Total pages in book: 75
Estimated words: 71444 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 357(@200wpm)___ 286(@250wpm)___ 238(@300wpm)
Estimated words: 71444 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 357(@200wpm)___ 286(@250wpm)___ 238(@300wpm)
“He didn't do it,” Kinkaid offers first.
“He was framed,” Hyde says. They both sound so convinced that I frown, confused.
“You're saying that Rock has been wrongfully convicted of a crime?”
“Of rape,” Rock says softly. “I've been convicted of rape, but I didn't do it.”
I sink back to stare at the ceiling. Over the past few days, I've come to know these three men in many ways. They've had the opportunity to take from me, to be violent with me, to make me scared, but apart from Hyde's initial loss of control when he was spinning out, they've always handled me with care. On the first day, even though they must have all been desperate to fuck, they kept themselves under control so that I could get used to them. That isn't the mark of a rapist. That first time, I slid myself along Rock's length over and over, and not once did he try to push inside me.
“How many years did you get?” I ask.
“Eight,” he says.
Eight years for a crime he didn't commit, or at least he says he didn't. “How many have you served?”
“Six.”
I’m suddenly nauseous, mentally calculating all the months I've lived on the outside that Rock's had stolen. I may not have been curing cancer or making a radical difference to the world, but those days were mine to spend as I liked. Rock hasn't had that pleasure.
I twist to lean up on my elbows, wound up by the injustice. “Haven't you challenged the sentence? Appealed?”
“Of course, he has,” Hyde interjects. “He's studied the law inside and out. He knows it better than the idiot public defenders who are supposed to help him, but it doesn't make a difference. You know how many innocent men there are inside?”
“How many?”
“A fucking lot.”
“Five percent,” Rock supplies. “Five percent is the estimate.”
“Are you serious?” I've never taken much interest in the justice system, and I've never needed to, but now I'm trapped inside it. I'm suddenly faced with the reality of what it could be like to be imprisoned when you've done nothing wrong.
“If we weren’t generating a profit for private corporations, half of us wouldn’t be in here.” Hyde shakes his head, disgusted.
“He's going to get out,” Kinkaid says. It sounds definitive, even though he’s speculating. I guess he will at the end of his sentence, but eight years. For nothing.
“Yeah, with the conviction hanging around my neck for life.”
“You can make a new life,” I say, trying to find something positive to say.
“Who's going to want to love a convicted rapist?” His voice is so sad, it breaks my heart.
“A wrongfully convicted one,” I correct.
“She'd have to believe me first,” he says. “It's hard enough getting anyone to look at a man the size of me without them imagining I'm violent, let alone convince them I haven't committed a crime I served time for.”
“I believe you,” I say.
“You'd trust me on the outside?” he asks.
“I'd trust you.” I'm ninety percent behind my words, but what does it matter? He still has years to serve, and by then, I'll probably be halfway across the country with my sister. This isn't a reality TV show where the contestants have the chance to walk away together, happy and in love. I'm not that deluded, even though my heart is opening petal by petal.
“How much time do you have?” I ask Hyde.
“A year,” he says, his voice carrying a touch of sarcasm. “If they don't drive me mad first.” There's a wry smile, but I can sense the exhaustion underneath.
I turn to Kinkaid. “What about you?”
He shakes his head slowly. “I'm not getting out anytime soon.”
The weight of his words hits me harder than I expected. A lump of sympathy rises in my throat for a man who’s lived his life in a hardened, unforgiving world. I want to weep for him—weep for the thought of him being stuck here, left behind while I enjoy my freedom. I'm really getting sucked into this forced closeness, this isolation we all share, and that’s the insanity of it all. I’m a crazy woman, starting to imagine a life beyond these walls with three prisoners, three men who’ve been toughened by this place, by their pasts.
With their confessions hanging heavy in the air, Hyde pulls me closer, his breath warm against my skin. Kinkaid moves in, pressing his solid, powerful body against my back, his heat seeping into me. Hyde's intense green eyes bore into mine, like he can see through to every secret I keep hidden. My heart races, vulnerable under his gaze, but somehow, more alive than ever. Rock’s rough hands slide up my legs, gripping me with a possessive strength that leaves me breathless. Caught between three dangerous men, surrounded by their raw intensity, there is no escape—and I don’t want one. Not anymore. I’m in too deep, willing to risk my heart, because being held by them feels like the only place I belong.