TWO MONTHS LATER
"Do you ever sleep?" I asked Lowman as he made his way over to the desk. He had been popping out of his cell every night I'd worked over, which was most of them. He shrugged and sat down on the corner of the desk as he took a carrot from my plastic container.
"Do you? You're always here." Lowman retorted in his raspy voice I'd grown pretty fond of. I was well aware of the fact that I was getting too friendly with him, but the more I fought it, the more it happened.
"Touché. Are you going to eat all my carrots?" I asked with a laugh as he took another one. He took a bite and offered it to me.
"You're talkative tonight." He mumbled through the carrot he was still chewing. I tried to ignore his comment. "How's the fiancé?"
I shook my head silently. Declan was probably the reason I'd been more talkative with Lowman recently. He and his mother had decided that it didn't look good on them for me to work at a prison. I didn't exactly love my job, but it was the principle of the matter. It wasn't Declan's place to tell me where I could work, much less his mother's. The lack of sex didn't help matters either.
"That great, huh?" Lowman guessed as he handed me a piece of celery. I cringed inwardly as I realized how well he knew my diet. I rarely ate carrots and always devoured celery. To be honest, I brought the carrots for him.
"Yeah, it's bloody wonderful." I snapped, realizing I may as well give him confirmation since he seemed to know already. Lowman smirked and popped his knuckles.
"Need me to hurt him? If it can wait a year, I'll do it." He said with a joking laugh. It was rare of him to be so light in mood. I couldn't help but like it.
"No, that's okay. I appreciate the offer. Can I ask you something completely unprofessional?" I said quickly and against better judgment. Lowman laughed and smiled.
"I'm an inmate. I don't give a fuck if you're professional or not, Recker." He tossed another carrot into his mouth and looked at me expectantly. I regretted opening that door as I realized how personal my question was.
"What are you in for?" I asked quickly as I tried to cover for the real question racing through my mind. He shook his head and narrowed his eyes.
"Bullshit. You can look that up. What were you really going to ask?" He growled as he started getting an impatient look in his eyes. I sighed and looked away from him purposefully.
"Theoretically, if you were engaged to someone, would you stop fucking them because your mother told you to?" I asked as quickly as I could. I peeked back at him to see an open mouth full of carrot before he closed it quickly.
"Uh, theoretically, does the person I'm engaged to look like you?" Lowman asked with a dark smirk. I just narrowed my eyes. He leaned forward, closer than he'd ever gotten to me before. He smelled like carrots and body wash.
"I love my ma, but no. No one could tell me to stop fucking you. Or whoever I'm supposed to be engaged to." He said with that delicious rasp. I felt my whole body heat up at his words and his proximity to me. I swallowed hard and nodded.
"That why you're such a bitch in the mornings? Not getting enough at home?" Lowman asked with a smirk as he pulled away. I couldn't tell if I was happy he'd moved or not.
"Try any. Hell, at this point I should have a fucking addict's chip for it. God, I shouldn't be talking to you about this." I said, rubbing my forehead with my palm. Lowman shrugged and stood up.
"Come here." He growled as he walked around my desk. I felt frozen in place as he stood mere inches away from the chair. My mind was yelling no, but my body thawed and started moving.
"What? Lowman, what are you doing?" I asked as he stood still in front of me, arms to his side.
"What's your first name?" His whisper came out as a growl. I swallowed hard and looked up into his eyes, realizing just how much taller he was.
"Katerina." I choked out in a whisper. Lowman nodded and ran a hand over his scalp, scratching at the snake tattoo towards the back.
"What would you do if I touched you?" He asked with a softer expression than he ever had during the day.
"It depends on why you did it." The words escaped from my mouth before I could stop my self. I started wondering if my celery was drugged. Lowman nodded slowly and brushed my hair behind my ear. I felt chills running throughout my body at the slight brush of his skin that I felt on my ear.
"Katerina, I'd never stop fucking you." Lowman growled softly before cupping my face with his hand and pressing his lips to mine. I felt my heart stop as my mouth returned his kiss, moving in a rhythm that was picking up quickly. The watch on my wrist beeped once and Lowman pulled back.
We both knew it was getting too close to time for my relief to show up. I'd be in enough shit if someone saw him out of his cell, much less making out behind the desk. He smiled down at me before turning to head upstairs.
"Hey, Recker. After lockdown, you can drop the last name shit." He said quietly over his shoulder before hurrying up the stairs, making no sound at all. His cell door clicked shut as I fell back in my chair, still recovering from the last couple minutes. My fingers traced over my slightly swollen lips as they curved up into a smile.
I knew I really fucked up. It wasn't just my job I was putting on the line. I was engaged, after all. I heard the jingle of keys on the other side of the door a few minutes later, breaking into my thoughts.
I felt like a fucking teenager as I snuck back in my bunk. Not only was I sneaking around in the middle of the night, but my balls hurt like hell. As much as I hated to, I pulled one out to relieve the pressure and frustration. It barely helped at all and I groaned as I heard Tig snoring the whole time.
I'd wanted to touch her for a long time, but I'd always known better. Something about the way she talked to me tonight and the pain in her voice when she asked me about fucking pushed me over the edge. I realized I didn't just want a release, I honestly wanted her to feel wanted.
"Hap, you going to sleep all day? Bobby asked as he stuck his head in the door. I groaned and rolled over. Ever since I'd started talking to Recker at night, I slept during the day. Today was different though. Today Jax was coming back to general population.
"Nah, I'm up." I lied as I rubbed the sleep out of my eye. I climbed down from the bunk and splashed water on my face to wake me up. Bobby shook his head and leaned against the door.
