AN: Thanks for the story love. Enjoy and see you again Tuesday.
It feels like I just shut my eyes when I hear them banging on the bars of my cell. I crack an eye open and see one of the new guards opening my cell door.
"Up and at 'em Coulter, you've got your therapy appointment today." He says as he enters my cell, "Which means you've got to get showered up now."
"Who are you?" I grumble.
"Name's Perry. This is Ames." He gestures to the other guard, who is currently putting chains on my ankles. "How'd you manage to get a cell to yourself?" He asks as he chains my wrists.
I grunt in response and Ames laughs, "Must be his winning personality. Are you gonna give us shit today?" He asks.
"Always a possibility." I murmur as they drag me towards the communal showers.
I'm unchained and given the standard package from the shower shack as we call it. I get to pick up my package with clean prison scrubs, boxers, socks, a towel, a washcloth and a single use packet of all in one body and hair wash. The bag is then used for my dirty clothes, which I drop off and they're sent to the prison laundry.
The showers are mostly empty this time of day, so I head over to an area without other people. I've gotten used to showering in groups, it's something we did during initiation in Dauntless, and also something I've had to do for over nine years now. When I first got sent down it bothered me, because you've heard all the warnings about how fights can start in a prison shower, but people mostly leave me alone now.
I turn the shower on and move under the spray, hoping it'll eventually warm up. I lather up my hair and work the soap through it, pulling it all up so I can clean my body.
I'm going to see her today.
I still remember how she looked that day in Erudite, her long hair damp from the shower she was forced to take, her creamy skin clean and smelling like the body wash I used. When I ripped the towel from her body I was impressed by what I saw, she had full breasts, a flat and muscular stomach from her training in Dauntless, and a slightly plump ass that worked on her frame.
Her nipples were pink and pebbled, and the freckles she had on her face travelled to her shoulders and arms as well. She was fucking beautiful.
I glance around and find no one in my direct area, so my hand travels down to my dick, already hard from my thoughts of Tris. I gather some of the body wash in my hand and use it to stroke myself. When we were in Erudite, things changed for us, I was sliding my dick between her slick folds and all I wanted to do in that very moment was fuck her. I'd never been with another woman, I had tried with Sky when she and I were dating in training, but I couldn't get an erection no matter what she and I did. Tris was different, I was excited then just as I am right now.
I think about how tight she was that first time I entered her, and how she wrapped her legs around me to pull me impossibly closer to her. I remember kissing her, the way her tongue worked against mine, and how her inner walls clamped around my cock.
I remember how fucking warm and wet she was.
I start stroking myself faster, thinking of fucking her, how she smelled and how I wanted to know how she tasted. I can feel the buildup in my balls, they're tightening and within seconds I am spurting all over the wall of the shower, quietly calling her name.
I lean my forehead against the wall of the shower and let the warm water wash over me while I catch my breath.
"Two minutes, Coulter." I hear Perry shout and I concentrate on getting the soap out of my hair. I wash my body quickly then exit the shower, toweling myself dry before changing into the clean clothes.
I drop my laundry bag off at the shower shack and wait while they chain me back up. Once I'm back in my cell I comb my hair, put deodorant on and run the comb through my beard as well. I'm impatient as I wait for them to come back for me, and when they do I find myself looking forward to seeing her again.
"So who's Tris?" Perry asks as he chains my wrists again. I jerk my eyes towards him and can feel anger building up, "You were jerking off in the shower, calling her name, so who is she?"
"Did it turn you on to watch me Perry?" I ask in a low voice and he pushes me down on the floor with my back against the wall.
"I'm not a fucking fag," He growls and I watch as Ames puts a hand on his shoulder.
"Knock it off, he's just trying to rile you up." He says and they pull me back into a standing position.
"So who is she, Coulter? Is she your girlfriend?" Perry presses, "I bet she's been fucking a whole lot of other people while you're locked up in here, and your dumb ass is beating off to her…"
I lunge towards him and press my body to his, "Don't fucking talk about her." I growl and Ames pulls me off.
"Fucking behave, one more stunt like that and we leave you here." He warns, "Got it?"
I nod my head and let them drag me down the hall. Perry keeps talking shit, but I ignore him, I just want to get back to Tris today and I'm not letting these two fucks keep me from her.
When we enter the room she looks up, her hair is down today and even though she's still dressed casually for the prison she looks good. I wait until the guards leave before speaking to her.
"I thought you weren't coming back," I smirk at her.
