than I have to.

“Drink it,” I say, more gently. “It’s just enough for a dog. Twenty pounds. It’s going to make you groggy. Not unconscious.”

And just like that, she obeys me. Her hands are shaking as she lifts the glass to her lips. I help her hold it in place while she drinks it down, almost greedy now that she’s decided to give in. I think she wants oblivion as much as I want to give it to her. I watch her drink, watch the way each sip leaves shiny little specks of pulp scattered across her top lip like stars. And then she licks them off.

“That’s good,” I tell her.

“You won’t cause me any trouble tonight.”

“Yeah,” she says softly. I look up and find Nate staring at us with an expression I can’t quite read.

I don’t care. Let him think whatever fucked-up thing he wants.

I peek into his fridge.

“You like blueberries?”

She nods. I pull out the bowl and pick the biggest blueberry, fat and almost purple.

“Here,” I say, pressing it against her lips. She opens for me, and I imagine the sweet-tart juice bursting against her tongue. I wish I could see her eyes, watch them flicker and spark. But there’s only my heartbeat and the faintest sound as she swallows.

I imagine her tongue turning a deep purple, stained by blueberry juice.

My body reacts almost violently.

[restricted thoughts away]

The phone rings. Nate answers tersely. Someone on the other end of the line is worked up. Nate has mastered the balance of soothing and authoritative. When he hangs up the phone, his expression is grim.

“I’ve got a surgery out in Blainsville. I need to be on the road five minutes ago. Not sure when I’ll get back.”

“Got it.”

Unable to help myself, I smooth the back of Tessa’s hair. She doesn’t even react.

She’s exhausted and drugged, no fight left in her. She’ll be mine for the night. Helpless. The only question that remains is what I’m going to do with her. I’m still not sure about the answer. I only know my morals. I walk Nate to the front door. We stop on the porch, where I can keep Tessa in sight through the window.

Nate lets out a long breath.

“You got a plan? Because I don’t know what that is in there.”

“Get to the Bradford. Do the governor. That’s the plan.”

But he knows all that.

“The girl,” he clarifies.

“I know.”

“She’s innocent.”

That’s why I like Nate. Jace doesn’t give a shit about innocence, but it matters. It has to; otherwise justice doesn’t mean anything. Vengeance doesn’t mean anything.

“I’m just tired,” I say finally.

It’s the best I can do. Bone-deep tired. Razor’s edge tired. He studies me with world-weary brown eyes. I’d trust Nate with my life, and he trusts me the same. We figured out a long time ago that no one else was going to protect us.

“I’ve never seen you like this,” he says. I laugh, low and rough.

“You don’t ? Fucking sleep deprivation. Fucking starvation. The whole nightmare.”

He looks surprised that I’d mention it.

“Her. We’re not them. We don’t have to be like them.”

“This is different. I’m not going to hurt her.”

I lower my voice. “I’m taking care of her —I’d do anything for her,” I add, surprising even myself.

Not so surprising considering I raided a police station to get her back a few hours ago. Probably broke twenty laws. He gives me a strange look.

“She’s mine,” I say like that explains it. “You don’t have to understand.”

“It’s not what we do, Hardin.” He bites out.

“Not what you do,” I say.

He gives me a dark look. He’s always been the upstanding one. Blending back into society has always mattered to him.

Fuck society.

“She’s mine,” I say again. There’s a look of warning in his eyes.

“She’s mine, and that’s just how it is now.”

“Vehicle’s in the shed,” he says. Then he’s gone, and it’s just me and Tessa. I go back in and fix us some toast. She doesn’t ask for her blindfold to be removed even though she knows the good doctor is gone. Maybe she gets that I can’t let her see where she is—a kitchen full of clues. Or maybe the drugs are already making her a little docile.

That was the genius of whatever they gave us back in that hellhole of a basement, just enough drugs to knock the fight out of you.

Nate doesn’t want to , but I’ll never forget the lesson—that you’re either strong or weak. You dish it out, or you take it. Doesn’t take a rocket scientist to figure out what side of that equation I’m planning to stay on. I smooth her soft hair again.

“You’re okay,” I say. “We’re both tired. Let’s get some sleep.” She nods. Is she being too pliant? It might be a trick. She could be plotting to escape as soon as I’m out. I hope to hell one pill was enough, but I didn’t want to risk more. Nate might have been able to give me a more specific number, but I didn’t want to involve him any more than I already had. A small amount. Enough for a few cats. She seems almost catlike now. Slender and restrained.

And clever too. I go to Nate’s utility drawer and cut a length of string and shove it in my pocket. Just in case.

“Come on.” I pull her up. She’s steady enough on her feet, but I can tell she’s a little off-kilter.

Good.

I guide her up the staircase, the blindfold a handy excuse to help her. I just want her to feel good and drift off like she doesn’t have to care about anything. At least one of us should get that. I take her to the guest room where I slept after Jace got shot. I fling the covers aside and lay her down on the smooth sheet.

“Ahh,” she says tiredly. It’s practically a moan, and the sound ripples over my skin, hot and carnal.

“Yeah,” I whisper, lowering the blinds. “It’ll feel good to sleep.”

