Chapter 59 THEO
THEO
The meds made time pass faster and made my separation anxiety easier to manage, but I stop taking them a week before I get out. Alex notices the difference immediately, but she doesn’t say anything.
I can tell I’m not the only one who prefers it when I’m not on them.
Once they wear off, I’ve got so much energy that I feel like I’m crawling out of my skin.
I can’t sleep much, and I have no appetite anyway because the food, even the stuff from the commissary, is all fucking disgusting.
I notice that my anxiety and nightmares are much worse without the meds, but I know it’ll all go away once I finally get my fucking hands on Alex again.
The day before I’m released, she visits wearing the exact green dress she wore the first time I saw her in Catherine’s office two years ago, and I freeze when I see her.
She’s still stunning, but she looks so different now.
She stopped dying her hair, changing it back to her natural honey-colored blonde, and she cropped it halfway up her long, delicate neck.
The stress of dealing with everything killed her appetite for a long time, but she’s been eating regularly and looks healthy again.
She’s healthy for the first time since I’ve known her.
She’s calmer and confident, more stable and grounded in herself.
She drinks a lot less than she used to, and she won’t drink at all if she’s upset.
She’s better at regulating and dealing with her emotions.
She doesn’t shut down as often, and she doesn’t lie to me at all anymore.
She’s so fucking perfect.
I pull her tight and give her the short kiss I’m allowed to before we sit down.
I look at the guards on duty and know I’m not going to get away with sitting next to her, so I reach my hand across the table and touch any fucking part of her I can.
I have less than twenty-four hours, and then I can touch her as much as I want.
A sly smile spreads across her face as she slowly massages my right hand.
“Change of plans for tomorrow. We’re not going home right away.” I’m too worked up to handle this right now, and I close my eyes and exhale hard, trying to stay calm, but my knee starts bouncing instantly.
“Sweetie, what the fuck? Why not?” She grins at me and drags her fingernails across the inside of my wrist, and being turned on by her calms me down slightly.
“Um, I told Bailey that a three-hour car ride after a year without you would be torture, and she surprised us with a nice hotel room ten minutes away.” She blushes as she speaks, and I relax at once.
“I’m checking in after I leave here. We’ll go straight there tomorrow, and then we’ll go home the next morning.
” I make a mental note to add more money to the trust I had Catherine set up for Miles.
“She also tried to give me a box of pregnancy tests,” Alex mutters under her breath, and I grin.
“Have I ever told you that I really like Bailey?” She laughs.
“Constantly, and the feeling is mutual. Anyway, the hotel is nice and the reviews on the restaurant are good. I called ahead and asked about room service, so we don’t have to leave the room.”
“You’re so fucking wonderful.”
She smirks at me. “I also brought some things I thought you might want.”
“I love you.”
“I haven’t come in a week,” she whispers, blushing hard.
“Can’t say the same.” Especially not now that I’m off the meds and I have a stack of those fucking polaroids she sent me.
“Oh, I’m sure.” She looks at me, her eyes full of desire, and I lean forward, keeping my voice low.
“You look so fucking needy, sweetheart.” She blushes a deep pink as she stares at my lips, nodding slowly.
“You have no idea.” I have to reach down and adjust myself so I’m tucked into my waistband, and she looks at me with her beautiful, wide brown eyes, licks her plush pink lips, and starts whispering to me all the things she wants me to do to her tomorrow.
She’s driving me fucking crazy, but I know I need to be careful.
It’s been a year, but I remember the panic attack she had when we tried to have sex last time, and she only just started masturbating again a few months ago.
I don’t want it to be anyone but us in that room tomorrow, which means I need to keep my shit together for once in my life and take my time with her.
By the time the visit is over, Alex has spent an hour working me up so much that when I kiss her goodbye, she drags her fingers down my back and pushes her hips against mine as she slips her tongue into my mouth, and I come from that alone.
I have to bite my tongue until I bleed to not openly react in the room full of people, and she laughs so hard that she starts to cry when she realizes what’s happened. I shoot her a dirty look.
