Passion's Sweet Surrender

by Ronica Black

  Sloane seemed ready to close the deal, even before knowing what all needed to be done. Her excitement had done nothing but grow.

  Blake’s, however, had given way to her mind, which had been solely on Cam since the night of the beach fire. She still had a hard time believing that what she’d heard about her was true. She’d considered that there might be more to Cam than meets the eye, but she never could’ve imagined something like this.

  Cam, a writer?

  A popular fiction writer?

  “Hellooo?” Sloane said, bumping her. “I’m looking for my friend, Blake. Is she in there?”

  “I am, excited,” Blake said, snapping out of her trance as they walked down the street. “It’s just that now that things are really happening, I’m anxious.”

  “That’s understandable. This will be a big move for you, B. Anyone doing something like this would be anxious, especially for the first time.”

  “You aren’t worried at all? Even though you’ve done this before?” Blake asked.

  Sloane threw her arm around her shoulders and pulled her close. “You know why I think those risks I took turned out so well? Because I invested in the people behind them. I knew them. Believed in them. I’m doing the same thing here. I’m investing in you, in your dream. You are the backbone. And I have more faith in you than I do anyone.”

  Sloane pulled her closer and kissed her temple.

  “We’ll make it, B. Have faith.”

  They walked past the café and heard something.

  Two men were running down the street, waving their arms and yelling. It was Alejandro and Javier and they looked frantic.

  “Help!” Alejandro shouted.

  Blake took off toward them. She sprinted down the street and heard Sloane follow. They met the men in the middle of the road and the guys were so frantic and breathless they could hardly speak.

  “He’s hurt. He fell,” Alejandro said. Blake touched his shoulder.

  Javier, who was struggling to breathe, rattled off something in Spanish, his eyes wide with fear.

  She didn’t understand him, but she knew it must be bad. “Where?”

  He pointed back down the street and said something more. But Blake couldn’t make out what he was saying.

  She grabbed Alejandro by his shoulders. “Alejandro, take some deep breaths and tell me where this person is.”

  “The building. Javier’s,” he managed.

  Blake took off again and outran Sloane. She came to the building and hurried along the side to the back. She stopped cold in her tracks as she tried to make sense of the two figures before her.

  There was a man, on his side, on the ground. She could see his legs.

  There was someone squatting next to him, rocking back and forth, mumbling.

  Blake came closer, her heart pounding as she realized she recognized the person squatting.

  “Cam?”

  Cam jerked and inched closer to the man on the ground. “Get away from him! Don’t touch him!”

  She huddled over the man and her back shook with sobs.

  “Cam—”

  “Go away!” She waved Blake away but she’d yet to look at her. She continued to rock and sob.

  Blake came closer, spoke very softly. “Cam, it’s me, Blake. I’m here to help. I’m a doctor, remember?”

  Cam was quiet for a few seconds as Blake’s words seemed to sink in.

  “He’s hurt,” Cam said. Blake could see that she was holding the man’s hand.

  “I’m going to come closer now, so I can help him, okay?”

  Cam didn’t respond and Blake approached and knelt on the other side of the man. He was breathing but lying in a twisted heap. Blood covered his head and face. Other than a laceration to his scalp, which was where the blood was coming from, there appeared to be no other external injuries to his head. She quickly scanned the rest of him. She didn’t see any blood or injury to his chest or torso. But there was a significant injury to his leg. A piece of rebar had pierced through and lodged.

  “Cam?” She didn’t answer. “Cam, look at me,” Blake said louder. Cam looked up at her from beneath her Billabong ball cap and blinked rapidly as if she were just now registering her presence. Her face was ashen, her eyes wide and glossy. She was in shock. Blake quickly scanned what she could of her. Her hands were covered in blood and she had some smudges on her face, but otherwise she appeared to be uninjured.

  “I’m not going to move him,” Blake said, as she reached out to take his pulse. “We’re not going to move him, okay? We need to keep him still.”

