Page 87 of The Tempted

Chapter One

8 Months & 6 Days Later

I stepped outside the barbed wire gate for the first time in three years, wearing the same clothes on my back as the day I arrived. I’d bulked up during my stay in this shit hole so they were a bit snug. I walked out of there with a check in my pocket worth a hundred and twenty-six dollars – the balance left in my commissary account. Aside from the check, I also retrieved my personal belongings, all of which fit inside a manila envelope, which was tucked under my arm. I lifted my head as I stepped into the parking lot searching for my ride, wondering who Victor would send to pick up my sorry ass. As far as I was concerned, he should’ve been there to pick me up, since he was the reason I had wasted three years of my life—but of course, he wasn’t.

Jimmy Gold was leaning against a Cadillac Escalade, a cigarette dangling from his mouth and a few more gold chains hanging around his neck since the last time I saw him. I guess the boys got fat while I was away—and by fat, I meant their wallets grew large.

“Free at last, thank God almighty he’s free at last,” Jimmy sang, pushing off the truck as he flicked his cigarette onto the asphalt. “Only you would come out of the pen looking like a fucking GQ model.”

I laughed for lack of a better response. I wasn’t in a jovial mood, in fact, I was feeling all sorts of bitterness, but I’d have my moment. I’d get my due word with the boss, so, I decided to play nice with Jimmy in the meantime. I didn’t want to piss off the crazy bastard, he’d likely leave me on the side of the road.

“Not much to do here other than work out,” I said, climbing into the truck.

“Got some new ink too.”

“Yeah? You’ll have to show me when we get back home. I haven’t gotten any ink in a while,” he replied as he started the car.

“I had this guy up in Riverdale who did a lot of my more recent pieces, mostly touch ups and shit, but poor guy got cancer. You think you got it bad, and then you find out a young guy about your age is battling stage four lymphoma. Makes you count your blessings.”

If he had of told me about his tattoo artist three years ago, I may have agreed with Jimmy about counting your blessings, but I didn’t have any blessings anymore. All I had was a ghost of a life filled with regret. I stared out the window, my eyes catching a glimpse of the penitentiary in the side view mirror as we drove away from the hell I had lived in for three years. I couldn’t believe that I was a free man. I should feel something, some sort of excitement or happiness but all I felt was dread. There was no one there waiting for me, no happy life to pick up and begin again. All there was were memories and a life full of mistakes. It made me wonder if the life I lived behind bars was a better life than the hell I’d live now, knowing that at every turn I’d be reminded of what I had lost. I’d be reminded ofher.

“Get your head out of the past, Bianci. You did good, real good and Vic’s proud of you. He’s got a big shindig planned for you tonight. We’re going to make you forget the last three years and celebrate new beginnings. We’ll get you nice and drunk and some well-deserved pussy.” Jimmy said grinning from ear to ear, displaying his gold tooth.

I assumed that’s what guys like us did when they got out of jail, drank themselves stupid and buried their dicks into the first piece of ass they set their eyes on, but I didn’t want just anyone, I wanted her. I had to get her the fuck out of my head, but it wasn’t likely. I swallowed the lump that formed in the back of my throat as I pictured her beautiful face. I wondered if she’d had the baby yet, but couldn’t bring myself to ask. I’d find out soon enough. Soon enough I’d see the happy life the girl I loved was living. A life I had no part in, but a life we planned to have together.

Later that night Vic delivered just as Jimmy promised he would, throwing a bash like no other in my honor. A gesture of gratitude, thanking me for my time well served. I guess it was good to know that the three years I lost was appreciated, even if the job I set out to do was never completed. I suppose I should be thankful that it worked out how it did. I was spared having another man’s blood stain my hands, spared of taking a human life. That shit fucks with your head even long after the body is decomposing beneath the earth. Still, something was off with me because I was fucking sober despite the abundance of alcohol that had been shoved in front of me, none of it appealing. If I was being honest, the whole scene wasn’t anything I wanted to be a part of tonight. A cute piece of ass offered to come home with me, to give me a good fuck so I used her as the excuse to jet the fuck out of Vic’s bar. I didn’t take the chick up on her offer though. I dropped her off at a friend’s house and drove to my old apartment that Vic kept intact for me.