I turn on the bedside lamp and switch off the glaring overhead light.

I pull off my shirt and pants, stripping right down to my boxers, and I sit on the foot of the bed and start untying her prim little lace-up boots, caked in mud. I’ll leave the rest of her clothes on. She wouldn’t like me undressing her.

She still doesn’t have panties, a fact I’ve been intensely aware of ever since I made her take them off at the river. It was an asshole move, but that’s what I am now. An asshole who drugs sweet young women. Who drags them across the state and binds them with metal and chemicals. Hey, it could be worse. At least I am not an asshole who rapes. She turns on her side, tucking both her hands beneath her cheek.

“Feels so good,” she mumbles. My hand is cupping her delicate foot. I roll off her sock, knuckles grazing the little indent between her heel and her ankle bone.

I’ve never been a foot guy, never seen the appeal, but if I started down that route, her feet would definitely be my gateway, because they’re smooth as silk and perfectly formed. I have a newfound fetish for her feet, her hands… especially her eyes, with their gorgeous, wise, soft sort of allure.

Too bad Nate didn’t get to see her without the blindfold, but maybe that’s for the best. I like her being all mine.

No one can take her away from me.

Gently I pull off the other sock and rub my hand over her skin, telling myself I just have to check to make sure she’s warm enough, but really I need to fucking touch her a little bit, and what the hell, it’s only her feet. How wrong can that be? I’ve been violated in every place, hurt in the softest place, and all I’m doing is giving her a foot rub.

“Hardin,” she whispers.

She likes this.

She wants this.

It’s an illusion, but that might be enough for me. My flesh swells at her lazy, husky tone. I press my hands on either side of her cool little toes, pancaking them between my palms. I want to devour her. But I won’t. Not when she is drugged. Not without her wanting me to.

“You warm enough, baby?” Like the Good fucking Samaritan I am, just needing to make sure the girl is warm. I watch myself warm her with a detached fascination. I need to stop touching her, but I don’t. I need to leave her alone, but I won’t. I have my hands on her feet, her ankles, and it’s just the beginning.

My body wants more. My brain pushes that fact away.

She wants more.

An illusion.

Instead of pulling her foot away, she pushes it toward me, pressing it into my hands like she really wants my touch. I know it’s the sedative, making her seek out warmth and softness. I know that’s what it is from firsthand experience. Still I rub her toes, knowing she’ll like that.

“Mmm,” she says. I move to her other foot, full-on massaging it.

“Mmm,” she says again. I can tell she’s in a place where even things you don’t want feel good, as long as they come along with warmth and softness.

[restricted thoughts away]

There were days I would’ve given anything for a dose of painkillers, but I had to go without. It’s a gift, that sedative. ing it sparks a white-hot fury inside me. Fury at myself, at the governor and his minions. The men who ran that house.

Perversely I’m even mad at her for making me want her this much.

I push her feet away and pull the wad of string out of my pocket. One soft loop around her ankle and one around mine. We’re connected now. She won’t know it’s there unless she tries to take off. After what happened in the motel, I probably don’t need the extra layer of alert, but I’m not taking any chances. I have to take care of her. That’s important. She’s mine, and I have to watch over her. I climb into bed next to her and ease off the blindfold.

Then I pull the sheets over us both, tucking her in next to me, pressing the blankets around her, getting her into a protective cocoon.

I think about how she looked in that cell. The governor probably got her named an accessory. Maybe he figures it’s how he’ll get to me. Anger flashes through me.

Fucking putting her in that dirty cell. She’s on her stomach, head resting on one arm, hair a dark halo around her pillow. I tuck her in tighter, but it’s too much, too tight, and she stirs.

“Hardin,” she whispers.

Then she fights her way out of her cocoon and finds me, nestling her head into my chest. My arm goes around her, and she snuggles into me.

“Don’t let go,” she whispers, and my heart surges.

“I won’t,” I whisper, pulling her in and kissing her forehead. She presses her body alongside mine, and I drink her in.

“Hardin,” she says, and she kisses my neck. She doesn’t really want this.

It’s the drugs making her soft and desperate. But when I look at it in a certain way, it’s as if she does want me. It’s like that hundred-dollar bill they put out with that inkwell hologram. If you tip the bill one way, it’s just an ugly-ass inkwell, but when you tip it another way, the Liberty Bell appears inside the inkwell, like there’s something shiny and special in there when you know there isn’t.

That’s how I feel now. Because I’m just the piece of shit who kidnapped and drugged her. And I know the only reason she’s enjoying being in my arms is that she’s drugged and uninhibited, giving in to animal needs for comfort and warmth. But it’s like the fucking Liberty Bell appearing inside me when she slides against me. And suddenly I want the illusion. I love the illusion.

But as horrible as my flesh feel rejecting it, i have to do what is right. She don’t know shit of what she really wants right now.

“Shh... relax... “ I nuzzle her steady, until she lays still and I both feel and hear her fall asleep shortly. As suspected it was just something temporary in her mind and when I give more hugs and comfort she calms down from attacking my neck with kisses and heads more into sleep. She allows herself to sleep. With that in mind and knowing I will tell if she tries to yank at the cloth, I too relax after watching her for a while and then fall asleep.

