"Are those my shorts?"

I looked up like a deer in headlights as I stood behind the kitchen island. Cameron was standing in the doorway in his uniform, giving me that sexy, carefree wall lean he was remarkably good at. I started wondering if he secretly practiced standing in different ways while he looked in the mirror. My favorite poses included the 'I'm the law' chest puff, 'I am secretly a thirteen-year-old boy in man boots', and the extra naughty, 'you've been a bad girl, come to daddy'. He was starting to get really good at the last one.

I didn't even hear his adorable ass come into the house. I was too busy shoving a chocolate-covered donut into my mouth while daydreaming about him even to realize he was standing right in front of me. I had to say, I definitely preferred the real version of him over my naughty fantasy one in my head.

I had been hanging out in the kitchen for the last twenty minutes, doing absolutely nothing but eating to kill the boredom. My mom hadn't forced anyone to stay home with me today and I had the house to myself, which was a pleasant change.

Feeling lazy and unmotivated to do anything, I didn't even bother getting dressed this morning. I was walking around the house wearing only a black sports bra and the pair of cotton shorts that I stole from Cam's bag when he wasn't looking. I was even too much of a loaf to throw on any underwear beneath them. I had to tie the shorts pretty tight to keep them up on my hips, but I loved how soft they felt against my bare skin. Cameron wasn't going to get these shorts back anytime soon, unless he ripped them off of me.

Just like Cameron Nash, they were mine now.

"Jess, did you steal my clothes?" He crossed his arms over his chest, waiting impatiently for my reply.

"Nope." I spat a garbled lie out of my full mouth.

He raised his eyebrow and cocked his head, waiting for the truth.

I was so busted.

"Maybe." I smiled at him innocently.

"You are so sexy. I swear if I wasn't on the clock right now, I would have your ass bent over that counter."

I looked down at my body while I finished chewing. I felt bloated today and slightly flabby. I had chocolate on my hands and probably on my face. My hair was tangled in a ball on top of my head and I was pretty sure I hadn't showered or shaved my legs in forty-eight hours.

Taste was subjective, I guess.

I wasn't the least bit sexy right now, but I wasn't going to tell him any differently. He could continue to stroke my ego a little bit longer. I could use a little boost right now. I still wasn't feeling on top of the world, but I was enjoying the change between Cameron and me since our weird fight. We were doing a lot better for the most part.

We were getting along half of the time we spent together. Well, it was more like thirty percent, but it was still progress.

We still had a lot of up-and-down days. I was having some problems letting the idea of him and Kelly together go. Like always, Cameron was doing his best to be patient with me. I would catch him out of the corner of my eye, pulling at his hair with a vein popping out of his head every time I brought her name up. When I would spin around to call him out on it, he would smile at me and tell me I was the only girl in the world he had ever wanted.

It was my weird paranoid baggage and insecurities at work inside my scrambled brain. His reluctance to get physical with me still nagged at me too, which didn't help. He would talk a big game, saying all the dirty things that popped into his head, but he was Frosty the Snowman when it came down to actually doing them.

My vagina had freezer burn.

Even through everything that was going on, he was still the most amazing boyfriend. Cameron was the only person that I wanted to hold my hand as I worked towards getting myself back together again. He was by my side every step of the way, holding me up when I couldn't stand on my own. I am not sure how I could have ever doubted his loyalty to me in the first place. Deep down, I had truly known better. He was a good guy and it just wasn't something I was used to.

I was about to call Gabby two nights ago and confront her about trying to sabotage my relationship. Cameron had the more level head and recommended I played it cool for a few more days until I got over some of the anger. He didn't want me to end up in a jail cell when I beat the stuffing out of her. He did speak to Ron about what happened and Ron had even stopped talking to Gabby over the whole messed up situation.

Ron was fiercely loyal to Cam, which made me a huge Ron fan. Gabby had really made a mess of things and I didn't even understand why. I tried to come up with any reason I could think of, but I had nothing. It was just so wrong.

I felt betrayed by her lies and it stung. I had never had female friends and I thought I had finally found one who was another corrupted soul like me. It turned out her and I were never on the same level. I was an idiot to let her get into my head like that. She tried to ruin the best thing I had in my life, which was the gorgeous gray-eyed boy who had his eyes glued to my backside.

