Moved On

Moved On Epilogue

"Do you ever get the impression we're in an episode of ‘Porridge?’" Trace asked John, throwing himself onto the bunk with enough force to rattle the rickety piece of furniture.
"No." John answered shortly, pinching the bridge of his nose and resting his head against the wall of their cell. Porridge was funny, this wasn't funny.
"Did you get a look at today's papers?"
"No." John said snarling, rubbing hands over his face, slouching down onto the single chair before changing his mind and getting up again. He went to look out of the barred window.
"Are you going to calm the fuck down?" Tracey grated, losing patience with his morose cell mate.
John turned and leant against the wall with a sigh. "I'll calm the fuck down if she turns up."
Since their deportation he had seen Annie twice. Both times she had been so upset at his machinations, and her impending trial, she’d barely given him a civil word. Her sentence for the credit card fraud had been three months, he hadn't seen her since.

John on the other hand had gone straight to jail to finish his sentence for smuggling drugs. It could have been a lot worse, because although he was suspected of much, there was no corroborating evidence of his villainous activities in the US. The idiom of ‘crime doesn’t pay’ wasn’t strictly true either, he didn’t go into money laundering by accident, he was set for life. John had served six months, if the good behaviour continued he would be out in three, ready to start afresh.

He'd sent a visiting order to Annie, now he had to wait and see if she came.
"What's her problem? You paid for her counsel, she'd have got a lot longer without it." Trace asked, shaking out the tabloid John thought was only suitable for wiping his arse on.
"I think it's more along the lines of me not giving her a choice." John explained heavily.
"Well, it wasn't as if you could leave her behind." The other man said, opening the paper to page 3.
"Exactly mate, I couldn't. See, you get it, why can't she?" He rolled his head on his shoulders, crunching tense muscles. What if she decided not to come, what if she decided he wasn't worth the aggravation?
"Mulligan...visitor"
John straightened from the wall, impatiently followed the screw down the corridors, to the visitors room. He was directed towards a plain Formica table with a plastic chair either side.

She was coming.

Annie was shown into the visitor’s room, her eyes instantly drawn to the beauty that was Sean. No, not Sean, John, he had even lied about his name. Her senses went crazy as blue eyes leisurely perused her length, like a ray of sun caressing her body, taking in her peaking nipples with a sly smile.
"There she is, my blonde bombshell, come here to rain fire on me head."
Annie was glad he said that, she had felt her anger evaporating like dew in the heat of her arousal. Now it reformed, an irrational burgeoning, but that anger had carried her through a traumatic trial and a spell in the clink.
She smiled tightly and sat opposite. "You look well John, prison suits you.”

He laughed gently to himself, looking at the ceiling in amusement. “Says little miss pin up, tell me how many heads did you turn on the way here today?”

More than a couple, Annie was fully encased in her sirenic battle armour. “Why did you do it? I thought you cared about me."
"So that’s why you’re here, so I can tell you how special you are to me." He mocked smoothly, his voice deep and dulcet. Leaning closer his tone hardened. "What I did was a necessity, you were too naïve to leave behind. I won't feel guilty about it and I am not going apologise for getting us out of there, making a better life for ourselves."
"You’re the one whose naïve if you really think you can go straight, live an honest life." Annie moved closer, lowering her voice to match his. “I read the papers before I came here today. Jared Tucker got caught smuggling a kilo of heroin into McCarran airport. What do you think of that?"
Inhaling deeply, John lounged back in his seat, shrugging. That tiny knowing smile curled his lips as he blinked slowly. Like always Annie was captivated, unknowingly she inched further towards him.
"That is unfortunate for Tucker." John murmured, cocking his head. "But do you really think I'd have the power to orchestrate something like that from a prison cell?"
"I think you have the potential to do anything you want. Annie purred, “except for going straight."
In a seamlessly controlled movement, John sat forward, eyes lazily focussed on her lips, unexpressed laughter dancing over his face. "Is that what you really believe?"
Annie met his gaze head on, straightening her spine, refusing to allow her body sway her to his magnetic pull. "I believe I can see this new John Mulligan, law abiding citizen, getting fat and bored before his time. Spend your days searching estate agents and auctions, looking for property to develop. Have a big house in the suburbs, a nice select area with a low crime rate." Annie suggested, warming to her theme. "Join a country club and own…horses."

John's lashes dropped to show only gleaming slits, his jaw visibly firming. He didn't like the image she was painting.
Annie carried on, her voice a zealous whisper. "You could get involved with politics John, nothing says legitimate business man like playing golf with an MP. Maybe you could become a local councillor. I'm sure they'd love someone with your ‘organisational’ skills."
“That's enough Annie.” He warned gruffly.

She was close enough to see a ticking muscle in his cheek, but continued quietly, ignoring the danger signs. "Then let's not forget your equally bored wife. Endlessly baking cakes because the kids have been sent to boarding school and she has nothing to do all day. Maybe she’ll turn to drink or, buy a fluffy lap dog she can call Fifi, give it a pink diamond collar. No deals, no looking for the next trick, you’ll be the perfect pillar of society."
"If this is your ‘Dear John’ you can think again." John dismissed softly between gritted teeth, a tone that caused the watching guard to shift ominously. "You're mine and you stay mine, there is no place you can go where I won't find you. That I do have the connections to orchestrate."
Annie swiped a thumb across her lips and then again over his with a satisfied pout. "You can’t even go two minutes being straight, it’s not in your nature."

“Time’s up.” The warder informed them tersely.

Sean ignored him and asked her calmly. "Why did you come here?"
Annie stood, a half smile on her face.  "To see if I still feel anything."
Eyes piercing, face hard, John flexed his fingers on the table. "And do you?"
Annie gave a rueful huff at the worried look on his face. John would never change, and she would never want him to. If she did have to live on her nerves, wait for him to be released from prison, or even come home safe in the dead of night, so be it. She would rather have that rollercoaster life with John, than a life of banality without him.

"’Course I do you numpty, I love ya."