I woke up a few hours later when I felt something hard bumping into my head repeatedly.  The front door was slightly ajar as someone on the other side was trying to push it open.

At some point last night, I managed to curl up into a ball on the small tan rug next to the front door.  I must have fallen asleep on it while I was waiting for my golden-haired boy to come back home.

"Jess, it's just me. Let me in." Cam called from the other side. 

I scrambled back on my butt just far enough out of the way for Cam to open the door. He stepped inside and paused when he saw me sitting on the floor in front of him.  He turned his head and stared at me like he wanted to ask me what I was doing.  I wrapped my arms around my knees and placed my chin down low to try to avoid his lingering gaze. The tears were battling their way back out.  I was an emotional powder keg under the best circumstances because of my biological makeup, but it always got much worse the more unstable I began to feel.  All the things that had been going on with me recently were adding up and taking their toll on my body.

I was wearing down faster and faster every day.

"Hey, darling," Cameron whispered softly.

When he spoke, my eyes raised to meet his out of habit.  I was a little surprised to see the same large, dark bags on his face that I was wearing too.

Cameron was exhausted.

He lifted the corner of his mouth and gave me a tiny, strained smile before limping past me slowly. He didn't even offer up an explanation about where he disappeared to last night. He was moseying towards the kitchen slowly, pretending like he didn't just leave me by myself for hours.  I had been crying and searching for him all night. There was no excuse for him vanishing on me like that without talking things through with me.

I deserved answers.

I noticed that Cameron was favoring his right leg a little. He was doing his best to try to hide it, but I knew exactly what that boy looked like when he strutted around the house every day. The way he was moving gave him an unnatural gait.  Something was definitely wrong.

Cam opened the fridge to grab a bottle of water. He began attempting to twist the top off but was struggling with the seal. He made a stressed face as he regripped the bottle to apply more force. He pulled the lid off and groaned, shaking out his hand like it was hurting. He took a huge gulp down before sitting the bottle on the kitchen counter. He started back out towards the living room, staggering back past me silently.  

Why was he walking like that?

"Where were you?" I asked in a raspy, hoarse voice.  My throat was aching from the hours I spent crying while I waited for him to come home.

"I just went for a ride." He grimaced when he removed his jacket off his body and hung it back up in the closet.

The white shirt he was wearing was covered in dirt and he cursed under his breath as he tried to swipe at it to clean it off.  When his hands slid over the stained fabric, I noticed four long talon-like scratches that pierced the skin on his left forearm. 

"Did she give those to you?" My lips quivered as I looked at the inflamed marks dotting his skin. 

He saw where I was staring and turned his body away from me to try to hide them.  He made another pained face as he moved around the room sideways to avoid me.

"Calm down, Jessa," Cameron grumbled.

"Did you leave so you could fuck Kelly again?" I asked.

"No, I didn't. I just went for a ride.  I needed to clear my head."  He sat down on the couch slowly and leaned back against the cushion. He closed his eyes and rocked his head from side to side to stretch out his neck.

I crawled on my hands and knees over to him and set myself down in front of him between his legs, leaning hard into his thigh. I was absolutely furious with him for leaving, but something was off with him, which had me worried.

I laid my head against his leg and he opened his eyes to stare down at me.  He reached down to rub his hand through my hair.  He tangled his large fingers in the curls and held on gently. He exhaled loudly when I pressed into his hand harder.  My body craved his touch, even if I was still upset with him.

We sat together for a long time in silence with him stroking my hair. I didn't know what to say to him and he didn't seem to want to talk either. After a few more minutes, Cam began shifting like he was trying to get comfortable and was biting back little grunts with each movement he made. I placed my hand on his stomach and he sucked in a sharp breath.

"Cameron, what is going on?" I asked suspiciously when his body tensed up.

"Nothing, I'm just a little tired. It was a really long night, Jess." He brushed me off and removed my hand away from him.

His face was paler than normal and there was sweat on his forehead. Something was seriously wrong with him.

I raised my hand back up and jabbed my finger into his stomach.

"Ouch. Damnit Jessa." He screamed breathlessly and doubled over, grabbing the spot I touched.

I pulled the bottom of his shirt up and gasped when I saw dark bruising covering his abdomen. I pulled his shirt the rest of the way to the top of his chest and saw the discolored skin covering most of his torso. 

"What the hell happened to you?" I screamed, climbing to my knees in front of him.  I began panicking.

"It's nothing, Jess," He said, trying to pull his shirt from my grasp.  It was hurting him bad enough that he gave up struggling against me. Cam would have normally had the strength to overpower me easily.

"You are covered in fucking bruises and scratches? You are going to tell me what happened, right now." I demanded.

"I wiped out on my bike a few hours ago.  I took a turn too fast and hit a patch of black ice on the road."

"We have to get you to the hospital."

"Stop Jess, I'm fine."   He pushed me away and stood up from the couch. He started limping away from me to go towards the hallway.

"You are not fine. You can barely walk."  I stood up and followed him.

"Enough, Jessa. I don't want to talk about it right now. I just want to go lay down and go to sleep."

"We need to get you checked out. You could have internal bleeding or broken something or...."

"Shut the fuck up!" Cameron spun around and hissed in my face.

He grabbed my arms and shook me. His eyes were solid black and dilated as his face twisted with fury. I didn't even know who I was looking at.  I flinched back and hunkered down as low as I could go when his hand flew up towards my jaw. 

I had been through a lot in my life, but this topped them all. Having my throat slit open by a crazy woman and being stalked by Nathan wasn't even half as terrifying as the demon in front of me wearing Cameron's face.

"I'm sorry." I squeaked out like a little mouse as the tears started flowing down my cheeks. I tried to bury my body against the wall for protection and braced myself for the burst of pain I was sure was about to come.

Instead of him swinging at me, Cam palmed the back of my head softly as his body relaxed against me. 

"Jess, shh, please don't cry. I would never hurt you." He said, pulling me into his chest.  He pressed me back into the wall as I sobbed into him. " Don't cry, darling. I'm sorry. I am so sorry that I scared you. I love you so much."

"No, I shouldn't have kept talking. It was my fault." I apologized between gasps for air.

"Darling, you didn't do anything wrong. Don't you dare try to take the blame because I am being an asshole. I was out of line. I should have never put you through any of this tonight. You have every right to be angry with me. I shouldn't have left." He wrapped his arms around me tighter.

"I wasn't angry. I was scared you weren't going to come back." I cried.

"I'm always going to come back to you. You will never lose me." He raised my chin and pressed his lips against mine sweetly. "Jess, this is right where I want to be."