Chapter Twenty-Six

Cameron

Scarlett was watching me from her doorway, waving good-bye as I headed off for my night shift. She had stayed over all afternoon. We’d eaten breakfast in bed before another round of heated sex. I couldn’t seem to get enough of her.

As I drove to work, I thought about what we were doing together. I didn’t think I wanted a committed relationship, but I didn’t want anyone else. Ella loved Scarlett, which was huge. That meant everything to me. I knew Scarlett was fond of Ella as well. Lord knew my parents loved her. The only thing holding me back was me. I had the hang-up.

I met Noah walking out as I was walking in. “Hey. Good to see you’re in one piece,” I teased.

He grinned. “She’s not.”

I rolled my eyes. “Are you ever going to grow up?”

“Nope. I’m having way too much fun for that.”

“How was it today?”

He shrugged. “Typical Saturday. I heard the DEA is putting together a task force to serve a couple warrants tonight. I’m guessing you’re going to be on it.”

I smiled. “Awesome. Beats giving out sobriety tests.”

“How about you?” Noah asked.

“How about me what?”

“You and Scarlett. What are you doing about all that?”

I shook my head and let out a long sigh. “I don’t know. It’s complicated. She’s got that ex. He could come unhinged and try to exact some kind of revenge on my family.”

“Or you could get in his face and tell him to back off.”

“Already did that. It didn’t work. Stalkers and domestic-violence types don’t play be the same rules as the rest of us,” I said with disgust.

“Well, don’t let her get away because you’re afraid of some crazy. She’s pretty, she’s into you, and Ella likes her. That’s hard to find,” he said, looking me straight in the eyes.

“I know. I’ll figure it out. I better get in there and figure out what I’m doing tonight.” I clapped him on the shoulder before heading inside.

Noah had been right. I was on the task force that would be serving two search warrants in the hopes of tracking down the meth dealer. I strapped on my vest and the jacket that identified me as a police officer and loaded up in the van.

The first warrant was served without any complications. We questioned the occupants of the home, who of course denied knowing anything about a meth operation. According to them, they were completely innocent. I managed to get one of the younger kids to confess to selling meth, which was enough to take him down to the station. I doubted it would yield anything useful, but it was one less dealer on the street for the night.

“Let’s move out!” the head of the task force announced.

We climbed back into the van and headed for the second location.

“This is a hot tip?” I asked one of the guys, looking at the shack that was boarded up. There was no entry point. Both doors and all the windows had plywood nailed over them. It was a bad tip.

“We search anyway,” said the leader of the group.

After ramming the plywood covering the door, we busted inside and found that the only inhabitants were of the rodent variety.

“Dammit!” the team lead cursed. “Let’s head back.”

There was a quick, angry debriefing before I was sent back out on patrol. I was just in time for the drunks to be leaving the bars and hitting the roads. Lucky me.

I drove down the road, looking for any signs of trouble, and thought about Scarlett. Was she asleep? Maybe I could call her just to hear her voice. I didn’t get the chance. Dispatch radioed me and sent me to a report of a fight outside a bar.

After breaking it up and getting all parties involved into cabs, it was back on the streets to patrol. My phone started ringing. Any time my cell rang while I was at work, I immediately thought it had something to do with Ella.

I looked down at the number and saw it was Scarlett. She was thinking about me as well. It was almost two thirty. She had said she wasn’t going out, but maybe she had changed her mind and I was getting a drunk call.

“Hi,” I said in a deeper voice than normal.

“Cameron!” she shrieked, and the hairs on my arms stood up.

“What’s wrong?” I asked, already steering my car in the direction of home.

“Your house is on fire!”

“What?” I felt my blood run cold.

“I already called the fire department. It’s burning, Cameron!”

“I’m on my way,” I said and hung up before radioing into dispatch that I had an emergency and was out of commission.

I hit my sirens, not caring I was using them for personal use, and hauled ass home. When I turned down my street, I saw the orange glow from the flames mingle with the flashing red lights of the two fire trucks that had responded.

“Holy shit!” I cried out when my house came into view.

There was almost nothing left. I watched in horror as the roof collapsed. I parked my car and slowly walked to the sidewalk, giving the firemen plenty of room to work.

Scarlett darted over from where she had been standing with several other neighbors. Her arms were around me and holding me tight.

“I’m sorry. I’m so, so sorry,” she mumbled.

“What the hell is happening?” I said in a voice I didn’t recognize.

A few of the other neighbors came to stand beside me. Each of them offered their apologies and asked if there was anything they could do. The only thing I could think of was to make it so my house didn’t burn to the ground.

That wasn’t going to happen.

“I need to talk to the firemen.” I left the neighbors gathered on the opposite side of the street and approached one of the guys at the truck.

