Behind Bars

Chapter 8

Chapter 8:

Jay didn't say a word to me the next morning. I didn't go out of my way to say anything to him either. It wasn't that we were ignoring one another. It's more like we were avoiding confrontation. If we spoke to each other, it would most likely end in an argument that would leave us both pissed at one another. Us not speaking saved us from having to apologize to one another later on.

We walked to breakfast, got our food, then sat down at our usual table. Wallace joined us shortly after we sat down.

“Good morning, love birds.” he grinned at us.

I just glared at him.

“Aw, trouble in paradise?”

“Aw, you want to get bitch slapped?” I snapped at him.

“Oh! It's just her time of the month.”

“Dude, shut the fuck up.” Jay snapped at him.

“I didn't know it was your's as well.” Wallace said to Jay. That's when Wallace really looked at him. “What happened to your face? You look uglier than usual.”

Jay took a deep breath, trying to calm down on his anger. He shoved the last of his food in his mouth, then threw his tray away. He didn't come back to the table. Instead he just left the cafeteria.

“Wow, someone woke up on the wrong side of the bed this morning.” Wallace said.

“He's just in a bad mood after last night.” I sighed.

“Did you turn him down or something?”

“Nah, some guard beat the shit out of him. He was in a bad mood when he came back all bloodied up last night. He won't tell me what happened either.”

“I think I know.”

I turned to him. “What?”

“I heard one of the other inmates talking about how the guards wanted to bang some chick. You must have been that chick.” he explains.

“That still doesn't explain why he would get beaten up.”

“Maybe Jay was trying to defend your honor or some bull shit reason like that.”

I scoff. “Yeah, right. Why would Jay stand up for me?

“He's in loooovvveee with you.” Wallace said.

We looked at each other for a minute, then burst out laughing. Jay being in love with me? That was impossible. Not to mention, crazy. We were just friends. I'm not even sure if you could call what we have friendship. Blackmailship sounds correct.

The bell rings. Everyone starts heading back to their cells. Jay is laying on his cot. His eyes are closed and I can't tell whether he is asleep or just resting. Perhaps he's meditating. Then again, he doesn't seem like the sort of guy that would meditate.

“You okay?” I asked him.

He opens his eyes. With one eyebrow up, he turns to me. “Hmm?”

“Are you okay?” I ask again.

Jay sits up. “I'm fine.”

“You don't look like it.”

“I look like hell.” he agrees.

“Wallace told me what had happened.”

“Did he?”

“Yeah. Something about you defending my honor or something like that.”

He just nods, not saying anything.

“I just want to know......”

“Yes?”

“Why would you do that?”

He get's up, with a sigh, and sits down next to me. “Whether you like to admit it or not, you're defenseless in here. Someone has to show everyone that you're off limits. If I didn't stop the guards from talking shit about you, then they would try something. Something that you wouldn't like. I did my best to prevent that from happening.”

I grabbed his hand. “I'm a big girl, Jay. I can take care of myself. That's kind of why I ended up in prison.”

“Why did you end up here?” he asks.

I shook my head. “I don't want to talk about it.”

“Fine.”

We just sat there in comfortable silence. My hand was still holding his. It was nice, not fighting with him. We had to stick together if we both wanted to make it out of this place. And we would get out of here. Together.