All Chapters of Cellblock Heat : Chapter 181 - Chapter 185

Quincy From a distance, Stacy looks so small. She folded in on herself, knees drawn up. I see a glass of wine dangling loosely from her fingers like she forgot it was there. The ocean laps somewhere beyond the glass railing in a steady motion. Rafael chose to park properly in the garage, then we took a walk to the ocean view suit to clear the alcohol out of our heads. We didn't expect to see Stacy waiting in…whatever that state was. Rafael slows beside me instinctively, already angling toward her. “I’ve got this, man,” I murmur, my hand lifting to stop him. “Go take a rest.” He hesitates, searching my face, then nods once. He didn't go off like I asked him to. He stays back, close enough to intervene if needed, far enough to respect the moment. I walk toward her slowly. The closer I get, the clearer the details become. The dark stain of wine bleeding into the pale fabric of her dress. Her shoulders shook in that restrained way that tells me she’s been crying for a while.

Four months laterJordan.In the absence of you know who, I made adjustment. Yeah, b’cos “amendment” ain't the word.JordanThe yard feels different when it’s your last day in it.Same cracked concrete. Same rusted bleachers baking under the sun. Same chain-link fence humming faintly as the wind passes through it. But today, every sound lands heavier, like my body already knows I’m about to leave it all behind.I sit on the bleachers anyway.One foot planted on the bench below, elbows resting on my knee, hands loosely clasped. My duffel bag is by my feet—everything I own reduced to frayed fabric and folded prison-issued clothes. It’s strange how light it feels. Like I expected more weight. Like I expected leaving to hurt in a different way.Manny drops down beside me with a grunt, stretching his long legs out in front of him. He looks the same as always—unbothered, unhurried, permanently settled. Manny has the posture of a man who knows exactly where he’ll be sleeping for the rest of

QuincyThe engine's cold from how long we've been waiting in the parking lot of Blackbridge.Rafael is draped over the steering wheel like he's mourning a fallen comrade. His forehead thumps softly against it once. And twice…and thrice, for emphasis.He groans, and it takes my sharp senses to pick up his words. “We’ve been here for two hours and…” he checks the clock again, as he calculates with clear precision “fifteen minutes past the assumed release window.” I glance up from my phone, where I haven’t actually been reading anything for the past twenty minutes. “You’re exaggerating.”“I am not,” he says, voice muffled by leather and despair. “On your release day, it didn’t take this long.”I snort. “On my release day, you were eager to see me, so time wasn't a damn factor.”“That was payday, Quincy.”“And that was the release of your second boss. The genial one.”Among all my dad's worker's, I've always seen Rafael as someone I could be cool with. He wants to be strict in regards t