Beyond The Cage (25 page)

“First things first.” I wrap my legs around his hips, pulling him in to me.

“You got it, beautiful.”

He starts to move, and I get lost in him. The events of the last few days fade away and all that’s left is this – us, in this moment. Just two people in love, expressing it in the most basic but also most profound way. My moans and whimpers mix with his groans and grunts, the sound of our bodies colliding playing a song as old as time. I grab at his back, dragging my nails against his skin when sound is not enough to express my pleasure.

Cameron curls one arm around my thigh, planting the other on the bed by my shoulder, working his hips in a circular motion. Gripping him with my muscles, I match his movements.

“Fuck, baby,” he groans, increasing his speed.

Standing upright, the hand from the bed splays on my stomach, and his thumb presses down on my clit, making tight circles.

“Cameron!”

“I love when you scream my name.”

Yeah, well, I’ll be screaming it again pretty soon.
Feeling my orgasm quickly approaching, I clench around him, gripping the sheets. “I’m coming. I’m coming…Cameron!” I cry out, my body convulsing beneath his.

“Jasmine!”

He grunts and, for the first time, I think we came together. The fact that he came with my name on his lips makes it even more earth-shattering.

Breathing heavily, he leans in and pulls my nipple into his mouth, circling it with his tongue before collapsing on top of me. When his breathing calms, he picks me up, throws the covers back, and climbs in, cradling me in his arms. I pull the covers over us and settle against him once more, my head on his chest.

“Want me to shut up yet?” He chuckles.

“Never.”

He sighs in contentment, tightening his arm around me. “I love you, Jasmine.”

“I love you, Cameron.”

Snuggling up to my future husband, I fall asleep, the happiest woman in the world.

The purpose of our lives is to be happy. – Dalai Lama

9 years later

“Jackson! What are you still doing here?”

“That would be Dr. Jackson, thank you very much,” I reply.

Damon’s smile lights up his blue eyes.

“My apologies,
Dr
. Jackson. How are you?”

“I’m fine, Dr. Richards. How’s your gorgeous wife?”

“You tell me. You seem to talk to her more than I do…especially now.”

He’s right. It seems we’re on the phone every free moment I have. Well, the ones when I’m not with my husband. After that day he spoke to me, I was the only one he talked to for a while. Gradually, he brought more people into the circle – Manny, Damon, and then the other guys he works with. Everyone pretty much had the same reaction I did. When he gave his first interview, it made all the papers
and
the news.

He’s still fighting, though not as much as he used to. He’s transformed the gym into a dojo and became a certified martial arts/mixed martial arts instructor. He still enters the Ultimate Warrior competition and is still undefeated. Oh, and he’s still dangerously hot.

“You look like you’re about to keel over where you stand.”

Damon’s concerned gaze travels down to my protruding belly. I place my palm on my bulge, stroking it in a circular motion.

“Comes with the territory of being nine months pregnant. She’s been acting up all day. I swear she’s as strong as her father.”

“You should go home…get some rest.”

“I have rounds to finish.”

“I’ll take care of it.”

“Sounds tempting, but –”

A sudden kick sends me leaning on the closest wall. Damon takes my hand.

“Come on…let’s get you to a chair.”

A few steps later, I stop and stare at Damon in wide-eyed horror.

“What is it?” he asks.

“I think a bed would be a better idea. My water broke.”

“Nurse! Can I get a gurney here, please?” he shouts.

“Call Cameron for me, would you?”

“Oh, man, I bet he won’t know what to do with himself.”

“Did you?”

“The first time? Hell no. I have a feeling this time won’t be any different.”

Yup, Chels is eight and a half months into her second child with Damon. This is my first, and I need my husband. Nervously, I twist both the diamond ring and wedding band on my finger. My emerald ring is on a necklace I wear every day. Damon motions to me from the nurses’ station.

“He wants to talk to you.”

The nurse arrives with the gurney, watching cautiously as I waddle over to the phone.

“Baby, are you okay?” he asks when I pick up the phone.

“Yes, but I’ll be better when you get here.”

“I’m on my way.”

I hang up, and Damon helps me onto the gurney. Half an hour later, Cameron sticks his head into my room and I motion for him to enter. He drops my duffle by the bed and takes my hand.

