Cell Mates (boyxboy) (Book 1: Behind Bars)

Chapter 32: Poodles and huskies

Chapter 32

~Riley's POV~

"Tell me about your family."

I don't know how many questions I'd asked him since we'd come out here, but like all the rest he took this one in stride and told me what I needed to know.

"Not much to tell really, my mom died when I was too young to even know what it meant and I grew up with my dad. He's...well he's my dad, I haven't seen or heard from him since I blew off law school to become an agent."

He picked up another stone and skipped it across the surface of the lake, where it bounced a few times before plunging in. We had walked for about an hour before we'd come upon this place, then we'd made our seats on the lake's edge, sitting side by side and taking in the beauty of the earth around us. It was quiet and serene. The lake itself was large and green from the refection of the trees that surrounded it and it seemed all the plants here flourished.

I picked up a rock of my own, brushed away the dirt and twisted it in my hand a few times before throwing in into the lake...it didn't skip, it just sank.

"Don't you miss him?"

"He told me he'd disown me if I left and I left so that's the end of that story." He didn't answer my question but I could read between the lines well enough and I inched closer to him so that our sides were pressed together.

He picked up another rock and I watched him turn it around and around slowly before he dropped it and picked up another.

"I can't imagine you as a lawyer...guess you really wanted to join the FBI huh?"

"I didn't actually, I always wanted to be a lawyer, my dad groomed me for the job from the day I was born." A small smile curved his lips and I thought that maybe it would be good for him to see his dad again. He clearly loved the man.

"Then why didn't you go to law school? Why join the FBI if it wasn't something you really wanted to do?"

He didn't answer right away and I remained silent as I watched him contemplate my question.

"The year I was supposed to go was the year John lost his entire family. He was...troubled, said he was gonna join the army, said he was sick of the bad guys getting their way and wanted to do something about it. I tried to talk him out of it but he wasn't thinking straight."

He paused.

"Eventually I managed to convince him that the army wasn't the best fit for him and told him that if he wanted to do something he should join the FBI, he still wouldn't listen so I told him we'd do it together, if I hadn't, he'd have enlisted."

To say I was shocked wouldn't do my emotions justice.

"Jesus are you saying someone killed his entire family?"

He nodded.

I shook my head "Wow, I had no idea...jeez...poor John. But would it have been so bad to let him enlist? I mean he was hurting, it might have been a good place to lose himself, maybe take his mind off all that."

"He wasn't going there to take his mind off things Riley. He wanted to die and probably figured that was the best way to go."

My eyes widened of their own accord "How do you know that?"

"Because I know him."

My mind was a jumbled mess then. To lose your entire family like that, I guess I couldn't really blame John for wanting to die and I wondered what I'd have done if I was in the same position.