Military Romance Collection: Contemporary Soldier Alpha Male Romance (15 page)

3

              Matthew was sitting in the cafeteria, hunched over his lunch tray. Things in the jail had been exceptionally tense lately. A group of four new inmates had come into the facility earlier in the week; two of them had already left in ambulances, victims of violent assaults. Everyone was on edge. He was just hoping to avoid whatever was going to happen.

              “Hey, buddy.” Big Jesus sat down across Matthew, folding his massive forearms together and resting them on the table top. “How are you doing?”

              “All right,” Matthew said. “Can’t complain.”

              Big Jesus nodded. Once he’d figured out that it had been Charlie, Matthew’s little brother, who’d been responsible for his most recent arrest – a conviction that resulted in a jail stay ten times longer than the experienced felon had expected – he’d gone out of his way to maintain a presence in Matthew’s life. It wasn’t friendly attention, to be sure, but at the same time, it wasn’t hostile either. Big Jesus hadn’t asked Matthew for anything – not even information about his personal life, much less money or tobacco.  “And you’re on short time now.”

              Matthew couldn’t help but smile. With the jail’s rules and his good behavior time, Matthew was going to be a free man again in less than two weeks. “I am.”

              “So did you decide where you’re going to go?” Big Jesus asked.  “Are you headed back to Memorial Gardens?”

              The smile faded from Matthew’s face. “I doubt it,” he said. His future was uncertain on a number of fronts. Amy had filed for divorce the minute she’d discovered all the money she’d carefully earned and saved was gone; she’d sent papers he’d had to sign, agreeing to the sale of the house, his car, and just about everything else.

              “And your job let you go, I’m assuming.”

              Matthew snorted. “Yeah. They did.”

              “You know, you got to have an address and job information to put down on the discharge papers when it’s time to walk out of this place,” Big Jesus said. “You’ve got to have it, and you’ve got to have something that the people can verify. You can’t just make that shit up at the last minute.”

              Matthew blinked. “I didn’t know that.”

              “I figured,” Big Jesus said. “White people usually don’t know nothing about being arrested. Not if they’re slow old guys like you.” He smiled. “No offense.”

              “No offense taken,” Matthew said. “I didn’t know.”

              “How I handle this is,” Big Jesus said, tapping his hand against his chest, “I got an arrangement with my cousin Alianna. She has a flower shop, and I work for her.”

              Matthew raised an eyebrow. “You work in a flower shop?”

              Big Jesus laughed. “I’m the back-up delivery driver.”

              “So if your sister’s regular driver gets sick or whatever, you’re the substitute,” Matthew said.

              “Nah, man. It’s not like that.” Big Jesus shook his head. “Normally my sister has her son do all the deliveries. And he knows better to get sick.  But he’s a little guy.” He held his hand out in the air, indicating that his nephew stood roughly five feet tall. “Skin and bones. The kid eats all day but he don’t weigh nothing.”

              Matthew nodded. He’d learned that Big Jesus was a story teller. When he got on a roll, it was best just to keep quiet. Big Jesus enjoyed the sound of his own voice. He did not enjoy being interrupted.

              “Sometimes,” Big Jesus continued. “The places where the flowers need to go aren’t in the best neighborhoods. Not Sunnyside bad, but not good, you know what I’m saying?”

              Matthew nodded again.  He couldn’t name any of the neighborhoods Big Jesus was referring to, but he wasn’t about to argue.

              “So I go in and I made those deliveries with him. So nobody thinks about trying to roll up on him, you know?” Big Jesus looked proud. “I’m his back-up. I’m there to kick ass and take names.”

              “You tell the officers this when it’s time for you to go?” Matthew asked, incredulous. “And they don’t try to make a big deal out of it?” Big Jesus’ approach to serving as security detail for a flower shop sounded more than a little illegal.

              Big Jesus laughed. “Man, they don’t care what your job is, as long as there’s a job.  Tell them you’re going to work quality control at the dildo factory. Nobody’s going to say anything.” He paused. “At least as long as they can call and verify employment. If they can’t do that,” Big Jesus said, “you better not plan on getting out for another week or so, because your worker’s going to have to put a discharge plan together for you.”

              “Worker? What worker?” Matthew stammered. He hadn’t really thought through what he was going to do after being discharged; the idea of having to find both a new home and career was more than he could deal with.

              “You’re supposed to have a worker, man. Your advocate. Who do you go see when you have your paperwork done?”

              Matthew shrugged. “I’ve never seen anybody.”

              “They never even give this man a worker!” Big Jesus announced to the cafeteria. “Half a year of this man’s life stolen away from him, and they don’t give him no worker!” He shook his head, and lowered his voice. “I am telling you that if they haven’t given you a worker by now, it’s going to take at least a month before they get you one if you go start hollering about it today.”

              “Should I start hollering?” Matthew asked.

