Page 133 of Fragments

But I also know that Dash has been the least contained prisoner I’ve met in my five years of being here. He seems almost… too big for this place.

If anyone could break out and soar free, it would be him.

Pursing my lips over my grin, I ruffle his hair that’s been slowly growing back. He chuckles and finally lets me go.

This isn’t the end, I tell myself, desperate to believe it.

Maybe it’s just the beginning.

The next day…

Walking the halls to the cafeteria, my gaze, unsurprisingly, is on Lex. The familiar slope of his neck, and all those spots I’ve loved kissing whenever he’s ever allowed me the opportunity. It might be my favorite part of him.

I mean, he has no shortage of amazing body parts. Masculine hands, a torso of cut lines that appear effortlessly panted on. The gemlike eyes, those puffy pink lips… His dick.

Lord, help me, that beautiful, big dick.It deserves to have statues of it erected…

LoLz.

But his neck, I find to be purelywondrousterrain. The bridge between his broad, sculpted shoulders and the sharp jawline that blazes the trail to his brainy noggin. Theneck—mainly his throat and that sensitive spot behind his ear—is a sexy little erogenous zone my lips are constantly pining to explore. Maybe leave some purple marks in their wake.

I gave him a hickey once. It was when we first started hooking up way back when, and naturally he wasn’t amused. He felt like I was doing it on purpose, tobrandhim.

He was totally right.

The way I see it, he’s always been mine, whether he realizes it or not…Agree to disagree, I guess.

Right now, though, my appreciation for Lexington’s creamy, unmarked flesh is being sullied by the frown tugging at his mouth, and the worry in his eyes as he watches the person walking in front of us… Dash.

He’s so invested in watching Dash that he didn’t even hear me speaking to him. So I graze my fingers on his lower back and try again, “You okay?”

Lex flinches at my touch, face flinging in my direction tofinallyacknowledge me. “Huh?” My brow arches, and he sighs. “I’m sorry, I’m just…” His eyes dart to Dash once more before he whispers, “I’m worried about Dash. He seems really off today…”

“Yea, you know what? I did notice that myself.” I nod animatedly.

“Really??”

“No, babe,” I huff, and he rolls his eyes. “Dash isalwaysoff. Not a day has gone by in the two months we’ve known him when he didn’t seem like the voices in his head were reciting every line fromFull Metal Jacket.”

“Ren, be serious,” Lex grunts. “He’s our friend. We should be supporting him, not making fun of him behind his back.”

My gaze narrows and I give him a studious look. I won’t pretend it still doesn’t irk me just the tiniest bit that he’s so damn attentive to Dash’s feelings.

You might not have realized this because I hide itso well, but I’m a jealous fuck. And I just don’tunderstandtheir relationship.

Yes, they’re cellmates, and they spend pretty much every minute of the day together—when Dash isn’t in solitary, that is. But still, I can’t fathom the protectiveness, to an almost overbearing degree, that Lex has for Dash.

Maybe Lex knows something he isn’t letting on… Some intimate details about the complexities of our pretty, Russian friend. I’d really like to press him about it, but now’s not the time. Not when Dash is right in front of us, twitching and glancing all around like a motel room crackhead.

We file into the caf, and as soon as his cuffs are off, Dash is booking it across the room. In the wrong direction.

“Where is he going?” Kang mutters, clearly just as confused as the rest of us.

“I should go check on him,” Lex says, ready to static cling to his bestie. But I grab him by the shirt, redirecting him over to our table.

“Leave him be. Sheesh, you’re like a mother hen,” I grumble. “Go sit down with Byron, and I’ll get your food. Dash will be right over, I’m sure.”

He doesn’t seem confident in the plan, but he does it anyway, following Byron to our table while I scurry up to the line and grab our food.