Chapter 2

Most of the day had gone by and I hadn't even had time to breath let alone think during my first day. I had been in and out of cells, I watched the inmates as they roamed the grass between even more metal bars and barbed wire and I also had to endure one of the inmates kicking up a fuss over lunch.

It was all in a days work. There was also no doubt that I enjoyed it here. It was tough but I could see myself doing this job for the rest of my life.

However, my first day was very nearly over. I was also already given a night time shift which I had to do tomorrow. Was I looking forward to it? Extremely. I knew the night shift was intensely exhausting but was also very relaxed compared to the day shifts.

Throughout the day I had also let myself think about the criminal I had met earlier on. Aaron King. The name weirdly suited him, his large frame and frighteningly strong look. He was not a man you wanted to mess with, his eyes cold, his facial hair just adding to the mystery that he seemed to be.

I didn't know why I kept thinking of him. He was gorgeous but I couldn't lose my head just because he looked like some sort of weirdly frightening model in a metal cell.

I was tougher than that.

I was suddenly pulled out of my reverie as soon as another woman came in to the staff room. I had the room all to myself as I was finally able to sit down and eat something after a busy day.

The door slammed shut and automatically locked itself behind the girl. She had long blonde hair pushed back in to a tight bun. She was a little plump but had to be a similar age to myself. Her innocent looking eyes gave her away; they looked just as naive as my own.

"Hi." She smiled my way before starting to the coffee machine and sitting on a chair opposite me. She laid her food on the table and busied her self around the room. It was clear to see she knew he way around the place.

"Hi." I replied.

"First day?" She asked. I nodded my head before swallowing the remaining food in my mouth.

"Yeah, what about you?" I asked back. I knew it wasn't her first day, unless she learnt quickly or had the memory of a wizard, but I asked nonetheless.

"It's my second week now." She stated. She came to sit back down in her seat with her freshly made coffee. The scent wafted up my nose but I hated the smell of it. "I'm Sarah." She held her hand out and I shook it.

"Chloe." I said. She began eating and we sat there in silence for a while as we ate. It was a comfortable silence and I was actually pretty grateful for the company. She seemed easy to get along with, her brown eyes genuine and non judgemental as she took in the things around her.

"How's your first day been?" Sarah asked. Her curious eyes were now on me.

"Good." I stated honestly. "I'm loving it here."

"Yeah it's unpredictable which makes it exciting in a way." She nodded firmly. "How are you finding the inmates? Are they taking to you well?"

As soon as the question was asked my mind was back on Aaron King. I couldn't stop myself from being curious about him. I wanted to know why he was in here and all of the other details. I didn't know why I had taken such a shine to him and not any of the other inmates that were here.

"They're not too bad I suppose." I shrugged. "I met someone called Aaron King earlier." I looked down at my food as I said the words, trying not to make a big deal about it.

Sarah didn't seem to bat an eye lid and she groaned and squeezed her eyes shut.

"He's gorgeous isn't he?" She fanned herself dreamily. "I shouldn't be saying that considering his criminal record is not exactly up to par but my God, I just can't help myself." Sarah continued to smile cheekily my way.

"Yeah." I mumbled. "He's not bad on the eye." At least I wasn't the only one who thought he was pleasing to look at. How could I have been the only one anyway? There was no doubt everybody thought the same about him.

"It's maddening how a man so beautiful could do something so cruel." She shook her head and sighed as she spoke.

"What did he do?" I asked, my ears suddenly peeking up. I leaned forward on the table and laid my sandwhich down on the table.

I know it was nosey of me to do so but I just couldn't help myself. I wanted to know.

"Killed a man." She lowered her voice as she spoke. "He looks good but boy is he dangerous."

"He's a murderer?" I asked again, shocked. I knew half of the people in this jail were murderers or something to that extent but I was still shocked.

It made reality hit down hard. I was working with murderers, not just any old criminals. It was mind boggling to think so, that these people could end other people's lives for any old reason.

"Yeah, crazy isn't it?" She questioned. "It's crazy even thinking about half the people here. They're not nice people, Chloe, none of them." She used her hands for good effect. "This jail has some of the worst criminals in the world, what they've done on the outside is unthinkable."

"Yeah." I muttered again, my brain working a mile a minute. It was sometimes easy to forget that these people weren't the people they were on the outside. Here they had nothing but themselves and the metal beds they slept in. Outside, they had everything and they threw it all away. "It's all in a days work." I tried to lighten the mood.

Sarah's serious frown turned in to a smile.

"It's all in a days work." She repeated.

****

I had an hour left on the clock but dinner time was vastly approaching. I already had orders for dinner time and my orders were quite easy really; I had to stand and watch over the inmates as they ate, making sure they weren't doing anything they weren't meant to be doing.

It was in my job description, prison guard, and that's exactly what I was going to be doing at dinner time.

When dinner time came, the inmates all made their way in to the huge dining hall where breakfast, lunch and dinner were all served during the day. It was huge and even though this was only one dining hall out of a few here, it still held at least a thousand inmates.

