Confession of a King

I grinned at the scene that was taking place in front of me. We were starting to try solid foods with Alec, and it was beyond hysterical. I thought that I was a bit of a picky eater, but this kid had me beat. Alec sat in his high chair, covered head-to-toe in noodles as Matt stood in front of him, spaghetti sauce on his face and white shirt.

“Put your hands down and open up,” Matt whined as Alec reached for the spoon, causing the food to fly back and hit Matt in the face again. Matt groaned and dropped the spoon, grabbing a cooked carrot and holding it up to Alec’s mouth, which he easily took and ate with a smile.

I laughed and grabbed a paper towel, squatting down and wiping Matt’s face off. “Someone is going to need a bath once we’re done,” I pressed a kiss to his cheek then looked at my son. “Maybe you’ll eat it for mommy,” I grabbed another spoon full and held it up to his face. To my luck he was open-mouth smiling, so I slipped the spoon in his mouth and forced him to eat it.

Alec’s eyes lit up once he actually tasted what it was, and he reached for the spoon again, trying to feed himself. Matt grunted from beside me and I looked over to see him rolling his eyes as I gave the little boy another bite.

“This is bullshit. Move,” Matt muttered and hip-checked me out of the way, trying to feed Alec the noodles once again. This time Alec happily took another bite, and started to demand more. “I told you it was good. Why do you have to make me look bad in front of your mother?”

I shook my head, still laughing to myself, and walked over to the refrigerator. I grabbed the carton of orange juice and poured it into a glass, downing it almost instantly. Matt had been home for a few months now, and we were actually getting into the swing of things. We put a contract in on a house, which was going to take a month-or-so until we were settled and able to move in. It seemed that now that we were getting our life together figured out, we weren’t arguing as much. Yeah, there were some arguments here and there, but that’s expected. We found ways to cope with each other and granted each other some freedom.

Matt had a GPS tracker installed on my phone, shocker, but he would allow me to go out and meet Chelsea for lunch and shopping. He started to work out again, and was busy with financial stuff for Avenged, so we spent time apart. We started to talk about enrolling Alec in daycare in the future so that I could go back to work. I was honestly surprised that he was coherent when it came to me expressing that I was bored of sitting at home. I wasn’t going to do the same thing as before, but actually looking to be a mentor and help struggling teenagers. He was interested in me doing that, and was supportive, but wanted to wait until everything was set in stone and make sure that Behemoth was taken care of before I ventured out that much.

Matt also brought up to me that he had been in contact with his family now that he had gotten out of prison. He had gone to have lunch at his parents house with them and his little sister, and told them about Alec and I. I expressed to him that I wasn’t sure if I was ready to make that step yet and meet his family, but he was pushing it a bit. Especially since I had met Brian’s dad, who is a ex-gang lord himself, a couple of weeks ago. I told Matt that once we had things figured out with the house and settlement, we could pick a date to have his parents over for dinner to meet Alec and I. Of course, that wasn’t soon enough for him, but it was fine.

“Earth to Ivy,” Matt’s voice sounded from the other side of the island.

I shook myself from my thoughts and looked over to him, my eyes meeting his. “Sorry, I zoned out,” I smiled and grabbed my glass, re-filling it. “Did you say something?”

“I’m going to go give the little shit a bath, then put him down for a nap, if you want to come with,” Matt smiled one of his million-dollar, dimpled smiles.

I shook my head, “No, you go ahead and do that. I think I’m going to take Hunter for a walk if that’s aright with you.”

His smile faltered a bit, and he sucked in a breath, “Keep your phone on you.”

“I will, Matty,” I rolled my eyes and walked over to him. I wrapped my arms around his waist and looked up at him, “We should go out to dinner tonight. Double date with Bri and Chelsea. Zacky can watch Alec.”

Matt’s smile was back in full force, “I’d like that, but you’d have to run it by Zacky first.”

“Already did,” I smirked and grabbed his ass, earning a low growl from him as his eyes darkened. My left hand moved from his waist onto the front of his jeans, palming him lightly, “We can leave Alec in our room tonight and take the guest room downstairs, so you can have your way with me without disturbing anyone.”