              Big Jesus nodded. “I would if I was you…” Then he held up his hand. “Or maybe not. Maybe I wouldn’t want to slow things down with too much attention to procedure and details.” He tilted his head, looked at Matthew and smiled. “Maybe you don’t want to spend six extra weeks in here when you don’t have to.”

              “Six weeks!” Matthew exclaimed.  “How do you figure six weeks?”

              “A month to get you a worker at all,” Big Jesus said. “That’s if you’re lucky. Maybe it’ll be more like six weeks. They technically have ninety days.” He leaned backward, sitting up straight so he appeared even larger than he usually did. “Then it’ll take about a week for your worker to create a discharge plan that takes into account you’ve got no address and no job.  After that, it’s another week to get the plan approved.”

              “And then they let me go?” Matthew asked. His heart was sinking slowly into his shoes. The thought of another month and a half, trapped in this facility, on top of all the time he’d already served – the prospect was unbearable. He needed to get out, to go somewhere where he could see the sky and move around as he saw fit. Numbers whirled in Matthew’s head. Six weeks would be forty-two more days inside – and if it took the full ninety days Big Jesus said the state had to provide him with a worker, the total could be one hundred and four.

              “That’s how it’s supposed to work.” Big Jesus shrugged. “Sometimes it takes a little longer. The County’s real good about making you jump for their schedule, but when they’re the ones who have to do something?” He smiled. “They drag their feet.”

              “So instead of hollering,” Matthew said. “What should I be doing?”

              “I’d be going into that discharge meeting with certain information,” Big Jesus said. “You’ve got to tell the man what the man want to hear.”

              “I need an address and a job,” Matthew said. He rolled his eyes. “How the hell am I supposed to get a job from in here? It’s not like I can go interview. I can’t even get online.”

              “Tell them you’re going to go live with your parents,” Big Jesus said.

              “My parents are dead,” Matthew said. “So that’s not going to work.” He was surprised to see Big Jesus startle when he announced the news about his parents; they had been gone so long that their absence was a matter-of-fact aspect of his existence, but it was a shock to the younger man.

              “Dude, that sucks. I am so sorry for your loss.”  He tapped his chest and pointed toward heaven. “May Jesus watch over their souls forever.”

              Matthew was touched. “Thank you. I mean, it’s all right. It’s been a long time. But thank you.”

              “Put down your brother on the form,” Big Jesus said. “If he’ll let you be there for real. It’s got to be somewhere you can really stay for a while, because they’ll come out and check.”

              “Charlie will do that,” Matthew said. “But what should I tell them I’m doing for a job?”

              “The guy raises horses, don’t he?” Big Jesus smiled. “Tell them you’re a cowboy.”

4

              “I’m almost scared to say this out loud,” Ada said. “But today has been a really nice day.” For the first time in a long time, the couple had seen through a day on the ranch that hadn’t involved any kind of problem solving. Nothing had broken, none of the horses had needed medical attention, there were no bills or unpleasant notices delivered to the mailbox, and she and her husband were both healthy.

              Charlie started to nod. Then his cell phone rang. He shot a look at Ada and smiled, mock-wagging his finger at her. “Look what happens when you say things like that?”  He put the phone to his ear. “Hello?”

              His expression sobered as he listened intently for a moment. “Yes, I’ll accept the call.”

              Ada looked at her husband, trying to find clues about what was bothering him in the lines on his face. He noticed her concern, and waved his hand to indicate it was all right. “Matthew!” he finally said. “It’s good to hear your voice.”

              More silence followed as Charlie listened. He nodded every couple of seconds, saying “Mmm-hmm” and “That makes sense,” periodically.

              Then he said, “Well, just tell them you’re going to come here. We’ve got plenty of room. You’re always welcome.”

              There was another pause. This one went on somewhat longer. Charlie looked at Ada repeatedly, but he didn’t say anything for a long time. Then he turned his back on her, walking with the phone against his ear as Matthew talked.

              “Well,” he finally said, “here’s the thing. If you need a job in the sense that there’s work to do, yeah, we can give you one. There’s all kinds of work to be done out here, and I can prove that to anybody who wants to visit.” He took a deep breath. “But if you’re talking about a job in which I can actually pay you, like cash money?” Charlie shook his head and spoke again, his voice breaking a little as he had to deliver disappointing news to his brother. “I don’t know how we’re going to make that happen.”

              Ada reached out and stroked her husband’s shoulder. Every day she spent with Charlie gave her another reason to fall in love with him. She’d known right away that he was good looking and funny, but it was the time they’d been together after that that revealed the many wonderful qualities her husband had. 

He was such a caring guy, genuinely concerned about how his two brothers were making their way through the world. Since Matthew had been sentenced to six months in jail, Charlie had spent more than a few sleepless nights worrying about him.  There was a spontaneous, generous side to his nature that Ada really adored. He’d offered his brother a place to stay without hesitation – that wasn’t something everyone would do.

