All Chained Up (Devil's Rock #1)(31)

He shoved the envelope into his bag and moved on. His heart started hammering faster in his chest as he was buzzed through another door.

He was finally escorted outside. He stepped into rippling waves of sunlight. August in Texas was no joke. Especially in the badlands. He felt his pores open wider, desperate for breath. For air that wasn’t so sweltering hot. His T-shirt stuck to his back like a sweaty hand he couldn’t shake off. It seemed even hotter than in the yard. The sunlight glinted off the cars in the parking lot, waves of heat undulating over the metal hoods and asphalt.

“C’mon. Walk you to the gate.”

Squinting against the bright day, he followed the guard down the path and through the sally port. He could already detect a difference in the guard’s manner. He didn’t look over his shoulder to eye him. He wasn’t worried that Knox was going to get the jump on him. Guess not too many inmates jumped a guard as they were being led out of prison.

He showed his papers to the guards on duty at the sally port. With a quick cursory glance at his face, they handed him his papers and nodded for him to go.

He turned and faced the final gate, waiting as it rolled open. He didn’t so much as blink. His eyes watched as the gate parted, the gap to his freedom ever widening, yawning open to reveal the world outside. The life he had been denied for eight years. Freedom. It was his now. The gate slid home and came to a jarring stop.

With a deep breath, he stepped over the line.

BRIAR ENTERED THE HSU along with Dr. Walker. She had more butterflies in her stomach than knots of apprehension—which, considering the last time she’d visited this place, was really messed up. It had been two weeks, but she should have been filled with all kinds of panic and trepidation. Bad memories could cripple a person, but she could only think about seeing Knox Callaghan again. Telling him thank-you. Staring into his intense blue eyes and seeing what she had seen in those cobalt depths when he was dragged away. That sizzling connection between them . . .

Shaking her head, she told herself to stop. There was no future in weaving a hero-fantasy around an inmate. That could only lead to nowhere.

Thank you. That’s all she wanted to say. What she had to say. Two simple words and nothing more. She couldn’t allow herself to feel more than gratitude toward him, and yet she did.

She viewed him differently now. What he had done—at risk to himself—changed him in her eyes. Everything had changed. He didn’t scare her anymore. The appreciation she had felt for his body, his face . . . it almost felt okay now. He wasn’t some evil person. He was a hero.

Josiah was already there. He rose from behind the desk to hug her. She hadn’t seen him since that night in the hospital, and it felt good to touch him, to reassure herself that he was all right. Murphy had pulled through the worst of it, too, and was offered early retirement. Full pension. A new corrections officer stood at the door. A woman in her thirties. Briar couldn’t help thinking she appeared both more alert and fit than Murphy ever had.

“Josiah.” Dr. Walker reached out to shake his hand when they finished hugging. “So good to see you again.”

“Thanks for coming back.” Josiah grimaced. “No one would blame either one of you if you didn’t.”

“The same could be said of you,” Dr. Walker reminded him.

Josiah shrugged. “I’ve been here for ten years. Wouldn’t know what else to do with myself if I wasn’t clocking in.”

“An LVN as qualified as you could always find work elsewhere, but this place is lucky to have you.”

“Well, I heard the warden is interviewing new potential staff today . . . a PA that served in the army. Guess what happened in here really shook him up and made him take action.”

Dr. Walker brightened. “That’s excellent news.”

Something inside Briar sank. It was just a fleeting sensation, but she couldn’t deny it. She should have been glad her time here was coming to an end, but in that split second Knox Callaghan’s face flashed through her mind. No doubt he would visit the HSU as regularly as before, but she wouldn’t be here to see him . . . to put her hands on that big body that had filled her dreams and made her all jumpy inside. She wouldn’t hear his deep voice roll across her skin.

She sucked in a deep breath and pressed a hand to one of her heated cheeks. Dr. Walker caught the sound and sent her a concerned look. “Are you all right, Briar?”

He meant was she okay to be here. He had thought it too soon for her to come back to the prison—he’d even suggested she not come anymore at all—but she insisted on joining him his first day back.

She nodded. “No, I’m fine. Should we look over the patient files for the day?”

Josiah nodded and motioned to the desk. “I have them pulled up right here.”

Dr. Walker moved ahead of them. Josiah followed at a slower pace, looking her over carefully. “You sure you’re all right to be here? You know, no one would blame you for not coming back.”

She nodded again, maybe a little too vehemently. “Really, I wanted to come.” I had to come back.

Dr. Walker sank into the chair behind the desk and started clicking through files open on the laptop. He adjusted his glasses on the bridge of his nose in that way he did when he was concentrating.

She crossed her arms over her chest and slid Josiah a glance. Attempting for subtle, she asked, “So, any word on what happened to the inmate that helped us?” As if she didn’t know his name. “He didn’t get in any trouble, did he?”