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Slade doesn’t approve of this little visit. He thinks I’m doing more harm than good, but he’s not going to stand in my way, not after I told him how important this is for me. I’m freaking lucky that he agreed to take me. I would have been more than happy to sit on the bus for four long hours and do it alone, but having him by my side is going to make this awfulness bearable.
We walk through the door and are instantly hit with prison guards. We’re put through a metal detector and then told to join the end of the line. I look around while Slade stays glued to my back. There are more people here than I imagined, though it is a Sunday afternoon. I’m sure all the monsters inside are missing their families despite being awful people. I guess when it comes down to it, we’re all human after all.
I get to the front of the line and look up at the guard. “Do you have an appointment?” he questions, full of boredom.
“Yes,” I say, getting a sharp look from Slade. “Skylah Daniels.”
“ID?”
I nod and quickly fish it out of my bag then hand it over. “When the hell did you make an appointment?” Slade questions as the guard looks over my ID.
“Last night,” I say, guiltily averting my eyes. “I figured if I had an appointment, it’d be harder to back out of it.”
A scoff of disbelief comes flying out of him. “So, this morning when you said this was a spur of the moment kind of thing, that was just…”
“A lie,” I confirm.
He shakes his head. “Why am I not surprised?”
I grin to myself. Don’t get me wrong, I don’t like deceiving Slade but seeing the look on his face when he figures it out is always fun. No one lies to this guy. It’s like an unspoken rule. They’re far too scared to even try…but not me, and damn it, it’s thrilling as hell.
The guard hands me back my ID and produces a clipboard with a sign-in sheet as I slip my ID into the back pocket of my jeans. He turns the clipboard to face me and points to a section on the edge of the paper. “Sign and date here,” he instructs. “You’ll need to sign again when you leave.”
I get on with it and as soon as I hand the pen back, the nerves start weighing down in my stomach. I let out a shaky breath as Slade puts his hand on my lower back, watching as the guard looks over the clipboard. “Okay, Skylah,” he says, pointing toward another security check. “Come through.”
Slade and I make our move but the guard stops him with a hand on his chest. He shakes his head, looking back at Slade. “Just her.”
His brows furrow. “What? No. She’s not going through there without me.”
The guy glares, not in the least fazed by Slade’s bullshit over-protectiveness. “Then I guess she doesn’t go.”
Slade looks to me as I look back at the guard. What am I going to do? The thought of going in there without him makes me feel sick, but at the same time, I was prepared to do this with or without him. I need to do this.
I glance at Slade, gently resting my hand against his arm. “I’ll be okay.”
“Get fucked. You’re not going in there alone.”
“Slade,” I say a little firmer. “I swear, I’ll be fine. He can’t hurt me. He’s going to be behind glass.”
“That’s not what I’m worried about.” My brows furrow and he continues at my confusion. “I know you, Sky, and the second you see his face you’re either going to break down and have some sort of panic attack or you’re going to go ape shit and get yourself arrested.”
I mean, he’s not wrong. “Well then, let’s hope it’s the second option. That one sounds a little exciting.”
Slade groans. “Come on, we’ll come back another time when we can both get through.”
I meet his eyes, completely opening up to him and letting him know this is going to be okay. “I don’t want to ever come back here again. It would kill me more knowing that I got so close to finishing this and chickened out at the last minute. I have to do this, Slade. No matter what the cost. This man murdered my parents and kidnapped me and Blake. He sold us. He is where this all began and I’m not going to let him get the best of me now.”
“But…”
“I’m going to be okay,” I whisper. “I’ve faced worse.”
The guard sighs, clearly bored of our indecisive bullshit. “What’s it going to be?”
Slade runs his hand through his hair, his eyes blazing with fear. “If he even tries to get inside your head, I want you out of there.” Relief rushes through me and I push up onto my tippy-toes to press a kiss to his cheek. “I’ll be right here when you’re done.”