"So, did you just stop by to stare at my butt?" I gave it a little playful shake for him.

"You're funny today. No, I was on patrol and in the area. I figured I would stop by to give this to you." Cam said, handing over a file in his hands.

"What is this?" I asked, puzzled.

"I finally found some information about your mom's mystery letter. It has some pretty interesting information in there. I found the official file lying on my desk this morning when I was cleaning it. Sorry it took so long. With everything else going on, I forgot about it and it got buried under a pile of paperwork."

"Are you serious? Thank you!"

I hugged Cam tightly and assaulted his face with kisses.

"I'm not so sure you are going to be thanking me when you see it. I skimmed through it a bit before I came over. It's pretty messed up."

I grabbed the file from his hands and opened it. The first document was a restraining order. Apparently, this Jenna lady had been stalking my family at one point. There were a few police reports that included vandalism, trespassing, and assault. They all seemed pretty minor. A couple of pictures fell out of the folder. When I picked them up off the floor, I saw some childhood photos of me. I had to be pretty young. I had a cut on my face and my eyes were red and puffy like I had been crying. I pulled out the police report and it looked like this Jenna person had attacked my mom at the park and hurt me too.

Why did this woman go after us? Who was she?

"You still look exactly the same, darling. How old were you when it happened?" Cam asked, looking down at the picture.

"I don't know. I don't remember any of this."

"There is a lot more Jessa," Cam said, taking the file from my hand. He pulled out another piece of paper and pushed it to me. It was the official court document for a case against Jenna Adams. My mom's name was written all over the document. Back then, she still had her maiden name, Davis, so this all must have happened before she married my dad.

I flipped through the papers until my eyes landed on something that mentioned assault and attempted murder.

Jenna Adams tried to kill my mom? Why?

"What does all this mean?" I asked Cam. He knew a lot more about this legal stuff than I did. I only passed my government class in high school because straight "A" Cameron used to let me copy his homework and cheat off his tests when the teacher wasn't looking. The only reason I even graduated high school was because Cameron conned the woman at the scheduling department into making sure we both had the same class schedule.

"It's horrible, Jessa. This woman terrorized your mom for months. It looks like the restraining order wasn't enough to protect her. She went after your mom one night and it sounds like she was really lucky to survive." He said, looking over my shoulder at some of the papers.

"What's that?" I asked, pointing to a tiny USB drive that must have fallen on the ground when the pictures fell out.

Cam bent down and picked it up. He placed it in my hand.

"There was some footage of the night found at the scene on a cell phone. That's a copy of it." Cam said.

"Did you watch it?" I asked him, wondering what could be on it.

"No, I tried to press the button, but I couldn't do it. After reading the report, I'm not sure if I will ever be able to. It's your mom. She is the sweetest person ever. I don't think I could watch anyone hurt her like that. I'm not sure how much is on it, Jess, but I don't think you should watch it either. It might not be the best idea. Some things stay buried for a reason." He said, swallowing hard.

I took the USB drive and started to go upstairs to my room.

"Are you sure you want to watch it, Jess? Do you want me to call work and tell them I'm sick so I can stay with you?" He asked, calling after me.

"No, I have to do this one on my own." I said, flipping the little stick in my hand.

I didn't want to watch this, but in my gut, I knew I needed to find out what really happened. As much as I would have loved for Cameron to stay with me to hold my hand to take away the pain I was about to unleash upon myself, I knew this was something personal that shouldn't be shared with anyone else.

"Nash." I heard Cam's name called over his radio.

"Go for Nash." He said after the little beep.

"The reports you requested are on your desk. I think you will want to see this." It sounded like Ron's voice over on the other side.

"Copy, on my way."

I turned around at the top of the stairs and blew Cameron a kiss.

"I want my shorts back." He yelled up the stairs.

He cheesed back at me for exactly three seconds until his mouth opened and he reached down to cover himself.

The shorts I borrowed landed on his head a second later. He slowly pulled them off his face. My sports bra was on his head before he even had a chance to blink.

"I swear you are the devil, woman." He gawked up at me.

"Love you, too, Cheese puff. Don't stay gone too long or I'll have to get myself started without you." I called as I walked my naked ass down the hall to my bedroom.