Confession of a King

I took a deep breath as I pushed open those doors that I used to walk through every day. I hadn’t been here since Matt was released, and memories of this place flooded my brain as soon as I pulled into the driveway. I couldn’t imagine the words that had flown around here about me after the trial. Matt and I had admitted that we were sexually and romantically involved. They all knew that Alec was his child. They knew about what I did behind closed doors here… and the worst thing was that they all knew I went against them to get him out of prison. They wanted him to rot here, and I was the reason why he was walking free.

I tried to put all negative thoughts into the back of my mind as I hit the front desk, seeing Sandy sitting there looking down at a magazine. I coughed slightly, acknowledging my presence and began speaking as soon as she lifted her lids up, “I’m here to see James Sullivan.”

“Ivy,” she said in a mere whisper, staring at me. She stood from her chair and looked me over, “I saw that you were supposed to be coming, but didn’t know if you would show.”

Sandy looked a bit taken back from my appearance. I had recently gone a big route and chopped my long locks off into a shoulder-length bob. Matt was actually obsessed with my hair being short, which was something I wasn’t expecting. I looked a little older, much more put together. I no longer looked like a kid between my body that had now taken on a curvier, but fit appearance and the short hair. I was wearing a pair of jeans, without holes, flats on my feet and a gray sweater.

“How have you been?” She asked me, slightly stammering over her words.

I smiled, “I’ve been really great. Matt and I are starting to plan our wedding, and I’ve been looking into employment with some juvenile detention centers. He doesn’t really want me working, but soon enough our little man is going to need friends and daycare, and I don’t want to sit at home all day with daddy wasting away.”

“You’re engaged?” Her voice raised into a higher pitch, a smile crossing her lips as I held up my left hand. “That is a beautiful ring. Congratulations to you and your family. I’m glad that your life has come together and you have found happiness. Others around here may have different opinions on you, but I’m proud of you for standing up for what you believed in, even if it meant breaking some contracts and going against us.” She placed the sign in sheet on the front desk for me to write my name, “Things have changed around here without him, Ivy. We lost control for a while and it was pure chaos. Rumors were thrown around that a gang had held you hostage and were planning to kill you both…”

My face faltered at her words, but I didn’t want her to know about what happened. It wasn’t anyone’s business, nor was it something I really wanted to think about. Memories of the fire surrounding Matt and I clouded my head quickly, but I faked a smile and pushed them away. “I’m sorry to hear that it got chaotic. I guess that is what happens when you lose a top dog. I’m assuming someone has replaced him?”

“Jimmy has somehow risen to the top. It doesn’t really make sense, but he’s got some power over the rest of them. Scared that he’ll do something to them after he took out the kid last year, maybe? He’s been looking forward to seeing you, and is still compliant with all officers. It’s just a weird situation,” she sighed and grabbed the name tag with my name on it, handing it to me.

I stuck it to my sweater, “Sounds like it. Well, I better head off to meet with him before he fears I didn’t show. Still in the usual place?”

“Yes, we haven’t changed too much without you here,” she stifled a laugh. “Before you leave today, Mr. Morgan requested for you to go to his office to speak with him about something. He didn’t say what, but wanted me to tell you if you showed.”

“Thank you,” I smiled at Sandy and headed down the hallway.

It only took a couple of minutes before I entered the room and sat across from Jimmy, just bulletproof glass between us. His icy blue eyes met mine as I smiled at him, a wide smile creeping across his happy face. He looked good. His hair was a little disheveled, but he didn’t have dark circles under his eyes anymore. His pale skin was even a little on the glowing side, as if he had spent more time in the sun. He looked healthy and that warmed my heart.

“Ivy, my dear!” He beamed “Look how short your hair is! You look marvelous!”

I blushed at his kind words, “Thank you, Jimmy. You look pretty good yourself… like you’ve been sleeping better.”

