Chapter 20 – His Eyes

Margot’s POV

The door slammed shut behind me with a mechanical clunk that echoed back into my bones.

I flinched, pulling my arms in tight.

The sound was final – like a seal locking into place. Like I’d just been locked inside of a vault.

My breath hitched in my throat as I spun around, half-expecting someone to lunge out from the shadows at me – but nothing moved.

No Coban?

My heart thudded in my ears as I scanned the room, wide-eyed and shaking.

It seemed empty.

Right up until the silence settled, and the sound of a shower running could be heard coming from the only other door in the room…

Fuck, he’s got to be in there!

A strangled breath left my lips, equal parts relief and dread.

What would his reaction be? Finding me stood in here? Seeing me for the first time, seeing what he’s stuck with for the entirety of this experiment?

My hands stayed at my sides, balled up into trembling fists as I slowly stepped further in, eyes flicking over every surface.

I couldn’t stop the way I analyzed the space like it was evidence in a crime scene, since that was exactly how it felt.

The room was… surprisingly clean though. Almost suspiciously so.

The walls were plain white, crisp, unmarked.

The floor beneath my feet was soft grey carpeting – brand new by the look of it. Not a single stain or tear. It muffled my footsteps as I walked, the sound oddly domestic for a prison cell. I’d expected cement and chains. Blood somewhere, maybe? But perhaps Cara was right, and this place was just a separate building built for the purpose of this project… it made sense as to why it was all so untouched…

This room looked like the inside of a budget hotel room and happened to house a maximum-security inmate.

– if that hotel had zero decor, triple the security.

I turned around slowly in a full circle, trying to take everything in.

There was a bed in the corner – only one bed, as my jaw fell slack looking at it. Why the heck was there only one bed?! It was the size of a small double, the sheets also crisp white and papery thin, though the mattress and pillows seemed decently plump…

But where in the damn hell was I expected to sleep? I couldn’t imagine the prisoners offering up the bed to any of us either? So that left me with all of three options… sleep on the floor, sleep on the sturdy little black lounge chair that sat against the wall (looking terribly uncomfortable), or share the bed with a dangerous inmate!

Shaking my head, knowing he could very easily murder me in my sleep either way, I forced myself to take a steadying deep breath.

I would let him decide…

I don’t want to upset him right out the gate asking to have the bed to myself…

He could snap and kill me over such a disagreement, I wasn’t stupid!

I continued on with my room scan, seeing a small desk and a narrow shelf of books, though I didn’t dare to move closer to read the spines just yet.

A chest of drawers stood in one corner, made in a way so there were no sharp edges. I wanted to know what was inside of it, as I slowly made my way across the room…

Lifting a hand before pausing mid-air, chewing my lip in fear that it would make a noise to expose my snooping… I listened carefully, ensuring that the shower was still running, and once I had confirmed that it was, I pulled open one of the three smallest drawers at the top first.

And instantly, I wished that I hadn’t.

Plasters, bandages, antiseptic wipes and worst of all… condoms.

What the fuck!

I quickly pushed the drawer shut, stepping back from it as though that would help gather me out of the shock.

They’ve supplied us with damn condoms?! What was this shit?! I didn’t know I had signed up for the ‘Fuck A Prisoner Project’.

One bed. A box of condoms. A hotel styled room?!

I was bunking with a dangerous criminal here, not fucking Prince Charming!

This wasn’t blind dating!

I was still a virgin for fuck sake!

Clutching my chest, I closed my eyes over tightly to control myself before the tears threatened to spill.

I could not let him find me this rattled already, he will think that I’m weak, probably use it against me too!

“Get it together Margot!” I whisper harshly to myself, peeling my eyes open and shaking it off.

Or at least trying to.

Let’s think straight about this for a sec. The condoms are just a precaution, for the likes of the mint-green girls who had reeked of desperation to sleep with these men. They have to supply them, before this place could turn into the ‘Prisoner Pregnancy Project’ real quick.

I licked my drying lips, my eyes falling upon another item in the room that I hadn’t yet noticed, as I allowed my mind to become distracted by it completely.

Folded beneath the small, thick square window, with nothing but iron bars beyond it, was a crisp black hoodie.

It was folded neatly too, as my head tilted to inspect it from a distance.

I stared at it curiously, like it might move.

It made the fact that he was in here all the more real.

Just beyond that door.

And with that thought, as if on queue, total silence fell.

The water was sharply cut off.

He was finished in the shower.

“Shit!” I gasped silently, shuffling my feet back towards the door, knowing that it would be the safest option in the event that I would have to yell and scream for the guards to save me…

The room was so still, I could hear my own breath shaking in and out of my lungs.

Then came the first sound.

A dull thud – like something being dropped, followed by the rustling of a towel. Heavy, hurried movements from inside the bathroom. I flinched at each one, my nerves buzzing like I’d swallowed static.

He was moving around in there.

Another bang – sharper this time. A cupboard slamming, maybe? A drawer?

I didn’t know what the hell he was doing, but it was loud and erratic enough to make the hairs on my arms stand up.

A second later, the sharp hiss of deodorant filled the air, the scent drifting faintly beneath the door as my stomach flipped.

He was getting ready.

For me?

A beat passed… then a cough — low, rough, and real.

My body stiffened at the sound. That cough was proof of life. That he existed. That in just seconds, I would be face-to-face with him.

Coban Santorelli.

More shuffling.

Then silence again.

Long, drawn-out, almost cruel silence.

My heart was thundering by the time the bathroom door handle began to twist.

Shit! Shit! Shit!

I watched the door slowly pull open, like the big reveal on a dating show – and this one came with a dark twist!

I held my breath, watching the large figure emerge from the bathroom, seeing nothing but a towel slung low around his hips…

His eyes found mine instantly.

They were cold.

Piercing.

My lips parted at the sight of him, but nothing came out.

We just stared at each other – prisoner and project girl, two strangers locked in a room with too many expectations, too many secrets, and far too little air.

I didn’t move.

Neither did he.

This wasn’t the beginning of a partnership.

It was the beginning of my survival.