Things have progressed considerably, and I’m now waiting cheerfully in Alison’s office. Not only is a dangerous criminal allowed out and about in the building, but I’ve also coerced just the right people to allow me time in her office unsupervised.

I don’t have to pull bullshit tricks like going through her stuff. She’ll show me herself.

Creeps that have to go through their girlfriend’s stuff are worse psychos than I am. They lack imagination. Truly, I think they lack true love for their subject.

They want to expose her, know something she doesn’t know. Be a sneaky fuck that snoops around and throws her secrets in her face.

They lack the subtle delicacy and charm of true seduction. The full flush of obsession.

Any cunt can go through someone’s stuff. It takes a true genius to entice the object of his affection to such a degree that she shows him all of herself.

That’s true love. True appreciation.

I think she’s running late. I’m just slightly pissed that she wasn’t here, waiting when I arrived. What could she be doing?

Maybe I’m not as important to her as I think I am. We’ll have to change that.

One of the guards lumbers by. He’s in a slightly different uniform from the fellows I work with—he’s an office security guard.

I’d love to get one of these guys on my ‘payroll.’ It would make it that much easier for the guys in the prison to bring me and my boys all the goodies we desire.

I jump up and move to the door.

“Hey, buddy? Hey?”

“Oh, hey the—hey! Shouldn’t you be cuffed or something?”

I give my nicest smile and wave my hands helplessly, doing my best to look small and skinny. It’s not difficult, next to him. He’s built like a bear.

“I’m cool dude, I’m sweet. Got special permission from Dr. Hughes. It’s all part of my treatment.”

“Well…okay. I’m just doing my job. I don’t think you should just be wandering around.”

“I’m not, I swear. I’m just here waiting for my head shrink, you know. Rehabilitation and all of that.”

“Sure.”

He looks like he’s trying to puzzle it out.

“Hey, you got a smoke, bud?”

“We can’t smoke in here. Different rules.”

“That so? Why not come in the doctor’s office? She lets me smoke.”

“Yeah, I don’t know.”

“Come on, buddy, it’s all cool. Where are you headed? You look like you could use a break. We got coffee and everything in here. You wouldn’t have to walk down all those stairs and shit.”

His eyes brighten. He looks left and right. “Well, alright, but we’ll shut the door. I don’t want my boss to see me.”

“Sure thing! No troubles, bud. Thanks for keeping me company while I wait for the doc. I always get kind of anxious, you know? And, obviously, I can’t carry smokes on me.”

“You get smokes? Downstairs?”

“I sure do, buddy.”

I pour him a coffee as he pulls out a couple of smokes and sits down, handing one to me as I pass over the coffee.

“So, who’s your boss?”

This is what I really want to know.

“Ah, the Warden. His name’s Mr. Anders.”

“Hmm. Sounds familiar, the name.”

“Oh, you wouldn’t know him, bottom level crim like you.”

He insults me without losing a beat. God love the stupid and the dull.

“His family is rich. Like mega-rich. He does this because he’s ex-military. It was the closet thing he could get to soldiering.”

“Anders, Anders,” I stir my coffee with one finger. “I’m sure that’s ringing a bell.”

“Oh, the whole family does the high society bit. His wife is super hot, tall brunette. She never comes here. He has twin daughters, too, only nineteen, both blonde.”

Finally, it clicks.

“I know them,” I say, grinning as I sip my coffee, then take a nice hard drag of my cigarette. “I banged Michelle Anders—that’s the wife, if you didn’t guess—at a charity benefit last year. And I banged both the daughters at the same time at the policeman’s ball.”

“Get the fuck out!”

“No, sir. The wife, Michelle, she has long brown hair and brown eyes. The daughter’s names are Lily and Selina, one has long blonde hair, the other short.”

“Shit, you really do know them! How?”

“I’m loaded pal. Loaded like your fucking gun. Seriously. You look after me, I’ll look after you. How does that sound?”