“I no longer have to sleep with one eye open, so you could say that may be the reason why. How are you feeling? No more sinus infection? How are your boys? Shadows and the kid? I see an engagement ring. You are getting married. That is great, Ivy. That is really great!”

Jimmy was speaking so fast, it was hard for me to keep up. I was used to being around four men who were generally pretty serious, slow talkers. Jimmy was always a mile a minute, and I wasn’t used to that. I let out a laugh, “One question at a time, please! I am feeling much better. I kicked my sickness and am now taking tons of Emergen-C so that I don’t get sick again. They’re both doing really well. Yes, were are in the stages of wedding planning and it’s quite the headache because he wants to have a big wedding. I’d be okay with just going to the courthouse and getting our damn marriage licenses and being done with it. The little one is great, he’s starting to say a few words rather than just babble all the time. We’re working on potty-training early, and it’s a bit of a disaster, but we are getting there.”

Jimmy’s grin seemed to grow with my words, “That all sounds so wonderful. Are you thinking of having more children?”

“Eventually, yes. Matt was hoping that I was pregnant when I had the stomach flu a couple of weeks back. Luckily, I am not pregnant and I’m back on birth control so that it doesn’t happen again. I’m looking into getting another job so that I’m not stuck at home with him by myself. We’re going to have to enroll Alec into daycare by the time he is two so that he can be a normal child and make some friends.”

Jimmy raised an eyebrow, “Doing the same type of work?”

“Yeah, at a juvenile detention center, hopefully. I’ve been e-mailing them back and forth and they offered me the opportunity of interviewing next week. I don’t know that I would want to be back in an adult center, especially one that had maximum security. We see how that worked out for me last year,” I laughed. “I think I’d get more out of working with children, too.”

“You would be great with children,” Jimmy added. “But it’s not the same without you around here. They never replaced you, just some of us got moved over to McKenna or were kicked out of the program altogether. They make us do bi-monthly check-ins if we don’t meet with her regularly, but there’s no regimen anymore.”

“How do you feel about that? Do you like that better?” I asked, honestly curious.

Jimmy laughed, “And I thought you were no longer my therapist! I do not mind it, too much. Obviously, a majority of the inmates here are happy that they no longer have to go to psychological sessions because it made them angry or felt weak. I personally enjoyed my time with you, getting to know you, and talking to you. I thought it made my mad mind a little more sane. However, I am not a fan of McKenna and prefer to opt out of her program and just do the check-ins.”

“That’s interesting that you do not like her. I enjoyed my time with you, as well, Jimmy. I heard that you have replaced Matt in this place. You’re on top. That’s got to be quite the feeling,” I wasn’t necessarily trying to get information out of him, but I was curious as to how he, of all people, without any gang experience, managed to get up there.

Jimmy nodded his head furiously, “It was quite the power trip in the beginning, and I am really not sure as to how I got here. I will not complain about it, though. No one messed with Shadows when he was on top unless they were an uneducated rival of his. No one messes with me, especially since I have no rivals. Maybe they are worried that I will snap and kill them, or eat them. I’m not honestly sure, but the only way this position could get any better is if they would allow me to have a pet duck in here.”

I laughed, “I see you’re still worried about your ducks.”

“Leanna checked on my stallion duck friend, and he is doing great. He’s getting older, Ivy, but he’s still hanging in there. She says he limps a little bit and and I worry that the department of natural resources will ultimately take him out and euthanize him. I hope that is not the case. I have asked Leanna to catch him and bring him home, but she feels that it is better to leave him in the wild where he is happy. I understand, I do, but that doesn’t mean I like the answer,” Jimmy rambled, his crazy mind was still there, even with the power now instilled in him. “Word was going around that something happened to you and Shadows. Some people even said you died.”

“Nope, we’re both alive and well. We had a bad run-in with someone, but came out on top and no longer have any worries. We’re now working on our lives as a happy, healthy family,” I smiled at him, still not wanting to talk about the situation.

“They said that he dropped the gang. He left the business,” Jimmy pursed his lips, then smiled. “He really loves you.”