  She returned her focus to the man. She looked into his eyes, which he was struggling to keep open. Her heart sank. The man was Tomas.

  “Tomas, can you hear me?” His bleary eyes shifted ever so slightly toward her. His pupils weren’t dilated, but his pulse was rapid and his breathing was shallow.

  “Miss,” he said weakly.

  “Yes,” she said, smiling softly at him. “It’s Blake. I’m going to help you, okay?”

  She shouldered out of her linen button-down shirt and pressed it to the wound on his head.

  “Cam, can you hold this for me?” Cam kept hold of Tomas’s hand while she held Blake’s shirt to his head with her free hand. “Keep some pressure on it.” Blake then eyed the rebar. Removing it would be dangerous and he’d bleed more, so she left it alone and slipped off her belt and secured it carefully above the wound. Not too tight, just enough to help with the bleeding. Then, she opened his shirt and did a more thorough check for wounds. To her relief, she saw none. But that didn’t reassure her as far as internal injuries.

  Sloane skidded to a stop with her cell phone gripped tightly in her hand. “Oh, Jesus.”

  “Did you call for help?” Blake asked, realizing that in her rush to get there, she hadn’t told anyone to call. She had every faith that Sloane already had done so, though.

  Sloane nodded, staring at Tomas.

  “Is that…Tomas?”

  Blake nodded.

  “Is he going to be…?”

  Blake looked at her and shifted her gaze toward Cam. Sloane got the message. Her face clouded.

  “The woman I spoke to said if the injuries are serious or life threatening it would be faster if we transport him ourselves.”

  Blake sighed, not surprised at hearing that news. “Call them back. Tell her he needs to go to the best hospital equipped for traumatic injuries. Find out where that is and go get your SUV and back it in here.”

  “Okay.”

  Blake caught sight of Alejandro lingering behind Sloane. She waved him over.

  “Do you have anything we can use to transport him with? Like a board? It needs to be hard and flat.”

  “I’ll see what I can find.”

  Blake checked Tomas’s vitals again. There wasn’t much change.

  “How are you doing, Tomas? Try to stay awake, okay? Stay with us.” She lightly stroked his brow.

  Cam then spoke to him in Spanish. Blake understood enough to know she was relaying what she’d said.

  “You doing all right, Cam?” she asked softly. She was relieved to see that she’d stopped rocking. She gently touched her forearm.

  “He—couldn’t breathe at first,” she said, her voice strained. “Then he—said he hurt.”

  Blake looked at the building. “He fell from the roof?”

  “I told him not to go up there. Told him it wasn’t necessary yet. But he wanted to see what had caused the damage to the ceiling.” She grew quiet. “He always wants to do the best job he can.” She met Blake’s gaze. “He got tangled up in something, lost his footing and fell.” She swallowed and closed her eyes like it was painful. “He hit hard, first on the edge of this.” She motioned toward a large stack of cinder blocks. “That’s where he hit the rebar. Then he landed on the ground here.” She choked back sobs. “I can still hear the way it sounded.”

  “Take some deep breaths,” Blake said gently. “Nice and slow.”

  Cam did, though
her body shook as she inhaled and exhaled.

  Blake gave her something else to do.

  “Cam, can you untie your flannel shirt from around your waist and cover him?”

  Cam hesitantly released his hand and stood to untie the shirt. Then she carefully covered his upper body.

  “Thank you, that will help keep him warm.” Cam really needed something warm covering her, but there was no way she’d use that shirt for herself when Tomas was lying there in need of it. Blake knew that without a shadow of a doubt.

  Tomas said something and Cam covered her eyes with her hand. Blake tried to console her.

  “What did he say?”

  “He wants his wife.”

  “Does she…know what’s happened?”

  “No. Not unless someone else has called her.”

  “We will make sure she’s notified as soon as we find out where we’re taking him.”

  Cam didn’t seem comforted. “She should be here. They should be together. In case…” She started to tremble.

  “Do you want to go call her now?”