Matt leaned in to kiss me and I pushed myself away from him, pushing off from his chest. He stood there dumbfounded as I smirked and walked out of the kitchen. I called for Hunter, who ran to me from the living room. I clipped his leash to his collar and walked him out through the garage. It was warm outside, in the low 70s, so to me it was a good day for a walk. He was such a good dog, always staying at my side and never pulling me, unless he saw a squirrel or rabbit. I pulled my sunglasses from the top of my head and rested them on the bridge of my nose, the sun a little blinding today. As we got to the gate at the end of the driveway, something seemed kind of uneasy to me, but I shook it off as probably nerves from Matt’s comment to keep my phone on me.

Hunter and I went for walks a couple times a week, sometimes Matt or Brian would come with me, it would just depend on the day. We’d walk around the neighborhood, usually for a half hour or forty-five minutes, then come back home and I’d give the dog something to eat. Sometimes he’d get lucky and the ice cream man would drive by, and I’d get him a pup-cup. The sound of Hunter’s nails clicked on the sidewalk, reminding me that he needed to go to the groomer soon to have them trimmed and get a bath. We made it about halfway down the street parallel to ours when he came to a complete stop next to me, and wouldn’t budge when I tugged on his leash.

I turned to look at him and saw him staring ahead of us, a red Camaro parked at the end of the road. I froze in my tracks, fear going down my spine and swallowing my spit, my mouth and throat becoming instantly dry afterwards. Hunter picked up on my emotions and let out a nasty growl, his lips snarled up. I began to walk backwards, keeping my covered eyes on the car, making sure it didn’t make any moves. Once I saw that it continued to sit there I tugged on Hunter’s leash and he followed next to me, running down the street back toward the house.

My phone began to ring and I pulled it from my pocket, seeing Brian’s name flashing on the screen. I let out a relieved sigh and answered it, “Bri.”

“Where are you? I’m coming to get you,” he breathed out, sounding like he was running through the house toward his car.

“Street to the left of ours. I’m almost to the crossroad,” I said into the phone, looking over my shoulder to see that the Camaro had still not moved from it’s spot. “It’s one of them, isn’t it?”

Brian sighed, “Yes. Keep walking toward home. I’m pulling out now.”

The minute I saw the matte-black BMW I booked it, Hunter’s legs moving as fast as they could to keep up with me. Brian unlocked the car and I hopped in the passenger seat, motioning for Hunter to jump onto my lap. He flew down the road and toward our driveway, badging in and watching in the rear-view mirror to make sure the gates closed and no one else got in. We got into the garage and he closed the garage doors behind us before letting me get out of the car. Once the doors unlocked I jumped out, unclipping the leash from Hunter’s collar and letting him into the house.

I looked to Brian as he got out of the driver’s side of his car, a frown on his face. I felt my eyes tear up a little bit, “How did you know?”

“Vengeance intercepted a text message sent to Behemoth. It was a photo of you walking Hunter that said spotted the beauty without her beast,” Brian sighed. “Seems they now have a plan. I’m going to call off dinner with Chelsea…”

“No!” I shouted, “We’re still going tonight. I’m not going to sit here and live in fear over it because all that does is stress me out and cause pimples.” Brian let out a small laugh at my statement, making me smile, “They knew he moved me here. They knew that before he even got out. Matt won’t let me go out on my own anymore, and that’s fine, but that doesn’t mean we can’t continue to live our lives.”

“Get in the house,” Matt’s voice sounded from the door. My head snapped around to see his face, cold and frozen, his jaw tight. He looked like he just got out of the shower himself, his hair wet and he was in just a pair of sweatpants, no shirt. “Did I stutter?” he raised an eyebrow, unpleased with me not moving.

I walked into the house, following behind him, with my head held low like a child who was just scolded by her father. Brian was right behind me as we followed Matt into the den, the door closing shut behind us. Zacky and Christ were both sitting in here as well. Zacky was on the computer, the text message with the photo of me pulled up on the screen. Christ had a scowl on his face as he stood in front of the now-closed door, his arms across his chest. Matt took a seat on the leather couch, then looked over at me and patted his lap, signaling for me to sit. Brian leaned against the bookshelf behind him, then a knock at the door sounded. We all stared at it and Christ opened it up, revealing Corey.