“He does,” I licked over my lips and smiled, my cheeks slightly pink. I was glad Jimmy at least understood why Matt left. I knew he and Matt were friendly in prison, but not friends. Somehow Jimmy had killed Ace for Matt, and I didn’t know how that all played out, but I was glad that Jimmy always supported our relationship.

We finished up our conversation within an hour, talking about a bunch of random topics. It felt good to finally see him and speak with him. I apologized to him for not coming to see him in the last year, and that I really did mean to see him. He said he was understanding that there was a lot going on, between gang issues and raising Alec, and that he wasn’t upset by it. We made a plan that once a month I would come visit him. He just had to make sure that Leanna would be okay with it, whenever she got home from the trip she was on. I bid my farewell to Jimmy and reminded myself that I was supposed to go meet with Mr. Morgan. I didn’t know what he would want to talk to me about, but I took a deep breath through my mouth, out my nose and started toward his office.

I passed Ken and Billy, both looking shocked to see me at first, but then their faces twisted into scowls. I couldn’t blame them for what I did to the prison. I especially could not blame Billy for not liking my presence… Matt nearly killed him, over me, and he now knew that. I was sure that Red probably spewed all of the information about what happened in the courtroom to everyone else in the prison, just so they knew how horrible of a person I was. That wasn’t my issue anymore and I wasn’t worried about their opinions about me, my fiancé or my son.

I knocked on Mr. Morgan’s door, which was open, and peeked my head into the office. He was sitting at his computer, but looked up and locked eyes with me. A smile was on his lips, something I wasn’t expecting, as he spoke to me, “Come in and close the door behind you, Ms. Miada.”

I did as he asked and sat down, sitting across from him and folding my hands over my lap. He closed his laptop and looked at me with a smile, folding his own hands on the desk. I didn’t know what to say to him, so I took a ragged breath before speaking, “Sandy said you wanted to meet with me.”

“I did,” he looked down at my hands, noticing my engagement ring. “Congratulations on your engagement.”

“Thank you,” I said quietly.

“I take it you are still with Mr. Sanders?” He asked and I nodded. “Word has been surfaced in the prison that he stepped down from his position with Avenged. I am assuming that this is some of your doing?”

“We both agreed that it is best to move on from his past, and work on having a happy, healthy and functioning family. We want to raise our son, and future children, in a normal household without any worries in the world,” I stated while faking a smile. “I am not going to come in here and give any information about Avenged, other members or anything of the sort. So if that is what you wanted to talk with me about, I will gladly head home.”

Mr. Morgan laughed, “There’s still some fire in you, aye?” He shook his head, “That isn’t what I wanted to talk to you about. I actually wanted to tell you that regardless of what you did previously while working for us, I am proud that you used your knowledge to do what you thought was best. Minds here may be shadowed with the thought that you got Mr. Sanders out of jail for your own personal reasons, but all of the evidence you gave to the court was unbiased and justified. With Shad… I mean, Mr. Sanders, dropping his position in a gang and becoming a functioning member of society, I would like to offer you your job back.”

“What?” I asked, gasping. “You want me to come back here after everything I did? I broke contracts, I went against everything the police force stood for… I testified against you in court…”

“Ivy, you did what you had to do. As much as I hate to admit that you did all of those things to us and our justice team, Mr. Sanders had no business being here both legally and for your sake as the father of your child. I will keep my mind clouded over any affiliation that you may have had with Avenged, but you were our best therapist here. We have yet to replace you, and that is mostly because I have wanted to ask you to come back to work.”

“I… I need to talk to Matt about it…” I stumbled a bit, “But I will get back to you, okay? By the end of next week.”

“Take your time, my offer stands until I hear an answer,” Mr. Morgan smiled as I stood up. “Take care, Ivy, and tell Mr. Sanders I am glad he is doing well.”

Notes

Is she going to take the job?!?!?!
What's with Jimmy being in charge now?
Good for him.

Feedback is GREAT.