Prisoner of Your Love

Adele walked back and forth across the small space of her cell. She was nervous…it’s been hours since Oli and her had their little powwow, and still he hasn’t returned. Constant fearful thoughts of betrayal and conspiracy plagued her mind with every minute that passed. A bitterness instantly filled her mind as she suddenly regretted ever opening up to him. Too bad she couldn’t have ran into Matt instead.

Glancing at the rusty, old-fashioned clock mounted on the wall, Adele saw that it was only 4 PM. Recreation hours lasted until 6. Maybe with some luck she could find Matt and ask for some advice. The moment the gate clicked and the bars disappeared from in front of her face, Adele wasted no time embarking on her secret trail, heading for the outdoor facility. Her eyes eagerly scanned the grounds, desperately in search of her old friend. A grin made its way onto her face as she found Matt standing over by the far side of the fence, lifting weights.

She couldn’t contain her own excitement any longer, finally allowing her voice to be heard. “MATT! I’m so glad I found you,” she exclaimed, running to him.

Matt looked up from the ground and smiled when he saw he had a visitor. “Adele, it’s nice to see you. How have you been holding up these past couple days?” he asked.

The moment Adele remembered what she had to tell him, her smile vanished. “It’s a long story. Would you mind coming inside for dinner?”

Of course, Matt didn’t hesitate. He dropped the dumbbell he had been holding and took her hand, leading her to the cafeteria. Adele continued to look over her shoulder every now and then, just to be safe. She knew, though, that once she is able to tell Matt what has happened, then he will make everything ok.

Trouble was brewing in a corridor not too distant from the cafeteria. Oli and two figures were conversing in hushed tones, hidden by the darkness. “What did she tell you?” one of his visitors inquired.

Oli bit down on his smirk. “She’s developed some sort of ‘route’ that she uses to sneak across the prison in order to avoid running into the likes of you. She told me what happened, and damn I’m not going to lie…the way you’ve shaken her up so badly…it’s impressive.”

“Would you expect anything less from us?” Gates laughed, pleased with their work.

“So, what now?” Oli asked, anxious to become a part of whatever catastrophe they were planning.

“For starters, we need to either figure out her pattern or just go look for the bitch. Since you’ve done such a good job helping us out thus far, I’m gonna assume you got something against her?” Shadows replied.

“Shadows, you know my record. To me, the female race is here to be nothing more than slaves and whores. If they don’t agree, then they die.”

“Damn straight,” Gates agreed, amused with the conversation.

“Well then, let’s go find our new friend. Oli, you should go to that room we have picked out and wait for us. I wanna see her face when she finds out she’s been betrayed,” Shadows ordered, heading for the cafeteria with Gates right behind him.

The looks of excitement and anticipation were unmistakable on their faces. Prisoners that had been passed by in the halls knew the look all too well, and boy did they pity the poor bastard Shadows and Gates were after.

“Adele, why haven’t you gone to one of the security guards?” Matt asked, shocked after hearing the hell I’ve been put through since my arrival here.

“I’ve tried! The one douche bag who walked me back to the cell didn’t care about what I was saying one bit. I…I just don’t know what to do,” she said, sadly.

Matt leaned over and wrapped his arms around her, just holding her in his warm embrace for a couple of minutes before letting go. “I know a couple of the guards around this place. I’ll talk to some of them and see if you can switch cells…maybe move into mine, or one with another girl,” he suggested.

Adele’s ears instantly perked up at those wondrous words. “Wait, you mean there are other girls here?”

He nodded, “Yep, there are only three or four, but they’re here. I think that would definitely be more helpful for you.”

“True,” she agreed, “but at the same time, after the encounter I had with Oli earlier today, I think that maybe we could end up putting our differences aside. Remember, Shadows and Gates are the biggest threats.”

“Their interest in you will fade quickly. It’s the same story every god damn time some new inmate arrives,” he sighed.

While Matt was spinning his fork around in a pile of spaghetti noodles, Adele couldn’t help but steal a couple of stares. She couldn’t deny the fact that she was ridiculously attracted to him…but what good was that? She already knew that if something were meant to happen between them that it would have happened years ago. Then again, perhaps there’s a reason that they ended up in the same prison facility. After swallowing a large sip of ice-cold water, Adele cleared her throat, ready to confess her feelings to Matt, but something stopped her.

Time seemed to stop as a heap of greasy mashed potatoes sloshed down onto Adele’s head, followed by a healthy helping of brown gravy. Inmates sitting nearby instantly began choking with laughter. Matt sprung out of his seat and turned to come face-to-face with none other than Shadows and Gates.