“Sorry, I tried to tail the guy out of the neighborhood, but realized I was going to be too late. Did I miss anything yet?” Corey asked, plopping down next to me.

“No, we’re just getting started,” Zacky spoke and spun the screen on the computer around for Corey to see. “I’m working to trace the number and get a name, but someone, who is working for Behemoth, took a photo of Ivy walking Hunter about five minutes after she left the house. This person was relaying information back to Behemoth that Ivy was alone, without Shadows. My guess is that they must have been waiting for a while, looking for the right time to send that message. Who knows how many days they have been sitting in that spot waiting to see her without him by her side.”

I intertwined my fingers with Matt’s and spoke up, “I’ve seen that car before. I actually had a conversation with the guy. The minute I saw the car I knew it was him. He was the one that I called you about… the one that snatched my keys from my hands and told me that he was getting information on if I was really pregnant or not. He’s the one that nearly killed you,” I looked at Zacky.

“Ashley,” Zacky grumbled and started typing away on the computer. “Red Camaro?” I nodded as he rolled his eyes with a disgusted look on his face. “He’s Behemoth’s version of Gates.”

“Let me play with him,” Brian spoke and stared above me, looking at Matt. Brian’s eyes were glowing with excitement, dark excitement. I knew that he was usually the one who did the majority of the killings, as he had explained to me so long ago, but I had never seen him in the zone like this. “Come on, Shadows.”

Matt cleared his throat and took the hand intertwined with mine, wrapping his arm around my waist and pulling me closer into his chest. I heard him take in a sharp breath then exhale through his nose, “We need to be smart about this. I’m not ready to send you to the sharks, Gates. You’re my second, and most importantly you’re Alec’s godfather. This one will never forgive me if something happens to you because you just want to jack off to killing Ashley.”

Brian pursed his lips and rolled his eyes, “I don’t have to kill him. I’ll just torture him and get information out of him. This isn’t my first rodeo, and I have a bone to pick with the cock sucker for what he did to Vengeance.” I glared at Brian, our chocolate eyes meeting, “Ivy, I’ve saved your ass a million times now. I know what I’m doing and I’m not going to get myself hurt.”

“Enough,” Matt boomed from behind me, obviously becoming irritated with the situation. “I understand that you want to do this, and the time will come, but until then, remember that I’m in charge and you’re going to follow by my rules. Also, don’t try to talk her into agreeing with you because all it’s going to do is cause me to lock her in our room so you can’t speak to her.”

I turned to look at Matt, my face full of disbelief, “Are you kidding me? You really think I’d try to side with him on that?”

Matt’s face softened a bit when he looked at me, leaning in and pressing his lips to my forehead, “I’m just making a point, honey. Let’s stay focused.” I huffed and turned back around, facing the rest of the room and sulking back into Matt’s chest. “Vengeance, get a tracker on Ashley’s phone. I don’t care what it takes for you to do that… what rings of fire you have to jump through… make it happen. Christ, suit up because you’re going into the sharks tonight.”

Christ nodded, uncrossing his arms and walking over to the bookshelf behind Brian, pulling one to the side and showing a large cabinet behind it. He opened up the cabinet to expose a bunch of firearms. He began pulling them down from shelves.

“We are still going to go to dinner tonight, but we will not be leaving Alec at home with you, Vengeance. Ivy and I will drop him off at my parents house in a couple of hours, where he will be staying for the next few days to a week. I don’t want him in the house in case we get ambushed, as I know they will use him in their favor and I’d rather not risk my sons life anymore than I already am risking Ivy’s,” Matt spoke loud, but calm. “Corey, you gather up some of your men and bring them here. They can stay in the guest rooms and on the couches… I don’t care how many. My house is your house. Gates, bring Chelsea in as well. Have her pack a bag. I don’t want them going after her in her apartment. She’s safer here.”

Brian nodded and grabbed his phone, dialing who I guessed to be Chelsea. I turned and looked at Matt, a scared expression on my face. I didn’t think this was going to be happening so soon. He pulled me into him, resting my head on his shoulder and rubbed my back lightly, muttering to me that things were about to get ugly.

Notes