"You said you would only work with me and I believed you. Were you lying?" She counters.
"I don't lie, Tris. I only choose not to answer questions. I thought you already knew that," I reply without emotion. I keep staring at her, loving the slight pink that tints her freckled cheeks and when she doesn't look away I speak again, "Besides, you bring the best food," I sniff the air and she pushes a bag over to me, and gives me the elastic off of her wrist again. I pull my hair up into a bun.
"Italian beef sandwich, chips and fizzy drink," She says.
I open the bag and take a deep whiff, "Thank you," I say as I begin to eat. I see her smile slightly, "You get all this from Candor?"
"Yeah, well what use to be Candor. The food around there is surprisingly good," She replies.
"Why'd you end up there?" I ask. I'm curious, because the Tris I knew never expressed any interest in being in the middle of city.
"Close to work, I walk twenty minutes to and from," She replies. I can tell she's holding something back by the way she stops talking immediately and looks at the table.
"You live alone?" I ask. I don't know why, but I need to know if she has a boyfriend or not.
"Are you asking if I have a significant other?" She counters.
"Do you?" I ask. She shakes her head no and I have to stop myself from smiling.
She's nervous, and uncomfortable, and it shows. I need to try to be nicer to her, because for some reason I don't want to scare her away. I may have been shitty to her when she tried to visit me years ago, but this time around I feel like I need her.
"Do you actually want to work with me, or is this about a decent meal every day?" She asks carefully, bringing me out of my thoughts.
"A little of both, I guess," I shrug, "You never did tell me why you really took this case anyway," I remind her, "The whole I can be rehabilitated spiel is the same shit that guy you all sent several years back tried. He was an idiot by the way," I scoff.
"He was Johanna's first rehabilitation case. He spent seven years in prison for a crime he didn't commit. He was released, went on to become a board certified psychologist, married, had children and lives a very happy life outside of prison. We felt that he would have been able to reason with you, especially since at that point you had spent four and a half years here for crimes you didn't commit," She replies.
Holy shit. How did I not know that?
"She got him out?" I ask.
She nods, "She did. Like I said, he was innocent of his crimes. You would have known this had you given him a chance," She says carefully.
"I was a different person back then," I shrug and continue eating.
"How so?" She asks.
"I wasn't interested in talking about my feelings and shit," I shrug again. I don't like her picking me apart, but she's relentless.
"What changed?" She presses.
"They sent you." I reply. I stare at her, and the slight widening of her eyes tells me I've hit a nerve with her.
"Why do you want to stay in prison, Eric?" She asks.
"Why do you want to get me out?" I retort. Tris isn't prepared to hear those answers, not today. I stare at her until she uncomfortably looks at her folder again.
She tries a different route, "I understand that you are a volunteer for the inmate mentor program here, can you tell me more about that?" She asks.
"It gets me out of my cell for four hours a day." I deadpan.
"Is that all?" She presses.
"I like working with the younger ones who end up here. I try to help them adjust, and keep them out of trouble."
"Did someone work with you like that before?" She asks.
Not today, Tris. We're not taking that trip down memory lane.
"Yeah, in El Paso, the last place I was before they brought me back here," I give her just enough of an answer to hopefully shut her up about this shit.
She looks down at her file again, "You were there for three years?" She asks.
"The first few months I was here. I got in trouble for fighting, was sent to Indianapolis for two and a half, Buffalo for one, Montgomery for one, El Paso for three and now back here, home sweet home," I reply, deciding that's enough, "So how did you end up working for Johanna Reyes?" I ask. If she wants to get in my head, she's gonna have to let me inside of hers.
"Johanna and I became rather close after I made it to Amity. We've remained in each other's lives ever since then. She helped me find my way when I was lost," She replies vaguely.
She's hiding something.
I take a long sip of my fizzy drink, and decide it's time to ruffle the princess's feathers a little, "How the hell were you lost? You were the hero of the city. Everyone knew it was you that stopped the simulation by stabbing Jeanine in the hand and putting her own serum in her fucking neck. Nice job with that by the way, you were always wicked good with knives, even if your smart mouth kept you in trouble sometimes." I take another bite of my sandwich, but keep my eyes trained on hers.
"You think it was all sunshine and roses when I got home?" She asks.
"I can imagine it was pretty nice. People loved you already, and when you testified about shutting that fucking sim down people actually cheered, I could hear it in the holding area. What could have been so bad?" I ask.
