Page 45 of The Freshman

Alfie groaned and dropped his headinto his hands. He wished he could take back their conversation andkeep his interest in Nate buried.

The club version of Nate faded eachstep closer to home, and Alfie thought of the reality. Nate withhis arms cuffed at his back and the officers around him edgy withfear.

****

Monday night arrived, and after along-winded hand-over by Ryan, Alfie sat in the office, fidgetingas he waited for the hours to tick down for roll call.

He stomped up the stairs to tick namesoff on his list, thinking about what Tia said. Away from theprison, the idea of a forbidden romance was fun, but inside thethick walls of concrete and the metal bars, it wasn’t. Indulging inanything with Nate was stupid, and he needed to rid himself of thetemptation. The means of doing so were in the office, but hecouldn’t bring himself to read the file.

“So how was it?” Nateasked.

Alfie scrunched his face and tappedhis pen to the clipboard. He knew Nate was asking about the pizza,but he wasn’t going to make it easy for him.

“No idea what you’retalking out.”

“Yeah you do. Hope yousaved me half.”

Alfie smiled. “Can’t just acceptrandom food, can I? It all went in the bin.”

Nate laughed. “I doubtthat.”

Alfie darted a look behind then movedcloser to the door. “How did you get my address?”

“Easy,” Nate murmured.“Don’t worry. I’m not gonna share it.”

“Are you watching myhouse?”

Nate sighed. “No, I’m watching my celldoor.”

Alfie hugged the clipboard to hischest and waited for Nate to speak again.

“Look, Queenie got it forme. He cleans Ryan’s offices sometimes. Your file was on his desk acouple of weeks back and he wrote your address on the back of hishand.”

“You’ve known where I livefor weeks?”

“Yep, and nothing’shappened, has it? So, relax, you’re being a picky date.”

Alfie shook his head. “I’m not yourdate.”

Nate laughed. “You ate the pizza. Thatwas you accepting the date.”

“How do you know I ateit?”

Nate smirked. “Stop it. You’reembarrassing yourself.”

“I hate you,” Alfiehissed.

“No, you don’t. Pepperoniyour favorite?”

“Prefer meat feast, andgarlic bread.”

Nate laughed. “I’ll remember for nexttime, but your turn to pay. You can deliver it to my cell, serve itthrough the hatch.”

“Nothappening.”

“Open the hatch,Freshman.”

Alfie smiled, then pushed off from the door and walked backto the lobby, shaking his head.

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