Charlie laughed, surprising Ada. “All right, man. We’ll have the light on for you.” Then he hung up the phone and looked at his wife. “Honey, we’ve got to talk.”

“Let’s see,” she said. “Your brother needs a place to go once he gets out of jail, so he’s going to come stay with us.”

Charlie nodded. “I kind of figured that was going to happen anyway, once he told me Amy made him sell the house.” His brother’s ex-wife had been relentless in her drive to recover every penny of the money Matthew had squandered. She’d even sold his brother’s old baseball cards on eBay. It hadn’t settled the debt between the two of them, but it did appear to satisfy his former sister-in-law’s need for vengeance.

“But what’s this about a job?” Ada asked. “We can’t afford to take anyone else on.”

“He’s going to work for room and board,” Charlie said. “That’s all we can do.” He tilted his head. They’d been working with two hands, both young men Wyatt had recommended for their temperament and skills. “This isn’t going to change the situation with Sean and Freddie. I need them to stick around.”

Ada nodded. “I’ll make that clear to them.” Sean came from a rodeo family, and he knew everyone on both the professional and amateur circuit. He’d been playing a vital role in helping them find bookings for their stock.  Freddie was much less of a social type – Ada hadn’t heard him put five words together in the entire time she’d known him – but he knew everything there was to know about horses. With his help, Charlie and Ada had been able to keep all of the ranch’s horses happy and healthy. “Knowing Sean, he’ll try to use this to talk us into giving him a raise.”

“Well, good luck with that,” Charlie laughed. “You can’t get blood from a stone.”

5

“You’re going to be a cowboy?” the guard asked, looking up from Matthew’s discharge paper with a skeptically raised eyebrow.

Matthew nodded. “My brother has a ranch just east of here,” he said, “where he raises rough stock for the rodeo.”

“Those bulls are scary creatures, man,” the guard said. He checked a few more boxes on Matthew’s paperwork with a red pen. “You couldn’t pay me to get in there and mess around with them.”

Matthew shrugged. “I don’t have a lot of choices right now.”

“You can always rebuild.”  The guard looked up, suddenly serious. “I see a lot of guys coming out of this place. Every week, we send out fifteen, twenty of y’all.” He shook his head. “Some of them, I don’t even say goodbye. I just say see you later. Because I know they’re coming back.”

“That’s sad,” Matthew said. “But that’s not me.”

“It could be you,” the guard snapped. “You’re not in some one and done situation. The law’s still there to be broken. It’s on you to be vigilant. You’ve got to watch yourself. Use your judgement.” He finished up the paperwork. “You can’t just go do what you did before.”

“I really can’t,” Matthew said. “That whole life is gone.” Amy would never speak to him again, he was sure of it. And his professional credibility was shredded: who would ever contemplate hiring a man convicted of stealing from his employers.

“That means you’re free to make better choices.” The guard handed Matthew his packet of papers and a plastic trash bag containing all of the street clothes he’d been wearing when he was processed in. “Hope to never, ever see you again.”

“Likewise, sir,” Matthew said. “Likewise.”

Considering how long he’d imagined being released, Matthew found walking through the jail doorway onto the street to be rather anti-climactic. People were just walking by, going around their errands, seemingly unaware of how bright and beautiful the world around them was.

Matthew walked across the street and took a seat on the bench there.  It was unsettling to be ignored; after nearly six months of having every move he made scrutinized both by guards and other inmates, he had acclimated to the pressure of constant observation. To have no one paying attention to where he was, what he was doing, or how he was doing it was strange. When a passer-by gave him a side-eyed glance, heavy with contempt, Matthew felt a sensation disconcertingly like relief.

He stood up, slinging his trash bag of possessions over his shoulder. They’d told him the bus station was on the other side of town. His goal was to walk over there and get a ticket to the station nearest Charlie’s house. He hadn’t gone too far when he heard someone say, “And where do you think you’re going?”

Matthew whirled on his heel, furious with himself for letting his guard drop so completely once he was out of jail. There were still dangerous people around; if no one else, Big Jesus had plenty of friends outside. Matthew had been sure that the convict hadn’t wished him well, despite the accuracy of the advice he’d given Matthew regarding discharge procedures.

Adrenaline pumping, Matthew turned quickly, ready to confront whoever called to him. Standing there, wearing a cowboy hat and a big grin, was his younger brother Charlie.

“What are you doing here?” Matthew exclaimed. He opened his arms for a hug.

“Well,” Charlie said, after squeezing his brother tight and then stepping back from the embrace, “you didn’t think I expected you to walk all the way out to our place, did you?  It’s almost two hundred miles!”

“That’s quite a walk,” Matthew said. “It was going to be quite a bus ride.”

“If you want to step ten hours on a bus, I’m not going to stop you,” Charlie said, “but I’ve got a truck with great ac and a hankering for barbecue.”

Matthew grinned. “That sounds like a much better plan.  Lead the way!”