Overprotective Cowboy - Elana Johnson Page 0,2

was great or not. Nate acted like it was, but Ted had spent so much time here, with his schedule decided for him, his meals chosen for him, and his wardrobe handed to him.

He could barely remember life beyond the bars, and a tremor of nervousness ran through him.

“See you later,” Slate said, and just as quickly as he’d come, he left. Ted sighed and closed his eyes again, images running through his mind. He wasn’t sure if they were memories or imaginations, because he’d had plenty of time to daydream in here. The fact was, Ted could barely distinguish between what was real and what wasn’t, what his life before he’d come to River Bay had been like, and what he’d wished it had been.

Three more days, he told himself.

Then it was two days. Then one.

Monday dawned, and Ted had everything packed and ready to go before the sun rose. The door to the dormitory opened for the five a.m. count, but this time Gregory Fellows walked in. “Ready, Ted?” The Unit Manager wore a smile, but Ted didn’t quite know how to return it.

He looked at the men he was leaving behind. He’d said all of his goodbyes already, and he met Dallas’s eyes, then Slate’s, then Luke’s.

“Yeah,” he said, shouldering his bag that held all of his worldly belongings. He’d have to surrender it when he left, and it would be searched. He didn’t mind. He had nothing left to hide. All of his secrets, all of his dirty laundry, had been exposed, and Ted had survived.

Buoyed by the thought, he followed Greg out of the dormitory as the men he’d shared his sleeping and living quarters with cheered and clapped for him.

Outside in the hall, no one was cheering and applauding, but Ted rode the energy the other inmates had given him. Every step that took him farther from the dorm made his heart pound harder, and he went outside with the guards, getting a pair of handcuffs around his wrists before they went down the steps to make the move between buildings.

Ted hated the jangle of shackles, but he held still as a Unit Officer put them on his ankles. Once he had all his jewelry on, he shuffled down the steps and along the sidewalk, wondering what waited through the door. The Warden? Nate and Ginger, a woman he’d never met in real life? His lawyer?

Greg opened the door with a keycard, and he stood back as a couple of officers entered first, followed by Ted. His lawyer did stand there, and he took Ted’s bag and handed it to a couple of officers who wore gloves and unzipped his duffle. Ted tried not to care, and really, he didn’t.

Prison really had removed the anger from him. Then Jarrell Rose shook his hand, and Ted didn’t hate seeing his lawyer, maybe for the first time. When he’d first been indicted, he’d thought his lawyer could help him. After all, Ted himself had been a lawyer in his first life. He thought he’d worked to help people.

But as Ted had learned painful lesson after painful lesson during his trial and subsequent incarceration, his faith in lawyers was nearly gone.

The Warden came into the room, and all the paperwork got reviewed. Ted had learned to be patient over the years, and how to hold very still, a mask on his face, hiding his emotions. Inside, his muscles itched, and he wanted someone to say something, do something.

Finally, Warden Dickerson looked up and said, “All right, boys. He’s ready.” The Warden ran a tight ship here, and he didn’t make personal connections with the inmates. Ted had never seen him wear anything but a suit and tie, just as he was now, despite the early hour on a Monday morning.

Ted stood still while all the restraints got removed, and one of the officers handed him his duffle bag. “Your clothes,” the man said, and Ted watched them all leave.

He quickly changed out of the prison blues and oranges, things he never wanted to see again. The clothes in the bag were what he’d worn in, and they didn’t seem to fit right. The shoulder in his shirt was too small, and he felt like an oversized man trying to wear children’s clothes.

No one came to get him, and Ted wasn’t sure if he should just walk out.

Thankfully, Jarrell knocked in that moment. He reentered the room and took Ted by the elbow, and they did walk out