Between a Rock & a Hard Place Ch. 01

The inquiry of "When will you be out?" was sailed across the room and it reached her ears.

The question made Camilla flinch. His voice sounded callous. She felt her body about to react to his attitude, mainly her heart and her eyes, but then she remembered what Laney had told her. She was pregnant and she needed to be careful with her health.

'Wow, he's making it obvious,' she thought, after settling her nerves.

Reluctantly, she glanced over her right shoulder and glared at him. Despite thinking of him as a colossal asshole, Camilla felt certain body parts tingle at the sight that was standing before her. She blamed her crazy hormones; one of the many changes that occurred to her body because of this pregnancy. Elias was leaning against the refrigerator with his bottle of beer contained in his right hand. In the brief glance, she taken in his tall, muscular frame in his gray long-sleeved Thermal shirt, black jeans and Timberland boots. His shoulder-length, brown hair was brushed back into a ponytail.

"The day after tomorrow, I'll be moving out," she informed him. With her left foot she pushed the box of pots across the floor and placed it into a corner. "All of my things should be out of here before five."

She had strolled; well she waddled, across the kitchen to the exit. She muttered a 'goodnight' before walking out.

Camilla was too sore and too tired to bother to stand in the tub while taking a shower, so she taken a bath. During her time of lounging in a bathtub full of hot water and lavender-scented bubbles, she heard Elias come up the stairs and then heard his footsteps travel down the hallway. He walked past the bathroom, past the four guest bedrooms, she heard him walk past her room and then she heard him make a stop. There was a period of silence, before his feet resumed their trip to his bedroom.

'I wonder what the hell that was about,' she thought as she lain in the tub.

By the time Camilla left the bathroom, she was so tired that she was sure that once her head touch the pillow, she was going to be asleep. She made her way back to her bedroom, where she prepared to get ready for bed. It was during the process of rubbing lotion into the flesh of her arm, when she felt a strong amount of pressure in her bladder.

'Shit, not again,' her brain groaned.

Ever since the fourth month of her pregnancy, she was making frequent trips to restrooms. She slipped her black, silk kimono over her nude body and she had gone to use the toilet. When she returned to her room, her eyes had taken in the tall and bulky figure that stood in the middle of her bedroom. His back was facing the door. He appeared to be taking a survey of the room; of all of the boxes, the sleeping bag that was on the floor and the lack of furniture.

"Don't worry," she started out saying. Elias turned around to face her. When his eyes set upon her face, a trembling exhalation floated out of her nose and she felt a shudder slide through her. She briefly blinked her eyes and released an exhale. "Don't worry, I didn't damage anything, so you don't have to keep my security deposit," was her snide remark, once she regained her composure. With small and insecure steps, Camilla walked into her bedroom, but made sure to keep her eyes on him, as if she was a wary cat.

"I wasn't worry about the security deposit," said Elias as he gazed at her.

His unwavering glare made her feel discomfort, so she began to move objects around in order to keep herself from staring at him. She felt his eyes staring at her as she flitted around her bedroom. She also felt the tension that was slowly filling up the bedroom as well. With her constant motion, she had a hunch that she was making him feel agitated. When she took the time to store clothes into a plastic storage bin, he walked up to her and gently grabbed onto her right shoulder. She automatically straightened and stared at him. Her almond-shaped eyes were wide and were flooded with fright.

"Calm down," he said to her, "you're floating around here like you're Tinkerbelle. You have to be careful, especially in your condition."

The energy in her brown eyes morphed. They had gone from being fearful to being angry. 'Now, he's concerned,' her brain sarcastically muttered.

"My condition? You're worried about my condition?" she groaned at him. "Why now? Why, after all of these months?" she asked him, with her anger radiating off of her body. "Why worried about me and my child now, after all, you told me to abort her, as if you were talking about me taking out the trash? Why are you--?"

Before she could finish her barrage of questions, her left wrist was snatched up in one of his hands. Along the way, Camilla struggled from her freedom. But his grip was too damn strong. He led her out of the bedroom, into the hallway and he led her to the guest bedroom that was next to his bedroom. The unoccupied bedroom's door was shut closed. With his left hand holding onto her wrist, he used the right hand to open the door slightly. He peeked halfway in the darkened room and turned on the light.

