Confession of a King

We were halfway through April and at this point in time it felt like my world was coming crumbling down. No one had heard from Matt for the last four days. The officers had him locked up in solitary and wouldn’t allow him contact with anyone. He didn’t even have his phone on him because he generally kept it in his cell when he came to my office. I was so frustrated… frustrated that Matt went through all that trouble just to beat the life out of Red. I understood where he was coming from, but this was torture and I felt for him. I knew he had to be going insane in solitary. I’m sure they were pestering him and trying to get him worked up. All I wanted to do was wrap my arms around his shoulders and hold him to me, even if I wanted to punch him in the face first.

I sat on my couch with my legs crossed, frown across my face. Shadow sat on my lap, sleeping and unaware of the chaos that was unfolding in the world around his human mom. Brian was sitting on the floor a few feet away from me, his back turned to me and his eyes glued on the television playing the Lifetime movie “Drew Peterson: Untouchable.” I had left work early today for my monthly appointment, Brian coming with me once again. He ended up sticking around afterwards and we made dinner, then he got sucked into one movie with me, and now this one. We had a really good friendship growing, now that he was the one I was depending on with this whole pregnancy thing, and that he was dating my best friend. He seemed less into Chelsea than she was into him, but he also had quite the flirty personality with everyone so maybe that’s why it seemed that way.

I groaned and grabbed the bottle of water that was sitting on the end table next to my couch, trying my best not to wake the sleeping cat on my lap. Brian was busy munching on popcorn and didn’t notice when I went to pick the bottle up by the cap, spilling it all over the place.

“What the fuck!” Brian shrieked, causing Shadow to startle on my lap and sink his claws into me. I hissed out in pain as the cat darted off my lap and down the hall toward my room. Brian turned and looked at me, his eyes nervous, then began laughing. “You have no idea how scared I just was.”

I laughed and got up from the couch, going to grab a few paper towels. “My dumbass didn’t tighten the cap on my water bottle. I’m sorry, are you soaked?”

“Just slightly,” Brian teased and motioned toward his shirt. It was pretty much drenched, causing us both to laugh.

I blushed while I sopped up the mess on the floor, “I really am sorry. I probably have an oversized shirt big enough that you could throw on for a bit and we can put that one in the dryer.”

“That would be nice,” he smiled as I told him that I would be right back.

I went into my room and rummaged through my drawers, knowing that I had to have something somewhere that would fit him. I came across a mens medium Metallica shirt that I had since high school. What can I say? I prefer to be swimming in my band tees. I figured that would be more than big enough for him and walked back out to the living room to find a shirtless Brian standing there. I could see why Chelsea was obsessed with him now. His body was incredible, from what I could see. He was fit, not muscular like Matt, and it suited him well.

“Here, let me take that,” I laughed, grabbing his soaking wet shirt and handing him the dry one. “This should fit you. It’s really big on me.”

My front door opened and both of us turned our heads to see Zacky staring at us, wide-eyed as he closed the door behind himself. Neither one of us said anything, just stared back at his strange entrance.

Zacky’s eyes focused on Brian, “Shadows goes into solitary and you start making moves on his girl?” Then they shot over to me. If looks could kill, I would be six feet under right now, “And you. I’ll fucking kill you.”

“What!” Brian and I both yelled at the same time and looked at each other. I shook my head, “You think we? Oh god… no! No! Never.”

Brian looked offended, “Wow, Ivy. You sure know how to make a guy feel attractive.”

I glared at Brian and looked back over at Zacky, “I spilled my water bottle and it dumped all over him. I was just grabbing him a dry shirt.” Zacky still looked livid. I frowned, “Come on.”

“I don’t know what you do,” Zacky retorted, taking a step toward me. “Slut,” he sneered and went to push me.

Brian jumped in between us, “Don’t you fucking touch her, Vengeance.”

“You wait until I tell Shadows what is going on here,” Zacky got eye-to-eye with Brian, “You’ll both be wishing you were already dead. So much for loyalty, Gates.”

He went to turn on his heel to walk out when I pushed past Brian, “Zacky, wait!” I sighed when he turned the knob to open the door, “I need you. Both of you. I’m pregnant and scared and disowned by my family and don’t really have a friend I can confide all this in right now. Do not leave me.”