“You’re an asshole, you know that?” She smiles beatifically up at me as she steps away.
“You just figured that out?” I laugh as she turns away. “I’ll see you tomorrow, baby,” she calls over her shoulder, glancing back and winking at me.
***
I give my cellmate everything I’ve bought from the commissary and pack all the letters and drawings and photos Alex sent me over the last year, and then I almost lose my mind when I realize I have another eighteen hours before I get out.
Time slows to a crawl, and I live ten years in the time between Alex leaving and when I get called up to the office the next morning.
I only start to feel somewhat calm once the checkout process begins, but I’m so wound up that it feels like it takes another ten years.
One of the guards looks amused at how I’m bouncing on my toes and checking the clock every thirty seconds.
Once I’m finally out in the parking lot, I barely have to look for Alex before I spot her.
She’s parked right in front, leaning against my car and grinning at me, looking like a fucking wet dream.
She’s done her hair and makeup, and she’s wearing a pair of tall black heels and a very short, very low-cut, silky black dress that might actually be lingerie, and I can tell from here she’s wearing nothing underneath.
I hate that other people can see her like this, but I don’t care about anything except getting my fucking hands on her.
I run over to her, throwing my bag down and bending down to pick her up as she pulls me in and kisses me.
My whole body feels like it’s on fire the second I touch her, and I moan as she wraps her legs around my hips and her arms lock around my neck.
I grip her ass, pushing her back against the car, and she makes a soft whine in the back of her throat as she buries her hands in my hair.
I’m seconds away from undoing my jeans and fucking her right there until a few whistles and jeers from other people leaving snaps me out of the moment.
I don’t want anyone else to have access to this side of her, and I’m supposed to be taking this slowly. I pull away from her, looking into her gorgeous, flushed face, her pupils wide with want and her lips already swollen, and I work hard to tamp down my desire.
“Hotel. Now,” I choke out, and she laughs as I put her down, wobbling on her heels for a second when I press her against the car and kiss her again before I shove my bag in the back and get into the passenger seat.
Alex is a terrible driver, but that may have something to do with the fact that she’s trying to pay attention to the road and her GPS and my lips on her neck and my fingers circling against her clit all at the same time.
I’m almost positive that someone in the car next to us at a red light watches us, but I’m too preoccupied with making Alex come for me to notice.
She pulls up to a nice hotel along the river, and the idea of sleeping in a comfortable bed makes me think that Bailey, Dylan, and Miles would love a vacation.
We leave the car with the valet, who smirks at me as he turns away, but I don’t know why until I catch our reflection in the door.
I start laughing when I realize that I’m in prison release clothes and Alex is basically wearing lingerie, her lipstick is already gone, her hair is messed up, and she’s flushed.
She pulls me quickly through the mostly empty lobby and towards the elevators, repeatedly jamming her finger into the button. She looks back at me with a sly smile as I grab her by the hips and pull her back into me.
“The elevators are mirrored.”
“Fuck, yeah.”
The elevator takes forever, but that doesn’t matter because I’ve got Alex in my arms, kissing her neck and pressing my hard-on against her lower back, just breathing her in and reveling in being able to touch her as much as I want again.
She pushes back into me, making tiny whimpering sounds, and my plans to go slowly with her disintegrate.
I’m going to fuck her against the mirrored wall of this elevator so I can watch her come on my cock from every angle.
Just as the elevator doors open and I push her inside, slipping my hands up her skirt, someone calls for us to hold the elevator. I hear Alex swear, and I jam my finger on the door close button, but the door is slow enough that the man catches it and slips in with us.
I genuinely consider beating the shit out of him for a second until I see Alex’s face in the mirror. She looks equally pissed, but she’s so fucking cute when she’s angry at anyone other than me that it calms me down enough to be able to focus on her again.
I grip her waist and lean down, dragging my tongue up the shell of her ear and laughing quietly as she shivers against me.