He eyes his cigarette and coffee. “That’s great an all…mister…?”

“Covington. Jaxon Covington. Google me if you like.”

“Okay, yeah, that’s all cool. But I need this job. I ain’t got insurance, and they’re gonna boot me into retirement soon. I’ll have to sort something out. I been injured on this job, you know? Once they turf me, I’ll have nothin, any retirement pay will go into doctor’s bill, and I’d sure like to take my lady Mary on a cruise some day.”

He looks out the window forlornly.

“I tell you what, buddy.”

There’s no point learning his name. I’ll be nicknaming him Bear and no other word will stick now.

“Anything you need, you got it. That sort of stuff is pocket change to me. Don’t even notice it missing. Just my gift to you as an appreciation of friendship.”

I take a deep sip of the shithouse coffee he’s enjoying as if it’s high society roast, grinning appreciatively at my new friend Bear.

“So…what do you need?”

He’s finally starting to look a little suspicious.

“Nothing too heavy man, don’t worry. I got a lot of friends in here, that’s all. I’d very much like it if you could give them a hand every now and then. All you need to do is, when you see packages coming in for me or my friends, make sure they come through.”

“I dunno, mister. I could lose my job.”

“Didn’t you just finish telling me what a shit job it was? You don’t need it. You work for me now, simple as that. This position is merely a camouflage for your job with me.”

He looks confused. Fuck, I’ve gone and done it now. Too many big words.

He’s looking at me all wide-eyed as the ash drops off his cigarette. “I suppose I can do that.”

“Wonderful!” I finish my coffee. “All I ask is that you help my friends and me whenever we need it. What do you need for this lovely girl Mary? Some nice shoes? A dress? Flowers? I can help you out there. I don’t even have to pay. So many people just give me stuff for my endorsement.” I lean over and whisper as if it’s a secret. “All sorts of things, you know?”

I give him a wink. It’s always more fun to let people imagine the sorts of things I get and let them tell me what they think it is. That way, I know what they want and where their mind goes when I say ‘free stuff’.

The door rattles, and Alison walks in.

“Doctor Hughes!”

I can’t contain my excitement. I’m on a high.

I love meeting new people. And controlling them.

It’s always new and exciting, but in some ways, it can be boring.

People are easy. The same switches, the same triggers.

That’s why I love my dear doctor Hughes. A real challenge. Something different.

Bear stumbles and gets up, putting his coffee cup on the desk.

“Real sorry there, doctor, I was just checking in with your patient here.”

“That’s perfectly fine, sir. I’m glad someone was here, for security reasons.”

She’s not even looking at him. She’s looking at me.

Her eyes are raking over me like she’s starving, and her eyes are eating me alive.

She’s missed me. I can tell. She’s burning for me.

“Hello, Jaxon,” she says it softly, lips lingering over my name.

The world has ceased to exist. There’s me and her, and that’s the entire universe.

I take a few light steps towards her.

Maybe today I’ll touch more than her hand. Maybe today I’ll hold her and feel that body against mine.

“I…ah…I had better go.” Bear starts to move for the door.

Alison moves from the doorway so he can exit. As he moves past, he turns and gives me a wave.

“It was nice to meet you, Jack.”

I feel cold. Hard.

The world, which had just narrowed to me and Alison, now switches channels.

All I can see is Bear and his stupid goddamn simple face.

A wide, cold smile, completely devoid of any hint of happiness, creeps across my face.

Suddenly, I’m moving before I realize it.

It’s often like that. I throw myself at his back and slam into him, getting an arm around his neck. He shrieks, folding forward, slapping at me. I tighten my grip around his neck, and he spins, slamming me against the wall in the hall.

He slams again and again, massive body pounding the air out of me, but I don’t let go.

All I can hear as my arm tightens around his throat is Bear’s labored, terrified breathing and my own high-pitched laughter.