Chapter Ten

Cameron

I had crawled into bed around four. I’d had to fight the urge to knock on Scarlett’s door. She was so close, yet so far. The feel of her body pressed close to mine was imprinted on my brain. Noah had given me a rash of shit after the women had left. He thought Scarlett was pretty, although a little on the young side. She was, but I got the feeling she was mature beyond her years.

I looked at the clock and saw it was just after noon. It was as good as it was going to get. I hated graveyards. I sucked at sleeping through the day. I always felt I needed to be up doing something or spending time with Ella. Sleeping away the hours she was awake felt wrong, like I was wasting time.

Today, Ella was with my parents at an amusement park. I knew my mom had planned it that way on purpose. If Ella was just sitting at their house, I wouldn’t have felt right. Fortunately, I only had to cover one graveyard shift, and then I could go back to the day shifts I preferred.

I got up and showered before strolling out to the mailbox in just a pair of shorts and my tennis shoes.

I was flipping through the mail when I heard voices.

“Hey.”

I looked up upon hearing the woman’s voice and saw Scarlett and Hannah walking toward me.

“Hey,” I said, looking at Scarlett.

“Did you get some sleep?” she asked.

I smiled and nodded. “Yes. Probably not enough considering I don’t get off work until seven tomorrow.”

“Graveyards, huh?” Hannah asked.

I nodded. “Do you work them?”

She laughed. “Not anymore. I used to. Now I have seniority and work in an actual clinic. I’m a nurse,” she clarified.

“Oh, then you know what a Saturday-night graveyard can be like.”

She nodded. “Yes.”

“Is it bad?” Scarlett asked.

Hannah laughed. “Let’s just say all the crazies come out to play on a Saturday night.”

I nodded. “Crazies is one way to put it.”

“We’re going out tonight. We’ll be some of those crazies,” Hannah joked.

“Be careful out there,” I warned.

“Of course,” Hannah said, grinning devilishly.

I looked at Scarlett and saw her blush a little. Her eyes were roaming over my chest, and I had just caught her staring.

“Marines,” Hannah said, pointing to my chest.

I looked down at the globe and anchor on my left pectoral. “Yep. Eight years.”

Scarlett looked surprised. “I didn’t realize what that was,” she mumbled.

I smiled. Of course she didn’t realize. There had been little light, and her focus had been on other things. The tattoo was faded and needed a touch-up. I had gotten the thing my first year in, and it hadn’t been a real high-quality shop that had done the work.

“I should go,” I said, feeling a little awkward with both women gawking at my chest.

“Ella?” Scarlett said, looking at the infant feet that were on the other side of my chest.

“Yes.”

“That is very sweet,” she replied, her eyes still on my bare torso. I should have put on a shirt. While I didn’t mind the attention from Scarlett, it was a little odd to be half-naked and so thoroughly checked out.

“Be careful,” she said.

I smiled. “I always am.” I pulled one of my cards out of the wallet in my pocket. “I was going to give this to you the other day. Call me anytime if there are any more problems.”

She took it and nodded. “Thank you.”

I headed back inside and watched the two women walk down the road from my living room window. Scarlett was killing me with those little shorts she was wearing. The thought of her legs spread wide and me between them was going to be with me all day.

I kicked around the house, cleaning up and killing time until I had to go to work. I was mentally preparing myself for a busy day.

When I got to work, I headed straight to the briefing room. We were expecting a busy night. There was a country music concert in town with a big headliner. Things tended to get a little rowdy after the concerts. The alcohol flowed freely, which always meant trouble.

As expected, there were a lot of drunk drivers on the road. Noah was off, so I was alone for the night. I was extra cautious and made sure I wore my vest. I couldn’t take any chances. I spent the first half of my shift writing tickets, giving sobriety tests, and breaking up bar fights that had poured out into the streets.

I had just dropped off my recent DUI snag at the jail and finished the paperwork when I got a call on my cell. My immediate thought was Ella. I looked at the number on the caller ID and relaxed a little. It wasn’t my parents. That was a good thing.

“Hello?”

I heard a sob and walked outside to hear a little better.

“Hello?” I repeated.

“Cameron, it’s Scarlett.”

“Scarlett, what’s wrong?”

“He was here,” she choked out.

“Who was where?”

“Isaac. My house. It’s completely trashed.”

“Are you okay? Are you hurt?” I asked, already running for my car.

“I’m okay.”

“Hang up and call 911. I’ll let dispatch know I’m answering the call. We need this on the record.”

“Okay.”

“Scarlett?”

“Yes?”

“Go somewhere safe, whether it’s your car or Taco Bell. Go there. I’ll find you,” I told her, feeling the need to protect her.

“He’s gone. The house is empty,” she assured me.

“I’ll be there in ten minutes. Lock the door.”

I quickly radioed dispatch and let them know I was heading to the address of the break-in that was going to be called in. The dispatcher was a woman I’d had a very brief fling with and who cut me some slack when I needed it. She assigned me to the call even though I was nowhere in the vicinity.