"Elias, let me go," she grunted, as she stood next to him. She tried to pull her hand out of his.

"I want to show you something," he informed her. "Afterwards, you can leave. Okay?" Elias gazed down at her.

She stared at him. She noticed that his eyes lost the coldness to them, which was stored in them for the past six months. They were filled with the warmth that they used to hold. She stopped struggling. He had taken that as a sign that she was accepting his proposal.

"What is it that you want to show me?" she asked with a voice that displayed her leeriness.

She watched as he pushed the bedroom door open further. He stepped into the bedroom and walked to the left side of the door frame. She stared into the room for a few seconds before she made a move. When her eyes taken in the room, she let out a lowly gasp and her mouth formed a perfect 'o'. She taken small steps into the room and stood in the middle of the floor while she stared at everything. She gazed at the polished, hardwood floors. Her eyes drifted towards the floor, there was a white area rug that had yellow rubber ducks printed on it. She stared at the beautiful, white crib that was pushed against a wall and the pretty canopy that hovered above the crib. She glanced at the matching furniture: the chest of drawers, the changing table and a rocking chair with the matching ottoman. There was a bookcase that was filled with books and toys. She took note of the four, pale yellow walls with the white crown molding. On the wall that was closest to the changing table, there were framed pictures. The photos were black and white photos. She was too far away to see what the pictures consisted of.

Camilla walked over to the changing table and gazed at the photos. They were pictures displaying personal, private moments of her: a photo of her sleeping, a photo of her standing in front of the window in her bedroom, in which she was embracing her round stomach and then there was the third picture of Camilla standing in the kitchen, in the midst of dancing and eating an Eskimo pie. She remembered that moment vividly; it had occurred a few weeks ago.

'How in the hell did he manage to get any of these pictures?'

Camilla turned back around to face him. He was standing in the doorway and was leaning up against the post. She took a few steps towards him.

"How did you manage to...? I mean, why did... I..." She let out a sigh. She relaxed a bit. "How?"

Elias smiled and then chuckled at her reaction.

"The work in here was mostly done while you were at work. I knew that it was going to be simple when it came to keeping it a surprise, ever since you're not the snooping type and all I had to do was keep the door closed. The room was finally finished two weeks ago and I was waiting for the right moment to spring the surprise on you. I think seeing your bedroom filled with boxes and watching you pack was enough motivation for me to do something."

"Why? I mean, why have you decided to do all of this?" Her hands made a gesture towards the room as she glared at him. "You told me that you didn't want me to have her and now—

"I was an asshole," was his answer.

"No shit," she growled. She felt her heart beat wildly inside of her chest. She knew that she needed to calm down. Once she gained her composure, Camilla crossed her arms across her chest and stared at him. "I need a better answer than that."

Elias let out a huff of breath. He ran his fingers through his hair before answering her question. She could tell that what she asked of him was going to be a difficult task for him to complete. Camilla believed he seemed like a man who doesn't express his emotions coherently.

"I was..." he started out saying. His voice trailed off.

Camilla stared at his face as he contemplated on his next choice of words.

"...Afraid, I was afraid, Cammy."

"Of?" she asked as her hands touched her stomach.

His eyes left her own brown eyes and drifted down to her stomach. She noticed his eyes lit up for a brief moment. It was the same expression that Laney had in her eyes, when she felt the baby move for the first time. It was the expression of being amazed by someone you love. Strangely, a strong sense of sadness overwhelmed her. A low sigh floated from her mouth as a shudder slip from her body. A heavy lump wedged itself inside of her throat and she felt herself breathe slowly.

"I am going to be honest with you—

"I hope so—

With a steady gaze, he spoke to her. "I was afraid of losing Katerina. I was afraid that she was going to leave me, if she found out that you and I had sex. I loved her too much. You see..."

Elias walked away from the doorway and walked into the nursery. He paced across the hardwood floor as he spoke.

