I couldn’t tell if Ryker had returned and Penny was sleeping in hers. I didn’t want to disturb her. Finally, two new guards came for me. They had grey masks and were wearing crisp, clean uniforms, unlike the others. They smelled clean, like laundry detergent and fresh dryer sheets.
"Follow me," one of them said as they opened my door again.
I obeyed, and we walked through the dining area and through doors at the end. To my absolute delight, it was into a large shower room with a fresh set of clothing hanging on a hook for me.
I was left alone, so I stripped the black dress off and tossed it onto the floor. As I was standing under the hot water washing my hair for the second time, I heard the door open and close.
I opened my eyes and found Ryker there, watching me. He was naked and fierce, but his body was covered in fresh bruises and gashes from the fight pits. I was horrified that he walked with such a pained gait that he’d been hurt so badly. I wanted to keep his mind off his wounds.
"Are you going to stand there and watch?" I asked, and flicked a handful of foamy soap at him. "Or are you going to join me?"
"You look awful," he said and walked to me, turned on the shower next to me and stepped underneath.
"Uh, thanks," I said. His words upset me. I wasn't sure what he meant by them.
"I mean your bruising," he said, and his eyes snapped open. "You don't think I meant you, do you, princess? I mean what they've done to you."
"I don't know, maybe you aren't that attracted to prisoners who look like they’ve been run over by a car," I said and shook my head.
As the water poured over both of us, the tension and fear of the last few days melted away and we were just Ryker and Everly again for a moment. Just two people falling in love and flirting our way to intense sex.
"You know I’m attracted to you any way I can get you, princess, even as a prisoner," he said, and our reality snapped back into place.
"What happened in the fight pits?" I asked. "I hope it wasn’t as bad as the pleasure rooms. All of it was horrible, I’m sure. They get off on us being upset and hurt."
“They're sick fucks, are you okay?” he asked, and I nodded to let him know I’d survived. That I’d be fine.
“They're probably recording everything we're doing and talking about,” Ryker said, his eyes flitting across the room to look for cameras. There were none visible, but that didn't mean shit when it came to the Organization. They were deceptive and terrible, of course they were watching us.
"Good, let them watch this," I said, and I reached for his hand. I pulled him under my shower stream and picked up the sliver of soap they'd provided. I lathered him up from head to toe, taking extra care around his cock, and at the touch of my fingers, he was hard.
I gave him a few pumps just for fun, but I couldn't quite get into it knowing there was some rich bastard watching me the way they'd watched me before, with Reg.
But Ryker understood, and instead of complaining, he simply pulled me into his arms and kissed me hard enough that I forgot about our circumstances again and fell into the moment we had together. It was enough to keep me sane for the time being, and I needed to hang onto the shred of sanity more than I needed anything else.
Still, feeling his muscled, slippery body against mine was pretty fucking good, even if it was in the strangest of places.
CHAPTER8
We didn't havetime for much beyond our quick make-out session under the water because four guards returned to round us up. They watched us, their grey, expressionless masks devoid of humanity, but their glittering, intense eyes staying too focused on me to forget that they were anything but men under there.
When we had toweled off and pulled on our clean outfits, I turned to the guard, who seemed in charge, and said, "What about Penny? She needs a shower, too."
"There were only orders for you two," he replied and stepped towards me menacingly. "Are you going to make this an issue?"
"No," I replied and stepped away.
They led us back to our rooms and locked us up, turned, and left the building.
I had to wait until they were completely gone before I could give Penny the little gift I brought her. It was all I could smuggle back to our cells, and I hoped it would be enough to cheer her up.
She was still curled on her bed with her back to me and I whispered, "Hey, Penny."
She rolled over and looked at me. "Yeah?"
"I have this for you," I told her and pulled the toothbrush, toothpaste, and sliver of soap out of the waist of my prison pants. I'd tucked it in there, hoping to get it past the guards. Luckily, they had been too distracted watching me kiss Ryker to notice me pocketing it.
In the end, the only way to get it to her was to throw it. The bar of soap was the last object, and it landed short. Ryker tried to slide his arm through the bars to push it closer, but he failed. Somehow, Penny was able to squeeze herself through the bars and reach it.