Miss Opportunity - Ch. 7.2

Later that night, Cami pulled out the letter Delia sent her last week and read it again. With it being past lights out time, she had to read by the dim light streaming in from the hallway of the Georgia prison she resided in. The same prison that had been her home for the last three years and three months behind that narcotics charge she incurred the night E-Blade died.

The more Cami read the apologies contained within Delia’s letter, the madder she became. In her opinion, Delia hadn’t apologized for nearly enough stuff yet.

Yes, Delia apologized for coming over to Cami’s apartment unannounced that fateful January night. Yes, she apologized for trying to beat Cami to a pulp while she was there. But Delia didn’t issue a word of apology about stealing the heart of Cami’s one and only son, Little Man. Yet it was that very thing that made Cami’s heart secretly grow cold towards Delia.

At first Cami didn’t mind Little Man gravitating to Delia more than to her. She enjoyed having all those breaks while they lived together. There was a certain amount of freedom in being childless if only for a little while.

Yet when her son started calling Delia ‘Mama’, Cami realized that things had gone too far. Powerless to undo the damage that had been done with Little Man, a secretly bitter Cami concentrated on stealing Delia’s big man.

Cami found it fairly easy to seduce E-Blade. Almost too easy. A notorious cheater, he had already shown enough interest in her by that time to warrant a tryst. Plus, E-Blade was still sexually frustrated due to Delia’s dysfunctions in the bedroom area.

Though Cami had been unsuccessful in using her body to get what she wanted with Bonz, her tactics worked like a charm with E-Blade. Especially the night she overplayed the victim role behind Aisha’s beat down.

Soon Cami got what she wanted on multiple levels. Through E-Blade, she exacted revenge upon Delia and gained access to another wealthy man’s wallet.

It never dawned on Cami that it was her own fault that Little Man was so fond of her cousin. That her son had gone where he was celebrated instead of just tolerated. That it had only been natural for him to grow attached to his primary caregiver.

To this day, Cami was nowhere near sorry for what she’d done to her cousin on any level. She didn’t regret snatching Little Man from Delia’s care during her imprisonment and sending him to live with her father in Washington, even though he wasn’t doing as well in school now. She certainly didn’t regret sleeping with E-Blade, despite her initial twinges of remorse when he was killed.

Cami’s only regret now was in not making E-Blade leave his illegal package in the car while he showered and changed in her apartment that fateful night. Then she could be free to marry a rich man, too, like her father recently told her Delia had done after her cousin’s secret nuptials were finally announced.

She’s lucky I’m not out yet. Otherwise, I’d take her new man, too, Cami mused conceitedly, erroneously assuming that Delia was still at a sexual disadvantage.

Sadly, though Cami wished evil upon Delia, the object of her hatred was kneeling at the foot of her bed at this very moment in prayer on her behalf.

As for Cami’s own spirituality…well, she didn’t have much use for God these days. Or rather, she didn’t think He had much use for her. In fact, Cami was convinced that God stopped caring about her a long time ago. At the age of thirteen to be exact.

Age thirteen was when Cami’s mother made her give her virginity away to one of her adult boyfriends. She was Ian’s consolation prize for being cheated on by her mother. It was also a way for them to remain in the wealthy man’s favor a little while longer. There were even ropes involved and everything.

Ropes!

Cami never told anyone about that incident. Not her military father, who’d been overseas at the time. Not any of her other relatives on either side of the family. Not even the prison counselor who seemed more interested in being nosy than actually helping the inmates with the emotional wounds of their pasts.

No, that secret had been bottled up and buried deep. If Cami had her way, it would never see the light of day again. She didn’t even want to think about it now.

Twenty more months, Cami mused, pushing away all negative thoughts as she once again counted down the time she had left on her sentence. Twenty more months, then I’ll be free to get my son back, free to live my life the way I want to again. She could hardly wait.

Feeling restless after reading that letter, Cami left the bottom bunk of her cell and went over to the small window. She looked out through the bars at the night sky.

Stars were twinkling. The moon was bright and full.

Cami’s eyes lowered to the earth, looking right, straight ahead and then to the left. On the left in the far distance were more twinkling lights. Or rather the lights seemed to be twinkling from where she stood.

I guess that place is finally finished, Cami mused, concerning a house that she watched go up brick by brick over the last year.

She didn’t know who owned that large Texas ranch styled house, but they sure took their time getting it just right. Now it looked like the owner had finally moved in as evident by the fact that every light was on in every room.

One day I’m gonna have a house just like that, Cami thought, unaware that the owner was none other than Millsap Monroe.

Returning to her bunk, she forced her mind to empty into nothingness so that sleep would come sooner. Cami needed her sleep. She had a long day of kitchen duty tomorrow.

© 2008 by Suprina Frazier