"...Our relationship wasn't always great. We had a lot of 'down times' than our 'up times'. I'm not going to lie to you: I cheated on her... a lot and she was unfaithful as well. I know just because she cheated on me, doesn't give me any rights to cheat on her. I'm not making excuses for my actions. I loved her and I knew that I was hurting her by fucking different chicks, but I couldn't stop doing it. During those times, I didn't think about her. I was too busy thinking about me and my dick. About three years ago, she almost left me. She had her bags packed and was about to leave, when I stopped her. I begged her to give me a fifth chance..." Elias chuckled softly. "I promised her that I was going to change and I was going to do everything in my power to change and to prove to her that I was a changed man."

"You should've let her leave. She eventually did leave you and she took the furniture and every fucking door in the house with her. All you did Elias, by begging her to stay, all you did was prolong the misery." Camilla saw that he stopped pacing across the floor. He stood in front of the crib with his hands bracing the crib's guard rail. He gave her a glance over his right shoulder.

"Kat didn't leave me," Elias informed Camilla, in a rumble of his baritone voice. "I broke up with her."

"You broke up with her?" Camilla said to him, sounding as well as feeling skeptical.

"Yes, I broke up with her. She didn't take it too well. In regards to the furniture, I gave it to her, along with a year's worth of rent money. I doubt that she is going to use that money for an apartment, but I don't care. You can think of it as being an act of consolation from me, for being such a dick to her."

"So, why did you break up with her?" Camilla asked.

"Because I wasn't in love with her anymore. Shit, I didn't even like being around her anymore. And, also, it's because of your fault," he said to her.

"What?" she hissed while seething.

'Son of a bitch...'

"How is it my fault?" She glared at Elias as he turned around and faced her.

He strolled up to her and stood in front of her. There was a few inches of space in between them. By standing there, Elias made her forget that she was angry at him. For Camilla, he was so close yet so far away. He was close enough that she could smell the strong, citrus fragrance of his cologne and could feel the body heat that was radiating from him. However, he was so far away that she wanted to grab onto him and pull him close to her. Instead she kept her hands press against her stomach and she stared into his soft, innocuous-looking brown eyes.

Elias gazed down at her. "It's your fault because when you moved into this house, you made me realize that I can have someone better." Camilla gave him a look of confusion. He decided to give her a better explanation. "By the time you moved in here, my relationship was falling apart. Infidelity wasn't the major problem this time. I wasn't cheating on her and she wasn't cheating on me. This time, it was every little minor thing that was causing us problems: money problems, lack of sex, fighting over the littlest things and so on and so on. So by the time you moved in, I wasn't in love with her anymore. My judgment was becoming a little less cloudy and I began to notice things about Kat. There were things that I didn't like about her. But, I also noticed some things about you."

'Things, what things?' her mind wondered. She was interested to know what he was talking about. "What things?" she inquired.

Elias could tell that she was now interested. The left corner of his mouth turned upwards to shape his lips into a smirk. "First thing I noticed was how beautiful you are."

Camilla blushed and then her conscience chided her for being flattered from his compliment.

"Then, there were other things like how smart you are. The way you like to dance around the house when you think that no one is here. The times that you helped my mother when she was staying here and how hospitable you were towards my family when they were staying with us. You don't bitch even when you have the right to. The times when you would look out for my drunk ass and there are many other things."

Even though Elias just stated facts, she felt like she was complimented. Camilla did a glimpse at the floor. Then she glanced at Elias and saw his smile. "Thank you," she said softly.

At that moment, Camilla realized that he was invading her personal space. She was too occupied staring into his eyes and listening to his words that she didn't see him walk up to her. It wasn't until she felt his hands grab onto her round hips. She felt his broad and hard chest press up against hers. Her already-sensitive nipples released tiny pin-prick like bits of pleasure.

"By the time that night happened, I wanted you so bad..." he confessed to her.

For Camilla, the temperature in the nursery became too humid.

"..I knew that it would take the hands of God to get me away from you," he told her.

A rush of breath escaped from her as she continued to gaze at him.

"I don't—

"Oh!" she loudly gasped. Her hands clutched at her stomach tighter. The sudden noise caused Elias to jump back slightly in surprise.

"What, what's wrong?" he asked in a frantic voice. "Is there something wrong with the baby?" His hands went to her stomach but came to a halt, when he realized that he could hurt the unborn baby.

Seeing his reaction caused Camilla to let out a giggle. His brow furrowed in confusion from her reaction.

