After the disaster that had been Hunter's cell inspection the senior officer went to meet with the Governor, "so Hunter absolutely flipped out during his cell inspection, he wasn't close to actually hurting people but we can't have that sort of disruption."
Sighing the Governor sat back in his chair and frowned, "so he isn't doing any better?"
"He is, or was. This is the first incident we have had with him but he is so good with Officer McMahon, she stepped in to do his body search when he refused and he allowed her to do it with no complaint."
Getting up from his seat he went through his filing cabinet until he found Hunter's file flipping through the incident reports, "interesting. The last incident report I have about him was her first day and it specifically says he behaved for her. I am aware this isn't normal protocol but I am the boss and I run the jail any damn way I choose but I think we should make Officer McMahon Hunter's personal guard and she should control his cell searches and personally deal with his body searches and escort him when he needs escorting."
The senior officer nodded his head in agreement, "he is behaving so well in general that I think it would be a shame to punish him for something like this and I do think she is good for him. Would you like me to ask her to come and speak to you?"
The Governor nodded his head, "yes please."
Leaving the office the senior office walked back to the jail smirking as he passed Stephanie, "Governor wants you."
The smirk on his face made her nervous, being summoned to the boss was never a good thing, "well I guess I'd better get this over with. If I don't come back it was nice knowing you."
Knocking on the door she took a deep breath before she entered the office, "apparently you wanted to see me."
Smiling he nodded his head, "take a seat." Waiting until she had taken a seat he moved around the desk to sit on the edge, "so I hear you have a special connection with Hunter."
Confused where this was going she shrugged, "I don't really see it but whatever you are saying."
Laughing he just thought it was nice the way she didn't really understand how good she was with him, "okay let me re-phrase that, everybody else is telling me you have a special connection with him. Victor told me how Hunter behaved this morning and we have made a decision about his future."
Before she knew what she was saying the words came out, "he's really not that bad, he hasn't done anything bad since he was brought back from solitary, or well you know until this morning. Don't send him away, I think he's okay really."
"Calm down, calm down. I am not going to send him away but I have made a decision about his future. Hunter seems to respond well to you so I have made an executive decision that you will be his personal guard from here on out. You will deal with his cell searches, body searches and you will escort him wherever he has to go."
Staring at him she didn't know what the hell to say to that, ". . . okay? Is this a punishment? Did I do something wrong?"
Shaking his head he didn't understand, "not at all. You're good with him, he is good with you, it is a win/win for us all if you manage to keep him calm and keep his behaviour under control. If you're not happy with this I will find another way to deal with him."
She didn't even think about it, "I have no problem with it."
The Governor smiled and clapped his hands briefly, "thank you, thank you so much. Now I am confident that Hunter is going to behave my life is going to be so much easier. Thank you Stephanie, you may now go back to work."
The abrupt dismissal was a little off-putting but she just got up and left the office. It was only when she shut the door behind her that she realised what she had just agreed to, "oh fuck."
Hunter spent the entire day in his cell trying not to think about the way her hands had felt on his body, he knew it would happen, he knew she would come to him but she actually hadn't by the time the shifts changed and she went off shift for the day. He was lost, he didn't know what it meant that she hadn't come to talk to him about what she had felt and now he was more confused than ever. Collapsing back on his bed he pulled his blankets over his head and tried to block himself off from the world because his heart was being broken all over again.
Stephanie had no idea how she had gotten through the work day unscathed, she had been working on autopilot and actually had no idea what was happening around her. The day didn't end a moment too soon for her and now all she had to do was navigate her way home and she would be set for a night in bed alone ignoring the world and pretending this wasn't her life.
Walking through the front door she walked into the kitchen relieved to see Cody cooking dinner, "thank you."
Turning to ask about his friend's day he stopped as her face was a really funny shade of pale, "are you okay? What happened at work because you don't look so good?"
Shaking her head she didn't want to discuss it with him, "I don't want to talk about it, I can't talk about it. Please just let me be tonight."
Nodding his head slowly he would do anything for her, "whatever you want. Dinner will be about forty five minutes to an hour so why don't you go and soak in the bath and then we can eat dinner, separately or together depending on how you feel, and if you're up to it we could watch a movie of your choosing."
Walking over to him she kissed his cheek, "you're the best friend ever, I love you."
"You're . . . welcome?" He had just finished talking as she walked away and he was concerned about her behaviour because he knew how violent jails could be but if he knew his friend like he thought he did she would talk eventually when the time was right for her so he would just sit back and wait for her to be ready.
Heading up the stairs she was grateful to Cody for not pushing her and was just going to allow her to have some quiet time and allow her to digest it all on her own and not have to share it with him.
Running herself a bath Stephanie undressed before she sunk down deep in the bubbles and closed her eyes trying not to think about exactly what had happened at work and how deep she was in over her head.
As soon as Stephanie had left Cody pulled two glasses from the cupboard and a bottle of wine from the fridge before he put them on the counter and then set the table before also pulling the trays from the cupboard and putting them on the table so she had options depending on her mood.
Fifty minutes later and dinner was cooked so Cody called up the stairs to inform her of that.
Stephanie was already out of the bath and was just sat on her bed with her hair piled on top of her head with sweatpants and a t-shirt on so when he called for dinner she headed downstairs.
