I’m going to rub it in his face that they offered me the position as head of the department.
And rub it in even more that I turned it down like it meant nothing.
Of course it didn’t mean nothing.
But he doesn’t need to know that.
A guard buzzes me and a couple of other visitors through the first steel door, then through a second.
I empty my pockets into a plastic tray, walk through the metal detector. A pair of homophobic eyes slide over me and stay a bit too long.
Not my first time visiting an ex in prison.
I follow the guard down the corridor. It feels like walking through a bunker, grey concrete and fluorescent lights.
They bring me into the public visiting room with steel tables and plastic chairs. Deep Diver is already there, smiling at me like we’re about to have coffee instead of… whatever this is.
“Raynor,” I say. I think it’s the first time I actually call him by his name. The whole island knows him as Deep Diver. Part of the reason I wanted to keep our encounters in the dark. Being calledDeep Diver’s house reefwould be hard to live down on an island like this.
I sit down. He looks at me with a glint in his eyes, a big grin to match.
Then he grips my hands on the table.
“No touching!” a guard barks, but I’ve already pulled my hands back. Heat rushes to my face.
“Don’t do that,” I hiss at him.
He leans back in his chair and folds his arms. “Alright. You’re with the rockstar now, right?”
“If you mean Tom, then yes. He’s my boyfriend.”
“That hurts,” he says with a crooked smile. “Didn’t think you were capable of committing. At least, that’s what you’ve been saying for the last couple of years. Guess I’m not a rockstar.”
I roll my eyes. “I don’t want to discuss this.”
“I actually met Rockstar at the dive bar. Spicy wild thing. Would’ve fucked his straight ass too.”
“Ray…” I had all my words ready to put him in place, but suddenly all of them stay stuck in my throat. Instead I tip my head and change the conversation.
“How do you feel here?”
“It sucks, obviously. I miss the ocean. But I have to say…” He leans forward, cupping a hand beside his mouth as he whispers. “It’s fucking gay heaven in here.”
I burst out laughing. It immediately catches the guard’s attention. She shoots us a sharp look.
“I get it,” I say. “I’ve been in the army.”
“I swear, Yosh. At first they thought I’d just spread my ass and let them go for it. But I tell them, ah-ah—I’m Deep Diver, I’m the one doing the bottom exploring. Most of them walk off annoyed, some even furious. But give them a few days, a week tops. They all come crawling back with a condom and a packet of mayonnaise.”
I cover my eyes. “Shut up, that’s gross.”
“Now I even charge for my services. Or they offer protection in return.” He shrugs. “Prison could’ve been worse.”
I give him a small nod. His eyes dart sideways, pointing at a family a little further off. Big guy full of tatts, his wife and a little boy visiting.
“Did him an hour ago. Probably a little sore when he walked into the visitation room.”
I don’t want to, but again, I chuckle a bit too loud. Both the guard and the guy are staring at us now. It has Deep Diver smiling at me like he wants to undress me.
