Confession of a King

“How are you feeling?” Brian chuckled from beside me in the car while squeezing my hand in his.

I glanced over at him as he kept his eyes on the road, “I don’t know what I’m more twisted up about. The fact that I have to face Matt right now. The fact that I have to face my mom right now. Or the fact that Matt has been stuck with my mother for the past two hours and god knows how bad she’s drilled into him.”

His hand fell out of my grasp as we pulled into the driveway. He looked over at me and his chocolate eyes met mine, a saddened gaze to them. I couldn’t believe that two hours ago I made a move on him, a move that shouldn’t have been made. I was vulnerable and upset. Brian is gorgeous and treats me the way I dream of being treated, but bottom line was that Matt is my husband, the love of my life, and there’s no Ivy Gates in the future.

“Thank you for everything today. You really helped me get my mind off of all the negativity that surrounded me this morning. You’re a gem, Bri,” I sighed and gave him a small smile. “You're going to make someone really happy one day.”

“Don’t give me this talk, Iv,” he said quietly. “It isn’t like I expected you to go in there and divorce him for me. I know you love him more than anything, and I know he feels the same way about you. I never put my feelings for you out there because of that.”

“I’m so sorry,” I frowned.

“Don’t be. I’m not,” Brian laughed lightly. “Go in there and save him from your mother. Call me tomorrow?”

“Of course,” I responded and leaned over, giving him a hug before stepping out of the car.

I let the car door close behind me and started up the walkway to the front door of my home. I gnawed on my lip at what was to come the minute I opened the door. I wanted to back out and run to Brian, and tell him to drive as far away as possible… but that wasn’t a possibility now. I had to face the monster that was my mother.

“Hey, Iv,” Brian called out from his car, window rolled down and head hanging out. I raised an eyebrow at him, “Love you.”

I threw my head back in laughter, “Love you, too, loser. Go home!”

I waited for Brian to drive off before taking a deep breath and opening my front door. My nostrils were immediately hit with the smell of grilled steak and shrimp. I laughed quietly to myself, looking around to a sparkling, yet, empty living room. My husband must’ve been trying to play up the perfect man card, and trying to talk my mom out of thinking he was nothing more than a disgusting criminal. I walked toward the kitchen, seeing the island covered with dishes. There was a bowl of potato salad, a bowl of mac and cheese and a large salad bowl. The back door was open, so I slipped my way through it after placing my purse down on the counter.

“Momma!” Alec’s voice sounded out, causing heads to spin and look at me. He sat nuzzled in Kim’s arms, and a wave of calm washed over me realizing that Matt’s parents were both here. That may dull my mothers crazy, after all.

I smiled at my son and grabbed him from Kim, holding him to my chest and pressing my lips to his forehead, “Hi, baby boy. I hope you were a good boy today.”

“He was excellent, as always,” Kim added and smiled up at me. “How are you doing?”

My smile faltered a bit, knowing that she was referring to earlier this morning. I was grateful that she was someone I could talk to about her train wreck of a son. Everything I was experiencing with Matt, she had experienced with Gary in the past. “I’m doing much better. Let me go say hello to the grill master himself,” I responded and placed my son back into her arms.

Gary was standing by the grill with Matt, a beer in his hand and deep in conversation. I cleared my throat as I walked over to them, placing my hand on the small of Matt’s back and looking toward his father, “Hey.”

“Long time no see,” Gary smiled at me and tilted his beer toward me. “Why don’t you head inside, son? You two can have a moment together and I’ll take over this.”

Matt nodded and handed the grill tongs over to his dad, then walked toward the back door. I followed him into kitchen, then down the hallway to our bedroom. I closed the door behind us as he sat on the edge of the bed, staring down at the floor. I sighed as I made my way over to him, running my right hand through his hair and pulling it from the roots so he’d look me in the eye with his hazel ones. His pink, full lips were fixed in a small pout, but all that ran through my mind was how beautiful my husband was.

Matt reached his arms out and wrapped them around my waist, pulling me in between his legs. His head rested on my chest, face nuzzled in the bit of cleavage that showed in my v-neck shirt. “I’m so sorry, honey. I am the worst husband and communicator. I feel terrible for this morning,” he mumbled against my skin.

I frowned and rubbed his back, “I’m sorry too, Matty. I shouldn’t have listened in on your call and acted out against you. Let’s just put this behind us, okay?”

He pulled his head from my breasts and rested his chin on them, looking up at me, “I love you.”

“I love you too, handsome,” I smiled down at him as he pulled me onto the bed. His back laid down as I leaned onto him, pressing my lips to his and hearing him let out a sigh of relief at the feeling. His arms were still wrapped around my waist, holding me to him. I pulled my face from his and rested my head on his shoulder, “How mean has she been to you?”

Matt sighed from under me, now rubbing my lower back under my shirt. “She’s actually been quite pleasant other than some comments that are obviously hits at me. Once I brought her to meet my parents and Alec, she lightened up a bit. It was clear that she thinks you could do better than me, though.”

“God, I fucking hate her,” I grumbled against his shoulder then leaned onto his chest. I hovered over him so that we were face-to-face. “You’re not taking any of that to heart, right?”

“Nah,” he flashed his pearly whites at me. “I even tried to reason with her about the subject. She thinks that you are just attracted to me since I’m more of the bad boy type and you wanted to rebel against your family.”

“That’s exactly it,” I rolled my eyes. “I’m sure she was so happy to find out that I helped you get out of prison and that we told the entire courtroom that you were the father to my child. I did all of it just to rebel against my family. One day I’ll just divorce you and go back to them… but not until I get out of this phase.”

