AllFreeNovel
Share Us
ARCHER
The brick-red paint is peeling off the walls. There’s no place to sit but a hard, concrete block. Even the cell bars are rusted, and when I touch them, flakes of metal slice my palms.
Paradise is nice. Paradise’s jail cells, however, could use a renovation.
Fuerza Pública scooped up both Finley and me at the scene of the explosion. By the time they arrived, the Mustang was nothing but twisted metal and the caustic smell of burning.
They put Finley and me in handcuffs and shoved us in separate cars. Then came the interrogation. The rapid-fire questions to which I had no good responses, so I kept my mouth shut. And now this. A five-by-four cell with no windows, no company, and only a small toilet, which by the smell of it hasn’t been working in some time.
I don’t know how long I’ve been here. Hours. Days. There’s a fluorescent light in the hallway that hasn’t dimmed since I got here. Every now and then, a man in a uniform will walk down the hall, or another inmate will shout something in Spanish.
One way or another, I was always going to end up here, wasn’t I? Dead or in prison. That’s the only outcome for men like me, nine lives or not.
So I sit. And wait. And worry about Finley.
Now that the adrenaline has worn off, the pain is finally coming through. I feel the places where I’ve been bruised and battered. My damage catching up with me. I’m going to be sore. For a long time.
But nothing hurts more than being apart from her.
Eventually, the sound of boots clomping down the hall rouses me. I look up, lifting my head from my slouched position. A stout officer takes out a set of keys, unlocks my cell, and opens the door.
He speaks in Spanish. I blink at him. Finally, he says a word I understand: “Adios.”
I exit the cell before he changes his mind. I walk down the hall and toward the exit slowly. I keep looking over my shoulder, waiting for someone to grab me. A SWAT team or a guard with a Taser, maybe.
There’s no way I could be free. There’s no way they can simply let me walk out.
But I go into the lobby. And there’s a familiar face.
Finley rises from her chair when she sees me. She’s wearing a sunflower-yellow dress with a belt around her middle and a blazer to match. Thick glasses covering her eyes. Those perfect, soft lips which draw into a pout when she sees me.
I want nothing more than to scoop her in my arms and crush her mouth against mine. But when I go to her, she takes a single step backward. Listening to her body language, I stop in my tracks.
“Mr. Archer,” she says, her voice professional, loud enough for the surrounding officers to hear, “you look like you’ve seen better days. How has your stay been?”
I shrug and hold my wrist. “I’ve had worse Holiday Inns.”
She turns away from me and approaches the man at the front desk. They talk a bit in Spanish—I can’t make it out, but I assume it has something to do with finalizing my release. He pushes a piece of paper across the desk to her, which she signs, and then shares an amicable smile with the man before returning to me.
“What did you tell them?” I murmur quietly as we make our way out.
Her honey eyes flicker over me, as though wounded by the accusation. “The truth,” she states. “I’m an American student traveling for my studies…and you’re my bodyguard. You were just doing your job. Protecting me.”
My heart swells for this clever, wonderful woman in front of me.
The naked light of day is blinding. Finley dons a pair of sunglasses as she walks to the car. “One of the stipulations of your release was that we leave the island. Today. So, where to next? I’ve heard Puerto Rico is beautiful—”
I stop in front of her and plant my feet. “New York. To school.”
The edge of her mouth turns downward. “Archer, I—”
“You deserve it. No more running.”
“And what about you?”
I slip my hand up her arm and rub my thumb into her soft shoulder. “I’ll be right there with you. No matter what we do, we do it together. I promised you that, and I stand by it.”
She has a small cut on her forehead. A stubbornness in the crease of her mouth. She’s strong. The strongest woman I know. The sun hits her skin, brightens her hair, and she seems radiant with it.
