Fallen

A part of her knew she should have known better than to trust Henry. Another part of her had hoped. Maybe, just maybe...Clearly maybe had been a lie. It was wishful thinking that had made her think that maybe Henry would be different. Maybe Henry wouldn't leave her.

Betray her.

So much for wishful thinking.

Jezzie reached down and gently rubbed the blossoming bud of her stomach. Would Henry failing her mean that he and that couple would fail the baby too? The thought made her blood run cold. This baby deserved better than that. Then again, it shouldn't have had to deal with her as a mother either. It had a lot going against it.

"Jezebel!" one of the guards snapped. "You got a visitor."

Hope made her heart start pounding. Could she be so lucky? No. She clamped down hard on that hope. It couldn't be Henry because he didn't really care. He had pretended just like everyone else. She stood up setting her face in stone. The guard, Whitey Tighty, led her down to the visitors' room walking in first hiding her own visitor for a few moments.

The man that was revealed was both unexpected and pleasing even as his presence made the hope that had still throbbed inside of her die. "Ryan?"

Ryan Krenshaw was a handsome young man who had been Jezzie's friend since she was ten. At least she had thought he had been until she had met his older brother Travis. That had been about the time that a bad life had become very complicated. That hadn't been until she was thirteen though. She had trusted Ryan far longer than she had trusted Henry. It always ended the same it seemed. "Hey Jezzie."

She took a deep breath and nodded. "So Travis knows." Moving forward to the table where Ryan stood, Jezzie took her seat, her head bowed.

He nodded looking away from her. "Yes, but he didn't send me," Ryan admitted. "Actually, he'd probably kill me if he knew that I was here."

Jezzie furrowed her brow as she watched the older male. She would never have expected him to say something like that. Especially not since, as far as she knew, his relationship with his older brother had always been one of mutual respect and cooperation, at least on Ryan's part. She had never been able to work out how Travis actually felt for his younger brother. Apparently it had been a lot darker than she would have ever imagined. "So what did you do?"

Ryan looked at her and gave a sarcastic sort of laughter. "Yes, it would be my fault," he said shaking his head. "I just finally realized that it's time that my brother learned he can't pull this kind of shit," he explained. "You shouldn't be mad at that lawyer of yours either."

Her eyes narrowed and she glared at him. "Don't talk about Henry," she hissed. "You don't know anything about that."

"Actually," Ryan insisted leaning forward. "I know more about it than you do." Jezzie leaned back in her chair and crossed her arms over her chest, snorting. Ryan chuckled softly making her grit her teeth in frustration. "You never did like to believe me. You should this time. I brought proof." A newspaper slid around the table and slipped into the edge of her vision demanding to be looked at. "Go on," he urged.

Jezzie relented and snatched up the newspaper. "What am I supposed..." she trailed off as her eyes slipped down to one of the articles declaring: LOCAL DISTRICT ATTORNEY ATTACKED IN PARKING LOT. "No," she breathed as her eyes slipped through the article until she found the name she had dreaded to see.

Henry Maddox.

Age Twenty-Six.

"Is he..."

Ryan shook his head. "He made it through surgery but...he hasn't woken up Jezzie." She squeezed her eyes shut, tears pricking at her eyes. "He'll be okay Jez."

"How do you know?" she asked.

Ryan stood up and walked over, resting a hand on Jezzie's hair. "I'm going to make sure he's okay Jez...I'm going to make sure everything's okay," he promised. "I know that I screwed up before, but I'm going to make things right."

Jezzie shook her head and shoved away from the table standing up. "You can't make things right Ryan...not this time." She moved back towards the guard stopping at the door even as Whitey Tighty opened it. "Thanks for trying though Ryan. I know that...I forgive you." She walked away before he could try and make her stay again. She wouldn't be able to make herself leave if she listened to him anymore. He had always had that power over her.