Detain the Beast

Chapter Four

Three words. Three small, simple words and I'm breathless.

The silence is so deafening, I need to take large and unnatural gulps of air.

"You... you can talk!" My voice is almost accusing but for some reason, there is a tinge of relief. Possibly because I was getting tired of talking to a wall every day.

He rolls his eyes, leaning his back against the bed rest. He doesn't grace me with a reply

"Why haven't you been talking to me if you can, then?" I question, furrowing my brows.

"Simple." He doesn't look at me, stretching his knuckles in front of his face. "I don't want to."

My mouth drops, like a gymnast falling from their trapeze. "What have I done?" I'm ashamed by the hurt laced within my voice.

He looks at me and his eyes, usually piercing, soften. But he says nothing.

"Whatever. Let's not talk." I whisper and his eyebrows raise. 

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The days churn and the weeks disappear and we only ever make eye contact. But there's something about the way he watches me. The way he just sits, for minutes at a time, staring at my every movement. The way he gazes me like he's never studied anything so interesting.

Being in jail is routine. Wake up, eat, do nothing, eat, do nothing, eat, sleep. Except for the one thing I just couldn't do properly.

"Augustus?" I whisper, biting down on my stubbornness. 

He looks up from his book, surprised.

"How do you... how do you shower here? Because, you know, there's that two-minute time limit and it's completely pitch black and I don't know where the soap is and the water doesn't seem to go warm and I just... well, you always look clean after your shower." I mumble, so embarrassed, I can't bear to lift my chin from my neck.

He walks over to me and I meet his gaze. "My shower time is in exactly one minute. Follow me and I will show you." He says nonchalantly before turning away and facing the door.

"Shower... with you." I blush. "Uh, is that even allowed?"

"Every prisoner has a specific time to use the single shower. As you know, our door is open and we walk directly to our left to get to the shower room. It is pitch black. No-one will see."

"I know that... but surely there are guards."

"Belle, I've been here for two years now. They don't want to see me clean my f*cking dick anymore. There are also three more heavily guarded doors before I can even reach the next cell." His voice turns sour but I only focus one thing.

"You know what my name is?"

"It's not a particularly hard one to remember. Now, stop asking questions."

I let him take my wrist and watch as the door opens. It's familiar but in an unfamiliar way. Instead of my usual rush to the shower, I'm latched onto a male that doesn't like me, basically pressing my entire body against his side.

He leads me out of the cell and I'm squinting my eyes in fear because I'm sure we're going to get caught. But suddenly a voice shakes me out of my trance.

"Take off your clothes."

"Excuse me?" I hiss, throwing a glare in the direction of his voice.

"You're underneath the showerhead. Take off your clothes." He repeats impatiently. I don't know him well but I know that he rolled his eyes.

"Can you see me?" I whisper.

"It's pitch black. I can't see anything." He replies in a huff.

Without another thought except for the two-minute time limit, I strip my clothes and reach for shower knob to turn it on. But I can't find it.

"I can't-"

"You're too short." He mutters and immediately the freezing water hits my naked body. "There is no warm water."

Soap is pressed into my hand and I rub it all over my shivering body. He then hands me a tube of what I can only assume is shampoo. So I pour some over my head and run my fingers through the drenched curls.

"W-what about y-you? It's you-your shower t-time." I'm trembling so hard from the water I can hardly speak.

"I am showering as well." He whispers after a lingering pause.

I freeze.

"Y-you're showering too? N-naked?"

"How else do you shower?" He mumbles with a small growl of annoyance and suddenly I feel his bare chest brush against my back.

Oh my god...

"We are all naked under our clothes, Belle. Get over it."

I know I need to calm down but his lower body regions are basically next to mine and I can't breathe. This is not okay-

His hands rest on my shoulders and I freeze.

"Hand me the shampoo. We have less than 30 seconds left."

My arm shakes violently as I lift the bottle over my shoulder, our fingers brushing. Before he removes himself from my body, he slightly caresses the side of my neck and I am unsure whether it was an accident or purposeful. 

"The towel should be directly in front of you. Take it and go back to the cell."

"Do you have a towel?"

"I'll survive."

I wrap it around my body and dash for cell door. I cover my goosebump infested body with clothes and dive into the lukewarm bed sheets.

Augustus arrives only seconds later, dressed in fresh clothes and looking painstakingly perfect.

"I assume you'll be able to shower by yourself next time?" He asks with a raised brow, taking the used towel I had thrown on the floor and hanging it over his bed frame.

He likes a perfectly clean room, I note.

"Yes. Thanks." I mumble, scrunching my face in embarrassment.

"Good."