Kevin.

For some reason, a very special kind of people existed and they annoyed me greatly.

Have you ever met these people that were actually nice and they weren't rude or anything, but something about them just always seemed wrong?
Like their laugh might be just a bit off, but it makes you question their sincerity, although they never did something to hurt you. They just always felt wrong, but acted nice and I could never pinpoint what it was about these people that made me nervous.

Gale Paul was one of them.

I knew he wanted to help me, but I couldn't shake that weird feeling off and couldn't bring myself to completely trust him.

It was weird, really, like Dr. Cecil Baxter was the most trustworthy person around here (and maybe Rob), but his friends were always so shady, they had me thinking whether he was seeing the good in people or had he just the wrong kind of friends?

But maybe I was just a tiny bit too paranoid and as I sat down on the usually uncomfortable chair across from Baxter's desk, I couldn't help but frown. Even though I made sure not to look at either man it seemed like they may have noticed my mood anyway.

"Is something wrong, Kevin?" Baxter asked me and although I had never allowed him to call me like that I didn't mind.

"Oh Cecil, I'm sure he is just nervous," Mr. Paul chimed in with that charming grin of his as he ruffled through his extremely fluffy looking hair. "Although you don't need to be," he said and turned toward me, acting nothing like the other man named Paul.

I crossed my arms and kept my expression unreadable. Maybe it was stupid, I mean I desperately wanted to get out of here, but at what cost? Baxter trusted him and his brother, who was supposed to run this place, said Gale Paul only wanted to help, but I couldn't get the question marks out of my thick skull.

"Lovely. Now, Kevin here is the deal," Paul leaned against Baxter's desk and chuckled even though nothing funny had happened. "Nobody knows about your case, which makes it a lot easier for the guys upstairs to do what they want. I don't like that."

"Me neither," I heard myself say in a surprisingly steady voice. Shortly, I let my eyes wander over to the shrink for moral support, but he only nodded as he looked more nervous than I felt.

"I will drag you through the news, put your story on the internet and on print media. People will be enraged to hear what happened to you, especially in times like this!" Paul continued his monolog as if he hadn't heard me, however for a split second I thought I saw his ever-present smile falter. "Under the pressure of the society, the court isn't as high and mighty as you would think."

"And you think not so subtle manipulation will do the trick?" I raised an eyebrow and leaned further in my chair, trying to fake being comfortable with the situation, but I knew I couldn't fool any of them.

"It really might help you gain an advantage," Baxter added as he pushed a few strands of his messy dark hair out of his eyes.

"So you claim you can get me free?" I slowly repeated for clarification. "Did your brother tell you about my wish? About Adam?"

"He said you called it a condition," Gale Paul tilted his head to the side and I could see him mimic his brother's facial expression as he slowly let all motivation slide from his features until he looked about ready to fall asleep. "Mr. Olusola doesn't seem to understand how a prison works, but then again neither do you. Please, try not to bother me while you play knight in shining armor."

"Why did you call it a condition?" Baxter asked and looked as if he wanted to disappear through the floor as I turned to look at him. Truth to be told, I had no clue why he was still with us, but then again that was his office and we were probably keeping him from doing his job.

With a last glance to the shrink, I turned back to Mr. Paul and watched as his features turned back to the familiar smile his brother obviously had never worn. A smirk tugged at the corners of my lips as I leaned forward and let my hand support my head. 

"I thought maybe you had your own reasons you want to help me. So why not use you, like you want to use everybody else?" I asked him and tried to sound as innocent as possible. "Am I right?"

"Actually no, I'm a nice guy," Paul chuckled and not even Baxter seemed to believe him at that moment.

"And how is the payment going to work? You know I have nothing," I got generally curious. As I said maybe he even wanted to help me and I was too paranoid, but it always felt weird to me. Besides, would he help Adam?

"Gale and I got that covered, Kevin," Baxter interrupted us as he scratched his arms in discomfort and got more fidgety with every passing minute while Paul and I looked at him. "I'll pay, no strings attached and I get a discount."

"Brilliant," I sighed although I was grateful and my shoulders slumped down as I sunk into the horrible chair. "Back to Adam..."

"I have to see about that later when we get the whole thing up and moving, maybe a boyfriend would just be the last straw we need."

And what if not, I wanted to shout in his face, but all the manners my momma had taught me forbid me from doing something like that and instead I just nodded and forced a tired smile on my face. It was weird that I suddenly noticed how exhausted I was, but maybe I was just tired of this whole place and I knew I could trust Baxter and although every cell in my body screamed at me not to, I let Paul 'help' me.

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