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Glancing up, I noticed O’Connor waiting at the last table on the left; across from him sat The Spoon.
“Good to know men in jail keep their word.”
“What, you think you’re better than us?” Matty hissed through his blackened teeth.
“You don’t want to know what I think,” I said before standing up. “I’ve pressed my luck enough for the day, thanks for the game.”
“How the fuck am I going to win my money back?” Chris yelled.
“You don’t,” I replied.
As I was about to take my leave, he grabbed onto my arm. Looking down at his fingers, my jaw clenched
“Chris,” Justin muttered under his breath.
The entire cafeteria froze. No one dared to breathe. O’Connor, along with The Spoon rose, all of them ready for another violent day.
“If you want to keep your arm, you should let go,” I told him simply.
His eyes widened as he did what I asked. “Mr. Callahan, I’m—”
“Callahan, you have a visitor. Callahan, you have a visitor,” the familiar voice broke over the intercom.
Leaving the fool, I headed to the doors. I noticed O’Connor nod over to two men who simply walked over to the table to take my place. I could spare him, just brush it off, however this was the shark tank. If you couldn’t swim, you drowned. If you messed with the alpha, you got eaten.
When I stepped out, Thing One and Thing Two were waiting, cuffs in hand. They chained me up like I was Hannibal fucking Lecter. I was used to the walk to visitor’s room. Each time I went, it felt like I was being led to my death. For my mother's sake, I tried to think of one good moment, one bright spot in hell to make her feel better. I could handle confinement, but it was the look in her eyes each time she came to see me that was wearing me down. I almost didn’t want to see her.
When I reached the separation glass, it wasn’t her sitting on the other side, and I felt myself sigh in relief.
“You look like shit.”
“Nice to see you too, Dad,” I said into the phone. His eyes roamed over me, his face cool, expressionless, before he shook his head.
“From the moment you were born, I knew, I just knew you would drive me to an early grave. You were always the one who just had to cross the line—”
“Pops, I’m in jail, do I really need a lecture?” I smirked, causing the corner of his mouth to perk up.
His eyes dropped to the cuffs around my wrists. “Even though you look like shit, you still look good according to jail standards.”
“I’ll take that as a compliment. Is that your way of asking if I’m alright?”
He didn’t answer, but I knew it was. He was just as worried as mom was, but at least he tried not to show it.
“You do have a plan, correct.” It wasn’t a question.
I nodded. “I do.”
He waited. “Liam—”
“Rule nine: a secret is only a secret if one person knows it. Trust me, Dad, I’m fine.”
“You maybe, but the rest of the family isn’t.”
“I will fix it.”
“And I would trust you if you trusted yourself. It looks like you're just playing it by ear with no plan whatsoever. We’re losing business. We look weak. You’re in lock up, Liam—”
“Will you stop telling me where the fuck I am?!” I snapped, as I pulled on the cuffs. “I fucking know where the fuck I am damn it. I know we’re losing business; I’m working on it. Who gives a rat’s ass if we look weak? We aren’t. And if anyone thinks that now, in a few days they will be kissing my feet again.”
“What if she doesn’t come back, Liam?” he asked.
Rising, I prepared to hang up, I didn’t want to go there.
“Liam, please, sit back down,” he said.
But I was done. I turned away from him and looked over towards the guards.
“Ethan has an ear infection.”
It was like someone had dropped me in a pool of ice. Facing him, I tried to think of what to say.
“Ethan has an ear infection, which is why your mother isn’t here. She was with him all last night in the hopes of getting him to bed,” he added.
“Have you called his doctor? Is he okay? What medications is he taking? Did this just happen? Mother was here yesterday and she didn’t say—”
“He’s fine, Liam, breathe. Babies get ear infections. It’s painful to watch, but he will be fine. Between everyone in the family, the poor boy is now probably crying because he can’t get a moment of peace.”
Breathe, he’d said, as if it were that easy.
Resting my head in my hands, I tried to calm my damn heart. But it was beyond my control. I wanted to see him. There was an urgent, painful need to see his face. There was no bullshit to spew or attempt to save face, it hurt. It hurt knowing that I wasn’t there for him. It hurt knowing that he may not know me. And worse of all, it hurt knowing that I’d failed him; by not protecting his mother, I had failed him.
“Liam—”
“I’m fine,” I coughed out as I sat up a bit straighter. “As long as he’s fine, I’m fine. And he is fine, right?”
He smiled sadly and nodded. “Son, if he wasn’t okay, I wouldn’t be wasting time with you. He’s happy, he’s healthy, and he has your eyes. The same exact green.”
I was silent for a moment before I nodded.
“Callahan, time’s up,” the officer behind me said.
Staring at my father, he gave me a look, the one he used to give me as a child. Like he was trying to read a complex book in an unknown language.
“She will come back,” I whispered. “Call me crazy, foolish, or just plain delusional. But I know her. Despite my better judgment, I still love her and I have to believe she’s coming back.”
Thing One and Thing Two came up beside me, and led me out to the familiar stretch of cells. I didn’t want to speak with anyone else, I didn’t want to do anything. Each time I saw my family, it felt like another chip had fallen away from my soul. Callahans weren’t meant to be locked up, bad things happened when you tried to keep a monster in a cage.
“Open cell D2344.”
My door opened, and when it did, there on the top bunk laid some no good teen, with brown skin and black eyes. He was tall and thin, no older then eighteen if that, and most of all, he was scared…I could smell it coming off him in waves.
“Meet your new cellmate, Callahan. Avery Barrow,” they snickered.
Stepping inside, the door closed. Sticking my hands through the designated hole, they took off the chains as I turned back to them.
Such idiots.
“Hey, I’m not going to get in your way. I was just—”
“Stop talking,” I said as I leaned against the bars. “Move out of that bed and it will be the last thing you ever do.”
He didn’t speak and I didn’t close my eyes. The warden had done this and she would pay.
DAY 14
Are you fucking kidding me?
Each inmate laid face down on the ground as the paramedics swarmed the dumbass who was having a seizure in the middle of the cafeteria. I hadn’t even gotten lunch yet and this motherfucker was cutting into my time.
He was most likely overdosing on the smack he’d ordered. He wasn’t going to make it, so why bother with the fucking dramatics?
