by Scarlet West
He looked at me, then at his crew. He nodded, slowly. “Yeah,” he said. “I hear it. They’re on that side, by the wall. Take the equipment there, on the double. But be careful,” he stressed, eying me as if in reproach. “Someone doing some darn fool thing could bring the whole ceiling down.”
“Okay, boss!” the man yelled, and I could see the light coming back into the team’s eyes as they realized they were on a real rescue mission, not a mission to dig up bodies. “Come on guys! Get moving. And slowly! We don’t want to bring the whole damn thing down.”
Elated, feeling as if the world had just got back all light and color, only more and brighter, I stood where I was told to and, hand in hand with Millie, we waited for Drake to come back.
22
Drake
I heard the voice over the sighs, over the coughs. Over the slow shifting of dust that still fell, in one or two places, from the roof above. I might not have heard it, it was so faint. Except that my body, mind and soul knew that voice well. I would have recognized it in a thousand others. I would have heard it in a crowded place.
“Trina!” I yelled, jubilantly. “We’re here! Where are you?”
The elation gave way to confusion. How was Trina there? How did she know? Who had told her about us?
“Boss?” Luke frowned at me. “What was that? Who’s there?”
“Trina,” I said, as if they would know who I was talking about.
“Who the fuck is Trina?” Len asked.
Big eyes stared at me in the darkness. In other circumstances, I would have burst out laughing. As it was, I let out a strained giggle.
I shrugged. “Uh, well, I guess she’s my girl.”
“Boss,” he said. “You never told us.”
“No,” I said, elated. I was laughing now, giddy with it. “When we’re out, I’ll introduce you.”
Again, the ludicrous situation would have made me laugh aloud, had it not been quite this dangerous.
“Drake!” I heard her voice, louder now. With it, I heard the sound, muffled but instantl-recognizable, of digging. A spade was scraping firmly on rocks. “Drake! Talk to me!”
“I’m here!” I yelled. I spat out dust, coughed, and yelled again. “We’re all here.”
Len raised a brow and, wheezing, took over. “There’s five of us,” he yelled.
I nodded my thanks. I rested my voice while the others took over, shouting directions and encouragement, alternately. My head was swimming. I leaned against the wall, trying to understand just what was going on out there.
Trina came to find me? How did she do that?
My mind wasn’t about to make sense out of that one, so I had to give up.
It shouldn’t have surprised me. Trina was nothing short of amazing. I leaned back and closed my eyes and listened to the sounds of rescue getting closer. I waited for Louis to stop yelling, so I could take over again.
“Trina!” I yelled. “We’re here.”
At some point, Trina’s yells were replaced by shouts from the team whose job it was to get us out. They were altogether less heartfelt than Trina’s, particularly when our team decided to shout directions, and they took it on themselves to shout back. All the same, it seemed to raise the morale of my little team , as I even caught Len grinning.
“I haven’t heard that word in a long time,” he said.
I laughed. The situation was becoming less frightening and more hopeful. I could hear the sound of shovels scraping getting louder, and it seemed as if before we knew it, we’d be out.
“I really want fries for dinner,” Louis said, “when we get out of here.”
“Shut up, Louis,” Len said cheerfully. “I don’t want to think about food.”
“I promise, when we get out,” I said to Louis, “we’ll go out and eat as much as you want. On me.”
“Truly?” Louis asked.
“Truly,” I promised.
“I bet there’s not that much food in the town.”
We were all laughing, then. I heard the sound of a shovel, grating on stone. My heart soared.
It was an hour later that they dug us out. I heard the sound of digging change, getting louder, more echoed. Then, abruptly, there was light. A torch shone down the hole. We’d been in the dark for more than an hour. The light hurt my eyes, and I felt them shut against the assault.
“Hey, Louis!” Len yelled, a grin lightening the tone of his harsh, dry voice. “Looks like we’re rescued, after all.”
“Fries!” Louis yelled.
We all cheered.
Then somebody spoke, very clearly, into the empty space.
“Is anybody hurt?”
I felt my heart stop. I was crying, tears rolling down my cheeks. It was relief, more profound and deeper than anything I’d ever felt.
“Yes,” I croaked. “He’s hurt.”
As the team broke into our cave, crouching around Dario protectively, I leaned against the wall near the entrance and drew in gulps of fresh air. It had a smell, I noticed, like nothing I’d ever smelled before. It smelled moist, and fresh, and carried the scents of heat, and rain, and growing things. I had never smelled anything so wonderful. It was addictive to sit there, drawing in great gulps of it.
“Sir?” a voice said, sounding concerned. I found myself looking into the drawn, worried face of a paramedic. “Can we help you?”
“I’m okay,” I said. I tried to stand but I fell over.
The team came over and got me onto my feet and, together, supported me as I stumbled through the hole, into the pale blue breath of twilight.
23
Trina
I stood with my hand on Amelia’s arm. I had long ago stopped shouting. My friends in the digging team had advised me to stop, taking over my job instead. Besides, I had long since run out of breath and my throat was raw.
As the team broke through the rock-fall, I felt my knees go wobbly. I leaned on the sun warmed rock-face behind me and closed my eyes.