                                  ‘｡˚. ✩

   ˚   * •    .

                               ˚ *     •  .

                                                     ˚   * • .

                                                                  °ੈ ✦

                                                                     ☾ * .     

                                                                      ✦° :.

                                                                 ✹　✩

                                              .✦.   *. ☾ .˚. ✧* ˚

                              ¸. .: ☼ °★ ˚. ‘. ˚ ‘

                    ✦..✶*.:. ◌ ‘ °          

            ¸.:✺ *. °˚

     *.☾ . • ° ✩.: ✶

     *✧°.; . ,

           ‘ ｡˚. ੈ ,

               ˚   * •    .

                                   ˚ *     •  .

                                                         ˚   * • .

                                                                    °ੈ ✦

                                                                       ☾ * .

Twenty-Five

~ Tessa ~

One minute he’s feeding me blueberries. The next he’s dragging me up some stairs. Or maybe it only feels like dragging me because my feet aren’t working, maybe because I can’t see anything.

A bed. Soft, wonderful, with sheets smoother and cooler than sheets have any right to feel. Everything is a little dizzy and off center.

So tired. My shoes are off. My feet feel warm and loose, like taffy. So good. So tired.

I blink as he takes off the blindfold off me, but he’s just a fuzzy shadow in the dim light of the room. I can’t make out Hardin’s dark eyes or his cocky smile.

I want to. He’s beautiful to look at, but all I can do is close my eyes and sink into his touch. I sigh as the musky scent of him surrounds me and hands tuck me in safe and sound, but the covers are too tight, so I fight them off, which isn’t easy; my limbs feel heavy and disted, but I get free and find him. He’s soft grass and damp earth, and I want to lie flat on the ground of him and breathe in deep, but I can’t move. His arm is a heavy band over my waist.

Trapped.

For some reason that seems okay. The tart flavor of berries lingers on my tongue. I’m heavy and warm and a little bit floaty. I think I should always feel like this.

So ... Comfortable.

He drugged me.

I want him to touch me, to not just hold me, but do so much more... but the sleep is closing in on me. And I feel embarrassed he rejected me, and pull me more into sleep.

“Don’t let go,” I whisper.

“I won’t,” he says, and I sink into him. I just want to crawl inside him… And suddenly I can’t help falling down a haze. Haze and blur of sleep.

                                 ‘｡˚. ✩

   ˚   * •    .

                               ˚ *     •  .

                                                     ˚   * • .

                                                                  °ੈ ✦

                                                                     ☾ * .     

                                                                      ✦° :.

                                                                 ✹　✩

                                              .✦.   *. ☾ .˚. ✧* ˚

                              ¸. .: ☼ °★ ˚. ‘. ˚ ‘

                    ✦..✶*.:. ◌ ‘ °          

            ¸.:✺ *. °˚

     *.☾ . • ° ✩.: ✶

     *✧°.; . ,

           ‘ ｡˚. ੈ ,

               ˚   * •    .

                                   ˚ *     •  .

                                                         ˚   * • .

                                                                    °ੈ ✦

                                                                       ☾ * .

Twenty-six

~ Hardin~

I wake up with a pounding headache… and a light tugging on my ankle. With effort, I keep my body relaxed but not unnaturally still; that’s the trick to pretending to sleep. I learned it early on as a kid, not that it did me much good. The bed shifts slightly as Tessa sits up.

She pushes the covers aside. The slightest tug and a whisper of air tell me she’s trying to untie the string. I stay very still and let her do it. The string tickles my skin as her end of it falls to the bed. She makes it to the door before I spring up and push her from behind, pressing her into the wall with my body—not hard enough to hurt her. Just hard enough to send a message. I clench my fist in her hair and pull back. I wrap my free hand around her neck and squeeze gently, to get her attention.

“Good morning,” I whisper in her ear.

                                        ‘｡˚. ✩

   ˚   * •    .

                               ˚ *     •  .

                                                     ˚   * • .

                                                                  °ੈ ✦

                                                                     ☾ * .     

                                                                      ✦° :.

                                                                 ✹　✩

                                              .✦.   *. ☾ .˚. ✧* ˚

                              ¸. .: ☼ °★ ˚. ‘. ˚ ‘

                    ✦..✶*.:. ◌ ‘ °          

            ¸.:✺ *. °˚

     *.☾ . • ° ✩.: ✶

     *✧°.; . ,

           ‘ ｡˚. ੈ ,

               ˚   * •    .

                                   ˚ *     •  .

                                                         ˚   * • .

                                                                    °ੈ ✦

                                                                       ☾ * .

                                    ❛ outro *·˚ ༘

                          Thank you for reading and hopefully you enjoyed it! Have a lovely day! And please if you liked it, or enjoyed it, please leave comments so i know whether or not to continue this. :point_right: :point_left: :see_no_evil:

                       Don’t forget [YOU |ndc://-me] are amazing! 🤩

❫ ˚⋆。★ ˚ ᴛᴇssᴀ ˚★⋆。˚ logging out ₍  ₎ ˎ ́-

˗ˋ