Page 7

7

P en to the paper, Ollie bit his lip, wondering what else to write to Leo. He’d told his brother how great it was to hear from him, that he was pleased he’d made friends, and that he was happy their auntie Maggie was taking good care of him.

Then his mind went blank.

A tap at the cell door interrupted him, and he glanced up to see Green.

“You up for a game?”

Ollie shot him a smile. “Give me fifteen minutes, and I’ll be there.”

Green left, and Ollie put the pen back to the page, and then he began to write. He told Leo about Green, Jack and Jonesy and how they played pool together every day. He wrote about Captain, who not only looked out for him but others on the wing too. He told Leo about the classes he’d been doing, that he loved art and was sending one of his sketches to prove he wasn’t all talk and was actually good. He even gave Leo the rundown on the meals, which were good and which should be avoided at all costs, and then he drew a blank when it came to Teddy-

It wasn’t that he had nothing to say about Teddy; it was the opposite.

He didn’t know where to begin, or where to end.

My cellmate, Teddy…

He was thirteen years older than Ollie; he’d been at the prison for over a decade after being charged when he was twenty. His verbal communication was limited to grunts, groans, growls, and sighs, but he could read, and his face was a map Ollie had learned to understand.

Everyone could tell when Teddy was angry, but Ollie knew his exact expression for stomach cramps or for when he was staring into space contemplating the universe.

It wasn’t quite a superpower, but Ollie wouldn’t have traded it for one.

Teddy loved nature; he loved even the creepiest of insects and was always there to scoop a spider up into his hand. He’d let it crawl across his palms, marvelling at the creature while Ollie gagged into a pillow at the sight of it. Ollie had awoken to one on his chest and screamed in a panic. Teddy flung himself out of bed, fists at the ready, only to laugh at Ollie hyperventilating at one end of the bed while a spider the size of a dinner plate evil-eyed him from his pillow.

He made sure to put in the letter he was not exaggerating the size of the spider. It had clearly escaped from a zoo or a personal collection of prehistoric spiders.

From that day on, Teddy inspected the cell for spiders every night before they went to sleep, and if he found one, he thumped on the cell door violently enough for an officer to check on them, and then threw it through the hatch.

More often than not, the officer screamed too.

“See?” Ollie would say with a raised eyebrow. “They’re terrifying.”

Teddy would smile that smile and shake his head.

Above all, Teddy loved butterflies. When Ollie had asked him why, Teddy opened up the dictionary, more than happy to share where his love came from.

It had taken all night for Teddy to point the words out, but Ollie hadn’t cared.

It had been after his operation, when he was recovering in the hospital bed, that he saw the butterflies. A purple buddleia was planted beneath the window, and he’d catch them flittering past. When he was well enough to leave his bed, he only went to the bathroom or to the garden, where he sat watching the butterflies.

It was a long recovery.

They were there every day, giving him something to focus on other than the loss of his voice, the constant droning headache, and the paralysis in his right side.

To Teddy, the butterflies were a sign of beauty, hope, and life.

Ollie drew them, and they covered the wall beside Teddy’s bed.

Teddy didn’t take any down; he tried to arrange them so all of them could be seen. Even Ollie’s first attempts, which looked amateur after all his practising, Teddy refused to remove.

Most of all, what Ollie wanted to tell Leo about Teddy was that he was safe with him.

Teddy took care of him; he trusted Teddy would never hurt him.

He was happy with Teddy.

Happier than he’d been in his whole life.

There was another knock on the door, three gentle taps.

Ollie rolled his eyes, smiling fondly. “It’s your cell too.”

Teddy stepped inside with a shrug.

“I’m writing back to Leo,” Ollie said. “I’m going to send him one of my sketches, prove I’m not lying about being able to draw.”

Teddy’s eyes widened. He darted an alarmed look at the wall.

“Don’t worry.” Ollie chuckled. “Your collection is safe.”

Teddy exhaled, sagging down to the bed.

“I told him about you,” Ollie said. He raised his eyebrows. “Want to read it?”

He offered the letter, and Teddy took it, whipping his gaze back and forth across the page. The longer he took, the redder Ollie grew until he wished he hadn’t offered it. Over half the letter was about Teddy, and it had a gushing quality to it.

When he got to the end, Teddy smiled.

“What’s that look for?” Ollie asked.

Teddy shrugged; he pointed at the pen on the desk. Ollie snatched it up and joined him on the bed. “You think I should add something?”