“Mommy?” Amelia said.
I gripped her hand and wordlessly said a prayer of thanks. They were in the cave now. They would get the men out.
As soon as the diggers were through, they called the ambulance crew over. I watched silently as they brought out a man who was unconscious. As I thought about how it could be Drake they were carrying out of there on a stretcher, my heart squeezed painfully in my chest.
“Is he dead, mommy?” Amelia whispered.
“No,” I whispered back. The paramedic had him on oxygen which signaled that the man was still alive.
“Good.”
She held my hand tight and together we prayed, and stood, and waited for Drake to be found.
Please let him come out. Please let him be okay.
We waited five minutes. Seven minutes. Two more men came out. One of them walked supported, the other managed, slow and stumbling, on his own.
Amelia looked at me as they filed past, in the company of the paramedics. We said nothing.
Where is he? Where was Drake?
A brief pause followed, as the three men were taken to the front of the mine, where the stone-covered ground met the dirt track that was the access road. I waited, heart thudding, as the crew went back for another look.
“What’s going on?” I said.
“Another few in there,” a man said, heading past.
I held my breath and waited.
A minute later, we saw him. Tall, hair yellow with dust, face caked in dirt, he stood between two paramedics. He was walking slowly and he looked sick, and drained. But he was undoubtedly Drake, undoubtedly alive.
“Drake!” I yelled.
“Daddy?”
Together, we ran toward him. Drake looked around, dazed. His eyes focused on us and I thought for a heart-stopping moment that he didn’t recognize us. Then, abruptly, his face cracked into a smile.
“Trina! Amelia!” he yelled. He got down on his knees and Amelia cannoned into him. I crouched down and hugged them both, tears pouring down my ch
eeks.
“My dears,” he whispered, saying it into Amelia’s hair again and again. “My dears. You’re here.”
“Daddy! You’re okay!”
Amelia sat up and kissed his dirty cheek. He grinned and squeezed her shoulder in a grimy grip, then turned to me.
“Trina,” he said. His eyes welled up with tears. “You’re here.”
We looked at each other and our eyes held and in that moment I knew that no matter what happened in the future, no matter what had happened in the past, he and I loved each other more than life, and I would be his world and he mine. Forever.
“Drake,” I whispered, holding him tight against me. “Drake. I love you.”
“Trina,” he whispered into my hair. “I love you too. Don’t ever leave me.”
“You either,” I giggled shakily. “Not even for a second.”
“No,” he said tightly. He crushed me and Amelia to him. “I’m not going anywhere. Or, if I am, you’re both coming with me. Forever.”
“Forever,” I echoed against his shoulder.
It was never too late for forever to start.
Epilogue
Trina
I rolled over and opened my eyes. I could see the sunshine streaming through the window in a pale band of light. I could feel the steady breathing of someone beside me in the bed and I stretched to my toes, grinning as my whole body tingled.
I shifted so I could have a better view of Drake. He lay on his side, the light touching the fine lines of his profile, and making him look even more beautiful.
I watched the steady rise and fall of his breathing. I was a lucky woman.
I rolled over and lay back on the soft pillows.
My eyes wandered around the apartment. The walls of the bedroom were painted a shade somewhere between mint and blue, but pale and unobtrusive, just a shade lighter than the carpet on the floor, which was plush and absorbed all sound. I looked out at the view.
It takes my breath away.
On that side of the house you couldn’t quite see the Chrysler building, but it was plainly obvious from the sitting room. The same view was accessible from the study, too, which was why Millie chose that one to be made into her bedroom. It had taken three months of building but now, almost eight months since we’d moved there, it was finally complete.
After the mine collapse, it had only taken me a few weeks to come around to Drake’s idea of Amelia and I coming to live with him in New York. Tom was none too happy at first and he and Drake’s friendship was tested by a well-placed punch to Drake’s midsection when my brother learned the truth. After a couple of beers and some stern talking-to, Tom had relented, and he and Drake had been able to continue their friendship.
I had been afraid that Millie would miss Greer and her other friends and the town she’d known her whole life, but she was adjusting perfectly to life in New York. Skyler and Greer had been to visit once already with plans for us to go back to Bridgeway over the Fourth of July when Drake’s docu-drama would be screened at the town festival.
Already, it had received a lot of acclaim from early critics and had brought interest back to our small town. With the closing of the mines, newer companies were bringing new business and jobs to the area. And there was word that after the film was released on a wider scale, more interest would come to the town. Drake’s plan looked like it was going to work, and he was hailed as the town’s savior and hero.
I smiled to myself as I glanced over at the man I loved more than anything in the world. I couldn’t believe that we were actually here together. Even after nearly a year, it still seemed like a dream.
The apartment in New York was small, but in every way, it was luxurious and wonderful. And we were a family, sharing it. Me, Drake and Amelia.
It was more than I could ever dream of.
I let out a sigh and the noise must have woken Drake. He stirred and shifted, eyes fluttering open. I knew he was about to wake up and I watched him, taking pleasure in his presence.
“Trina?” he whispered sleepily.
