Dead Cells - 01 by Adam Millard Read Free Book Online

caught up with her.
    'She'll bounce back,' Shane said, although he doubted it.
    'Shane, she's sixty and has to inhale steroids. What do you think she's going to do? Start yoga?'
    He shouldn't have, but he laughed. The sight of Holly's mother bending into unnatural positions with a fag in one hand and a glass of wine in the other was too much.
    'It's not funny,' Holly said, and then she started to laugh too. 'Shane, stop it. She might not last for much longer.'
    'Then tell her that yoga is a bad idea,' Shane sniggered.
    They laughed together for a while. Glossing over the problem seemed to have done the trick, and although Holly was worried sick about her mother, making a joke about it made the problem seem less important.
    'You and Holly started to pack your things up yet?' said Shane.
    Holly looked surprised. 'What do you mean ?'
    'At your Mom's? ' he said. 'Have you got all of your stuff together for when I get out?'
    She frowned. 'Shane, we have nowhere to go . You'll have to come stay with my parents for a while until you get back on your feet.'
    The anger that Shane suddenly felt course through him was almost unbearable. The whole reason he was in prison was because of his stubborn refusal to accept any help from Holly's mother, and yet here he was, on the brink of freedom, and he would be forced to just set up home with the in-laws.
    'We talked about this,' Shane said.
    ' You did,' Holly said. 'It's easy for you to talk about it, stuck in here, but we had nowhere else to go, and until we get set up, and you get a job, we'll have no choice but to stay with my mom and dad.'
    Great , Shane thought. I could have avoided a three-stretch all along, and by now we'd be sorted, with a place of our own again.
    Arguing was not what Shane wanted; there was nothing worse than falling out with Holly and then being shepherded back to his cell where he would have nothing to mull over except for all of the bad things that they said to each other. It was enough to drive a man insane. He smiled.
    'You're right,' he said. 'I'll get a job as soon as I get out. Who knows, huh? Might even go for a job as one of these.' He nudged a finger in the general direction of Officer Tyler. He turned in his chair. 'How much do you make after tax?' he said to the guard.
    'Not enough to look at your ugly face every day,' Tyler said, but there was something strange about the way he said it: breathless. Pained , even.
    When Shane turned back to the table, Holly asked, 'What's wrong with him?'
    'Some virus doing the rounds,' Shane said. 'Let's just hope that I don't get it before I get chance to have a proper munch on Megan.'
    'I'll tell her you said that,' Holly smiled. 'That'll make her day.'
    For the fifteen minutes that followed, they talked about how Holly had taken an art course at college, and was hoping to even showcase some of her work at the local gallery; they discussed Holly's father, who had built yet another shed in the back garden, taking the tally up to four in total. Shane wondered if he was planning on renting them out to immigrants to make a bit of extra cash. They talked about Holly's newly discovered interest in all things Justin Bieber, who Shane had never heard of before, but would be having a stern talk with Holly about when he was released. Talking about these things made Shane realise that he was about to embark upon a new chapter in life. He was going home, finally , and although certain things had changed, the two most important people in his life remained exactly the same.
    As the siren sounded to announce the end of visiting time, Shane didn't feel the usual sinking feeling he usually did. He kissed Holly, not noticing Officer Jenson standing against the wall and admiring Shane's wife as if she was his own.
    'I'll see you soon,' Holly said as she was ushered out of the door, a tide of less significant visitors following her through it. She blew him a final kiss before she was edged out of sight.
    The prisoners left behind in the