I used the flashlight to show where we were at. Laying on the ground on my belly, I kept edging closer as we waited for someone to get there. Guilt was overflowing in me. “Cyprian, I want to tell you that I was dead wrong for going to talk to anyone about having a baby with you. I just keep making mistakes, baby. I’m sorry.”
“No, you were right about doing that. I was the one who was wrong. But I don’t think I want to have a baby right now anyway. It’s not that I’m not ready, but you aren’t. We both need to feel safe in our relationship before we go that far. I was coming back to tell you that when the Earth opened up and swallowed me whole.”
I managed to get all the way to the edge of the hole and shined the flashlight down on him. He looked up at me with dirt-smudged cheeks. I was so relieved to see him, I began to cry, my tears fell on his dirty face, leaving spots of white on him. “Hi.”
A frown covered his face. “Cami, I told you to stay back.”
“I know. But I had to see you. Is anything broken?”
He was standing up, the walls of dark dirt held him close. He couldn’t move, and I was worried about his ability to breathe. “I don’t think so. I fell straight in.”
“Is it hard to breathe?” I shined the light all around him and thought it would be easy to get him out with some rope and a few men to haul him up.
“A little. It’s good to see your face, baby.” A smile curved his lips, and I cried some more.
“Not as good as it is to see yours. About having a baby…”
“Don’t. Let’s forget I said anything about it. I have more to prove to you. I get it. And there’s no rush. We can just get to know one another better. And see where things go, instead of me trying to rush things all the time. I know I do that, and I know I need to quit.”
I had to laugh. “Cyprian, if you didn’t try to move things forward, we’d never get anywhere. I’m afraid I’ve found out something about myself. I’m a person who waits and waits until opportunities are lost. I don’t want to keep dragging my feet where you’re concerned. I love you, and I know you love me too. I’m just worried about things that might happen.”
“You have every right to. I know my life wasn’t anywhere near normal. I can’t expect anyone to think I could stay faithful. I can. I know I can stay faithful to you…”
I cut him off, “How? How do you know that? You sound so sure. I’d like to know how you’re so sure about that.”
He blinked at me a few times. “Cami, I see you in a light I’ve never seen anyone. When we touch, it’s magical. That’s never happened to me before. When I fall asleep, it’s you who are on my mind. And when I wake up, there you are again, filling my thoughts. Now you tell me, has that ever happened to you before?”
I thought about it and had to shake my head. “No. I can’t say it has. And you’re in my thoughts at those times too. Love isn’t a thing I worry about. I know you love me. It’s the sex, Cyprian. That’s all it is. The damn sex!”
“Miss, could you move back, slowly?” a man’s voice came from behind me.
I looked back to find about twenty people had come up behind me. I knew they’d heard at least the last of my little confession to Cyprian. My face burned with embarrassment, but I had to shake it off. “I could move back or you could just throw me a rope, and I can get it to him than a few of you could pull him out.”
“I’m afraid I need to assess the situation, and I’ll make that call,” the burly firemen said.
I looked him up and down. “What do you weigh?”
“It doesn’t matter,” he said as he put his hands on his hips. “Now, get back here!”
I wasn’t about to let him make a mistake that could hurt my man. “Listen up, dude. Your weight might make this thing cave in. Now, I’ve assessed the situation, and I know this will work. So, stop stalling and trying to be a hero and just toss the rope over here.”
“You should do as she says,” Cyprian called out. “She’s very stubborn, and I’d really like to get out of here and take a piss. It’s been hours, man.”
Someone else tossed a rope my way, and I caught it then lowered it down to Cyprian. I looked back at the group that had gathered and felt kind of bad that so many had come. If I would’ve had a couple of men I could’ve called on, I would probably have been able to deal with the situation myself. “Three or four of your strongest men should pull him out. I don’t want any super hard tugs. He needs to move a little at a time.”
As Cyprian ran the rope around his chest, dirt began to fall in on top of him. He stopped what he was doing and looked up at me. “You move back now. I’ll yell when I’m secure. If this caves in, I don’t want you becoming a part of that and making this a double rescue for these guys.”
I didn’t want to go. I didn’t want to lose sight of him. “I love you, Cyprian.”
“I love you too, Cami. Back up now.”
I did as he said and went back, flat on my stomach until a couple of men picked me up and dusted me off. We were all silent, waiting to hear him say he was ready, but nothing was coming.
“I’m going back.” I tried to go back to my stomach, but the two men who’d helped me up were now holding me tightly.
“No, ma’am,” one of them said. “You’re to stay back.”
There were tons of lights shining on the hole when the dirt began collapsing way too fast. “No! Pull him up! Now!” I screamed, frantically.
The four men who held the rope began to pull then two more joined them. They were having to pull Cyprian through the dirt that was falling in on him.
The fireman, who seemed to be in charge, shouted, “Paramedics, be ready with the stretcher and oxygen!”
Two medics came to stand next to us, waiting to see if the man I loved was going to come out awake or not. My heart was pounding, my body was shaking, and I couldn’t breathe or make a sound as I waited to see him coming up out of that damn hole.
