Epilogue
Mickey Tamerlane already knew exactly what he was going to do first when he stepped outside of prison as a free man. He’d spent the last two years inside this hell hole for three counts of involuntary manslaughter, and he had every intention of whipping out his dick and taking a piss right on the front gate.
“If you’re not careful, the guards might haul you back in for indecent exposure,” Doc warned him when he shared his plan.
“It would be worth it, Doc.” Mickey grinned. “Fuck this place.”
“Can’t say I wouldn’t be tempted.” Doc smiled ruefully. “And I’ve been here a bit longer than you, you know. Not all of us, ahem, have such good friends on the outside.”
David Poe, known as Doc in prison, used to be a doctor before he was arrested for the murder of his wife almost twenty years ago. Mickey was certain he was the only innocent man in Westchester Prison.
Mickey knew killers.
Doc wasn’t it.
“I know.” Mickey clapped a friendly hand on his shoulder. “Look, I’ll tell you what. If I gotta take a shit while I’m out there, I’ll drop my drawers and leave a present at the gate in your honor.”
“While that’s very kind of you, kiddo, I think it would be better if you stuck to the piss,” David said dryly.
Mickey laughed.
“Besides, I thought the first thing you’d do is call that boyfriend of yours. Roger, yeah?”
“I’m still mad at him,” Mickey muttered.
“For the infidelity?”
“That’s a real fancy way of saying he fucked six people behind my back.”
“And yet you’re still carrying his picture around,” Doc pointed out. “Whatever you have with him, it’s special. Yeah, he fucked up. But there’s hope.”
“Like fuck there is.” Mickey turned away, scowling. He should take the picture out of his pocket and rip it up, but he couldn’t bring himself to do it.
Today was his release day. It was supposed to be a happy fuckin’ day. Thinking about Roger now was spoiling it.
No matter how much he longed to see him.
“Where there’s hope, there’s a way.” Doc leaned against the bunk bed in Mickey’s tiny cell. “In life, hope is sometimes all you have. I mean, look at me.” He gestured around them. “My son, sweet boy that he is, has been trying to get me out of here since I came in.”
“And this is the same sweet boy you think is lying to you?” Mickey challenged.
“Not with any malicious intention, but yes.” Doc smirked. “Jimmy is lying to protect me, to make me think he’s doing okay. He doesn’t want me to worry. He wants me to keep hope. There’s love in that.”
“I don’t know if there’s any love in my man spreading for somebody else while I’m locked up,” Mickey drawled.
“Yeah, but who tried to sneak in here and see you on your birthday?” Doc was quick to remind him. “Do you remember?”
“It was the night me and you met.” Mickey sat down on the edge of his bed, and he looked up at Doc with a wry smile. “You saved my buddy Usher after he got stabbed. He would have died in that shit ass infirmary if you hadn’t fixed him up.”
“A true enough statement, but hey, I’m not the one who pretended to be a nurse and tried to slip in to see you.” Doc held out his hands. “That was Roger, the man who still loves you. So, yeah, I’d say there’s hope.”
Mickey scoffed, but he wanted it to be true.
Roger had strayed from him before, usually after a big fight, and it would result in some earth-shattering sex. The humiliation and punishments they both so enjoyed were a pivotal part of their passionate relationship. Raw anger that led to a lustful resolution was kind of a staple for them.
But this…
Six times, including Pym.
