5 Chapter 5

Friday.

Jenna looked up as her next patient sauntered into her office at 7pm sharp with a corrections officer at his side. Her eyes met the hard gaze of Enrico Garcia and her heart stuttered in her chest. She pasted a professional smile on her face and tucked a lock of bright red hair behind her ear. The guard nodded at her and stepped outside the door, giving her and her patient space. Though he was considered gang-affiliated and certain protocols had to be followed, he was in prison on minor charges and thus considered not a high-risk offender.

Jenna’s gaze flicked over him as she handed over his blood glucose test. She wondered who on earth thought this man wasn’t a risk. He was thickly muscled and tattooed, much like his associates, the two men who had visited her house to get her to pass a message to Enrico. His head was shaved but he had a thick brown beard reaching halfway down his neck. Jenna thought he looked pretty mean, but that was before she met Jared and the guy from last night. The one last night made this guy look like a pussy cat.

"How are you today, Enrico?" she asked him politely.

She was always polite to her patients and did her best to treat them like humans in a place where they were stripped of both pride and dignity. She knew exactly what kind of screwed up system could fuck people over and put men behind bars for petty crimes when more often than not they needed addictions therapy and a solid life plan. Or the system needed a good lecture and an overhaul on poverty and racism. Thus, she usually gave prisoners the benefit of the doubt until she found out otherwise.

She didn’t think that was the case with Enrico though. In fact, she felt pretty sure this guy and the other one that had broken into her house probably needed to be put in prison for a very long time. Much longer than Enrico’s current two-month sentence.

"Not doing too bad," he answered her question and then handed her the test back. "Blood sugar’s good today. Prison food’s better than Mc’d’s and the other shit I eat on the outs."

Jenna smiled, despite herself, and shook her head as she prepared his usual insulin dose. "You know better than that, Enrico. You should take care of this condition. You only get one body, one life. You need to be your own best friend out there."

His eyes roamed over her features, taking in her earnest blue eyes surrounded by long dark red eyelashes, untouched by makeup. He grunted his acknowledgement and took the needle from her trembling fingers. His gaze flickered down, noticing the slight shake in her hand. She quickly moved her hand away and set about tidying her station while he lifted his sleeveless shirt, revealing even more rippling muscles and showing off a few more of his tattoos.

When he finished, he reached past her to drop his needle into the sharps container. As he bent, his bearded chin brushed her shoulder causing her to jump a little. She would have stepped away from his big body, but there was a bed next to her, trapping her between him and the bed.

"You have a message for me?" he asked softly.

Her breath caught and she shook harder, rattling the tray she was holding. She forced a confused look on her face and tilted her chin up so she could look him in the eyes.

"Sorry?" she said, lifting an eyebrow in question and attempting to look professionally distant while her fingers continued to clutch the tray as though her life depended on it. Which it did, if Enrico’s boss followed through on his threat. And he seemed like the type who did exactly as he said he would.

She was so fucked.

"You got a message for me," he said slowly as if she were dim and just not understanding. It was now a statement instead of a question.

Her gaze turned desperate and she tried to look away from him, but with a quick glance toward the door, he swiftly grabbed hold of her chin and turned her face up to his. "Give me the fucking message," he snarled.

She squeezed her eyes shut and shook her head. He threw her face away from him in disgust. When she opened her eyes again it was to find him large and angry, looming over her as though he planned on beating the message out of her. Though she didn’t know how he planned on doing that with a guard just on the other side of the door.

"Lorry, we’re done now!" Jenna called, surprised that her voice was stronger than a squeak.

"Baby, you just made a very big mistake," Enrico growled and lifted his hand in the shape of a gun, shooting her with his forefinger. He turned and strode toward the door.

Jenna folded in on herself, leaning her hip against the bed and covering her face with shaking hands. What had she gotten herself into? For the first time in three long years of battling for custody of her daughter she was intensely glad Lola was safe with her father.