What Makes a Man? (Sensible Hearts #1)
Page 24
"I grew up here." Tony gave him a small shove.
"If you don't become a cop, you become me."
"You're a good kid." His hand pushed on the top of Dom's head as he got into the back seat of the cop car.
"I'm a shitty book," he mumbled when the door closed and no-one could hear him.
His head dropped back and eyes closed as Nyla came to mind. The look on her face before he took a bullet to the chest would haunt him forever, especially because it was the last time he would see her. The text she sent his phone after finding out he didn't die was relayed to him by his mother, and it would forever be engraved on his pages.
'Everyone deserves the chance to write the pages to their own book. You've been determined to make your book a tragedy. Why'd you do it Dom? Don't answer that. Don't contact me anymore. I can sleep better knowing you're not dead, but at this rate, I'm just going to be wondering how long until you manage that. Love's cruel, you're crueler. I deserve a better ending.'
Not The End
Sensible Hearts 2- Coming Soon
"Guard!"
I hear the word screamed over and over but not before a blunt object penetrates the flesh below my ribs and is yanked toward my back, leaving a sizable gash. The pain is searing and quickly begins to drain the energy I had, but I don't stop fighting. Tracking down the person responsible is futile in this mass war that started between two inmates and rapidly grew.
A battalion cracks over the curve of my neck and shoulder and it drops me to my knees, but I don't let go of Rupert, and he goes down with me. There's so much commotion and my vision is getting foggy. Wait… it's not fog. It's tear gas and as my lungs seize, the last thing I see is my only friend in this place, Rupert, holding his slashed neck.
3 days
"Dominic. Focus on the question. Who was the initial altercation between? You seem to be the only person to witness the fight start."
My only friend in this hellhole was murdered and they want me to focus on questions. I woke in excruciating pain because inmates aren't treated with the same respect as victims outside the prison walls, and they aren't given a full dose of pain pills. Fuck 'em. I don't need pills. I can get through this like I do everything else. Grit my teeth behind closed lips so no-one witnesses my weaknesses.
"Rupert and Amos." I look the warden in the eyes but she can't hold my gaze longer than three seconds.
"Did you hear words exchanged?"
"Nothing I want to repeat." I turn my head and clench my teeth as the pathetic pain pill begins to wear off.
"Dominic, we need your assistance. You're being considered for early release. This isn't worth protecting them over. You're the better man."
"Racial slurs, Ms. Pires. They slung racial slurs back and forth. That's the only reason I don't want to repeat it. Rupert told me everything, and he never once mentioned having a problem with Amos. I can't tell you with assurance that Amos started that fight, but it wouldn't be the first time he's started something with another inmate."
"Who had the weapons?"
"Amos for sure had something. He slit…" Clamping my bottom lip, I try to rid the image of Rupert's two kids from my mind. Those kids needed their father when he was released. "He slit Rupe's throat."
"And who attacked you?"
"No idea." I exhale heavy and rub my eyes. "It got out of control. You believe me, right?"
"About what?"
"My involvement."
"Yes, Dominic." She manages a smile but it's tired and sad and that worries me this will interfere with my request for appeal. "You should have never been here to begin with. Life's a bumpy road and it's up to you to smooth the bumps."
That right there is why I've put any trust I have left in Ms. Pires. She reminds me of a girl I fell in love with at seventeen. The girl that's been on my mind for the past seven years. The girl I won't ever see again, but that taught me to be a smooth road, a good book, the man I want to be. I owe her something and considering how the last contact I had with her seven years ago turned out, I think that something is to leave her the hell alone. But everyone deserves the chance to write the pages to their own book…
H.Q. Frost
H.Q. Frost's other works
Life on Pause: http://amzn.to/1qok2Fp
UnPaused: http://amzn.to/1qokcwg
Destructive Gods: http://amzn.to/2575mO0
What makes a man?: http://amzn.to/1UEIrOZ
H.Q. Frost/M. Dauphin coauthored works
For3ver : http://amzn.to/1TRH0z5
BANG: http://amzn.to/1XvlbIl
Little Bird: http://amzn.to/1OswTwk