“I’m here,” I said. I rolled over to lie beside him. He reached for me and looped his arm round me, and the gesture was at once tender and arousing. I felt my body clench with need and I felt his breath catch. He turned and kissed me in that lingering way which said he was as aroused as I was. I reached for him, feeling his manhood hard beneath the blankets.
“You awake?” he whispered playfully into my ear.
“I’m awake enough for that.”
He gave a low laugh and kissed me again, sitting up so that his body pressed mine down against the mattress. I sighed and reached for him and he rolled on top of me, his cock hard against my leg.
I parted my thighs and felt him slide between them, then reach lower, testing my readiness. I smiled and was surprised to notice just how ready I was. He smiled, too, knowingly, and pushed his knee higher in a way that made me gasp. Then, his eyes holding mine, he moved and pushed into me.
I gasped, my whole body igniting as he filled me. He was big and firm and he filled me and contented me in a way nobody ever had, besides him. I gasped again, and he moved out and pushed in harder, and then my hips were moving, keeping pace with his as he drew back and sighed and moved into me, harder and faster and firmer.
I cried out soon, way before I expected to. The heat of orgasm flooded bliss through my body and I closed my eyes, making small sounds of pleasuring as he gripped me tighter and moved with greater intensity.
He moved in and out a few more times before he, too, cried out and collapsed on top of me.
We lay like that a long while, savoring what had become a beautiful habit. As the perspiration cooled on my brow, I shifted under him and he rolled off, lying side-by-side and dozing together.
After what seemed like a long time, during which I must have fallen asleep, he reached over and ruffled my hair. I sighed and opened my eyes, languorously. My whole body felt amazing, renewed.
“Is it time for work?” he whispered.
“It’s Saturday,” I said sleepily. “Work’s in the afternoon.”
“Mm,” he whispered back. “I’m glad. You’re sure about it, though?”
I frowned. “Of course, I’m sure,” I said. My new salon, Tres Bien, had opened a month back. We had a small opening event, to which Skyler and Randall had been invited. It had been a success, and I was steadily building a client base, made up mainly of colleagues of Drake’s thus far. All the same, word was spreading. I wasn’t worried about being able to repay the bank loan.
“I mean the hours?” he whispered.
“Sure, I am,” I said again, firmly. My salon had different hours to the others, many of whom had their rest-days mid-week, or on Monday, so customers could make better use of their weekend. Our salon opened on Saturdays and Sunday too, but only in the afternoon, and only for a few hours. I had to spend time with my family, after all.
As I thought it, a slow grin spread across my face. My whole family.
“Well, I’m glad,” Drake said.
“I am too,” I said. “And when the new baby comes along, I will be extrapleased, because then it won’t be so weird when we cut back on…what?”
I beamed, as he turned to me, awestruck.
“What?” he said. “Trina? Did you just say new baby?”
“Yes,” I said, and this time I couldn’t stop the laughter that, bright and happy, poured from my throat and filled the room with joyful noise. “I’m pregnant, Drake. We’re going to have another baby.”
“Another baby?” he whispered.
I nodded, and I was crying. I noticed that his eyes were moist also as he tenderly took me in his arms.
“Trina,” he whispered, voice a mix of feeling and wonderment. “I’m so happy.”
I smiled and peppered his face with kisses. “Me too.”
“And this time I’ll be by your side for every step of the way,” he said.
It’s impossible to tell, sometimes, what roads our lives will take, a
nd what adventures lie in store for us. But if we only close our eyes, open our minds, and speak our hearts, we’ll find our way.
Fake It, Baby (Preview)
1
Blake
Six Months Earlier
I walked across the deck, drink in my hand and my head held high. Women in bikinis were everywhere, dancing and having a good time, with men all around the room, trying to get the attention of their favorites. I’d been to plenty of these. Parties with the super rich, business investors and sometimes partners of my father, and the scene had become all too familiar to me.
When I was younger, I used to like these kinds of parties a lot more. They were a lot wilder than they were ever portrayed to the outside world, with each yacht filled with only the most elite. Of course, I was just allowed on with my connections.
My father was absent for most of my growing up life. My mother died when I was young, but her fortune combined with my father’s made us billionaires. I couldn’t say that I missed her. I didn’t really even get the chance to know who she was before she passed. So, I spent my childhood with nannies and caregivers, anyone who could keep me under their control while my father secured business deals and partied.
He was getting older now, and as I grew, he pushed me into becoming a business partner with him. He wanted to leave our company to me when he died, Bogart Enterprises.
We were largely production, dealing with the fine print whenever a celebrity decided they wanted to create their own makeup or clothing line. He dabbled in music here and there, and there were times he even tried his hand at movies. But, the majority of our money came from feeding off people who felt they weren’t good enough without the right look – an image many celebrities had masterfully learned how to sell.
Now, at twenty-nine years old, I felt I’d largely outgrown this sort of party life. My father rarely attended them anymore, pushing me to be the face of the company while he traveled the world. He told me the day would come when I’d get to travel instead of meeting the investors with alcohol fueled, scantily clad women, but until then, this was my job.