Eternities came and went in the time it took for them to pull him up. Then I heard him sputtering and gasping, “Cami?”
“I’m here!” I shouted, but the men wouldn’t let me go. Not until Cyprian had been dragged far enough away from hole.
The paramedics got to Cyprian first, checking everything. Finally, I was released and ran to him. I couldn’t stop running my hands over his face. “Baby, how do you feel?”
“Tired.” That was all he could say as he looked at me then closed his eyes.
“He may have a punctured lung,” one of the medics said, then the stretcher was up, and they were on their way back up to the house.
I followed as close behind them as I could. “I’m right behind you, Cyprian. Don’t worry.”
But I was worried. What if he had internal damage? What if he was bleeding inside and didn’t make it to the hospital?
I watched overhead as a helicopter landed at the front of the house. “What’s that for?” I asked anyone who’d tell me.
“He’s going to be taken to the hospital. You can go up on your own. There’s no room in the chopper for anyone else,” some man told me as we ran behind the men who were taking Cyprian away.
As I got to the back door, it suddenly occurred to me that his parents needed to be told what had happened. I ran through the house as I made the call. “Mr. Girard, this is Cami. Cyprian’s been in an accident. They’re taking him by helicopter to the hospital.”
“What on Earth happened to him now?”
“He fell in a hole, and it closed up on him as the rescuers were pulling him out. He may have internal injuries. I’m about to leave now.”
“See you there, Cami. Be careful. I can send the car for you if you’re too upset to drive,” he told me, sounding fatherly. A thing I never saw him as.
“I couldn’t stand to wait for it. I can drive. See you there.”
“Okay, now promise me you’ll be careful.”
“I promise.” I ended the call, thinking the old guy wasn’t such a bad man. Just a crappy dad who thought sex was nothing more
than entertainment.
With that one thought, I found some light filtering in on the enigma that was Cyprian. He loved his father, and that was hard for me to take. He should hate him, think of him as an unfit father. His mother should be hated too. She dumped him on his unfit father after all.
But there was love there. The only real thing that was bad about his parents were their ideas about sex. Sure, that one thing was enormous, but I could see why Cyprian couldn’t do what I thought he should do. Which was turn his back on them and never look back.
As I climbed into my car that night, I had changed. Maybe not entirely, maybe not enough to agree to having a baby with the man I loved, but I had begun to understand him and his family more.
And that was a step in the right direction!
Cyprian
My chest hurt like crazy. I couldn’t seem to keep my eyes open, but when I did manage to get them open, I didn’t see Cami anywhere. “My girl…” that was all I could get to come out before the pain became excruciating.
“She’s on her way to the hospital in her car. Don’t worry about her. Just rest. No reason to try to talk right now,” some man told me.
I closed my eyes and wondered if she’d called my father. Cami hated him. But I hoped she’d put aside and called him. I wasn’t feeling too hot. I had no idea what all was wrong with me.
When the dirt collapsed on top of me, I couldn’t take a breath if I had wanted to. Then I felt a few sharp pains before I was pulled out. When I took a breath, it hurt like hell.
But I wasn’t worried about me, it was Cami I was worried about. I’d been through worse, I’d make it. But if she’d fallen in, I didn’t know if she could make it out of what I just had.
When I heard her voice, I could relax. She was fine, and I’d be fine. It was just a matter of time, and I knew that was a thing we needed. Rushing was getting old. I needed to learn to be patient and wait.
The time in the hole gave me the opportunity to think about things from Cami’s point of view. I looked at myself through her eyes. I was a huge risk, I could see it all now.
I had lost my virginity at a very young age and had countless sexual encounters with women from all over the place. I had a woman with me the night I met Cami. But I couldn’t find it in me to have sex with that woman after only one meeting with Cami.
She stole my heart before I even knew she had.
Nonetheless, I saw her point about me. Could I really stay away from having sex with other women?
All kinds of ideas came to me about that one question.
I could put myself in positions where sex with another woman was possible. I could attend a few of my father’s parties. I could make a date with a woman from my past that I’d had phenomenal sex with and see if that brought out desires in me for a woman besides Cami.
There were many, many ways I could test myself. But were any of them smart?
I’d have to tell Cami what I was doing. That would upset her. She might not say it would, but it would. I came to one sound conclusion. No one who loves someone does that crazy kind of shit to themselves.
When you love someone, you stay away from women you have a sexual past with. It’s like the number one rule in any relationship, she’s your ex, stay the hell away from her and don’t you dare take her out on a date to see if any of the old attractions are still there.
That’s just playing with fire. Someone is bound to get burnt!
The only thing there was to do was the smartest thing that all couples did. Give themselves time to show their partner they can be trusted.
The simplest thing in the world to do, except when you’re an impatient person, which I was.
I was used to doing everything faster than others did. I flew through school while others took their time to learn things, I learned them rapidly and didn’t dwell on getting into anything too deeply.
Even with sex, I started early and flew through sexual partners with no concept of it being wrong to anyone, including myself. It was time to slow down. Smell the roses that were growing from our relationship.
Babies could wait. As could marriage. It all could be done in due time. There was no need to rush.
