Total Submission(21)

It’s the most incredible surrender I’ve ever known.

Cam, my Cam, looks deep into my eyes. He can see everything, all the way to my very soul. I’m dizzy, reeling, floating off to some higher plane. My lungs constrict, burning for air, but all I can feel is the two of us and the burning connection of his gaze, and how he’s moving inside me, fuck, so deep inside, hitting everything just right, possessing me, until I can’t take it anymore—

“Come for me,” he gasps, fucking me hard. “Come now!”

He releases the tie. Air rushes into my lungs, cold and crisp, and the sensation is so sharp that it mingles with the pleasure of his cock and the ache of my body and my whole being shatters in a mind-blowing, life-changing orgasm. Pleasure rocks through me, again and again. I’m split open, naked and exposed, every emotion rushing out in one overwhelming tidal wave.

I hear a ragged groan and then Cam explodes inside of me, pumping hard as we both ride the waves of pleasure until our climax fades away.

It’s pure heaven. I’m overcome.

Sobs well in my chest.

“Isabelle?” Cam’s face is stricken with concern and tenderness.

I’m embarrassed by my tears. But I can’t stop, something in me has broken wide open, and now I can’t stop all my emotion from flooding out in a wash of loud, messy sobs.

In his arms, I’m finally free.

“Let it out, Isabelle. Let it all out.” Cam cradles me to him. “I’ve got you. You’re okay. You’re safe now. Everything’s going to be alright.”

In his arms, I’m finally free. I don’t want any secrets between us. I don’t want to hide anymore.

I gulp a shaky breath and wipe away my tears. “I need to tell you the truth about what happened to me,” I tell him, my body wracked with emotion. “Why I’m running, why Brent has this hold over me. Because he knows the secret I’m hiding, and he won’t let me go, and I can’t… I can’t…”

It’s too overwhelming, I can’t hold back the sobs.

“Whatever you’ve done, whatever you’re hiding, it won’t change how I feel about you,” Cam vows. “Trust me, Isabelle. I’ll protect you, no matter what the cost.”

He’s so calm, so sure, it gives me strength. To straighten up, and look him in the eye, and confess the dark secret I’ve been hiding so long.

“I… I killed someone, Cam.”





TEN: CAM


I freeze in shock. I can’t believe it – that Isabelle would be capable of such a thing. But she’s lost in her own guilt and emotion right now, sobbing so hard it slices through my chest.

I reach for her without thinking. “Shh,” I murmur, holding her tightly. “I’m right here. I’m listening.”

Isabelle takes a raw breath. “I didn’t mean to, I swear. Or maybe I did. Maybe a part of me wanted to hurt him. But I didn’t realize…”

She breaks into tears. I calm her again. “Just start at the beginning. Tell me everything.”

Isabelle shakes in my arms. “After my mom went to jail, I bounced around group homes and foster placements for years. Some of them were OK, but most of the time, the people couldn’t care less about us. We were just a paycheck to them, expected to look after ourselves.”

I think back to the file Jake showed me, and feel the rage build. How could anyone mistreat an innocent child like Isabelle? How could they not show her the love she deserves?

Isabelle takes another breath. She’s calming now, sitting back so I can see her face, and all the pained emotion flooding her beautiful blue eyes.

“When I was twelve, I went to stay with the Claytons. There were three kids there already, and we all slept in the same room together. Mrs. Clayton worked at the hospital, she was gone all the time. So was Mr. Clayton, at first, but then he lost his job.”

She takes another breath. I take her hand and hold it tight. My poor beautiful girl.

“He started drinking all the time, hanging around the house. He would always walk in on the older girls, when they were changing or in the shower or whatever.” Isabelle shudders at the memory. “It was creepy, and wrong, but what could we do? And none of us wanted to cause problems. Mrs. Clayton was nice enough, and anything was better than the group homes.”

I get a sinking feeling, I know where this is going. “Did he touch you?” I ask softly, holding back my anger.

Isabelle swallows. “Not at first,” she whispers. “But then Kayla, one of the other girls, she turned sixteen and left. And it was me and Crystal, and she was just a kid. My age, but younger, you know? She still couldn’t sleep without her teddy bear. So… So he started paying attention to me instead.”