Going back to the food he began plating up and smiled as she walked through the door although she didn't look in the slightest bit better colour wise she seemed more relaxed, "I gave you options, you can eat at the table or in front of the TV depending on whether you want to talk or just sit in silence."
Walking over to the wine she poured two big glasses, "in front of the TV please, I just need a distraction."
Not saying a word he picked up the plates and placed them on the trays before he put the cutlery on top of the plates and carried it through the lounge.
Smiling softly at the way he took her needing to just be left alone so seriously she picked up the glasses of wine and carried them through to the lounge just in time to see him turning the TV on and finding one of her favourite shows for them to watch despite the fact that he hated it, "you don't have to do this you know."
Shrugging his shoulders Cody just wanted to make her feel better, "I know but I want to. If I were you I would make the most of this because it won't happen too often."
Picking her tray up from the coffee table as she sat down and put it on her lap he was spoiling her rotten and she felt guilty because she knew he thought it was something terrible but it wasn't really.
Dinner was eaten in silence before Cody took the dishes out and put them in the dishwasher and grabbed himself a bottle of water from the fridge and picked up the bottle of wine for Stephanie and headed back to the lounge.
Silently putting the bottle of wine on the coffee table he took a seat back on the couch before he unscrewed the top of the bottle and took a swig of it needing to keep himself sober as he had work early in the morning.
Stephanie had been thinking about her day the entire time she had been eating and it had been eating her up inside. When Cody rejoined her on the couch she just blurted out, "I touched his cock."
Cody thought that spitting the drink out of your mouth when somebody said or did something shocking was something they made up for movies but hearing Stephanie say that he spat his own drink out immediately wiping at his mouth. Brushing himself down he tried to come up with a sensible and educated response but all that came out was, "you touched his cock?!"
Pouring herself another glass of wine she took a sip before she turned to look at him, "yes."
"Why? How? What the fuck is going on tonight? I swear to God it feels like I'm asleep and this is some weird ass dream. The last conversation we had you practically bit my head off and said you didn't like him like that or something and now you're touching his cock?"
She didn't know what to say, "I think you knew I was lying to you about how I felt but in my defence I didn't set out to touch his cock, it just happened when he kicked off with the other officers and they got me to do his body search."
As she explained how it happened it all made sense to him and he smirked, "he's playing dirty, I like it."
Confused she turned to fully face her best friend, "what do you mean?"
"You haven't figured it out by now? Steph he probably kicked off on purpose because he knew that if he did then they would pass him off to you. How exactly did you touch his cock?"
Biting down on her lip nervously she looked down at her lap not able to look in his eyes, "he had it down his one pants leg so when I frisked him for contraband it was just there."
The amount of effort this guy was going to was something else, "so he risked getting sent to solitary just to get you to touch him? Steph you cannot bury your head in the sand over this, he's playing dirty and there is no saying how far he will go to get what he wants and if you haven't worked it out by now he wants you."
"You really think this was all an elaborate plan just to get me to touch him?"
Shaking his head he didn't, "no I don't think it, I know it was. Trust me Steph, for the guy to go to the effort of putting his cock down his one pants leg and then risk serious punishment just to have you touching him? He's in this so much deeper than you could ever know."
It was all too much for Stephanie and she just burst in to tears.
Not entirely sure what he had said to get her so upset he quickly closed the gap between them and wrapped his arms tightly around her allowing her to cry into his chest, "it'll be okay, you just need to tell him to back off and you're not interested."
Wiping at her eyes with the back of her hand she looked up at him sadly, "that's what scares me, I am interested but I'm going to fucking kill him for playing dirty like that."
Deciding to attempt to lighten the mood a little he said, "so what's he packing down there?"
Pulling away from him a little she looked at him like he was crazy, "you what?"
"Well if he's not packing a lot you can get out of this unscathed and you don't have to risk your career."
Cuddling back in to Cody she held him just that little bit tighter, "he's bigger than I've had before."
Stroking her hair gently he didn't know what she wanted him to do or say, "what are you saying? What do you want me to say?"
"I'm saying I'm fucked Cody, so fucked. I can't walk away from this which means my entire career is on the line and even my life."
He was beginning to regret pushing her on this seeing the state she was currently in, "there is still one potential out for you, if he isn't into that shit you are then you can walk away because he won't fulfil you, I mean that's why you broke up with all of your exes right?"
The sense he spoke was exactly what she needed to hear and she was beginning to feel more confident, "you're right. To him it is all just a game and a power play because he has no control over his life right now but for me it is a lifestyle end of story. Tomorrow he is going to wish he hadn't tried that power play with me and he will regret it for the rest of his sentence because as his personal guard I am going to make his life miserable."
Stephanie was so focussed on it just being a temporary thing for this guy that she was calm and relatively happy again now so he didn't have the heart to actually ask her what she would do if this was more than a temporary thing, if it was a lifestyle for him too.
She was putting on a brave front in front of Cody because she didn't want to worry him any more than she already had but truthfully she was terrified that he was the guy she had been looking for her entire life. Tomorrow was going to be a massive turning point in her life and her career but before he even attempted to justify his actions she was going to rip into him about his behaviour. All she had to do now was sleep and that was one thing she wasn't entirely convinced she would be able to do.