Matt erupted with laughter, and I was happy to hear it. I was worried about the way my mother would treat him, and that it would cause him to internalize feelings that he was already vulnerable enough about. It made me feel slightly relieved that he did have some confidence in being the love of my life, and why he was the love of my life.

“I don’t want to go down there. Can’t we just tell your parents to leave, bring Alec inside and lock all the doors?” I asked while pouting in Matt’s direction.

“You were drunk all day and I was stuck with her. You’re going down there and dealing with her yourself,” Matt pushed me off him and onto the side of the bed next to him. “I’d also like to talk to you about your day, later. And why you thought it was acceptable to get drunk at the house with only Gates around?”

I narrowed my eyes at my husband as I stood from the bed, “I thought we just got passed an argument and you already want to start another?”

“That isn’t what I said, asshole,” Matt picked up his pillow and smacked me on the butt with it. “What if something happened? What if he was ambushed? What if he had to go out on a business deal and you were stuck in that house alone?”

“I’ve been in that house alone multiple times, dipshit,” I retorted, irritated with his conversation of choice. This wasn’t about any of that… it was about him being insecure over Brian. Never could I ever tell him about what happened earlier in the day. “You’re being stupid.”

“No, you could’ve been drunk and alone with weapons. How do I know you wouldn’t have grabbed a gun and came here to kill me?” Matt raised an eyebrow.

I had to have rolled my eyes so hard it caused an earthquake, “What the fuck are you saying right now? Do you hear yourself? If I wanted to kill you I could’ve just grabbed one of the many guns we have here! Maybe I should’ve just done that and you wouldn’t be able to ask me idiotic questions like this anymore!” He started laughing and I groaned, “I hate you sometimes.”

“You should see your face when you get mad. Now you know how I feel when you push me for no reason,” he grinned while standing up from the bed. His arms stretched out to grab me and I stepped back. “Nope, come here,” Matt grabbed me and pulled me to him.

His lips were on mine in an instant and I was scooped into his arms. My fingers were laced behind his neck and my legs were wrapped around his waist. I ran my tongue along his lips, begging him to open his mouth for me. His lips parted and allowed me to slide my tongue in, but he didn’t fight for dominance at first. Knowing that he was letting me take things at my chosen pace made my heart swell, so I gently scratched the back of his scalp and mumbled that I loved him against his mouth. I felt him smile, and then his tongue pushed into my mouth. Within seconds, my back was against the wall as our tongues danced together. I could’ve torn his clothes off right then and there, but our names were called from outside, sounding loud and clear with the open window in our bedroom.

I rested my forehead on Matt’s and stared into those beautiful hazel eyes that I loved so much. He flashed his dimples at me while smiling, then set me on my feet so we could head outside and face the devil herself. I felt my mothers eyes on me the minute Matt and I walked out of the backdoor, hand in hand. Did she know that we were fighting earlier in the day? Had Matt told her that I was out with one of his friends? I didn’t know.

I still had yet to say a word to my mother until everyone’s plate was made, and we were sitting at the table. She was across from me, and I felt her looking at me while an awkward silence filled the room. I placed my left hand on Matt’s thigh next to me, patting it before looking up at my mother, “I’m going to ask this as nice as I can. What are you doing here?”

My mother finished swallowing her food and wiped her mouth with a napkin, “I wanted to see you and your son. You have not contacted anyone so I wanted to make sure that you were alive and well. Seems like Matthew is taking good care of you both.”

I narrowed my eyes at the woman, not knowing why she was being pleasant. Possibly because his parents were in the same room as us. I set my fork down, “Can you and I speak privately?”

“Can you wait until after dinner?” Matt asked from beside me, obviously sensing that things were going to get ugly between my mother and I.

“No, we can do it now,” my mom gave him a small smile before standing up from the table.

I led her to the front porch, wanting to be as far away from Matt, his parents and Alec as possible. I wanted to scream at my mother and ask her why the hell she thought it was appropriate to show up at my front door. I wanted to know who gave her my address and told her to stop on by whenever she felt like it. And most importantly, I wanted to know why the hell she was being pleasant toward Matt. She lit a cigarette and leaned against one of the posts on the porch, looking at me and awaiting the volcanic eruption to come from my lips.

“Why the fuck are you here, mother?” I sneered, not holding back. She was the one who disowned me from the family. “You wanted nothing to do with me, my husband or my son. So why now? What makes you think you can just stop on by and act like everything is wonderful?”

“Your father passed away, Ivy,” she responded while taking a drag off her cigarette. “I thought you would be interested in hearing that. I know he didn’t mean anything to you, and he rightfully shouldn’t have. His passing made me realize the knife he drove between you and him. I don’t want that same knife between us. I want to be involved in your life and my grandchild’s life.”

I rolled my eyes in her direction, “That wasn’t the case previously. If I can remember correctly, you told me to never come back if I was going to be pregnant by a convicted killer.”

The cigarette was pulled from her lips once again and a cloud of smoke filled the air, “He’s not as bad as I assumed, and hoped, for him to be. If you are happy with him and he is proving to be a good father, then I can put my gut feelings aside. I do not approve of your man of choice, but would still like to be involved.”

“When we’re done dinner you are leaving. You need to go back to the east coast, mom. I don’t need or want you out here. I’ll think about bringing you back into my life, but I’m really put off by you surprising my husband at my doorstep. I’ve been fine with being one of the Sanders, and I don’t really need much other family than that.”

Notes

Filler chapter.
More drama to come soon.