Page 22 of The Freshman

Alfie’s frown intensified, and heshook his head. “I don’t get it.”

“What he means to say ishe was having a high wank and it went wrong,” Natemuttered.

“A high wank?”

Nate hummed and banged the door of hiscell. “Make it hard to breathe, and it gets you high. He wasprobably imagining a huge cock suffocating him. Ain’t that right,Queenie?”

“Screw you,Nate.”

Nate barked with laugher, drumming hisfist to his door. “It’s a new take on tea-bagging, but I don’tthink it’ll catch on.”

Alfie smacked the heel of his hand tohis forehead. “Wait, it was some sex game? You were getting off onchoking yourself?”

A slow, patronizing clap came fromNate’s cell. “Gold star for the Freshman.”

Queenie whined. “Please stop talkingabout it.”

“No way. The more I takethe piss, the less likely you’ll do some stupid shit like thatagain. I don’t want yours and Freshman’s mouths gettingfamiliar.”

Alfie narrowed his eyes at his doorand huffed through his nose.

Nate tapped his nails to the metaldoor.

Alfie imagined a big toothy grin onNate’s face, and it irritated the hell out of him.

“You know what, Queenie?Out of all the prisoners, I’m glad it was you I had tokiss.”

“That’s cruel, Freshman,”Nate murmured. “It was CPR, nothing sexual. Any boner Queenie hadwas from the teabags, not you.”

“Yeah, that kiss in thecell was CPR, but what about the one in the lobby.”

The tapping nails stopped, and Alfiestared at Nate door, eyebrow raised as he waited for areaction.

“Jesus, Alfie, you’ll getme in the shit. He’s messing with you, Nate.”

“I know he is,” Natemumbled, “but I’d be lying if I said I wasn’t jealous Freshman’slips were around yours first.”

Alfie lifted his chin, smug withhimself. He moved along to Nate’s cell, knowing an inch of steeland a chunky cell lock separated them. “First, andlast.”

Nate hummed in amusement. “Maybe I’llshove teabags down my throat till I pass out. Then you’d have tokiss me.”

Alfie shrugged. “I’d getHenry.”

Queenie howled with laughter and hithis fist to the wall.

Alfie grinned so hard it felt tight onhis face.

“That’s not nice,Freshman. How evil are you?” Nate whispered.

The lightness to Alfie’s chestvanished. The word evil, Henry used it to describe Nate all thetime. Pure Evil, not just the crime he committed, but the manthrough and through.

Alfie swallowed uncomfortably andbacked away.

“Open the hatch,Freshman.”

He didn’t reply. He turned and rushedaway from Nate and Queenie, wondering what the hell was wrong withhim. Flirting, was he flirting, or just passing time?

The glasses had slipped from Henry’sface and dropped in his lap, but it hadn’t woken him. He couldn’tlie and say he was awake when all five of them stared at hiseyelids. Alfie never realized how small the office was until theywere forced in it for hours at a time. It didn’t help that theatmosphere between Marie and Glen squished them and killed anyconversation starters. One of the twins shoved earbuds in his ear,and the hiss of rock music clashed in the silence. The other twinwatched his brother for a few minutes, then retrieved his own phoneand headphones. The music that escaped his was operatic, and Alfieraised his eyebrows. They weren’t clones in every way afterall.

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