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By Root 358 0

their eyes sometimes as he was escorted by their cells. He could smell their hatred and blood lust sluicing off their skin, flung toward him with their gang signs and low hisses. He liked to look them in the eye, stare them down, because they thought they were so bad when really they had no idea what it was all about. They clung to each other like weak-kneed bastards, passing drugs in handshakes, murdering over imaginary slights, and figuring it made them men. It meant nothing. The correction officers cracked down. Walpole went to the highest level of security and became a no-contact prison. And Jim found himself sitting across from Shelly in the visiting center with soundproof, bulletproof glass between them because the guards finally figured out girlfriends were swapping more than spit in all those passionate kisses.

Two years of wearing orange. Two years of sitting alone on a cot, listening to stone walls reverberate with unbridled hatred and poorly thought out politics. Two years without sex.

Never again. He’d made his plans carefully, he’d tended to all the details. He would not be going back to jail. And he would have his revenge.

He curled up naked on the bare cot. He slept and dreamed of the feel of Shelly’s mouth sucking him dry. And the feel of his hands wrapping around her neck, squeezing, squeezing, squeezing.

“I’m coming for you, baby,” he murmured in his sleep. “I’m coming.”

EIGHTEEN

TESS WAS READY. She woke up with the first rays of the sun, stretching out slowly. Newly formed muscles pulled and contracted. She could identify baby biceps, emerging triceps, and infant quads. She ran through a warm-up drill in the middle of her room and was pleased by the smooth, graceful flow of stance into stance.

She was getting there.

Her gaze went instantly to the phone. She wanted to call Sam. She wanted to hear her daughter’s sweet voice and tell her everything was going to be all right. Did Difford tuck her in each night, did he read the right stories? Did he watch her eat her fruit, or was she managing to drop it under the table?

God, she wanted to hear her little girl’s voice.

And tell her what, Tess? That you’ll come home? That you’ll save her from her daddy? That you’re putting her in jeopardy just by calling?

She turned away, her hands fisted at her sides. Just a few more weeks, then she should be ready to hunt down Jim. The nightmare would end. She would reclaim her daughter. Would they live happily ever after?

Tess wasn’t sure she believed in such things anymore.

She got ready for her morning swim. But when she walked into the living room, she froze.

J.T. and Marion faced off with the Navajo rug as their arena, so intent on each other, they didn’t notice her. They circled like warring destriers, nostrils flaring, chests heaving, and flanks quivering. Glug served as an unwitting and unlikely centerpiece for the exchange.

“That’s right, J.T.,” Marion muttered furiously. “Daddy’s really Darth Vader and I’m Princess Leia. Now step over to the dark side so we can get this show on the road!”

“I already told you I’m not going.”

“I gave you over a week, J.T. How long are you going to carry a torch for a mythical past?”

“Forever is a nice round number.”

Marion threw up her hands in disgust. “Stop it! Just stop it! What is it with you? No matter what, you have to make a mess of things. Don’t you understand that this is your last chance? You walk away from Daddy now, and that’s it. He’s dying and you will never get to wrap up loose ends.”

“You make life sound like an Italian opera.”

“And you like hating him, don’t you, J.T.? He’s an excuse for you. You get yourself thrown out of West Point, blame Daddy. You punch out your CO, blame Daddy. You drink too much, whore too much, try to kill yourself in godforsaken jungles for causes no one cares about, and what the hell, you blame Daddy. Well, this is it. Tomorrow morning I return to D.C. You can come and redeem yourself, or you can stay here and rot.”

A muscle twitched in J.T.’s jaw. He shook his head. “I have to train Tess. Even if I was stupid