Chapter Two

Cameron

I felt a little guilty for acting like such a dick to the new neighbor. I hadn’t meant to come off so rude; it was just who I was. My job as a cop had hardened me against people. I tended to be wary of everyone, even pretty women with curves for days.

I’d been surprised to see my new neighbor was a young woman.

A beautiful woman.

I hoped she wasn’t a partier. I’d have to shut that down in a hurry. If she wanted a party pad, my neighborhood was not the right place. I knew what the people who owned that property were charging for rent. She was probably one of those spoiled trust fund kids. Why in the world she would choose to live in a family home in a quiet neighborhood was beyond me.

I walked inside my own house and peeked out the window. The two ladies were talking and looking my way. I grinned. I had probably made quite the first impression. That was a good thing. When they thought about throwing a party, they were going to remember their grumpy neighbor and think twice.

“Ella!” I called out, waiting for my little girl to appear and hoping like hell she was dressed.

“I’m right here, Daddy,” she said, coming out of the kitchen.

“Oh, I didn’t see you. You’re dressed!” I said with surprise.

She grinned and nodded. “Yep. I’m ready to go.”

I looked her over, smoothed her hair down with my hand, and decided she was ready for school. The school thing had been a struggle the first couple weeks, but we had finally found our groove.

“All right. Let me grab my stuff and we’re out of here.”

She was standing on the front stoop and looking at the moving truck parked in the street.

“Look at the big truck, Daddy,” she said with excitement.

“I see the truck,” I grumbled. “That truck better be gone by the time Grandma brings you home.”

“Can I go in the truck?” she asked.

“No. We have to go to school.”

She walked to my truck, and I opened the cab’s back door and boosted her inside. Ella buckled the seat belt over her booster. I checked it like always before closing the door.

I saw the neighbor eyeing me and considered offering an apology but didn’t. I wanted them to think I was an asshole. It was the best way to keep people from bothering me and my daughter.

I parked my truck and went around to unbuckle Ella. “Grandma is picking you up from school today, okay?” I reminded her.

She was a smart, advanced five-year-old, but like any kid, she needed to be told something several times before it sank in.

“I know, Dad. I’ll wait for Grandma, and I won’t go with anyone else.”

I smiled and smoothed down her thick dark hair. It tended to have a mind of its own. It was naturally curly, a trait she had inherited from her mother, and not easy to tame.

“Good girl. I’ll see you tonight, pumpkin,” I said and immediately winced.

“Dad! I told you I’m not your pumpkin. I’m a big girl now.”

I nodded. “I’m sorry. I forgot. I’ll do better,” I promised.

She turned and headed inside the school. I watched her, making sure she got in the right line for her classroom. Her teacher saw me and gave me a small wave. The teacher was young and pretty enough, but she was married. I didn’t go inside the school. I knew her teacher would try to talk to me again about Ella’s progress and would want to set up another meeting. I wasn’t ready for that. The teacher was convinced it would be in Ella’s best interest if she skipped ahead to the first grade. I didn’t want to do that. She was already growing up too fast.

I got to work a few minutes before my shift. Noah was already there, checking the bulletin board.

“Damn, I thought you were going to miss the briefing. Chief has something big going down. We all have to be in there,” he said, adjusting his belt.

“What’s going on?” I asked, heading toward the briefing room.

Noah shrugged. “Something about a meth lab operation.”

I groaned. “There are too many of those things. We’re not on that detail, are we?”

“I don’t think so.”

We took seats in the back of the room and waited for the chief to give the update. It was as Noah thought. Fortunately, he and I were on patrol duty and were not going to be a part of the task force going in to shut the place down. Five or six years ago, I would have begged to be a part of it. I couldn’t put my life at high risk these days, though. I was a single father to a little girl who needed me. Being a cop was risky enough.

When the briefing was over, Noah and I walked out to the patrol car together.

“I’ll drive,” I told him, preferring to be the one behind the wheel. It was a control thing. Noah never seemed to mind.

“How’s Ella?” Noah asked.

“Good. Too smart for her own good, though.”

He laughed. “They all are. Or so I’ve heard.”

“How’s the latest what’s-her-name?” I teased.

He groaned. “She’s history. She wanted her own drawer at my place. What the hell is that about? We were seeing other a month and she thinks she’s moving in.”

I chuckled and shook my head. “You’re thirty-one. Don’t you think you might want to settle down at some point?”

He made a face. “No! You’re thirty-two and single.”

“I wasn’t always single,” I said solemnly.

Noah got serious. “She’s been gone three years, Cameron. It’s time you start living your life again. Becca wouldn’t want you to be single forever.”

“I’ve been living just fine.”