I hit my lights and hauled ass to my sleepy little neighborhood where break-ins didn’t happen. My heart was racing. Scarlett had assured me she was okay, but I would feel better when I saw it for myself.

I forced myself to slow down once I turned onto my street. I didn’t want Scarlett to panic. I had to keep my cool. I was on duty, and this was just another residential break-in call. Another officer was going to meet me at the house as well to check things out. I was the first to arrive. I turned off the lights and practically ran inside the house.

I knocked on the door.

“Scarlett?” I shouted. “It’s me, Cameron.”

Hannah opened the door and moved out of the way. I rushed inside.

“Scarlett?”

“In here,” she called out. She came out of the kitchen, and I instantly felt relief.

She walked directly into my arms. I wrapped her up close and held her, appreciating the feel of her body against mine.

“You’re okay,” I soothed.

I looked up and saw Hannah watching us. She looked terrified. With her eyes, she led mine around the room. The damage was pretty bad. The sofa had been slashed, and there was glass on the floor along with what looked to be the contents of the refrigerator. I could see the rage and understand the fear I heard in Scarlett’s voice.

“Was anything taken?” I asked.

Hannah shook her head. “No. We don’t think so. We looked around but couldn’t find anything missing. The TV is smashed, and anything of value is still here but broken.”

Scarlett stepped back. She took several deep breaths to regain her composure before looking around the room.

Her arms went wide. “Look at this,” she said. “Look what he did.”

“We don’t know it was him,” I tried.

Hannah made a strangled sound. Scarlett looked defeated and shook her head.

“Look at the red rose,” she said, pointing to the small kitchen table. “He left it. I know it was him.”

“We’ll find him and ask him some questions. I’m going to need his address. We’ll send a sheriff to talk with him,” I promised.

Scarlett was shaking her head and looking at the destruction. “It won’t help. I can’t prove anything. It’s the same old story.”

“I’m sorry. Our hands are tied when we can’t prove it was him. I know the people across the street have a security camera. I’ll ask to review it. There’s a slim chance he’ll be on camera.”

Hannah picked up a broken picture frame, looked at it, and then tossed it back onto the floor. “The dude is batshit crazy and needs to be stopped.”

“Can you stay somewhere else tonight?” I asked Scarlett, not wanting her to be home in case the ex came back.

She turned and looked at her friend. “We could stay at a hotel. We just got back from the club, though. Neither of us can drive,” she admitted.

I gave her a soft smile. “That’s okay. I can arrange a ride for you.”

“We’ll go home, to my place,” Hannah said. “We’ll deal with all this tomorrow. I just want to get away from all this.”

“Hannah,” Scarlett protested.

“She’s right. Go to her place. We need to take pictures and document all this. You don’t need to be around for that part.”

“Campbell?” a male voice said from outside.

“In here,” I called out.

Officer Daniels walked in and scanned the room, his eyes wide as he took in the damage.

“We need the camera,” I ordered.

He left and returned a few minutes later. Hannah was on the phone while Scarlett showed us around the house, detailing the damage.

“I guess it’s good I didn’t have that much stuff. It could have been worse,” she said in a quiet voice as we checked the two empty bedrooms that were untouched.

“I hired an Uber to take us home. I called your parents as well. We’ll go to my place tonight,” Hannah hollered from the living room.

“You called my parents?” Scarlett said with frustration. “Why would you call them at three in the morning? They’re going to be worried sick.”

“They need to know what’s going on,” she said defiantly. “I promised them I would let them know if there was any trouble. They love you, Scarlett, and they’re worried about you. We all are.”

“I agree with her,” I told Scarlett. “You need a strong support system.”

“It all seems so futile. We shouldn’t have even called you out here. I can’t prove anything, and he is way too smart to have left any evidence behind,” Scarlett said, sounding mad instead of sad.

That was a good sign. I wanted her angry and ready to fight back.

“If your ex did this, he can be held accountable,” I told her. “We just need to find a way to prove it.”

She scoffed. “Yeah, right. He’ll keep getting away with it. He’s never going to leave me alone.”

“Let’s get a bag together,” Hannah said.

Scarlett shook her head. “I don’t think there’s anything left.”

I walked with her into her bedroom and took in the sight of the clothes dumped out of the drawers and tossed on the ground. It looked like paint or maybe ketchup had been poured all over her things. I put a hand on her shoulder and steered her out of the room.

“We’ll add it to the report,” I said softly.

I began the report, documenting every detail. I hoped there was something to link her ex to the damage. I didn’t like the idea of her being terrified or in real danger.

“Our ride is here,” Scarlett said, coming into the kitchen.

“Okay. Be safe. I’ll talk to you soon,” I told her, wanting to hug her but knowing it would be out of line with Daniels nearby.

“Thank you,” she murmured and left the house.

When the door closed behind them, Daniels let out a long whistle.

“Whoever did this really doesn’t like her. This is some fucked-up shit.”

I nodded in agreement. “Yeah, it is.”