Teddy grabbed the dictionary. Handsome .

“You think I should add that you’re handsome?”

Teddy lifted his chin, smiling smugly. He nodded.

“Okay. P.S. Teddy’s hot too, like Woody Harrelson kind of hot.”

Teddy nodded along to the comparison.

“He’s got muscles carved from marble and a beard Zeus would be proud of.”

Teddy tapped the word Tongue in the dictionary.

“No way, I’m not mentioning your skilled tongue to him. Or your hands or your mouth or your…” Ollie gave a pointed look to Teddy’s crotch. “He’s my little brother, for Christ’s sake. Behave.”

He got up to put the letter on the desk. Teddy wrapped his arms around Ollie’s waist and pulled him back. He snuggled his face into the side of Ollie’s neck, making him squirm.

“Later.” Ollie smirked. “I said I’d play pool with Green.”

Teddy growled against his neck.

“They need me for doubles.” He lightly slapped Teddy’s arm until he let go.

Ollie turned around, then rubbed Teddy’s head.

“For luck,” he explained.

Shock, then outrage descended on Teddy’s face. Ollie darted out of the cell before he could be caught. Looking over his shoulder, waiting for Teddy, he walked straight into another inmate.

The air left his lungs in a whoosh.

“Sorry,” he blurted, reaching down to help the inmate with his bag. His clear plastic bag. The wing had an eerie silence to it, and that only happened when a fight was about to happen, or when someone new stepped onto the wing.

Officer Seinfeld stood beside the inmate, sighing down at Ollie as he scrambled to pick up the prisoner’s belongings and shove them back in the bag. The new inmate, a middle-aged man with messy black hair and narrowed eyes, stared at Ollie. His lips quirked, then spread into a smile.

“That’s okay, I’m sure you can make it up to me…”

Teddy made a revving sound from his throat, a warning to the inmate.

Everyone else knew what it meant. Even Seinfeld backed up a step, but the inmate in front of Ollie carried on like he hadn’t heard.

“Let me get settled in, and then you can show me the showers.” He winked.

Teddy eased Ollie aside, coming face to face with the new inmate.

“Come along, Keiron,” Seinfeld tried, but the inmate didn’t budge. He looked Teddy up and down, undeterred by the sound coming from him.

“What do you say?” he asked. “First time for free after he knocked into me, second time I’ll pay, providing he’s any good.”

Teddy launched himself at Keiron, swinging his fist and kicking his leg. It wasn’t pretty or intricate, the way Teddy fought, but it doubled Keiron over, then laid him out on the floor in seconds. The bell rang; Seinfeld wisely didn’t interfere until he had adequate back-up.

Then it was the officers trying to subdue a raging Teddy. One hard baton strike to the side of Teddy’s knee dropped him to the floor. He winced, then winced again when he was shoved forward onto his front. His chin hit the ground, and he grunted.

Ollie rushed forward as the officers began to pile on top of Teddy, only to be stopped by Captain.

“Don’t get involved.”

“But—”

“Teddy can take care of himself.”

“Back in your cells,” Seinfeld shouted. He pointed at Ollie. “Inside, now.”

Captain released his hold on Ollie’s arm. “Later.”

“Later,” Ollie echoed, retreating to his cell. Seinfeld locked the door on him, and he perched on the edge of Teddy’s bed, knowing it would be days until he was back on the wing.

He sighed, curling around Teddy’s pillow and thought about adding another line to his letter.

The hardest part of being inside was when he was separated from Teddy.

“Today?”

“No.”

“What about today?”

“Still no.”

“Is today the day?”

“No.”

“Surely…today?”

“Christ, Ollie,” Seinfeld snapped. “He’ll be back when he’s back.”

Ollie nodded. “But could you be a little more specific?”

It had been four days since Teddy had attacked the new inmate, Keiron.

Keiron had two black eyes for propositioning Ollie and stayed as far from Ollie as he could.

“He said it was a joke,” Green muttered. “He didn’t actually mean anything by it.”

Jack snorted. “A joke? Like he wouldn’t say no to Ollie in the showers.”

Ollie raised a hand. “I am right here.”

Green high-fived him.

Jack continued. “All I’m saying is, he’s a lifer. Now you can really put the hours in to seduce one of the women prison officers, or you can pick a more feminine-looking guy than yourself and get down and dirty.”

“Again…” Ollie sighed. “I’m right fucking here, guys.”

