Innocent Beyond Belief

I had spent three hours in the car by the time that I'd calmed down enough to go home. I knew that Carl would be waiting out front when I pulled in so I wasn't surprised to see him.

Getting out I frown hoping he wouldn't make it any harder than it needed to be, but knowing Carl that would be next to impossible. Truthfully it isn't my fault I'm not gay, I like women way too much, Carl can't change that.

"Xavier we need to talk. I'm ready to forgive you and put this behind us." Carl says standing and walking closer to me, his arms spread as if to give me a hug.

Holding up one hand and rubbing my face with the other I say "Stop." My jaw clenches and then unclenches, I'm holding back my anger, and it won't do me any good. "I don't love you, never have. So we can't put this behind us, I'm not even attracted to you. I have no idea how we were together for so long. Just leave and we'll pretend like we never met and this never happened. Goodbye."

I rub my temples and walk around him towards the door of my house. He grabs my wrist, jerking it out of his hands I don't even look back to say "Let it go, we've been over for a long time." He releases my hand with a whimper and the anger flares in a red-hot wave that sweeps my body. He always knew which buttons to push.

Hours Later

My pager is going off in the other room. I'm on the couch watching the highlight reel of tonight's Mets-Angels game. Angels won by six. Groaning I get up and see the clock. Three in the morning, what could be going on that I have to be up this early?

Heading in my pager is going crazy. I press the button and the big boss is hovering in front of me. "Xavier, I have no idea where you are or what you're doing, but your prisoner is in the infirmary. Yard fights. Some women are horribly vicious." The hologram folds back and the message is over. I sigh and decide I should probably head to the prison; this shit isn't something the shift-drone can take off.

In the car my mind goes to the new girl I booked today. I sure hope it isn't her who got beat up. For some reason I believed her when she said she didn't kill that man.

Walking in the prison I head past the security station, glancing in I can see the security droids on duty. It buzzes me past with a swipe of the right card and I head in. Passing through the disinfectant chambers, I feel a pull deep in my stomach making me anxious to get to the infirmary. The stale air sprays me and I speed walk out the now open door and head down the hall. The unknown of who's lying in the bed beyond the door at the end of the hall is weighing heavily on me and all I can think is I hope it is not Kirsten.

"Xavier, what's going on? You haven't been here in awhile." Callow says standing up from behind the desk inside the door.

"Yea I know my prisoners generally stay out of here, what happened?" I say.

"Huge yard fight around dinner time probably happened right after you clocked out. You’re still leaving around six, right?" Callow says.

"Yea, six o'clock on the dot. How big was the fight?" I ask glancing at the stack of papers on his desk.

"I don't know, about 12 girls in the back, a few more got broken bones, but the twelve in the back got banged up pretty bad, you know it goes." He answers.

"Okay, so which one is my prisoner?" I ask feeling the tug in my stomach again.

"I don't know, let me check." He turns and picks up the stack of papers flipping through a few before stopping and then flipping some more. "Ah, her she is." He hands me the papers, clipboard and a pen. "You know what to do."

I nod and take a step towards the curtains separating me from the patients. Glancing down at the papers I feel my heart stop.

Kirsten Sanderson-Critical Condition. The words practically glare up at me and I can't seem to breathe for more than a few moments. I breathe in slowly and out even more slowly, trying to remain calm, I think back to the time I lost one of my other prisoners because of a yard fight, she too was in critical condition.

Callow taps me on my shoulder; I turn and look at him “Are you going to go in? Or do want to come back tomorrow for the interview? I can wake her up for you.”

“Ah, no thanks Callow. I’ll just call in tomorrow and see if she’s up yet.” I say signing the papers that need signed and turn back around facing the exit door. Callow nods and I leave feeling horrible; I didn’t think she’d be so hurt she’d be unconscious.

I take the same path out that I took in and get back into my car. Turning it on I decide against setting the auto-driver. I need the distraction of driving to get my mind off of Kirsten, if I don’t keep my lust in control with her, we could both end up hurt or worse dead.