  Cam shook her head and wiped her cheek. “I’m not leaving him.” She dug her phone out of her back pocket. She pressed some buttons and held the phone to her ear. She spoke to someone in Spanish and fought back more tears. Then she held the phone to Tomas and Blake could hear a woman’s voice. Blake could hear the turmoil and pain.

  Tomas’s eyes pooled with tears and he managed to say something.

  Blake motioned for Cam to end the call. She didn’t want Tomas overly stressed. Cam said something more to the woman on the phone and then hung up. She wiped her face again as more tears came.

  She looked up as Alejandro returned. Two teenage boys ran up behind him. One had a surfboard under his arm. Alejandro took it and stood it upright.

  “Will this work?”

  “It’s perfect.”

  Blake sent Alejandro for men to help move him and something to strap him down with. A moment later, Sloane was backing the SUV in. A few minutes after that, Alejandro returned with the supplies and a few of his friends. They set to work on transferring Tomas to the board, following Blake’s instructions carefully. Once they had him secured, they lifted him and carried him to Sloane’s SUV. Blake and Cam climbed in and eased him into position.

  Sloane closed them in and climbed behind the wheel.

  “The hospital we’re going to is in town,” Sloane said as they pulled away.

  “Puerto Tranquilo only has trauma one facilities.” Blake said, alarmed.

  “They’re going to assess him and hopefully have transport waiting there.”

  Blake started to protest and ask for more information, but she saw Sloane eyeing her in the rearview mirror. Whatever she had to say, it wasn’t good, and she was silently asking Blake if she should share with Cam there. The kind of hospital he needed must not be anywhere close. If that was the case, it definitely was not good news.

  “You’re right,” Cam said as if she suddenly came to life. Her eyes were no longer wide with fear. She looked certain, determined. “The clinic in town won’t be able to help him like he needs. I’ve been there, I know.” She turned toward the front and spoke to Sloane. “We can’t take him there. It will be a waste of time.”

  “They’re going to have transport waiting,” Sloane said.

  “Yeah, that means an ambulance from Cruz Roja. They’re great, but Tomas needs help now. He can’t wait another two hours for an ambulance to drive him into the city.”

  “I’m sorry, Cam, they said that’s the best they can do for now. Unless…”

  “Unless, what?” Blake asked.

  “They mentioned air transport.”

  “They have that?” Blake asked.

  “They said it’s an option, but that people don’t use it very often because of cost.”

  Cam looked back at Blake. “Call them. Tell them you’re a physician and that we want the air transport waiting and ready.”

  “Cam, they said it cost thousands of dollars,” Sloane said. “Thousands.”

  “I don’t care.” She stared at Blake. “Tell them I’ll pay whatever it costs.”

  Chapter Thirty-one

  Blake hurried back to the waiting room after reporting what she knew about the accident and Tomas’s condition to the doctors at the awaiting hospital. She’d just seen Tomas off in the air transport a few moments before. Now Cam was foremost on her mind. Blake had left her in the waiting room with Sloane as she went with the staff to stabilize him and ready him for transport.

  Blake rounded the corner and found Sloane standing by the window biting her nails and Cam sitting on a chair, looking lost and frail. Cam didn’t seem to notice Blake until she was kneeling in front of her and taking hold of her hands. Sloane came to stand next to them.

  “How is he?” she asked.

  “He’s on his way,” Blake said. She squeezed Cam’s hands to get her to look at her. “They’ll take good care of him.”

  She nodded, the news apparently not giving her much comfort. It was going to be a long day and a long evening.

  “Should we go back to the house?” Sloane asked.

  “No!” Cam said with a sudden jerk. “I’m not going anywhere unless it’s to that hospital.”

  Blake spoke to Sloane. “Why don’t you go on back? I’ll keep you updated and maybe you could,” she glanced at Cam “take care of the dogs?” Blake touched Cam’s shoulder. “Would you be okay with that? With the dogs staying with Sloane and Kenna?”

  Cam looked at Sloane. “That would be really nice. If you don’t mind?”