I thought about all that while my body was trapped in a hole that I couldn’t even move in. Maybe if I’d been tied up and left alone in a dark room, I’d have come up with the idea sooner. But no one saw fit to do that to me.
Damn my luck!
Camilla
“Surgery?” I asked just to make sure the nurse was saying what I thought she was saying.
“Yes, ma’am. Cyprian Girard is in surgery.”
“Can you tell me for what?” I dug in my purse for a pen and paper to jot down her reply.
“I can’t tell you that. You’re not a relative.” Then she turned and walked away. Just like that, I was no one to the man I loved.
Taking a seat in the waiting area, I tried hard not to cry. All I wanted was to get a damn opinion about having a baby with the man, and it ended up with him in surgery. How could something so simple end up like that?
Sweeping into the emergency room lobby, came Cyprian’s father. A handsome older man with that air about him that womanizing men have. He didn’t have to open his mouth before three nurses were falling all over themselves to find out why he was there.
My stomach turned as I had to witness the flagrant flirting the women did. And Mr. Girard was anything but oblivious to it all. He was eating it up as if it was a delicious chocolate pie. “Ladies, ladies,” he said as he managed to wrap both arms around all three of them, pulling them into a huddle. “I am the father of Cyprian Girard.”
“Oh, my goodness!” one the nurses gasped. “You look too young to be his father!”
“Alas, but I was a youngster when I sired the boy. How is my young man?” He swept the back of his hand over his non-tear stained cheek. “I’ve been so worried since I received a phone call about him being hurt.”
“He’s in surgery,” another nurse popped off.
“He has internal bleeding,” another offered. “They’re trying to stop it. I think he’ll be fine. But how in the world did he end up in a hole in the back of his estate? That’s what I would like to know.”
“So would I,” he said then his eyes came to me. “And that young lady, there should have the answers we seek.”
I was horror-stricken as the nurses came right along with Cyprian’s father to ask me the terrible question about why he’d fallen into a hole in the first place.
“Hello, Camilla,” Mr. Girard said with a tone that was not at all hospitable. “Could you explain to me how my son fell in a hole and has hurt himself so badly that he’s currently in surgery?”
“I can.” I stopped right there. I could tell him and the three nosy nurses, one of which had turned her back on me when I’d asked for information only moments earlier, but why should I?
When I said nothing else, Mr. Girard said, “So then tell me, please. Why was my son in a hole?”
“He went for a walk and fell in.” It was the truth!
A frown furrowed his brow. “And why was Cyprian walking so far away from the house?”
“Um, I’m not entirely sure.” I lied as I began to fidget in the uncomfortable chair.
“Well, tell me why you think he was walking out there and fell nearly to his death.” He took his foot and tapped the bottom of mine to get me to look up at him as my eyes had become glued to the floor.
“I might’ve upset him by something I did. I didn’t mean to do that to him, but it was my fault! Okay?” I got up and took off, not wanting to see the conviction on any of their faces.
“Wait!” Mr. Girard called out.
I stopped as if his voice had magical powers that stopped my hasty retreat. “I should go,” I whimpered.
“No, you should come back here and give me a thorough explanation, Camilla.”
I turned around and headed back to the man and his small harem of nurses. “I went to a therapist, and I as
ked him to go see her too.”
“And why did you do that?” he asked with a good amount of sarcasm in his voice, which I thought was odd.
“What’s up with the sarcastic tone?” I crossed my arms in front of myself and tapped my foot as I grew angry.
“Well, I can see you going to a shrink. Why you believe my son needed to is funny, obviously.” He and the nurses shared a giggle as I began to see red.
“He asked me to have his baby, and I thought we needed a professional opinion about it. He got upset, went out for a walk to cool off and fell in a hole. There! You have the whole story!” I took a seat again and tried to cool off. My body was heated with shame and embarrassment at my confession.
“He asked you to have his baby?” one of the nurses asked me.
Another chimed in, “And you thought you needed some professional help to answer that question?”
Laughter filled the air as the three hens cackled but Mr. Girard only stared at me. “You won’t be doing that, Camilla. There’s absolutely no reason for the two of you to have a child. My son won’t stay the way he’s been with you. It’s not in him to. Bringing a child into his life would be a tragic mistake.”
The heat that had been boiling up inside of me came to head. I stood up and went toe to toe with the man who’d done horrible things to his poor little boy. “Look, you have no business saying a thing like that. Cyprian is different with me. But he’s not going to go back to being a shallow man who only thinks about bedding as many women as he possibly can. And he got that ill notion that life was all about that from you. I’m lucky he found me and I found him. And I was a fool to ever think he’d go back to that life. The one he shared with you. It was my doubt that upset him. And I should’ve never had any doubt in him.”
“It’s been a drop in the bucket, the amount of time you two have been together. And it’s been one tragedy after the next. Can’t you see, the forces are trying like hell to break the two of you up. My son’s never seen the inside of a hospital until he met you.”
Sitting back down, I knew he was right. Too many bad things had happened since we’d began seeing each other. But so, had a lot of good things. “Well, I’m not about to end it just so you can have him back.”
Savage SEAL’s Virgin: A Submissives’ Secrets Novel Page 133