“You’re what?” Zacky turned and looked at me, then looked down at my stomach. I lifted up the hoodie that was covering me, showing a small baby bump at my four-month mark. Zacky’s eyes softened, “Is this why you came home early?”

I nodded and bit my lip, feeling tears coming on. Pregnancy hormones were a real thing. It was like having PMS, multiplied by five. I started to break down into tears and put my head in my hands. Brian’s arm linked around my shoulders and pulled me into his chest.

I pushed him away from me and laughed through my tears, looking at Zacky again, “Since I don’t have Matt to come with me to my pre-natal appointments, Brian has been coming with me.”

“How far along are you?” Zacky asked, curiously.

“Four months as of two weeks ago,” I smiled and wiped my eyes. “I was maybe going to find out the sex today, but they weren’t positioned quite right for the ultrasound.”

Zacky nodded and smiled, something I wasn’t really expecting from him. “How long have you known? Does Shadows know?”

“I’ve known for about a month and a half,” my smile dropped, “I haven’t had a chance to tell him yet… now I don’t even know when I’ll get to tell him. They’re not talking to me at the prison about when he’s getting out of solitary. Have you or the little one heard anything?”

Zacky frowned and plopped down onto the dry portion of my couch, kicking his shoes off on the floor and taking a handful of popcorn into his mouth. “Not a damn thing,” he popped another piece of popcorn into his mouth. “Do you want a boy or girl?”

Soon enough Zacky stopped asking questions about Matt and I’s soon-to-be little child and just chilled out with Brian and I for a while. I offered Zacky some dinner, which he gladly accepted, talking about how he hadn’t eaten anything all day. I had to say that I was grateful for both of the men that spent the evening with me in my living room. I didn’t care that they were part of a huge gang in the area; they were people, too, and they were great guys who genuinely cared about my well-being right now, and I respected that. Once the guys left, I took it upon myself to run to the store for a thing of strawberry ice cream. I had to talk Zacky out of following me two minutes down the road because he was insisting that he did so.

Once I got back home I moved myself from my usual spot on the couch with Shadow into my bed. I was in my flannel pajama pants, an oversized hoodie from college and had a fluffy blanket wrapped around me. The container of strawberry ice cream sat in my lap, a spoon in my right hand. I knew that I should be eating healthy, but I was craving this ice cream, and if I wanted to eat the entire thing I was going to eat the entire fucking thing. Shadow was curled up at the foot of the bed, keeping his distance from me after the whole incident with the water in the early evening. Poor cat didn’t know what hit him earlier, and neither did my now scratched-up legs. My mind wandered to how Shadow would handle a baby around… hopefully he would be nice, or at least standoffish.

I frowned watching the reality-tv, dating show that was playing on MTV. I missed Matt, and I missed him a lot. I had gone days without seeing him previously, and even days without speaking to him… but not knowing what he was going through while he was in solitary… what my asshole, police officer co-workers were doing to him while he was there… it made my heart hurt. My mind traveled back to the video of Maria degrading Matt, telling him that he was going to rot in jail. The video where Red continuously bashed Matt in the back of the head with the butt of a gun. My heart was wrenching.

Tears streaming down my face I grabbed my phone, dialing Matt’s number that I now had memorized by heart. I knew that he wouldn’t answer it, but at least hearing it ring and the hopefulness that would fill my veins would make me feel a bit better in the situation. The phone rang twice before the line switched, signaling that someone was on the other side.

“Matt?” I said in merely a whisper.

“The person you are trying to reach no longer is in possession of this phone. It has been confiscated and if you don’t want your call traced I would hang up now,” a male voice spoke.

I immediately hung up the phone, my throat going dry. That was Ken’s voice. I didn’t know what my name was in Matt’s phone. I figured he was smart enough to not save it as something obvious, but I was going to be in so much trouble if Ken looked up that number and matched it to mine. I let out a shuddered breath, my stomach instantly twisting. I texted Zacky, my fingers flying across the screen, telling him that he needs to get in contact with the phone company and have that phone wiped out. I knew it was all password protected and encrypted; Matt wasn’t stupid. But this was a prison. Sooner or later, those protections and encryption walls would fall, and everything would be exposed. Zacky responded saying that he was on it, and not to worry, everything would be cleared out within the next couple of hours.

It didn't matter what Zacky said. I was worried. I just needed to know Matt was safe and sound, and then I would have a serious decision to make.

Notes