James doesn’t think he’ll ever get out of jail, but then a freak accident causes him to swap bodies with the wife of his former best friend’s son in Jailbroken 1, available on Body Swap Stories, Smashwords or Amazon (file now fixed).
James is greyer, fatter, and hasn’t seemed to get any wiser with age. Stuck in jail, he’s just trying to make the most of a bad situation. His only visitor is his (ex) best friend’s son, Michael, and Michael’s wife, Emily.
But then…chaos around the prison, as a strange event randomly swaps some people’s bodies, unexpectedly freeing James by landing him in Emily’s body after a visit. James knows he should reveal who he is but freedom is so sweet and the chaos of the swap means it will take some time for the authorities to sort out who is who. Maybe he’ll just stay in Emily’s body one day and then turn himself in so that things have a chance of being set right.
One day to explore Emily’s life. Her immaculate house. Her perfectly sculpted body. Her deep sensuality.
The pleasures of James’s new flesh are immense and strange, but James can comfort himself in the fact that he can always return to his old life. Can’t he?
“The meals in here are still way better than the meals my last girlfriend made me out there,” James laughed, before resting his meaty arms on the dented metal table and drumming his fingers absently.
Michael sat across from him and gave an embarrassed smile. James had known Michael since he was a baby. Hell, he was practically a nephew. Michael’s father, Robert, and James had been best friends and business partners. Until a deal went south. Never mix money with friendship. A lesson learned too late. At least Michael still visited James and gave him something to look forward to in this boring prison.
Michael squeezed his wife’s hand beneath the table. She was Emily. A timid little thing. Jet black hair. Dazzling blue eyes. Perfect slip of a nose. Solid body even though she wore a stylish but baggy white top to try to hide it in here. James couldn’t blame her, though. Women were rare in prison and the other inmates weren’t shy about looking. What were the guards gonna do, double lock them up?
A few other prisoners were scattered around the metal tables that were bolted to the floor of the visitation room. Two guards stood imposingly against opposite walls, eyes searching for contraband. Everything was painted drab grey, like they were trying to suck the life out of everyone inside.
“So how are things going with you and…you know?” James asked, leaning back and brushing the potato chip crumbs from his orange jumpsuit.
A bonus of having visitors was they could buy you whatever you wanted from the vending machine. And a bonus of having Michael as a visitor was that he could afford it. Not that the snacks were particularly expensive, but Michael and his wife were loaded so James didn’t feel bad about asking.
“My dad?”
James nodded, not wanting to even say Robert’s name.
“Dad and I are all right. Busy. Trying to put me in a position so I can take over the firm from him.”
“Bet the fucking board loves that,” James said with a wry smile. “A twenty four year old CEO?”
“We are a family company,” Michael said. “We want to keep it that way. We don’t trust anyone else not to sell us out the moment some VC with millions of dollars comes sniffing around.”
James wondered whether Michael was including himself in that ‘we’. Probably just deferring to his dad again. If James had had all of Michael’s advantages he sure as hell wouldn’t have ended up in prison. Well…maybe he would have ended up in a white collar prison. But James’s until-recently best friend, Robert, could be overbearing and driven and, honestly, kind of a dick when he wasn’t getting his own way. Probably shouldn’t have gone into business together. Their last direct contact had ended with punches thrown.
Growing up, James had been part of a close-knit trio of friends with him, Robert and Vance. James had been the one in the friends group who fucked up and had to be bailed out. Sometimes literally. Robert was always trying to outdo the others in an attempt to prove his own worth. He always had to be right. Vance was the youngest of the trio, willing to go along with whatever the others decided. He was now aimless and coasting from job to job and marriage to marriage.
“Yeah, well, I don’t blame you,” James said. “I would have fucking sold you out!”
He laughed. Joking but not really. Michael laughed too, trying to get along. A ghost of a smile flickered across Emily’s red lips.
She really was gorgeous. Her pale skin offsetting her long, jet black hair. Tight body, James noted again. So hard not to be a lech when he hadn’t seen a woman in weeks. Since Emily’s last visit, in fact. Another reason James loved it when Michael came and brought along his wife. She rarely spoke but James didn’t need to hear her voice.
James let Michael talk about the firm, nodding along as he savored the last of the potato chips. Michael’s business was good. His house was big. His wife was hot. What more could anyone want?
“Hey,” James said, when the conversation stalled again. “Anything new about Jeb?”
Jeb was Vance’s only son. A little like his father. Much more like James.
Michael shook his head. “Still in juvie.”
“Shit. So the lawyer couldn’t get him out?”
“Nope. And he turns eighteen next week so they’re going to transfer him to a real prison. Maybe to here.”
“I’ll look out for him,” James nodded. “I got friends in low places. Like the song.”
“The song?”
“You seriously never heard that?” James scoffed, singing a few beats in an exaggerated southern twang. “Well, I got friends in loooow places where the whisky runs and the ooooasis… Something like that. Guess I don’t really know it either. Fuck, what do you millennials even listen to these days?”
“We’re not millennials,” Michael said. “Millennials are old. Like in their forties.” There was his dad’s cocky, teasing smile.
James laughed. “Careful who you’re calling old, kid. So what does that make you, then?”
“I don’t know,” Michael looked to Emily.
Emily shrugged. “Born after 2000 so…Gen Z? I can look it up.” She reached for her pocket and then remembered they’d confiscated all phones. A hot flush blossomed across her pale cheeks. Fucking adorable. “Next time I guess,” she mumbled.
“It’s all good,” James waved it away. “Buy me some more chips?” He held up his empty bag.
“Sure,” Emily said, slipping out of the seat and hurrying to the vending machine.
With an effort, James forced himself not to ogle her wiggling backside as she left. Let the other prisoners do that. And the guards.
“You’re gonna lose your girlish figure,” Michael teased.
“Naw, man, this shit ain’t goin’ nowhere,” James patted his flabby belly. “I gotta stay thick, ya feel me?”
Emily returned and slid the bag of chips across the table.
“Grassy-ass,” James said, popping open the bag. He had to tear the whole thing practically in half to fit his flabby hand inside it.
The conversation waned as James finished the small bag of chips. James recognized the look in Emily’s eyes. She was tired of this place. Tired of being looked at like a piece of meat. Ready to go back to her charmed life.
Read the rest on Body Swap Stories, Smashwords or Amazon.