“Unluckily for him, he didn’t realise our Ollie is taken,” Green said, before blowing Ollie a kiss across the pool table.

“And taken by the most terrifying man in here,” Jonesy muttered before taking his shot.

Ollie shook his head. “Teddy isn’t terrifying.”

“Tell that to Keiron, who is still seeing double,” Jonesy said. “Tell that to everyone on the wing. I’m not the only one that let a bit of wee out when Teddy jumped him.”

Green frowned. “I think you’re the only one that let wee out.”

Jack smirked. “And it wasn’t a bit .”

“It was Niagara falls in your underwear,” Green added.

“Do you really want to take the piss out of me while I’m holding a pool cue?”

Green and Jack shared a smile, then Jack answered, “We don’t need to take it when it’s free flowing from your scared little cock.”

“Right…” Jonesy swung the cue. Green and Jack managed to duck, but Ollie, not paying attention, didn’t.

The cue hit the side of his head with a smack that sounded worse than it was.

“You’re in for it now,” Jack said, checking Ollie’s hair.

Jonesy dropped the cue. “I…I barely touched him.”

Green stepped closer to inspect the damage too. “Oh, fuck there’s blood.”

“Shit, there is as well,” Jack said. “Christ, I think you hit an artery.”

“It’s spurting everywhere.”

Ollie rolled his eyes as Green and Jack crowded him, pawing over his head. When they backed up, smirking, Jonesy had vanished, and his cell door slammed shut as he no doubt barricaded himself inside.

“Too easy.” Green sighed.

“Teddy isn’t as scary as you all think he is,” Ollie whispered.

“I think we are the correct amount of wary of Teddy Saul.” Jack snorted. “We’re not pissing ourselves, but we don’t want to get on the wrong side of him either.”

Green nudged Ollie with his elbow. “And in answer to the question you’ve been asking Seinfeld for the past four days…tonight.”

“Tonight?”

“Teddy’s coming back to the wing.”

Ollie’s chest flushed with warmth. “What? How do you know?”

“Ian heard the officers talking when he got the post. They’re bringing Teddy back to the wing tonight at lock-up.”

Ollie backed away from the table. The smile on his face began to ache.

“You’re not so good at playing it cool.” Green laughed.

“I…I’d better get ready.”

“Get ready?” Jack quirked an eyebrow.

“The cell’s a mess,” Ollie blurted. “I’d better tidy it up.”

“Ah,” Green said. “Makes sense.”

Ollie darted into his cell, then rushed out again with a towel in his hand.

Jack’s finger followed him across the wing. “Good idea, start with washing your towel.”

Green hung off Jack’s shoulder with a smirk. “That’s the most important thing when one is cleaning one’s cell.”

Ollie flashed his middle finger up at them as he passed to get to the shower, and they both dissolved into laughter.

Ollie tried to keep his nervous chuckles under control. He was as excited as he was apprehensive, waiting for Teddy to return to their cell. He’d stripped off his clothes after a thorough shower, got himself ready for the night’s activities and waited naked in Teddy’s bed. It was the kind of cheesy welcome back that worked on the silver screen, but the practicality of it left much to be desired.

Thirty minutes had passed with Ollie wrapped up in Teddy’s duvet, trying to look appealing, on his side with his head propped up with his hand, while praying an officer didn’t open the door and demand him out for a cell search.

That would be humiliating.

When he finally heard the beat of footsteps heading across the wing, he resisted the urge to pull the duvet over his face to hide.

The lock opened with a clunk. Teddy grumbled over his shoulder as he came inside, then the door was shut behind him.

Teddy’s gaze snapped to the top bunk, absent of Ollie, before dropping down to his own bed.

“Hi.” Ollie smiled. “I missed you.”

Teddy’s jaw looked dislocated as he gawped. He swayed back and forth like he might pass out, and Ollie had no idea if he was playing along, or if he really was that dumbstruck at Ollie in his bed. Either way, fire surged into Ollie’s face, and he fought every instinct to yank the covers up and giggle beneath them.

Fucking giggle .

It only took four days of withdrawal for Ollie to revert to a childish teenager, red-faced at the thought of sex again.

Teddy swaggered closer, a coy expression on his face, and lifted the duvet to see for himself Ollie really was completely naked in his bed. He lifted his eyebrow, groaning as he zeroed in on Ollie’s hard cock resting against the bed, and the wet patch on the sheet.

