get him to crack with the right leverage.
"You've got work assignments next," he reminded me.
"Not me," I disagreed with a small sigh. "I haven't been given anything to do since I got out of the hole."
"Hasn't Cain reassigned you some work?" he asked curiously.
"No," I replied with a shrug, shifting a little closer to him so that my arm brushed against his. "I think he's been under a lot of pressure from Warden Pike recently, so I didn't like to make a fuss. And I wasn't sure who else to talk to about it."
I slowed my pace so that the other inmates drew ahead of us and within a few flights of stairs, we were practically alone.
"Well…if Officer Cain hasn't had the time to assign you a work detail, I could figure it out for you. I'm your supporting CO after all and I don't mind taking on a few tasks to lighten his load,” Hastings suggested, and I sang a song of victory solely inside my own head.
"Would you really, ragazzo del coro?" I asked, placing my hand on his arm and batting my eyelashes at him for a moment. "I'm up for anything."
"Erm..." Hastings cleared his throat and I withdrew my hand as I continued down the stairs, treading the line of flirtatious without coming across like I was propositioning him. "Is there anything you're particularly suited to?"
"Oh, I dunno...no one ever really asked me that before. My papa always used to just force me to do the jobs he hated, and I guess I never had much chance to pick something I might be good at, you know? The only thing I ever really loved was reading. But I don't think that's a job," I laughed dismissively and Hastings smirked to himself.
"I think I may have the perfect idea," he said. "There's a new job starting up next week that could be just right. But I'll have to run it by Cain before confirming it."
We'd made it to the fourth floor where the cell blocks were located and I gave him an excited smile. "I'm sure whatever it is will beat sitting in my cell counting the bricks for the hundredth time. Thank you, ragazzo del coro."
A touch of a blush coloured Hastings' cheeks and I bit my lip before looking away from him again. As we walked down the corridor towards Cell Block D, we made small talk about Pitball and I made sure to point out how his broad shoulders must have made him almost unstoppable in defence, possibly implying that he could try his tackle out on me if we got the chance one day. Totally innocent – unless he wanted to interpret it differently for some reason.
Just as we reached the doors to my cell block, Cain reappeared in a blur of motion and dragged me away from Hastings.
"Don't forget your group therapy session tomorrow, Twelve," he growled as he herded me towards the cell block doors. "I'll be there to observe so make sure you're on your best behaviour."
"Please tell me it's just a bunch of inmates talking about shit and we don't have to actually read anything," I groaned as I let him tug me across the bridge and into my cell block.
"What's your problem with reading?" he asked with a frown and I shrugged like I didn't really want to say, but I answered him all the same.
"Nothing worse than sifting through a bunch of dusty old books," I muttered. "Are you sure there isn't a more physical correctional course I could do?"
"The whole point of correcting your behaviour is that we want to make changes to the things you do. So no, there isn't a more physical course you can take and if you question my opinion on what best benefits you again then I'll be writing you up for an infraction. And perhaps if you hate dusty old books so much, I should consider which courses involve the most of them? Unless of course you're looking to tell me more about what you were up to the night I threw you in the hole?" Cain asked, that angry vein in his temple coming to life just for me.
"No, sir," I replied sweetly.
"Good. Maybe you're finally learning your place."
He turned and shot away from me to ensure he got the last word and I watched as the bridge was retracted and the doors locked up tight with a smirk on my face.
If I wasn't very much mistaken, I'd just