"Brother, we've got protection. You don't have to watch your back all night. You need to sleep." Bobby said as I dried my face off and pulled on my shirt. I shot a look over at him.
"You sound like Ma." I grumbled as I followed him out of the cell. I had to concentrate on not falling down the stairs once I saw Recker. Instead of her normal uniform, she was wearing khaki pants and a green polo shirt.
"Those pants look a hell of a lot better than the uniform." Tig said as he let out a low whistle. I felt the need to hit him, hard.
"When's Jax getting here?" I asked, forcing the change of subject as I kept glancing over at her. She was doing rounds and every step she took emphasized the curve of her ass that much more.
"Any minute now. Recker said he's in transit. She's in a lot better mood than she normally is in the morning. I was almost afraid to ask after breakfast." Juice said with a laugh as he threw down an ace of hearts. He and Tig were playing Go Fish! again.
"Yeah, I got it. You can bring him in, Wright." Recker said into her radio as she walked past my back and towards the door. I elbowed Tig and nodded towards the opening door.
"The prodigal son returns!" Clay bellowed as Jax walked in the unit with a smile. Wright narrowed his eyes as he shoved Jax against the wall. He took off his ankle shackles and cuffs roughly before turning to Recker.
"You need to search him and his shit. I'll stay here and make sure he doesn't give you any trouble." Wright said to an annoyed Recker. I knew he'd been trying to get with her for over a while now. She snarled any time he was mentioned or showed up. She nodded with a sigh before pulling on gloves and walking over to Jax.
"Go ahead and put your hands on the wall and take a step back for me." Recker said softly. Wright was scowling at her back. She knew about Jax's injuries and was obviously taking it easy on him as far as not rushing him. Jax did exactly as she asked, even spreading his feet without being told.
Recker patted his shoulders and chest down quickly, purposefully skipping over his injury site. She patted down his jeans thoroughly before stepping back and tapping him on the shoulder.
"You're good. I'll bring you your stuff in a few minutes. Go see your friends, they asked about you all the time." She said with a friendly smile. Jax looked surprised but headed over to us happily. He didn't make it two steps before Wright told him to stop.
"Officer Recker, you need to redo that pat down. What you just did could put yourself in danger. He could have a shank." Wright snapped before ordering Jax back to the wall. I could tell my brother was getting pissed.
"I'm sorry, do you mind going back?" Recker was asking to be polite, even though Jax had no choice. Wright stepped forward and grabbed her wrist, yanking her around to face him. I was off the table and headed to kick his ass before Tig caught the back of my shirt. Juice jumped in and grabbed my arm to help Tig stop me.
"Woah there, Killer." Tig said as I yanked my arm away from Juice. Recker glanced over at me as she ripped her wrist out of Wright's hand.
"Officer Wright, this is my unit and I take complete responsibility for it. If you have a problem with it, take it up with the captain. You don't have any rank here." She snapped before calling for the unit door.
"So, I'm getting patted down or not?" Jax asked, looking back at the two officers. Recker shook her head and pointed towards our table.
"No, Teller. You're good." She said with a smile as she opened the door and waved for Wright to exit through it. As soon as his trailing foot crossed the threshold, she slammed the door shut behind him.
"Glad to see you, brother." I said, giving Jax a quick hug, careful not to jar him too much. He nodded and smiled brightly as everyone welcomed him.
"I've been worried about you all having it rough and I see this shit? Since when do CO's look like that?" Jax asked with a laugh as he slugged Juice playfully on the arm.
"She's great to look at but she's the best CO we've got to. She seems nice." Juice said with a smile. Clay laughed.
"No one cares if she's nice or not. Just nice to look at." Clay said, licking his bottom lip a little. I felt my stomach tighten.
The six of us talked business and the deal for a while before heading to dinner. Jax was disappointed that the food wasn't any better than in the infirmary.
"Clay, you heard from Gemma recently?" Jax asked as he chewed a piece of bread. Clay nodded and finished his juice off.
"Sure, had a visit with her a few days ago. Why?" Clay asked as Jax's face darkened a little.
"I've been trying to call Tara but she won't take the calls. Did Mom say anything about her?" He asked, tossing the roll back down on his tray.
"Said she was getting bigger and helping around the garage some." Clay said carefully. I wanted to remind Jax of the circumstances of his attack, but figured it wasn't my place.
He didn't mention Tara again for the rest of the day. I don't think many of us really minded all that much. Personally, she wasn't old lady material in my books. She wasn't ride or die and you had to be in this club, even if you were just an old lady.
As soon as we locked down for count, Tig slapped me on my shoulder. I glared at him and shook my head for him to back off.
"The fuck was that earlier? You going to jump on a guard because he wanted to be an ass? Jax wasn't going to die if he got patted down again." Tig said with a scowl. I shook my head in silence.
"Unless it wasn't about Jax. You get worked up over Recker?" Tig asked, suddenly turning psychic. I shot him a look and pointed at him.
"Mind your business, Tig. Just leave it." I said with a threatening tone that would deter most people. Not Tig.
"Damn, Happy. Eye fucking has got you that worked up over a bitch? Don't say another word about me being desperate." He said with a laugh. I turned my body towards him and took a deep breath.
"Tig, if you're smart, you'll shut up and not say shit about it to anyone, including me. I don't want to fucking talk." I said, doing my best to keep from strangling him. Tig held up his hands.
"Whoa, okay Hap. I get the point." Tig said as I backed off and leaned up against the bunks. He opened his mouth to say something, but thought better of it.