Forbidden Temptations (Tempted Series Book 2) (2 page)

Those sad eyes held me captive, wishing like hell that I had never left my fucking cell; because the brokenhearted girl sitting before me tore my heart to shreds. She was pale and had circles under her eyes that made her look like she hadn’
t slept in weeks, yet still she looked stunning. Even on a bad day, she could turn the head of any guy she encountered. I could just imagine what the C.O.
’s said when she strut her tight ass through the metal detectors.

“What happened to your eye?” She whispered softly, lifting her hand to touch the bruise under my eye. Hesitating, she drops her hand instead, deciding against it and folds her hands neatly on top of the table.

Thank Christ, because I can’t handle her touch, not when I’m fucking trapped in a cage.

“What’re you doing here A? Pretty sure I told you not to come here no more,” I ground out, diverting my eyes to the inmate next to me sharing a laugh with his wife and son. I wonder why he’s in the can, wonder what choice he stupidly made that took him from his family.

Her eyes filled with water as she shook her head slightly.

“I don’t know what happened to you,” She whispered as she leaned in closer. My eyes instantly dropped to her chest, indulging in the tiny bit of cleavage she had on display. Her tits looked twice the size I remembered them to be. I definitely knew that tonight, when I laid in bed trying to forget her, I’d jerk off to that little glimpse of heaven she was giving me right now.

“Is someone bothering you here? You need to open your mouth if someone is instigating you. I can call the attorney and have you switched if that’s what is going on,” she rambled.

I lifted my head abruptly, shaking it in wonderment, trying to figure out when she would stop having my back. One look at me with a black eye and she was ready to go to bat for me, call a lawyer or a fucking congressman to get me switched to a different jail. She was a good girl, and I was a lucky son of a bitch to have had her in my corner. I hope the next guy knows how fucking lucky he is and treats her like gold. I hope he has the sense to hang on to her and doesn’t blow it like I did.

“I don’t need your help Adrianna,” I clipped angrily. “So if you would just get to the fucking point and then be on your way.” I look away from her knowing I’m hurting her but I don’
t have a choice. She has to hate me because I can
’t handle her loving me.

“For the life of me, I can’t understand why I don’t hate you. I want to hate you, I want to hate you so bad, but something inside me won’t let me.” She says sounding defeated.

“You should hate me,” I replied as I turned my head and leaned forward so my cold eyes stared deep into hers. “You should hate me with everything inside of you. You should fucking despise me A.”

“But I don’t,” she whispered, her eyes searching hopefully for something as she looks at me.

“I don’t want you coming here anymore. I don’t know how many fucking times I have to tell you. I don’t need you looking at me like that.”

“Like what?”

“Like you can’t live without me,” I replied angrily. “It’s not fair to you because I live just fine without you every day.”

“Is that why you let people beat on you? You’re doing so well in here that you’re someone else’s punching bag?” She tilted her chin toward my eye. “Yeah, you’re doing amazing in here.”

“Has nothing to do with you,” I lied, knowing that every fucking thing I did revolved around her, but she didn’t need to know that, she needed to forget me. She needed to let me go.

“I didn’t come here to fight with you,” she said, before looking down at her hands. She remains silent for a few moments then lifts her head and I see the tears making their way down her cheeks. It’s agony watching her cry. Pure fucking torture.

“Look, whatever you came here for doesn’t matter,” I respond, while gripping the edge of the table. “You need to leave.” I push back my chair and mentally prepare myself to walk away from her again.

“Anthony there is something I have to tell you,” She cried. Like full fledge crying. I didn’t get up like I planned, instead I remained perfectly still as I looked at her expectantly.

“Yeah … what’s that?” I said, irritated that I was still there watching her cry.

“I’m pregnant,” she whispered, closing her eyes unable to look at me.

It’s the strangest thing, because for a split second I’m elated and it’s as if I’ve waited my entire life to hear those words come from her mouth. Then I realize she’s not having my baby, and that realization hits me harder than anything ever has before, it breaks whatever’s left of my heart.

“I didn’t want you to hear it from someone else,” she whispered sadly, wiping her eyes with the backs of her hands. “It wasn’t planned,” She continued, trying to ease the blow of her carrying another man’s child.

I’ve really lost her.

“Please say something,” she begged as she stared at me.

“What the fuck do you want me to say? Congratulations? You really didn’t have to drive all the way here to tell me you’re knocked up.” I pushed my chair back for real and stood up. I stared down at her thinking it wasn’t all that long ago that I wondered what A would look like pregnant. Looking at her now had exceeded anything I could’ve ever dreamed. My eyes drift down to her flat stomach and tried to picture what she’d look like in a few months. I opened my mouth to tell her that she was going to be a great mother, but I quickly closed it giving her one final look, taking her in one last time before I walked away from her again. The difference this time; it would be the last time I walked away.

“Anthony…,” she pleaded as I walked passed her straight towards the metal doors. The C.O. buzzes me into the hallway and I hear the doors slide close behind us as we walk the long way back towards my cell.

Adrianna’
s pregnant. How was I ever going to wrap my head around that?

I stepped into my cell just as the officer locks me up. I turned to him and grunt,

“You want to make money? Bet on me.” Almost feeling sorry for my opponent as I grab the tape and prepare to tape my knuckles. The need to punch something or someone consumes me. I want them to feel what I feel. I know that when I put my gloves on I will be fighting for all the things I let slip through my fingers. My opponent doesn’t stand a chance, he will suffer the wrath of me losing the love of my life for good.

Poor Bastard.

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 of
her.

“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 backwards 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.