The sight of him like that seemed to knock the wind from Teddy’s chest. He deflated, licking his lips, then in a mad scramble, he pulled and tugged at his clothes until he, too, was naked. Ollie shifted as far back in the bed as he could until he hissed as his spine pressed against the brick wall.

Teddy lifted the duvet, sliding beneath, groaning as he smothered Ollie with his body. He pulled Ollie away from the wall, laid Ollie down on his back, then got on top of him.

“Did you miss me too?” Ollie whispered.

Teddy nodded before leaning down to kiss Ollie breathless. It was slow, and sensual, and Ollie melted into it, brushing his tongue against Teddy’s. He chased the kiss when Teddy leaned back but gave up at the stern look he was given.

Teddy sat up and ran his hands over Ollie’s chest, down his arms, up into his hair. Ollie’s eyes fluttered shut as he let himself be inspected from head to toe. Teddy found the bump from the pool cue and let out a questioning rumble.

“It’s nothing.” Ollie sighed.

He knew it was the worst thing to reply with when Teddy remained statue still, all except the slight vibration where he growled his dislike.

“Jonesy messing around.” Ollie reached up and touched the side of his head. “It’s tiny. I’m surprised you can even feel it.”

Teddy lifted an eyebrow.

Of course I can feel it.

He shuffled further down to check Ollie’s legs, circling a bruise beneath Ollie’s knee.

There was another rumble.

“I knocked it on the edge of the bed.”

Teddy exhaled through his nose.

“And I’ve stubbed my big toe too.”

Teddy turned to see for himself, reaching down to tickle the sole of Ollie’s foot.

“Hey,” Ollie squawked, trying to kick out his legs. “That’s not fair.”

Teddy looked at him again.

“I’m okay,” Ollie whispered. “I promise. Just missed you a lot. Did you miss me too?”

Teddy nodded again. He bit his lip as he looked down at Ollie beneath him.

“Get your brain out of the gutter.”

Teddy held out his hands, giving Ollie wide eyes.

It’s your fault it’s there.

Ollie grinned. “But you missed me too, right?”

Teddy touched Ollie’s smile, gazing down at him. He stroked the back of his knuckles against Ollie’s cheek. The look on his face, along with the touch, was tender, and Ollie basked in that warmth.

Yes, Teddy had missed him, he could tell.

“You’re a real sap sometimes, you know that?” Ollie sighed.

Teddy shrugged, then brushed a hand down Ollie’s chest to his eagerly waiting cock. He gave it a squeeze, an unprompted reminder that he’d been thinking about this too.

Ollie gasped, rocking his hips, but Teddy was sat on his thighs, pinning him to the bed.

“Can…can I sit on top of you?”

Teddy raised his eyebrow, suspicion squinted his eyes, but he obliged, shifting until he was flat on his back with Ollie straddling him.

Teddy’s cock strained, arching away from his belly. Ollie took hold of him, swiping his thumb over the precum-covered head.

Teddy hummed his pleasure as his eyes closed. Ollie continued to stroke him, and Teddy sighed in bliss, slipping his hands behind his head. Ollie kept one hand on Teddy’s cock, while stroking over Teddy’s abs with his other. They were defined, covered in soft dark hair the same shade as Teddy’s beard. Ollie switched hands to rub his wet one over Teddy’s chest, licking his lips at the precum he’d plastered to Teddy’s hair.

Seeing his sticky chest made Ollie’s cock jump.

It wasn’t enough. Ollie wanted more cum on Teddy’s body, his cum.

Teddy exhaled again. A small smile curled his lips. Ollie made them part when he started using both hands on Teddy’s cock at the same time.

Teddy looked like he was in utter paradise, and Ollie was happy keeping him there, slowly working Teddy’s cock, but he had a plan.

One born out of desperation and need.

Ollie shuffled up the bed on his knees, lifting Teddy’s cock, getting it in the right position. He pressed Teddy’s slick cock head to his hole, baring down enough to open himself, but not enough for Teddy’s cock to enter.

Teddy’s eyes shot open. He stopped breathing.

Ollie froze too, and they were suspended in the moment.

“I got myself ready for you,” Ollie blurted. “Had a shower, then used my fingers…”

Teddy’s wide eyes fixed on Ollie’s mouth as he waited for him to say more.

“I stretched myself open in your bed.” Ollie bit his lip. “I almost came a few times but managed to hold back.”