“What the hell do you think you’re doing? Aren’t you a little old for a food fight?” Matt growled.

Shadows laughed, “Aw, Adele, you didn’t tell us you had a boyfriend.”

Adele’s potato-covered face instantly became burning hot as a deep shade of red crawled across her pale skin. “Get the hell away from me!” she shouted, turning around to face her tormentors with a look of pure anger and humiliation filling her vibrant blue eyes.

“Why would we ever want to do that?” Gates asked, running his fingers along her arm.

“Enough small talk. We’ve got some private issues to discuss,” Shadows announced, giving Matt a hard look, “so we’ll need to be leaving now.” Shadows reached down to grab Adele, but Matt stepped in his way.

“You’re not going anywhere with her. She didn’t do anything to you so back the fuck off,” Matt said.

Shadows smirked, “Well, well, well Matthew, didn’t learn the first time did you? Guess we get to relive some memories here. Did you forget how my fist felt against your face?”

Matt remained silent, his defiant glare maintained. Shadows sighed, slightly annoyed, before he brought his fist forward hurling in Matt’s direction. Matt didn’t even flinch as the bones of Shadows’ fist directly hit his cheekbone.

“Move,” Shadows demanded, shoving Matt aside. “Let’s get going, princess, we have an agenda to keep,” Shadows said, reaching down and pulling Adele up to her feet by her hair.

She cringed as her scalp began burning and knew that anything done in rebellion at this point would only cause more pain for Matt and herself. She blinked back tears at the sight of Matt’s freshly bruised fight before she was taken out of the cafeteria, without a single suspicious glance from any of the security guards.

The walk down the hall to the room Shadows himself had picked out was a nightmare for Adele. Inmates lined up at the edges of their cells, staring out with either pitiful expressions or perverted grins, thinking that Adele was about to be Shadows and Gates’ sex toy. Possibilities of such an occurrence filled Adele with disgust as her stomach twisted in a very opposed reaction.

“Get in there,” Shadows muttered, kicking Adele forward into a narrow, dimly lit room.

Gates closed and locked the door behind him. A small TV was suspended from the ceiling showing some sort of CNN-like news program. This room seemed all too illegal for criminals of this caliber. Adele was shoved down into a wooden chair propped up against the wall. Shadows and Gates stood before her, towering above her with some sort of invisible sense of control and dominance that she resisted in giving to them.

“We couldn’t help but notice that you’ve been trying to hide from us, Adele. And that just doesn’t make sense. What’s there to be afraid of?” Gates said.

At first, Adele refused to even give them the opportunity to hear her voice, but then she remembered what they did to Matt earlier, and decided to try to put them in their place. “I’m not afraid of you. It’s not fear that fuels me, it’s hatred…disgust. Men like you deserve to rot in hell!” she venomously spat, surprised by the words coming from her lips.

Shadows and Gates exchanged amused, rather than surprise looks. “She thinks we’re disgusting now, man, just wait till she sees what we’re really capable of!” Gates sneered.

Adele tried to keep as still of an expression as she could, knowing that he was probably just bluffing. “Anyway,” Shadows said loudly, stepping forward and placing his heavy hand on her thin shoulder, “I think we should get back to business. We’re hurt that you’ve been hiding from us.”

Adele scoffed as she shoved his hand off of her, “Why don’t grow up and be big boys then?”

Shadows’ playful smile warped into a flat line, which made Adele question if she’d taken it too far this time. “Show her what she gets for being so clever,” Gates egged on.

Shadows nodded in agreement as his smile made its valiant return. “Better brace yourself princess.”

Adele’s eyes instantly squeezed shut as her body froze, anticipating some sort of painful aftermath. It came shortly after in the form of a fist to the face. She cried out as numbness devoured the left side of her face. Blood trickled out of the rough patch of broken skin on her lip as she fell sideways off the chair from the impact. She cringed once her elbow made contact with the unforgiving concrete below her.

“Now that you’re finally ready to shut up, we’d like to keep the party going by introducing tonight’s entertainment,” Shadows announced, nodding his head toward a shadowy corner of the room.

A man stepped forward and, the minute the TV illuminated his entirely tattooed arms, Adele knew who he was. Her body felt heavy with regret as her eyes met those of Oli Sykes. Adele quivered as horrible possibilities flooded her mind. It was a whole new hellish game now that there were three players on the opposing team.