He laughed. “You’ve been having one-night stands. I don’t know how you can lecture me when you do the same thing.”

“I have the occasional night off from work and fatherhood. I’m not a monk. I need to get laid, but I don’t need to be dragging a bunch of different women around my kid.”

“You could try to get to know one of those women,” he pointed out.

I didn’t answer him. It was a conversation we’d had many times before. Noah could never understand. I’d been married and thought I would grow old with Becca. She had been ripped out of my life too soon. I hated cancer, absolutely fucking hated it. It was a horrible disease.

“Looks like we got a couple kids skipping school. Should we check it out?” I asked, changing the subject.

Noah chuckled. “Why not? Let’s teach them a little lesson.”

I pulled behind the car while Noah ran the plates. I could see the driver looking in his rearview mirror, watching me. He was scared. That meant he was doing something wrong.

I hit the lights and pulled the kid over. It didn’t take long to figure out the driver and his buddy were cutting class in favor of getting McDonald’s for breakfast. We couldn’t give them a ticket but warned them they better get back to school.

Noah pouted when we got back in the car. “That was too easy.”

I shrugged. “Easy is good. Easy is safe.”

“Easy is boring,” Noah replied.

“Boring means I go home to my little girl every night.”

“Remember when we first joined the Corps?” he mused.

I laughed. “Yes. We were young and stupid and couldn’t wait to get deployed.”

“We had to get deployed or we would never get that respect.”

I shook my head. “My poor mother. She was terrified when she found out we were headed to the Middle East.”

“I brought you back in one piece.”

I scoffed. “I think it was the other way around.”

It was the same familiar jesting we always did. Noah had been my best friend since middle school. We joined the Marines together right out of high school and somehow managed to get stationed at the same base. After eight years of serving our country, we both agreed it was time to return to the civilian world. That had lasted a couple months before we decided we could still serve as police officers.

I’d gotten married almost immediately after I’d gotten home. Becca and I had first gotten together in high school, then parted ways. On one of my leaves, we had started up our relationship again. I’d never thought she would die at the ripe age of twenty-nine. It was so unfair.

“Woah!” Noah said at the same time I punched the gas to jump behind a car that had blown through a stop sign and was hauling ass.

“Call it in,” I ordered.

The culture in the city had changed. I never knew when it was going to be a simple traffic stop or when I was going to be the next cop being shot at.

“They’re pulling over,” Noah said, stating the obvious.

It ended up being a simple speeding ticket. The woman tried to flirt her way out of the ticket, but that wasn’t my style. If I pulled you over for breaking the law, it was going to be a ticket. I liked black and white. I didn’t like the gray in between. Noah called me a hard-ass. I probably was. I liked to think I was enforcing the rules that would prevent a family from going through the same loss I had experienced. It wasn’t personal. It was my job, and I was out there every day doing it. I wasn’t out there trying to make friends.

“Let’s grab lunch,” Noah said halfway through our shift.

“Fine, but no more greasy tacos. I can hear my arteries clogging when you make me eat those,” I complained.

Noah laughed. “They may be greasy, but they’re so good.”

“How about burgers and fries?” I suggested.

He made a strangled noise. “How is that any better than greasy tacos?”

I grinned. “Because I want a burger and I don’t want a taco.”

He burst into laughter. “Then just say that. Don’t knock my tacos.”

I drove us to a burger joint. We grabbed our lunch, scarfed it down, and got right back on the streets.

“I haven’t heard any chatter about the meth house,” I commented.

Noah shrugged. “I guess that’s a good thing. Means everyone is safe. It was probably a bust. They’re going to have to sit on the place. I just hope we don’t get stuck on the stakeout. I’ll happily go along for the takedown, but I will die from boredom if we have to watch people come and go for twelve hours.”

It wasn’t exactly my idea of a good time either. We did what we were asked, though. I hadn’t made any attempts to move up the ranks yet, but I wanted to eventually. I couldn’t be a beat cop forever. Once I got Ella settled into a groove at school, that was my goal. Until then, I needed the flexibility of a set shift and not being on call.

We got through our shift with nothing too exciting happening. That was always a good day.

“See you tomorrow,” I said to Noah.

“Want to go out and grab a drink?” he asked.

I shook my head. “Nope. I promised Ella I would be home tonight to have dinner with her.”

Noah smiled. “You have a dinner date.”

“I do, with the prettiest girl in Tennessee.”

Noah laughed. “I will give you that one. Later, Cameron.”

We parted ways, and I drove to my mother’s to pick up Ella. Then we would have a nice quiet Friday night at home. I wondered if my neighbor had moved the truck. I hoped she wasn’t planning on celebrating her new house with a party. I would be putting an end to that in a hurry.