"I don't know Eric, maybe watching my mother die by gunfire at the hands of one of my closest friends when we were in the streets of Abnegation. Or maybe me having to turn my own gun on him to save myself. Or maybe it was my father, my loving selfless father who never hurt anyone in his entire life walking into a hail of gunfire to distract the guards so I could make it into her room to start with," She replies with tears in her eyes.
I stop eating, and just gape at her, "I had no idea," I reply honestly. I really didn't realize she went through so much and lost so many people. I feel like an asshole for pressing her the way I have.
"You would have, had you not refused my visits. I thought, at minimum, we could be friends. You and I had more in common than you thought, and maybe we could have been there for each other once the dust settled," She starts crying harder and scrubbing her face with her hands.
"You had Four, Tris," I spit his name, forgetting all about her tears, "Your fucking fake ass former husband, the biggest fraud of us all…"
"You don't know him…" She begins but I cut her off.
"Oh, but I do. Did you forget that we had a whole two years to get to know each other before you dropped into that net? Do you think he was any less of a control freak back then? He tried to have me removed from leadership countless times because of things he saw while monitoring, but with the amount of shit he came up with you could tell the only thing he watched was me. If Max and the rest of leadership hadn't been in deeper with Jeanine than me he may have actually succeeded. Mister high and mighty, squeaky clean, never break a rule Stiff was busy building a case against me, all while he was sneaking out of the compound, unauthorized, every night for almost a year. Oh and the real prize, he goes and almost gets you kicked out of Dauntless because he starts dating his own fucking initiate." I spit.
"I never knew any of that," She replies, and for the first time I realize he was keeping her in the dark about his activities too.
"Yup. Complaint made it to Max's desk, he asked me to investigate and I covered it up. I saved your ass back then too. I made sure to make number boy's life hell though," I roll my eyes, "So of course he broke your heart when he found out you fucked his mortal enemy," I chuckle ironically, "It's ok Tris, I would have been intimidated by me too. I at least gave you what you wanted, because that day back in Erudite you were begging for me to pop your cherry. I'm sure he wouldn't have had you begging for it like me, so at least you got some good dick one time in your life. You seem very uptight, is that why you're here, little Stiff, you need some good dick for the second time in your life?" I ask, licking my lips.
"Fuck you," She hisses. She gets up and bangs on the door, bringing Perry and Ames running back in.
"What's wrong?" Ames asks.
"I'm ending today's session early, you can take him." She says angrily.
I stand there quietly as they chain my wrists and ankles again, and I stare at Tris. I crossed the line today and I know it, but I am sick and tired of her digging at me but refusing to acknowledge just how much of a piece of shit her ex-husband was. She packs her bags furiously, and I just watch her as she walks down the hall and away from me without a second glance.
I wonder how badly I fucked up.
I don't protest when they lead me back to my cell, nor do I respond to any of their bullshit comments as they deposit me back in my cell and lock the door behind me. I sit on the cot, the springs protesting my large frame as usual, and I rest my head in my hands and my elbows on my legs.
"I take it things didn't go well?" I look up and see Hector outside of my cell.
"Four came up." I reply and he shakes his head.
"You've not seen or heard from him in over nine years. Why does he still bother you so much?" He asks.
"It's a lot." I shrug, "Don't you have anything better to do than talk to me right now?"
"Not really, it's pretty quiet up here today. What's your deal with him?" He presses.
"What do you know about him now?" I ask and Hector shrugs his shoulders.
"Not a lot. I think he and his wife still live out in Dauntless. They've got kids. Lynn doesn't talk to him at all, and Shauna pretty much is friends with the wife more than friends with him." He replies.
"Hector, do you have any idea what caused their marriage to end?" I finally ask.
"I've heard rumors, but I stay away from that shit." Hector replies.
"Well what did you hear?" I press but he shakes his head.
"If what I heard is true, it's not my story to tell man. Do you still have a thing for her?" He asks.
I scoff, "What are you talking about?"
"Eric, when you were down here the first time, you obviously had something for her. Don't bullshit me, man." Hector presses and I look down at the floor.
"I don't know." I sigh, "I didn't expect to see her here, that's for sure."
"Hey, you've come a long way since the last time you were here, and she's someone who can help get you out of here man…"
"I don't want to be out." I argue.
"I don't believe that shit for a minute-" Hector begins but I hear someone calling down the corridor for him, "Gotta go, we'll pick this up later okay?"
I nod as Hector walks away. If Tris wants inside of my head, and to hear all of my secrets, she's going to have to tell me hers.