Selena aside, she’s not the only one who got moved. Koko was actually transferred to another prison altogether. Turns out, she did run her mouth, just not where I was concerned. Franca’s threat made it to Warden Kent’s ears, and when Kori expressed she truly feared for her life, he shipped her off to New York. Word through the blocks is Franca now has a lovely seat on death row, though I’m sure her crazy ass couldn’t care less. Lifers typically don’t. They’re going to die in here anyway, right?
“Knock, knock,” Mari’s soft voice has me spinning around in two seconds flat to find her at the threshold with Gia and Quinn right behind her. “You ready to get out of here, mami?”
I nod, but for some reason, seeing my girls stalking in here for the last time has me feeling a certain type of way. I’m not the only one, apparently. Mari’s lip quivers as she approaches, swallowing me in a bear hug.
“No empieces,” she chides. Don’t start. “Otherwise, I will, and no one wants to see that shit.”
Squeezing the life out of her, I bury my face in her shoulder and focus on breathing, but those damned tears spill free anyway, soaking into her uniform. “I’m gonna miss you, so fucking much.”
The woman like a mother to me, how could I not?
“Same.” She squeezes me harder. “But I don’t wanna see your ass back in here, okay? Never again.”
“Never again,” I agree, clamping my eyes shut.
When we pull apart, it’s not just me who’s caught in the emotional web. Mari has matching streams sliding down her full cheeks. So does Gia, and Quinn—poor girl is trying her damndest not to.
I wipe away the wetness clinging to my skin and clear my throat. “When I get my new phone, I’m gonna write all three of you with the number so you can put it on your contacts, and when you guys finally get out of here, I wanna see you.”
“We can have a prison fam reunion,” Gia adds, giving us all a good chuckle.
Cocking my head aside, I hold my arms out to her. “Oh, my little G Baby, come here.”
She swoops right in around Mari, slamming into me and locking her arms around my neck. I squeeze her as hard as I did Mari. “Had you tried a little harder, I would’ve been gay for the stay.”
Her bi ass busts out laughing in my ear as she tightens her hold on me. “Prison reunion—you’re mine, bitch.”
Again, we all chuckle, wiping more tears while we’re at it. The moment Gia backs off, Quinn’s rushing me, her emotions finally besting her.
“Thank you for never judging me and for always having my back. I’ve always been the quiet one, the oddball, and you made me feel like I belonged from the get-go.”
Easing back slowly, I reach up and tuck her blonde hair behind her ear, lifting her cute little chin. “Next time these pendejas tell you that you’re quiet, you flip that pretty blonde hair of yours and tell them you’re selective, that you don’t associate with no basic-ass bitches, okay?”
Quinn nods, her bottom lip quivering as Gia and Mari’s sniffles resound in the background.
Knock, knock!
“Villanueva?” Walker’s voice suddenly booms from the doorway, snapping our heads in his direction. “Ready to go?”
Hell, yes, I am.
I nod. “Yes, sir.”
Those smile lines at the corners of his eyes crinkle as his lips split warmly, and he tips his head for me to follow. “C’mon then. Your ride is here.”
Andrés.
My heart speeds into overdrive with excitement, stomach flipping wildly.
This is it.
Pivoting back to face the girls, I give them each one last hug, a big, sloppy kiss to each of their cheeks, and then I’m out the door, falling in step alongside Walker through the block and waving my final goodbyes to the rest of the inmates as that annoying-ass buzzer meets my ears for the last and final time.
I’m definitely not going to miss that.
The walk to the front of the Annex doesn’t take long, but the discharge process feels like it lasts an eternity. I have to change out of my uniform and slip into the clothes I was arrested in, then fill out and sign several different papers before waiting to be called from the holding cell. In total, it turns out to be an hour-long process, but the moment I step through that final door into the lobby and see Andrés standing there patiently, time is irrelevant.
We have all the time in the world now.
A gleaming, dimpled smile coming out to play, he holds his arms out for me as I squeal and climb him like a fucking tree, crashing our mouths together.
“Finally,” he mumbles against my lips. “Fucking finally.”
Fucking finally is right.
It feels surreal like if I blink, it won’t be real.
“Get me the hell out of here,” I demand, locking my arms around his neck with such force I’m surprised he can breathe. “I never want to see this godforsaken place ever again.”
And I won’t, over my own dead body. I’ll do anything and everything imaginable to keep my freedom.
“Oh, you won’t, ‘cause the real fun starts now. You ready?” he asks, flashing me that devilish grin that promises nothing dirty and delicious things.
“As ready as I’ll ever be, baby. As ready as I’ll ever be.”
She’s free.
My girl is finally free...and she’s got a man?
What in the actual fuck?
My blood burns as I watch them from my car, exiting the building hand in hand, grinning like loons. He looks like a fucking herb in his crisp white Polo and little black skinny jeans. Clearly, she likes it because he says
