Camilo's Virgin

Somehow in under ten minutes we are out the back door and in the van. Getting the hell out of Varadero is the only thing I can think about. My hands are gripping the steering wheel so tightly, my skin is practically white.

“Breathe, baby. Breathe,” Chassie’s calm, even voice pierces the cloud in my mind as her hand squeezes my thigh. I take a deep breath, my first in I don’t know how long. I should feel some type of way about having just killed my mother. Instead, all I feel is relief. Somewhere in the back of my mind, I always knew it would come to this. She was too obsessed with the idea of Chassie. Foolishly, I had thought that she’d get over it as time went on but fuck this was a long time coming.

Do I regret it? No. Fuck no Not even a little bit. She threatened the one person who makes my heartbeat and my lungs suck in oxygen. No one else would live if they tried it so why should she?

As soon as we are on the Vía Blanca, I pull out my phone and call Lawrence, getting his damn voicemail. Fuck him and his emergency. Shaking my head, I wait impatiently for the fucking beep in order to leave a message. Briefly, I tell him what just went down and where we’ll be. He needs to get there quickly. I have a safe house about two hours away from the compound, but I won’t feel truly safe until we are on American soil. That’s a hard thing for a patriotic man like me to admit, but dammit if it isn’t true. Once I am in America, I am spilling the fucking beans about every single dirty, immoral deed my father has done. I don’t consider it snitching. He needs to be stopped. Killing him would be too easy a punishment for him. He needs to suffer for what he’s done.

I look back into the back of the van from the rearview mirror. All my babies are sitting quietly looking out a window. It’s like they sense something is wrong because they are unusually quiet, especially since its first thing in the morning. The ride is uneventful as I pull into the underground garage of the seemingly abandoned metal structure. Looks can be deceiving though. Inside it's a state of the art smart house with security.

We’ve brought the diaper bag and that’s it.

“Why do you have this place?” Chassie asks as she looks around the moderately decorated house.

“As soon as I met you, I knew I’d need an out. It took about two years but when I was done, it just sat waiting for this day.”

“It’s fancy,” she says.

“It’s impenetrable and that’s all that matters.”

“I love you, Camilo,” she replies, taking my hand in hers, squeezing it.

“Mama, Papi? What are we doing here?” Gen asks, tugging on my other hand. I look down at her and over at her brothers.

“We’re going on a little trip,” I tell her.

“Another vacation?” she asks excitedly. “Are Abuela and Abuelo coming too?”

“Not this time, baby,” Chassie says. I am grateful she said that. While I am not ashamed of what I’ve done, the kids are still too young to know what’s happened. One day, but not today.

“Just us?”

“Yep. Won’t that be fun?”

“Yeah!” she yells, suddenly done with us as her brother has found the TV remote and turned it on. Chuckling, I turn to Chassie.

“That could have been worse,” I say. The more I think about my mother, the better I feel. She wasn’t a good person nor was she a good influence for my children. I may be going to hell, but I protected what’s mine and at the end of the day that’s what matters.

“Well, kids adjust. Don’t worry,” she says, squeezing my hand again.

“I am going to pick up some food,” I tell Chassie.

“Alright, baby. We’ll be safe here, but you better come back to me,” she says, stepping closer to me so that only I can hear that last part.

“I will, wife. That’s a fucking promise,” I tell her, before kissing her soundly. She arches into me and moans into my mouth. Fuck. One thing at a time, I tell myself as I leave again. Once everyone is locked up tight in the house, I head out for food. I ditch the van for a Toyota pickup. I try Lawrence again, getting his voicemail once more. All we can do is wait and pray that he gets the messages quickly.

Chapter Seven

Chassie

Oh my God. Oh my God. I cannot believe that just happened. He actually killed his mother. I mean, I shouldn't be surprised considering she was going to kill me, but I am. Don’t get me wrong, I believed him when he told me years ago he would always protect me no matter what against any threat. Even his own family. I guess I just didn’t picture him actually pulling the trigger when it came down to it. In my mind, I always imagined he would have someone else do it, or just simply take us away from there like he was planning to do without having to shed blood. Physically seeing him choose our family did something to me. Now, I am not a sick bitch by any means, so it didn’t turn me on, per say, but it did fill me with more love for him, this man that split the blood of the woman who bore him. I loved him with everything in me before this, but I love him infinitely more now.