Roommate Arrangement (Divorced Men's Club #1)(25)

Everything is themed too. The costumes, the food and drinks being sold, the site maps, and the signage to stop people from getting lost.

It’s old and intimidating. The front of the prison is surrounded by a stone wall, housing a courtyard and front entrance, then when we pass through there, we reach the main compound. It looks exactly like I remember it but less menacing than when I was a teenager. Barbed wire tops the heavy, metal fences, and the gates to enter are thick steel and at least fifteen feet tall.

Our tour guide is a grumpy, balding man with missing teeth who was a resident of Kill Pen back in the day. He goes over the history of the place, why it was built, and the reason they closed and shows us through the high-security wings.

Beau and I walk side by side, arms bumping against each other. I’m listening to the guy up front, but we’ve clearly lost Beau. He’s studying everything with interest, and when we pass through cells and into common areas, I can tell he’s cataloguing every detail. He hasn’t picked up that I’m watching him, and the more I watch him, the less interested in the prison I am. His expressions are constantly shifting, light eyebrows drawing together, eyes glazed behind his glasses, lips silently repeating certain facts, and it’s almost as though I’m getting a glimpse at the conversations taking place inside his head. It’s … different. I can’t look away.

“And this is the main guard booth for the high-security floor. The CCTV systems were replaced shortly before the closure, and as you can see on each of those screens, they had every cell covered. No such thing as privacy in them days.”

We wait for the rest of the tour group to pass us and then take our turn inside. Beau immediately drops into the chair and starts inspecting … everything. The screens, the desk setup … I watch him and his constant energy.

The voice of our guide begins again outside the booth, and I watch through the glass as our group moves on.

“Ready to—”

I turn back to Beau and …

He’s on the floor, chest flat to the ground as he peers under a bank of drawers.

“What are you doing?” I ask.

“Looking.”

“Uh-huh.” I lean against the desk. “See what you’re after?”

He searches for a bit, wriggles under the desk and out again a moment later, then straightens and sits back on his heels. “It’s all wired in. No good.” Beau looks so serious, I have to remind myself not to laugh. If I was a dick, I’d point out to him that this is the kind of thing that might weird some guys out. But I’m not “some guys,” and it’s kind of fun to see someone with a complete lack of awareness on how they’re perceived.

Instead, I play along.

“The … CCTV?”

“Yep. I need something else.”

“Your fantasy world has electricity, then?”

“Of course.” He tilts his head. “It’s a semi-contemporary setting on earth, but instead of the world having a huge focus on technology, it’s on magic.”

“That sounds fun.”

“It’s the world I wish we lived in.”

There’s a longing in his voice that makes me curious. I hold out my hand to help him to his feet. Unlike the last time I tried it at Marty’s, he takes it. “What’s so great about this world of yours?”

“Are you saying you’ve never read one of my books? Should I be offended?” There’s a mischievous spark in his eyes that I like.

My mouth drops. “Are you teasing me, Bo-Bo?”

“Wouldn’t dream of it.”

I pretend to narrow my eyes. “I’m onto you. And I’m also well aware you’re deflecting.” But if he doesn’t want to tell me what’s so great about his world, I won’t push.

“I have no idea what you mean.” He smiles angelically as we leave to catch up with the rest of the group.

And fine. Maybe he doesn’t want to tell me right now. But hopefully he will, because I want him to feel comfortable confiding in me, exactly the way I’ve been doing with him.





10





Beau


Payne is a genius.

I’d never made the link between prisons and my fortress before, but since he connected the dots in my head, I researched other prisons, ones that were supposed to be impossible to escape, and I finally found my answer.

My hero doesn’t actually have to do anything.

Alcatraz was supposed to be impossible to break out of … until it started to deteriorate.

I might not have salt water, but my world has magic, so why not use that?

With my fortress slowly crumbling, my block should be gone. This was the issue I was having, so technically I know the direction I’m taking things, but … something still isn’t right.

It makes me even more irritable than usual.

My work hours become so erratic to the point I barely see Payne. He’s at work during the day and sleeping while I’m up and down all night.

The one small mercy about my scattered concentration is it means I haven’t had to face him again since he saw way too much of me to be comfortable.

I’m not embarrassed over it, not really, because it was an accident and we’re grown men and Payne was so cool about it, blah blah blah. But when I think about that night, I think about the way his pants hugged that thick, hard outline of his cock, and saliva pools in my mouth.