He wanted this; he wanted it so much he’d beg for it.

Teddy took in a deep breath, closing his eyes, then eased it out while shaking his head. Ollie’s gut sank for all of two seconds, then Teddy began to chuckle, and he reopened his eyes, gazing up at Ollie.

His smile said many things, awe, and disbelief, and maybe there was ‘you mischievous shit’ thrown in there too.

“I’ve been very patient,” Ollie reminded him with a pout. “But there’s only so much a guy can take.”

Teddy sighed again, taking hold of Ollie’s hips. He pulled him down, letting Ollie’s hole sink over him. Ollie dug his nails into Teddy as he was stuffed full. His mouth hung open, and his eyes were wide.

Teddy’s groan was pure pleasure as Ollie bottomed out. It was the best sound in the whole damn world, and Ollie wanted to hear it as many times as he could. He lifted onto his knees, letting Teddy’s cock drag over his prostate on the way out before lowering himself again.

He’d had Teddy’s fingers, and his tongue, and it was no surprise to Ollie he loved taking his cock too. There was something extra hot about pulling Teddy all the way out, and having his cock open him up all over again. The vulnerability every time and the oh my God moment of realising Teddy was inside him like that.

“I love it already,” Ollie admitted after only taking him in three times.

It was heat, and intrusion, and the feeling of being opened up by the only man Ollie had ever trusted. Each time he sank down, he got bolder, harder. It didn’t hurt. Teddy loved using his fingers on Ollie, all of them; he could take the stretch, but the depth was new. He slowed down just to feel every inch of Teddy sliding into him, amazed at his body swallowing him up.

“Why have you denied me this so long?” Ollie asked with an extra whiny quality to his voice.

Teddy surged up, and Ollie gripped his shoulders as he shuffled around to rest his back to the wall. They were face to face, both panting, and Ollie’s question seemed to hang there.

Teddy brushed his fingers across Ollie’s flushed forehead, then cupped his face. The intense look in Teddy’s gaze fluttered Ollie’s heart, and he understood.

He’d made Ollie wait so he could look at Ollie like that, and Ollie would look right back at him in the same way. It was sex, but it was more, so much more.

Ollie had the voice to say what it was, but he didn’t.

He didn’t, just in case it was one of those rare times, the one in ten times, where he’d misunderstood. His heart raced, fluttering in his chest. Teddy pushed his back off the wall, wrapping an arm around Ollie to keep them pressed together. He didn’t look away from Ollie’s eyes, and Ollie didn’t look away from his, and they both felt the other’s heart pounding. It was erotic and romantic, and Teddy held him like that for a few minutes before settling against the wall once again and gripping Ollie’s hips.

He started lifting and lowering, lifting and lowering, finding a rhythm between them without looking away.

Ollie’s eyes burned, and he shut them before he could do something as mortifying as crying.

Teddy kissed him, and Ollie reciprocated. It was wet, hot, and messy with the scratch of damp beard and the softness of Teddy’s lips.

Ollie surrendered to him; he surrendered his mouth, and his body too, as Teddy moved him up and down over his cock.

“I’m not going to last much longer,” Ollie gasped.

Teddy pushed Ollie’s hips down, impaling him on his cock. He reached for Ollie’s cock, and jerked him until he was coming, striping Teddy’s chest with his release. Ollie crashed forward, pressing his face into Teddy’s throat. He looked down at the cum dripping down Teddy’s chest, his cum, then stroked it into the hair.

Teddy swept his hands up and down Ollie’s back, rumbling softly in his chest, flexing his hips as if he was trying his hardest not to.

Ollie snorted against him. “You can keep going.”

He looked up in time to see the ‘thank fuck’ expression on Teddy’s face, then Teddy resumed manhandling him, lifting and pulling down, using Ollie like a fleshlight.

The thought made Ollie shiver.

He loved being used by Teddy, and from the way Teddy shuddered and shook as he came, he loved using him too.

He shifted, still inside Ollie and pushed him down to the bed.

Ollie smiled as they kissed. “Again?”

Teddy nodded, then sucked a mark into Ollie’s neck.

He pinned Ollie’s wrists to the pillow, pressing down his weight onto Ollie’s chest. Ollie bit his lip at the sticky chest hair dragging over his skin.

He closed his eyes and got to experience what it was like to be worshipped, to be made love to.

Nonsense words.

Cliché.

But he couldn’t get enough of them all the same.