I took my position and watched as the inmates hustled in to the room, their faces either drawn with boredom or a face which showed they didn't have a care in the world. Some inmates laughed with each other and some sat in peace and harmony.

My first day here taught me that the world was such a diverse place. Prison was even more so.

The inmates were all settled down to eat twenty minutes later. They had gathered their trays and had their food served at the canteen before sitting on their benches and eating.

I watched over the hall, my body and mind alert and I watched them like a hawk.

It was important that all inmates were safe here and were not up to no good. We protected them from each other, some of their backgrounds were completed with nothing but violence. Prison life was different, I was taught, everyone had to respect each other and treat each other with nothing but respect.

Once the inmates started to get up after finishing their food, I prepared myself as they started to flood out of the room.

The inmates walked past me, some looking at me in the eye. Most of the inmates knew that I was new, their eyes were alight with curiosity and excitement. It scared me in a certain way, some inmates looked at me as if I was just a new play thing for them to mess with.

During training I was told that many prisoners manipulated and used the prison guards.

I wasn't going to allow that to happen.

As my eyes flickered around the hall, trying to make sure everything was okay as the hall started to empty, I was suddenly forcefully pushed to the side.

I made a groan as my body jerked but I caught myself upright. My heart beated in my chest and I grabbed on to the pepper spray that was situated in my black belt around my waist.

Just as I was about to turn, I was pushed again as two bodies before me fought. They were pushing and shoving each other, and I was in the way of the backlash of it.

Luckily, I caught myself again before I fell face first on the floor. I turned quickly and was just about to the use the spray I had before one of the men was held by the scruff of their neck and was slammed in to the wall by another inmate.

I caught sight of the tattoos and the dark glossy hair of the man who was bulging as he held the man to the wall.

Aaron.

I collected my thoughts and went over to the two inmates, the other inmate now running away from the scene before him.

"Stop it!" I shouted. I took hold of Aaron's arm and pulled it off of the man in front of him who was gasping for breath. I tried my best as I waited for somebody to help. I obviously couldn't stop a man like Aaron all on my own.

As I touched Aaron's arm, however, his body jerked backwards and his arm fell from the neck of the inmate. He gasped as he ran away aswell, and Aaron stepped back as he looked to me.

Just as he did so, another prisoner guard came running over. He held his hand to his belt, ready to use his weapons.

The prisoner guard running over looked to me and I gave him a signal which meant everything was okay. He slowed down and as he got to us he took Aaron by the shoulder.

"It's fine." I said, my heart only now calming. "He was just splitting up the fight." I defended the man before me. His eyes which started to look down to the floor were now looking back at me.

I flickered my eyes his way but his face didn't give anything away. A part of me wondered what he was thinking but another part of me asked why I even cared.

I couldn't care.

"Are you sure Collins?" He loosened up on Aaron as I nodded.

The prisoner guard gave us one last look before leaving the two of us again to continue his job. I let out a breath as soon as he was gone.

I was surprised that Aaron still stayed. He hadn't moved a muscle as his eyes followed my movements.

"Thank you." I said to him. I shouldn't have really, it was not good of me to show him any sign of respect of gratefulness because it was easy for inmates to take advantage.

But he had helped me and I was grateful for it.

Aaron made a small grunting noise in reply. He didn't speak another word.

I gave him one last nod before turning my back on him and recovering my position in the hall. Aaron didn't move still, his body rock still.

I tried to pretend he wasn't there, I tried to distract myself from his penetrating gaze, pretending that it wasn't affecting me in every single way possible. My body buzzed and the blood in my veins ran quickly.

Jesus.

It felt as if I couldn't breath.

It was as if something snapped inside of Aaron all of a sudden. Instead of walking away like I thought he would, he decided to make his way over to me.

I felt his breath hit my cheek as he neared close enough to not look suspicious, but close enough so he could talk and not be over heard.

His body was warm beside mine, only a little bit of space left between the two of us.

"It's okay." His voice was rough and deep as he spoke, hitting my very core. I didn't know what to say, my threat seemed as if it was closing up tightly.

Before I could even reply, however, Aaron left and I was finally able to let out the breath I was holding in. I watched his retreating back as he walked with authority and confidence, he walked as if he knew he was respected but he walked without a care.

I couldn't take my eyes off him. Not even if I tried.

Just as if Aaron knew I was looking at him, before he turned the corner to leave the hall, he looked back and he caught my eye.

There was too much eye catching for my liking.

Aaron gave a little smirk before moving forward until he was out of sight but I was standing there frozen. I didn't know what to do or how to react, all I knew was that that man had every power to make me speechless.

What was going on? I couldn't let myself feel so affected by him, not by some criminal doing time in jail.

He was a dangerous man, I knew. He had killed somebody on the outside and that was enough for me to hate him. That was enough for me to not want to ever see him around here again. It was enough to make him ugly.

But it didn't. It wouldn't.

And I hated that.