Caged

Caged - 6 - Tookie

Tookie watched Dom closely.

His friend's dark eyes rarely moved to the ex-cop. They flicked constantly around the yard--covering everything and everyone except the blond man. Tookie let his brown eyes rest on Brian where he sat slumped several rows below them on the bleachers.

There was no way anyone could look worse for wear. He looked well used and well abused. Tookie had been inside for twenty years and he had rarely seen anyone look more miserable. The man looked exhausted and injured. Still damp from his dunking, he shivered in the warm morning sun. His head hung down and his eyes were closed in defeat. He looked completely different from that glorious gladiator of a mere twenty-four hours ago.

Tookie felt, more than saw, Dom stiffen across from him. His friend's eyes were carefully directed toward the cards, deliberately not watching as Vesneski's crowd approached their area of the bleachers.

"Looks like ya've been pretty rough on her highness here," the tall Pole called up, his voice slightly nasal. There was a very satisfied look on the man's bruised face as he studied the abused ex-cop.

"You can take most a' the credit," Dom called down. "You and yer' guys sure did a job on him."

Vesneski nodded in salvaged pride.

"He gives ya' any trouble, ya' just let me know." Vesneski hitched up his pants and turned away.

Tookie watched his friend relax as Vesneski's gang moved away from Brian.

He watched Dom carefully for the rest of the day.

When they returned to the kitchen to prepare for lunch, the big guy gave Brian a shove and rough instructions to sit back down in the spot next to the sink. He could rest there until there were more pots for him to wash up, Dom told him.

An hour later, when the pans were starting to pile up, Dom himself moved to the deep sink and washed them--letting the blond man continue to sleep. Tookie took a turn next and then the others joined in. They handled the worse job in the kitchen the way they usually did. Brian slept through it all. He was curled into a ball with his head resting on his bent knees--leaning against the warm side of the deep sink.

"Wake up," Dom said softly as he shook Brian awake. "We're done for the day."

Tookie watched as the ex-cop's eyes opened. He noted with interest the fact that there was not the slightest bit of fear in them. In fact, there was the tiniest trace of a smile on the bruised face as the cop awoke to the sight of Dom looming over him.

The inmates again filed through the metal detector for the final time of the day since a different crew came on for the evening meal.

If it had been Monday, Wednesday or Friday they would have headed to the workout room. But today was Tuesday and as was their habit, they all made a quick stop at their cells for clean clothes before heading to the showers together.

Tookie wasn't the only one who watched as the new man slowly, painfully, shyly removed his clothes.

"Hurry up, Goldie-Locks," Dom growled as he helped pull the chambray shirt off the man's sore shoulders. "This ain't no place for a slow striptease."

Quickly and efficiently Dom helped the other man undress. Tookie felt his stomach turn slightly in pity as the tall man's battered body was completely exposed. Dark bruises covered nearly every square inch of his skin except where the tape encircled his rib cage.

Tookie, JamJimmy and Markus looked at the ex-cop with new respect. They each knew that they'd never have been able to handle such abuse as well as this silent man had.

"Come on."

Dom pulled the naked man into the community shower room with him. It was one twelve-by-twelve tiled room with eight showerheads set into each wall. The floor sloped down into the center toward a single large drain.

Dom liked to linger in the shower. He had always been completely comfortable, completely at ease with his friends--and they with him. Usually, Dom would start singing. His deep voice would rasp out delightfully dirty limericks to amuse his shower-mates, but not today. Today he washed himself quickly so that he could help the cop.

Tookie thought back to the years prior to Dom's arrival at Rumsford. Those terrible years when he had dreaded taking showers. Those dark years before his big friend had taken him under his well-muscled wing. He shuddered in remembered fear. He peeked at his friend's perfect body and he was certain that the worship he felt for Dom must be clearly visible on his face.

His eyes shifted to the man who stood silently under the spray as Dom reached up and ran a bar of soap through his blond hair. Dark fingers worked it into lather before letting the water rinse it out.

Tookie watched as the man leaned his palms against the wall as Dom ran a well-soaped washcloth quickly over is lower back and down his legs. The man stiffened when he felt the cloth scrub between his thighs and up the cleft of his ass.

"Hold still," Dom growled.

From where he stood next to them Tookie could see the new man's face fill with mortification as Dom finished scrubbing his backside.

"Turn." Dom ordered as he rinsed and re-soaped the cloth.

"Thanks. I can do the rest," the cop said huskily as he held his hand out for the cloth.