“Are you ready?”

“Are you?” I raise a brow.

“In case you don’t remember, I’ve been ready, Jasmine. I’ve been waiting for this for a long time.”

“You’re right. And yes, I’m ready. I can’t wait to hold her.”

I remember the day I told him I was pregnant. I’d walked up to him and told him I needed help with a math problem. He’d pulled me down onto his lap and wrapped his arms around me.

“It starts out really simple. The first step is one plus one.”

“That
is
simple…two.”

“Okay…this is where it gets tricky. The second step is two”
—
I took his hand and placed it gently on my then-flat stomach—“plus one.”

“Well, that’s –”

His words were cut off when I pressed down on his hand.

“You mean…you’re…we’re…”

“Yes. We’re going to be parents.”

He was so happy. I can still see his elated expression in my mind.

An intense pain in my chest jerks me from my reminiscing. All of a sudden, I don’t feel so good. I’m dizzy, short of breath, and my vision is blurry. This is not good…it could be hypotension. The machines start beeping like crazy.

“Cameron…get the doctor.”

His eyes open wide in fear and he rushes out of the room. He returns with my OB/GYN, Dr. Chang, along with Damon and Chelsea.

“Doctor, what’s happening?” Cameron asks.

“Her blood pressure is dropping fast, and so is the baby’s heart rate.”

“I…can’t…bre…breathe…”

Cameron and Chels rush to my side but are quickly pushed out of the way as Dr. Chang clears the room and yells for a nurse.
What’s going on? What’s happening to me, to my baby? My chest…the pain…am I having a heart attack?
I reach for Cameron, but he’s not there. The noise fades, and then the room goes dark.

***

I hear the steady beep of an ECG. As the fog in my brain begins to clear, I hear something else…singing…a lullaby. My lids are heavy and refuse to open. I finally force them open and search for the source of the singing. Sitting by my hospital bed is Cameron, holding a baby and singing “Hush, Little Baby”. I try to call out to him, but all that comes out is a groan. His eyes jerk in my direction and relief floods his handsome features.

He stands and whispers to the bundle in his arms, “Mommy’s awake.”

Mommy. My baby.
Our
baby. She’s okay.

“You scared me. I thought I was going to lose you,” he says, gently stroking my cheek.

He presses the call button and Dr. Chang walks in seconds later. My eyes are locked on my baby girl. I want to see her, to hold her so badly, but I don’t have the strength to move.

“Jasmine…can you hear me?”

I nod to Dr. Chang. She fusses over me for a while before I try to speak again.

“What…happened?”

“There were some complications. The umbilical cord got wrapped around the baby’s neck. You suffered an amniotic fluid embolism, had a seizure, and went into cardiac arrest. We had to perform an emergency C-section. You gave us quite a scare. You’ve been in a coma for a week.”

A week? I’ve missed a week of my baby’s life?

“Everything seems to be okay. I’ll leave you to get acquainted with your
healthy
baby girl.”

“Thank you, Doctor.”

“No problem, Mr. Jackson.”

With a proud smile, he lays the baby next to me, in the crook of my arm.

“Meet your mommy, little angel.”

I look down at her and my heart swells. “She’s…beautiful.”

“Just like her mom.”

“I think…she looks…more like you.”

I gasp as her little fingers curl around mine. The tag on her wrist reads ‘Baby Jackson’. That reminds me, we haven’t picked a name yet.

“Guess we need…to find…you a name.”

“I’ve been doing some research,” Cameron says.

“Oh, really? And what…have…you come up with?”

“Caden Amari Alayzia.”

“That’s a mouthful.”

“Caden…that’s from me. It means ‘little fighter’…which fits, because she fought hard to make it into the world.”

“I like it.”

“Amari…that’s from you. It means ‘a miracle from God’.”

“Okay.”

“And Alayzia, that’s from both of us…it means ‘product of an undying love’.”

I look from him to her. My two loves. My heart.

“Caden Amari Alayzia Jackson. I love it,” I tell him.

“And I love you both…my gift and my miracle from God.”

The End

KEEP READING FOR A SPECIAL SURPRISE!

ALANA SAPPHIRE