"No, there's nothing wrong with the baby," she chuckled. "She's moving around and it just caught me off-guard."

"She's moving?" he said with awe.

"Yeah, she's moving and she's definitely making the most of it," she said with a grimace on her face, due to the discomfort she felt from having the baby nestle against her ribs.

"It hurts?" he asked.

"No, not really, it's just uncomfortable right now. She likes to use my ribs as an ottoman, from time to time."

"Is she moving now?"

"Yeah. Do you want to feel her move around?" Camilla asked him. He didn't give her a verbal answer, instead he placed his hands on her stomach. She re-arranged his hands' positions, so he could feel the movement better. She stared at his face as it contort and change. Just like Laney, he appeared to be in awe of the baby's movement. "Do you feel her moving?"

"Yeah," he muttered. Elias gazed at her belly. "Does she move a lot?"

"She started to move a few weeks ago, but today she's been showing off." Camilla giggled in glee, when she felt a strong ticklish feeling in her stomach. Elias laughed along with her.

"Have you thought of any names for her?" he asked her suddenly.

"No, I know I should, but my mind has been occupied with other things as of lately." They both knew what she was referring to. The movement inside of her body stopped, but Elias kept his hands on her stomach. A wave of silence washed over the room. They stood there just appreciating the moment.

"I'm sorry."

The statement rung loudly in the quaint nursery, despite the fact the voice was low and gentle.

Camilla's eyes rose to his face and stared strongly into his eyes. She wanted to see the sincerity in them. She wanted to see the regret and the remorse that he eloquently espoused from his mouth. But, instead, she just saw a pair of warm brown eyes. She, then, realized that she had to take his word for it, despite how hard it was for her to trust him.

"I..." she sighed.

"I'm sorry about what I said to you on the next day," he confessed. "I didn't mean anything. I didn't regret anything." He slightly shook his head. "I said those things to you because I wanted you to stop liking me."

Camilla gave him a look of confusion.

"You're..." He paused. He sighed, glanced to the side and then licked his bottom lip. His uneasiness was radiating off of him like it was a fragrance. He gazed at Camilla again. "I know that you're too good for me. You're smart, you're college-educated, you are able to work and take care of yourself. You need a man who will be able to provide for you. I..." He paused with his speech. He was silent for a moment. "I'm not...You're not like me. Or like Katerina..." He let out a humorless chuckle. "You're perfect."

"I'm far from perfect," replied Camilla. "I'm going to be a single mother. I work for the City, which is laying people off. My job is not guaranteed. I've been disowned by my parents and possibly by my other relatives, once they learn that I am pregnant. I'm scared that I am going to turn out to be a horrible mother..."

As Camilla listed her problems, the thin wall that she built around her emotions crumbled again. Her sorrow had become evident with every citation. She continued to ramble off a list of her flaws until she couldn't anymore due to her sobbing. She felt Elias pull her trembling body closer to his thick frame. She felt his arms wrapped around her body for an embrace. His arms kept up the position as she sobbed into his chest. He whispered apologies into her hair. In her moments of clarity, she heard a few of them.

After she calmed down, she lifted her face away from his chest and she glanced up at his face.

Elias gave her a small smile. His thumbs rubbed her cheeks, in order to get rid of her tears. "You okay?" he asked.

Camilla gently nodded her head. Then, she felt his lips kiss her forehead. There was another kiss, but this one was placed on the bridge of her nose. The upturned tip of her nose was decorated with a peck from his warm, soft lips. His hands gently guided her head back and her face to tilt. She gazed into his chocolate brown eyes as he stared down at her. His eyes zeroed in on her plump, glossy lips.

"Another reason I broke up with her and this is the most important one..." he whispered against her lips. In her peripheral, she saw the corners of his mouth turned upward to form a smile. "...is because I love you."

Before Camilla could convey a response to his declaration, her lips were subjected to a kiss. His slight pouty mouth gave her a slow and lingering kiss that should've made her arousal rise to higher heights. The kiss should've caused a chilling shiver to massage her spine and make her body's temperature increase. After all, it was the kind of kiss that Camilla had wished that Elias would've gave her months ago, when she harbored her crush for him. It was the type of kiss that a man would give his woman, when he wants her to physical feel his love for her.