Vic was good when it came to keeping my affairs in order. He secured my apartment so when I came out I’d have a place to sleep and he even had my car waiting for me at the bar. It felt weird to be driving, but by the time I dropped the girl off I had a handle on it again. As I drove home, I realized that I liked the peace and quiet, figuring it was probably because I had been sheltered from the outside world for so long.

I parked my car in the assigned spot of my complex’s garage and made my way to the second-floor apartment. I tried to remember which key unlocked the door and why I had all these fucking keys anyway. On my third attempt, I unlocked the door and stepped inside, noting that nothing had changed as I took a quick glance around the apartment. It was as if time stood still for three years, too bad my apartment was the only thing that hadn’t been fucking destroyed in all this. I flicked the light switch on and that’s when I saw her sitting in the armchair in the corner of the room.

I took a step closer waiting for her to turn around, when she didn’t I figured I was fucking dreaming or I had lost my shit altogether. I walked further into the living room, my eyes zeroing in on her round stomach and my breath caught. She was really far along, I mean she looked like she was about to pop. My hands ached to reach out and touch her stomach, wondering what it would feel like or if I’d be able to feel the life growing inside of her. I lifted my gaze to her face and watched for a moment as she slept peacefully. She was always the most beautiful girl in the world, but Adrianna pregnant was beyond beautiful, it was just…there were no words.

She stirred, her eyes blinking as they opened and focused on me. I took a step backward for the first time realizing that she was sitting here waiting for me. She straightened up, one of her hands moving to rest on her stomach as she looked at me.

“Welcome home,” she whispered, annihilating me with those two words. I know she didn’t intentionally mean to fuck with me, but looking at her sitting in my apartment in the state she was currently in and welcoming me home completely undid me. It was as if she was waiting to welcome me home with open arms.

“What’re you doing here?” I asked her gruffly.

“I wanted to see you,” she whispered shifting her eyes downward.

“Yeah?” I huffed as I turned around unable to look at her anymore. I knew if I didn’t, I’d take her in my arms and fucking kiss her senseless; the way I dreamed of doing every day for the last three years. “You should’ve thought twice about that, considering your father had big plans for me tonight. It would’ve been an uncomfortable situation if I had brought a woman home with me.”

“I thought about that but risked it anyway.” She took a deep breath. “It wouldn’t be the first time I was back-handed by your actions.” Her voice took a bitter tone forcing me to turn around. She didn’t have the right to be bitter, not now, not in this moment, this moment was all mine. I was the one standing there looking at her pregnant with another man’s child. I was the one who was entitled to be bitter.

“Why are you here A? Don’t you have a man you should be with?” I tipped my chin towards her stomach. “Lamaze classes or whatever the fuck that couples do before they pop out a kid? Isn’t he wondering where you are?”

“Do you have to be so cruel to me all the time? I mean, don’t you get bored with pretending to hate me?”

“Who’s pretending sweetheart?” I said, trying like hell to sound malicious.

“You forget I see right through you Anthony, I always have,” she paused knowing very well that she had me there. Adrianna had always seen right through my bullshit. I had made a lot of attempts to make her hate me, thinking it was for her own good. She had seen through every last one of them.

“I don’t need this shit A, honest to God I don’t,” I said as I sighed, combing my fingers roughly through my hair. I looked at her for a moment watching as she struggled to stand up, using her hands to grip the arms of the chair. I shouldn’t have done it but I couldn’t have stopped myself if I tried, I extended my hand to help her to her feet.

“Thank you,” she whispered as she gazed into my eyes. “It’s getting harder to move around these days.”

I nodded not knowing what to say. My emotions were fighting to the surface, threatening to bring me back to a place in time I didn’t want to visit.

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