  “Not at all,” Sloane said.

  “There’s a spare key under the potted rubber tree by the garage,” Cam said. “Thank you. And please, give McKenna my gratitude as well.”

  “Will do.” Sloane kissed Blake’s cheek and set off.

  Blake looked at Cam, concerned. Her dark eyes were glazed. Smudged streaks of blood marked her jaw.

  “Let’s go get cleaned up.” She encouraged Cam to stand but she resisted.

  “I want to go to Tomas,” she said.

  “Cam, I think it’s best if we stay here for now. Wait until we get word from the hospital before we decide what to do next.”

  “Why?” She shook her head. “I want to go. I should be there.”

  “You called his wife?” Blake asked. “Told her where he was going?”

  “Yes, she said she was leaving right away. She’d already called someone to take her.”

  “That’s good, he’ll have someone there. We can stay here.”

  “But—”

  “Cam, we aren’t family. We won’t be able to be with him tonight. And you—”

  “What about me?”

  You need to rest. You need a break.

  “We aren’t going to leave here, I promise. We’re just going around the corner.” She lightly tugged on her again and Cam relented and stood. Blake led them to a woman sitting behind a counter.

  “Dr. Gomez said we could use a room to clean up?”

  The woman nodded and pointed to an open door behind them. Blake thanked her and took Cam inside and closed the door. They stood at the sink and Blake began washing, first their hands and then, with gentle strokes, Cam’s face. She worked slowly, paying attention to the slope of her jaw and the softness of her skin. When she finished, she led them to two chairs against the wall. She eased Cam down and then sat next to her.

  “Let’s relax in here for a while. Where it’s quiet.”

  Cam kept glancing at the door, obviously still uneasy.

  “What’s wrong?”

  “We should be out there. What if they call with word on Tomas and we aren’t out there? What if they call from the chopper even?”

  “Cam, I’ve already made sure that we will be kept up to speed on everything. Okay? If someone calls, they will find us. This place isn’t very big.”

  She didn’t seem comforted.

  “We should go. Drive to that hospital now.”

/>   “Cam—”

  “His condition could change. At any second. He could flatline.” Her breath hitched and Blake could see the emotion threatening to overtake her. “And we wouldn’t be there and we wouldn’t—” Blake held her hand.

  “Wouldn’t what?”

  “Wouldn’t get—to say good-bye.” She crumpled, overcome with sobs. Blake held her as she cried, suspecting this wasn’t just about Tomas. She held her and soothed her until the sobs stopped racking her body and her breathing became steady. Blake brought her a box of tissues and Cam wiped her face, sniffling.

  “I’m sorry,” she said.

  “There’s no need to apologize.”

  “I just cried all over you.”

  “You needed to,” Blake said.

  “I’ve never done that before. Lost it like that in front of someone.”

  “You’ve been through a lot today. Seen things you’re not used to seeing. That can do a lot to a person.”

  She took a deep breath. “It can, yes.”

  “You sound like you speak from experience.”

  She threw away her tissue and set the box on the small counter next to them.

  “I’ve…been through something similar before.”

  Blake reached out and offered her hand. Cam took it and held tightly.

  “Would you like to talk about it?”

  She leaned back and breathed deeply as if readying herself for something monumental. “I don’t like talking about it. Haven’t really talked about it.”

  “You don’t have to if you don’t want to. But it might help.”

  Cam stared straight ahead. Took another breath. After another firm squeeze of Blake’s hand, she spoke.

  “Four years ago, my wife and I were T-boned going through an intersection. I have no memory of the impact. Only what happened shortly before and then after, when I came to as I was being taken from the car. We—she—Lexi, her name, my wife. She was slumped in her seat and the impact had shoved her door against her and she was close to me, too close, and she was at an odd angle. But I couldn’t make sense of any of that at the time. I was so confused, I fought the fireman trying to help me and I clung to her, trying to get her to respond to me. But she was cold. Limp, like a doll, like she had no bones. And there was blood. So much blood. On her head and face.”