Chapter 3: Visiting Eli

Eli heard his name get called out in the yard, just as he was trying to get a pass through Big D. He along with D turned their heads to the guard, and found Anthony standing at the gate. Shit. He handed the ball off to Big D. “Sorry Cruz. Gotta find another man.”

“No worries,” the short guy said and went to find another man to play some two-on-two.

Eli headed over to his brother, pissed he was being called away from his yard time. “What now?”

Anthony grinned. “You have a visitor.”

Visitor? Not visitors? Eli wasn’t sure how he felt about that. If it was visitors, Eli would have been jumping for joy to see his family. He missed the kids. He missed Sam. Fuck, but he missed Sam more than anything. Still, one visitor meant that it wasn’t Sam and the kids. Probably Mom or…or Grant. Fuck, but he would hate for it to be Grant.

Anthony led him to the visitor’s center, patted him down, and opened the gate. Eli’s heart pounded in his chest, and tears prickled at the sight of Sam.

He rushed over to her. They were allowed one hug in the beginning and one hug at the end—that was it. No kissing. But dammit, Eli wanted to break that rule.

Still the hug was all too short when Anthony called him out on it. Fucker. Eli sat, still smiling at his gorgeous wife. “Man, I have missed you, babe.”

“Well, maybe if you hadn’t gotten in a fight, I would have come sooner.”

Eli turned his head and glared at his brother. The fucker told her! He turned to Sam, pissed as ever. “He shouldn’t have told you that.”

“And you shouldn’t have gotten into a fight. That’s the whole reason you’re in here, Eli!”

“I know,” he gritted his teeth. She was going to guilt him like this? Really? “Look, can we not do this. I’ve been waiting to see you for weeks. I don’t want to fight. I miss you a lot. Do you know how hard it is not to touch you right now? It is killing me, Sammy.”

Sam wiped away tear. “I know, Eli. I know. I just…I wished you hadn’t gotten into trouble, because I wanted to see you last week. I needed to. I still do. I have…news.”

Eli cocked a brow. “News? What kind of news?”

Sam bit her lip and lowered her gaze. He followed her gaze, and he could just make out her hands on her stomach. Oh shit. “Sam?”

“I’m..” she sobbed and took a long deep breath. “I’m pregnant, Eli.”

What. The. Fuck. She cheated on me? Fuck. Fuck!

“I’m sorry, Eli. I’ve been wanting to tell you. I’ve been needing to tell you. I didn’t know how, and now…now, I just can’t keep the secret any longer.”

Eli gritted his teeth and clenched his fists. He should have known she wouldn’t stay faithful. “Who? Who the fuck is he?”

Sam looked abashed, stunned, maybe even offended. “Eli, I didn’t—”

“You’re pregnant, Sam. Unless you saved some of my sperm that I don’t know about, then you—”

“Eli, no! It’s not like that!”

“Yeah, and I wasn’t born yesterday. What the fuck, Sam? I thought… I…” Shit his heart shattered. How the fuck could she do this to him? 

“Eli, I’m fifteen weeks pregnant.”

Eli blinked. Fifteen weeks? He did the math, and yeah, okay that was about the last time they had sex. Shit, that was fucking forever too! “You sure it’s mine?”

“Eli, I’ve only ever been with you.”

He gave her a nod. He believed her. He tried to give her a smile, but another thought nudged him. One he also didn’t like. She lied to him. She lied to him for months! “You kept this from me all this time? Sam, what the fuck!”

“I tried telling you. I just…I didn’t want to tell you over the phone, and I didn’t want to tell you with the kids around. I’m not sure how Derek or Bailee are going to take it.”

“That’s why they’re not here, huh?” Eli wasn’t sure how more pissed off he could get. Well, at least she didn’t cheat on him. Still, she kept this from him, and now kept the kids from him. She lied to all of them!

“I was afraid, okay,” she cried. “I wasn’t even sure what I was going to do when I found out.”

“Oh well, that’s just fucking perfect. You’re keeping the baby.”

“Well, duh.”