"He's so shy," Dom mugged for the onlookers, making them laugh.

He handed the wash cloth to the new man and got back under his own showerhead.

"There once was a screw from Laredo," he sang loudly.

"Who used his power to get laid-o." They hissed.

"He tried to corn hole me." They all gasped theatrically.

"I told him no sir-ee," Dom sang with a smirk.

"My kick turned his dick into Play-Dough."

The men hooted and hollered with glee. Ribald conversation picked up as the fellows teased each other.

Tookie was the only one to see Dom give the cop a wink. He knew Dom had sung his little ditty deliberately in order to get the men's eyes and attention off the blond man in their midst. Tookie pondered his friend's strange behavior as he absently finished his shower.

First, Dom had risked a lot in order to get the man away from a rival gang. Dom wasn't like that.

He had never before put himself or his friends at risk for a fancy piece of ass. So when Dom had taken the ex-cop from Vesneski, and revealed that this was the cop who had narc'd on him, Tookie had written it down as the big man's lust for revenge.

Then Dom had been unusually brutal to the new guy. Dom could be savage when it came to achieving power or protecting his friends. Tookie had witnessed it before when the big man's authority had been challenged, but Dom had struck out at the cop without provocation--something he rarely did. Again Tookie had thought it was because of the hatred that existed between the two.

Tookie knew that deep down Dominic Toretto was a gentle soul. When the big man had gently nudged him in the kitchen this morning and tipped his head toward their new dishwasher, Tookie had understood. He hadn't been surprised in the least that Dom had wanted the man fed. Tookie had been glad to fix a plate of toast and take a glass of juice to the exhausted man. Lord knows that there were times in the past when he wished someone had done something like that for him.

He hadn't really gotten too suspicious until they were on the bleachers and Vesneski had looked the cop over. Protectiveness had fairly oozed out of Dom. Tookie had lost the card game; his mind had been too busy reviewing the past day's events.

He had come to the unbelievable theory that everything Dom had done since the cop had first walked into the yard was a clever attempt to keep him alive. It wasn't until Tookie had caught the friendly look on the cop's face when he awoke from his nap that he started to believe his theory might actually be true.

Now, as the men stood in the locker room, and Dom was carelessly rubbing the blond hair dry with a towel, Tookie became certain that he was correct. Something was going on here and, if it involved Dom, Tookie would have to find out the details.

The tall man's soft blue eyes opened and must have caught the curious look on Tookie's face. He pulled away from Dom and finished drying and dressing himself.

Tookie doubted if the others had noticed anything unusual. They weren't overly bright to begin with and Dom was keeping up an endless flow of jokes--keeping them laughing. Plus, Dom was the sort of guy who liked to touch his friends. He didn't have a shy bone in his body. He was as likely to pull a guy into a hug, kiss him and give his head a rough knuckle rub as he was to drop him with a left hook.

Clean, dried, and dressed, the men made their way to the main lounge. There they would play cards, watch TV or just shoot the shit until suppertime.

The couch was occupied when they entered, but the men on it quickly rose and moved elsewhere as Dom and his team approached. Dom sank down at one end and pointed to the ground by his feet. Brian sank down submissively and leaned against the couch's corner. He hung his head, closed his eyes, and tried desperately to disappear.

JamJimmy hauled a low table over, while Markus place a couple folding chairs near it. Tookie usually sat beside Dom on the couch, but today he quickly claimed the chair opposite his friend. He wanted to be able to see Dom's and the cop's faces.

JamJimmy hesitated a moment before eagerly plopping down next to their leader.

Dom glanced at the black man briefly before looking curiously at Tookie. He lifted his arched brows in question. Tookie shrugged silently and started dealing out the cards.

Tookie noticed everything. He noted the exact moment the cop fell asleep. He noted when the curly blond head tipped and rested trustingly against Dom's leg. He counted every time that the black eyes flicked down to check on the man resting at his feet.

Tookie noticed again and again when the big man would stiffen. He tensed whenever someone would come too close or pay too much attention to the cop at his feet.

When they were done playing, he saw the gentle way that Dom touched the man to wake him. He took careful note of how Dom's entire attitude changed after the cop woke. Dom became excessively brutal again. He hauled the man up and insulted him--to the delight of the other prisoners. Once again Dom made it abundantly clear how the man was going to be treated. The convicts hooted in malicious glee as they watched and listened to the abuse.

Tookie was the only one not fooled by it for a moment.