Caleb pretended not to understand Marcus' innuendo. After all, if he wasn't embarrassed, then the embarrassment fell on someone else.Hector and the patrol team arrived at the recreational room quickly. Since Marcus had been too violent, Hector couldn't handle the treatment. They had to call an ambulance and send Mikey to an external hospital.The investigation was straightforward.An inmate had distracted the correctional officer stationed at the stairwell, and another had lured Caleb to the recreational room. Then, Mikey had revealed his lewd intentions. During the ensuing fight, Marcus heard the noise of the filing cabinets crashing and came to help Caleb.With this little interlude during yard time coming to a close, the warden would decide the specific rewards and punishments.Once the excitement in the library had died down and the clock struck two, the inmates were ushered out by the correctional officers to begin their work in the factory area behind the administration bui
Whenever Marcus started wrapping his hands with boxing tape, it was a sure sign that he was about to take off his shirt and work up a sweat in front of the punching bag in his bedroom. After every session, he would stand by the window and unwrap the tape with practiced ease.It was a casual motion that Caleb couldn't take his eyes off of.What he used to see only through binoculars was now happening right before his eyes—an ordinary action that somehow felt more thrilling than a striptease."Do you want to learn, Officer Johnson?" Marcus asked, noticing Caleb's dazed expression."What?" Caleb snapped out of his trance. "No.""I can teach you."Without waiting for a response, Marcus reached between Caleb's parted legs with his left hand, grabbing the edge of the rolling chair and pulling him forward without any warning. The sudden acceleration caused Caleb to lean back, and when the chair came to an abrupt halt, he lurched forward from the momentum, nearly bumping his nose against
So, Marcus' idea of seduction was just kissing him directly? Wasn't that a bit too straightforward and crude? Or perhaps Marcus was simply that aggressive by nature.Caleb's eyelashes fluttered as he fought the urge to close his eyes.But just as their lips were about to touch, Marcus suddenly changed direction. As his lips brushed against Caleb's cheek, he whispered in his ear, "Officer Johnson, could you check if I got bitten by a mosquito?"After saying that, Marcus pulled back slightly, tugging at his collar to expose the area around his collarbone.The warmth of Marcus' lips still lingered on Caleb's cheek as he mechanically shifted his gaze to the spot Marcus indicated. With Marcus leaning forward and tilting his chin up, Caleb could see not only his collarbone but also the prominent Adam's apple above it.Mosquito bite, his ass—that was the thought that popped into Caleb's mind.Marcus' smooth, tanned skin was completely unblemished. There were no signs of a mosquito bite.
"Why are you here?" Caleb asked with a frown."I came to see you, Officer Johnson," Lucas replied in an eerie tone."Me?" Caleb was puzzled. "Why?"Lucas' gaze shifted toward Marcus, clearly signaling that he didn't want to speak with the other inmate present.Caleb checked the time and said to Marcus, "You should go."Marcus stood up and walked toward Lucas. Knowing the older man was not someone to mess with, Lucas instinctively shrank back, pressing himself against the wall as Marcus approached."See you tomorrow, Officer Johnson," Marcus said, turning back to Caleb before leaving.Caleb couldn't help but recall the moment Marcus' lips had brushed against his cheek, causing his ears to start to warm up involuntarily. Thankfully, Marcus quickly exited, and Caleb regained his composure.He turned to the lurking Lucas at the door. "Did you need something from me?"Lucas still had that eerie expression on his face as he asked, "Officer Johnson, do you trade stocks?""Stocks?" C
Some well-behaved or low-risk inmates were assigned tasks to assist the correctional officers, such as distributing supplies or cleaning.Caleb suspected that Lucas' so-called "undercover work" was just him helping out in the administrative department. But what puzzled him was how Lucas had connected him to the Chess Wizard."I tracked the IP address of the Chess Wizard from the stock trading forums, and it led me to Southern Prison," Lucas said, raising his right index finger and pretending to push up imaginary glasses on his nose. "Then, I filtered through the people in the prison who have access to computers and found out that they're all administrative correctional officers."In terms of computer access, the patrol team could be completely ruled out, so the search was narrowed down to the administrative building.But that wasn't the key point.Caleb quickly zeroed in on the most crucial piece of information from Lucas' story—the Chess Wizard was in Southern Prison."Next, I w
"Chief, I haven't finished talking yet! I really need to express my admiration for you. Ever since I-""Alright, that's enough. Just go. You can express it later."Caleb wasn't the Chess Wizard, so there was no reason for him to accept Lucas' admiration.After the correctional officer escorted Lucas away, Caleb stared at the bandages on his hands for a moment before setting his thoughts aside. He unwound the bandages and made his way to the warden's office on the third floor.When the walkie-talkie had gone off earlier, Caleb had already guessed why Victor might be calling him. And as expected, it was to discuss what kind of reward should be given to Marcus for stepping in to help when Mikey attacked."Officer Johnson, you were there. What's your take on this?" Victor asked.In all fairness, Caleb believed that the reward shouldn't be too excessive, given that the situation hadn't been particularly dire. Even if Marcus hadn't intervened, Caleb felt confident that he could have ha
However, Victor seemed not to have heard Caleb's objections."Alright, that's settled. Please make the necessary arrangements," he said to his secretary."Sir-""Officer Johnson." Victor raised a hand, cutting Caleb off. "Your job is relatively light. Since you have so much free time, it wouldn't hurt to learn a bit about stock trading, would it?"Caleb fell silent.Previously, he had no interest in stock trading, simply because he wasn't in need of money. However, Victor's suggestion sparked a change in his thoughts. He had just discovered something intriguing—it turned out that Marcus had a little secret of his own.After work that day, Caleb spent the evening browsing the stock trading forum, where the Chess Wizard had many followers. Caleb finally understood why Lucas was so enamored with his idol—the Chess Wizard indeed seemed to embody a heroic aura.Caleb dug through posts from before the Chess Wizard gained recognition. The Chess Wizard had predicted an impending stock m
If Caleb had to analyze Marcus the way he did with others, he honestly wouldn't know where to start.He could only say this—Marcus was by far the most interesting person he had ever met.Grabbing that sketchy, unmarked bottle of strawberry jam from the fridge, Caleb hastily spread it over a slice of bread and bit down on his breakfast as he rushed out the door. When he stopped at the only traffic light on his way to work, he finally found a moment to finish his breakfast.He had initially thought the strawberry jam tasted a bit off due to him adding lemon juice to it, but the more he ate it, the more he got used to it. In fact, it started to taste more like real strawberry jam than factory-produced stuff.After polishing off the bread, Caleb glanced at himself in the rearview mirror. Sure enough, there was jam smeared on the corner of his mouth. He immediately licked it clean, but the light turned green before he could wipe up the rest with a napkin. He quickly hit the gas, determi