“What happened?”

He looked at my uniform and decided it was safe to talk to me. “Got a call, and by the time we got here, it was fully engulfed. It’s a total loss.”

The words echoed through my head. My home was gone. Ella’s home was destroyed. The home I had hoped to raise my daughter in and use to give her the stability she needed in her life had gone up in flames.

“Any idea what started it?”

The fireman shook his head. “We’ll have the investigators out in the morning. I have no idea at this point.”

I stared at the dancing flames and felt at a loss for words. I watched as bursts of orange and blue shot into the air before extinguishing.

“Are you the homeowner?” the fireman asked, finally realizing the situation.

I nodded.

“Shit, I’m sorry, man. I’m glad no one was home. This was a quick one. Since you’re a cop, I’ll tell you: we believe an accelerant was used. This thing went up quick, faster than a typical house. We can usually save a portion of the home. When the call came in, there were smoke and flames. We got here four minutes after the call and it was burning hot.” He shook his head.

“Thanks,” I muttered and turned to head back toward the group of neighbors.

“Are you okay?” Scarlett asked, separating herself from the crowd.

I nodded, not actually meaning it. I was in shock. I felt empty. I was simply going through the motions. Another squad car pulled up behind mine. I knew the officer, but not well.

“Hey, I’m sorry, man,” he said, shaking his head as he watched the fire burn.

I nodded. “Thanks.”

“I’m here to secure the scene. Sarge wants you to call him on his personal line,” he instructed.

I sighed and gave him a curt nod. “Keep everyone back. There are some flare-ups that could be dangerous.”

I took a last look at my house, and it was then I noticed firemen spraying the garage of Scarlett’s house. The fire was threatening to spread to her place as well as the neighbor on the other side. I knew the fire department knew what they were doing and left them to it. There was nothing I could do.

I called in and was given the rest of the shift off and told to take a few days. I wasn’t sure I could do that. I stood there on my neighbor’s lawn watching the fire slowly die down. Most of the other neighbors were drifting back inside their own homes, confident the firemen would keep them safe.

“Cam?” The sound of Scarlett’s voice snapped me back to reality from where I had somehow drifted away.

“What?” I muttered, not looking at her. The flames had entranced me, and I couldn’t look away.

“Can I get you some coffee, tea?” she asked gently.

I finally tore my eyes away from the fire. “I’m off for the night.”

She gave me a faint smile. “Let’s tell the firemen where you’ll be if they need you. Come to my house, and I’ll get you something.”

I shook my head. “I’m fine.”

“Cameron, there’s nothing you can do out here,” she urged.

For some reason, I didn’t want to leave. I felt like I had to stay, to see it to the bitter end.

“I’m okay,” I repeated, not looking directly at her.

She wove her arm around mine and began to walk me to her place. I found myself willingly going. I just needed a minute. A minute to process the loss. Everything was gone. All of Ella’s toys, our clothes, our pictures, everything.

“Oh god,” I moaned.

We stepped into Scarlett’s house, and she closed the door before leading me to her couch. “Sit.”

I sat and put my face in my hands, letting the despair wash over me. I could feel it rolling over my shoulders, threatening to pull me under. It was Scarlett’s hand on the back of my neck, slowly rubbing over my shoulders and back, that anchored me. I held on to the feeling of her hand and crawled out of the dark hole of despair I had tumbled into.

“Holy shit,” I breathed out, shaking my head. “Holy shit.”

“I’m so sorry,” she said, her hands moving over my shoulders.

“How am I going to tell Ella?” I croaked out.

“I don’t know. I’d like to tell you kids are resilient and that everything will be okay, but I have no idea. I will tell you I’m here. I’ll do whatever I can to help you two out.”

“I should call my parents,” I muttered.

“I’ll give you some privacy.”

She walked into the kitchen, and I heard her clattering around. I didn’t move to make the call. I couldn’t move, not yet. When she came back in, she set a cup of tea in front of me.

“Thank you,” I said, staring at the amber liquid in the cup. The longer I stared, the more ridiculous it seemed. I started laughing.

Scarlett looked concerned. “Cameron?”

“I’ve never drunk tea in my life! Well, I mean I’ve drunk sweet tea like every good Southern boy, but hot tea, never,” I said, feeling completely irrational in the moment.

Scarlett shrugged a shoulder. “It’s calming.”

“No, I mean, thank you, I’m willing to try, but if you would have asked me what I was going to do tonight, I would have never said I was going to drink a cup of tea in the middle of the night at my neighbor’s house while my house burned to the ground.”

My voice was more high-pitched than I had ever heard. I was losing my shit. I could recognize the signs but felt helpless to stop it. I was stuck on this speeding train and couldn’t jump off.