She was getting pissed off at him too. Crap. Eli was pretty sure their time was running out, and he was not going to end this visit with her pissed off at him. “I’m sorry, that’s not what I meant, or well, how I meant for that to come out. I was asking, if you were keeping the baby, and it just came out wrong. I’m sorry.”

She cried more. “I’m so sorry, Eli.”

“For what?” Now he was just fucking confused. Why was she sorry?

“You’re missing out again.”

He went to reach over and hold her hand but stopped himself. He knew his visit would be over if they made any kind of contact like that. “Listen, don’t be upset. If anyone should be upset, it’s me. I did this to myself, Sammy.”

“You’re going to miss so much,” she cried.

“Then you’re going to have to just visit me more often, and the kids. All three of them.” He tried to smile, but he couldn’t. She was right, he was going to miss out on so much, and that pained him.

“Are you happy about this?”

“I don’t know. I want to be. I love my kids. I love you. I just…” he shrugged. “Are you?”

“I’m getting there.”

The visit ended too fast after that, and Eli headed out of the room, followed by Anthony. “She’s pregnant.”

“Yeah, I know.”

Eli whipped around to face his brother. The fuck? “You know! What the fuck? She told you?”

“She wanted to tell you, but you got yourself thrown into the SHU.”

“Fucker. That’s all your fucking doing. You could have kept your fucking mouth shut.”

Anthony ignored that outburst, and instead pushed Eli to keep walking. “Keep walking inmate. Come on.”

“Asshole.” Eli kept walking. He wasn’t going to get thrown back in the hole, even if he wanted to deck Anthony for telling Sam about him and the fact that he knew about Sam before Eli did.

Once inside the yard, he faced his brother again. He still didn’t know what to think about everything, but he did know one thing…he needed someone there for Sam. “Promise me, you’ll look after her and the kids?”

“I already am. So is Grant.”

Eli nodded and left to find his friends, and noticed that Tony was leaning on the table. Him and Kellogg were in deep conversation. Ah shit. This cannot be good. Tony had been trying to get Kellogg into the “business,” whatever the fuck that meant. 

He stopped in front of his friends, eyeballed Tony, and then grimaced over to Roy and Nance. “She’s pregnant.”

“Oh shit,” Nance said. “Is it…is it yours?”

“Yeah.” Eli sighed. At least he knew that much.

Tony smirked. “You sure? You sure that C.O. isn’t doing your girl? Cause if I was him…”

Eli clenched his fists together. “Shut the fuck up, Shitball. I ain’t talking to you.”

“It’s Meatball.”

Kellogg stood and got between Tony and Eli before he could deck Meatball in the mouth. Kellogg pointed to the chair at the table. “He ain’t worth another week in the hole, Eli. Sit down, and calm down.” He turned to Tony, “And you can get the fuck out of here. Our business is through. You have my answer.”

“Suit yourself, Kellogg.”

Eli sat. He tried not to let what Tony had said bother him. He glanced over to his brother and…no, Anthony wouldn’t do that to him. He believed Sam. He had to. She was all that he had. She was pregnant with his kid, and that’s all there was to it.

Still…

“what if he’s—”

“Stop,” Roy demanded. “Don’t listen to that Italian Spaghetti Slurper. You know that wife of yours loves you, and as much as I hate that fuck-wad of a brother of yours, I know he wouldn’t do that to you.”

“Listen to Roy,” Nance added. “Stick up the ass or not, I’ve heard him talk about his family to the other guards. He adores his older brother.”

“Ignore Meatball, Eli. He’s just jealous. I mean, while you have a fucking hot wife, he has… well, Eun. I mean, even I wouldn’t let him near my dick if he begged me.”

Nance snorted. “And we all know Eun loves to sucks cock.”

Eli appreciated his friends right then. And while Eli tried to laugh, and he did try…his mind kept thinking about that baby of his.

What the fuck was he going to do? Life sure as hell fucked with him. Eli hated knowing he was going to miss out on Derek and Bailee growing up the next few years, but to miss on the first few years of another child’s life? Eli couldn’t even think how much that was going to hurt him. It already started to pain him the more he thought about it.

Life sucked.