Cameron got up, went to the door, looked through the peephole and saw Gigi on his porch. That was all it took to raise his spirits considerably, until he remembered his plan to take a step back. His heart shattered, but it had to be done.

After unlocking the dead bolt and opening the door, Cameron stepped aside to let her in. He looked around the parking lot before closing and locking the door again. He’d put a sheet of plywood over the broken window until he could get it replaced.

“I heard you got sent home,” Gigi said.

“Yeah.”

“Are you okay?”

“Just great. You?”

“I was worried when you didn’t respond to any of my texts or calls.”

He’d heard the phone but had been too lost in his depressing thoughts to deal with it, which was unlike him. Homicide detectives were never off duty. “Sorry.”

“What’s going on, Cameron?”

The idea of the step back had seemed much better in concept, when she wasn’t standing right in front of him, looking fresh and beautiful and exhausted, probably from worrying about him. “Nothing. I just think, you know… Things are weird, and it might be better if we…” He shrugged. It had made perfect sense until he had to explain it to her.

She came to him, laid her hands on his chest. “Don’t do this. Don’t push me away in some misguided attempt to keep me safe.”

He should’ve known she’d see right through his flimsy attempt. “That’s not what I’m doing.”

“Isn’t it? The thing with Ezra happened because it never occurred to me that he might hurt me. I misjudged him, and he caught me in a moment of shock. I haven’t misjudged Jaycee. I know who she is and what I’m dealing with.”

Cameron felt his resolve wavering.

She reached up to caress his face. “Don’t forget I’m a cop, too. I can take care of myself, despite recent evidence to the contrary.”

“I know you can.”

“Then please have faith in me and us, and don’t do this honorable shit where you think you’re protecting me by leaving me. All that’s going to accomplish is you breaking my heart when you promised me you wouldn’t.”

He dropped his head onto her shoulder. “If you were hurt… Again…”

“I won’t be. I know what she looks like and what she wants. I know to look out for her and to be careful. The only way I get hurt here is if you tell me I can’t have you anymore. So don’t do that.”

“I don’t want you anywhere near this.”

“Too late. The only place I want to be is with you. If we let her drive us apart, then she wins, and that bitch cannot win. Do you hear me?”