Path of Destruction (4 page)

C
ami still felt a little woozy from her pain medication, but going to school had to be better than continuing to be smothered under her parents’ overprotective watch. It was as if someone had switched them from cold and uncaring to hover mode.

“Sophie’s son isn’t expected to walk again,” her mother said over morning coffee. “She won’t be returning to us this year. Maybe not ever. I’ll probably hold a few interviews this week for her replacement.”

Cami felt as if her ribs had given way and were caving in on her heart. Sophie was the only person she could talk to about Kyle. He hadn’t called, hadn’t come to see her in the hospital, and he hadn’t left for college because she’d driven by his house more times than she wanted to admit and his truck had been in the driveway each time.

She’d blown it. Lost him. And even though she’d once thought it was a summer fling, she knew now that it had been so much more. She could’ve sworn she’d heard his voice when the storm was upon her, just before everything had gone black. Yet her family and the medics had promised her that she had been alone when they’d found her.

“Okay. Well, um, do you think maybe she’ll come back next year?”

“Doubtful,” her father said, opening the refrigerator and removing the creamer. “From what her sister said when she called, her son’s situation is pretty dire. Poor kid can’t even dress himself.”

Neither of them looked at her and saw the tears welling in her eyes as her mother adjusted her father’s tie. Cami forced herself not to wallow in her own loss. Sophie and Kyle had both been the only people she felt like actually cared about her. And now, they were both gone.

When she slept, she dreamt of him. Dreamt of how hurt he’d looked when she’d hid from her stupid “friends.” He hadn’t known about her lie, hadn’t known that’s why she didn’t want to be seen. He’d thought she was ashamed to be seen with him. The thought was another sucker punch to her already battered heart.

Even if it was over, if he’d finally realized she was too shallow and vapid to deserve him, she was going to tell him the truth, the truth about everything—that she had been a self-absorbed bitch before him, that he’d changed her, made her want to be a better person, and that she loved him whether he went to college or decided to become a mime. Love was love. And she loved Kyle Ryan Mason with all of her heart. Now that she’d finally realized she actually had one.

T
he marble halls of Summit Bluffs High School were the same as always. Polished to shine, crowded, and alive with chatter—mostly gossip about who had done who or what over the summer. Underclassmen grouped together and compared schedules. Seniors sat on the hallway benches and in the courtyard looking bored with the whole thing while secretly trying to accept the fact that this was their last first day of school at Summit Bluffs.

It was a little more crowded now that the Hope’s Grove students had joined them, and judging from the wardrobe choices, the country kids were keeping to themselves.

Cami kept her head down as she made her way to her locker. She wasn’t in the mood to see Raquel or any of her minions. Having to regurgitate some acidic lies about her summer in the French Riviera would be more than she could handle at the moment. Glancing at her schedule, she saw that English would be first and checked to make sure Mrs. Calloway was still in the same classroom she’d been in for the last decade. After pulling her books from her locker, she tucked them to her chest and made her way to the room in the east wing by memory.

A few people said hello to her, but thankfully, none of them expected her to say much else since she’d always been too stuck up to bother unless it was near homecoming or prom queen elections.

Thankfully, the first person she saw heading her way with the intention of actually speaking was Hayden. She considered asking his advice about Kyle, hoping that it wouldn’t be too awkward but remembering that it hadn’t been at the party the day of the storm. The tension in her chest loosened as she smiled at his familiar face. But when she stopped at the trophy case that usually boasted the school’s latest athletic accomplishments, she saw something that struck her in the chest, tearing through her flesh and bone and gripping her heart with an iron fist.

Kyle’s face—his eyes bright and his lips pressed into a line as if he were trying not to smile as he stared back at her from a newspaper clipping that had been laminated. He wore his Hope’s Grove football uniform and stood proudly below the headline that stole the breath from her lungs.

PROMISING HOPE’S GROVE GRADUATE LOSES LIFE IN TORNADO.

H
e stood outside the ostentatious school building past the first bell alerting students that it was time to clear the halls and head to class. He honestly couldn’t give a shit about attending this godforsaken place. His truck stood out with a few others among the BMWs, Mercedes, and Land Rovers. He knew one of them likely belonged to Hayden Prescott.

Thinking of Pretty Boy actually lifted Coop’s spirits slightly. Now, there was something to look forward to. Relieving some stress by driving his fist through Hayden Prescott’s face would likely be the highlight of his day. Except, dude had lost his grandpa, and Coop actually felt kind of bad about that. The town of Hope’s Grove had practically erected a shrine to Erwin Prescott. And now that he was gone, his son, Prescott’s dad, owned Cooper’s family’s land. If that wasn’t some bullshit, Coop didn’t know what was.

When a black truck roared into the parking lot, all thoughts of Hayden and his grandpa vanished.

Tan legs peering out from shorts entirely too short to be appropriate for school stepped out of the truck first. He recognized her boots on sight and knew exactly why she’d worn them. Her shirt was red and blue plaid¸ and had belonged to her brother. It was only half-ass buttoned as if she’d managed a few and said to hell with the rest. Her eyes were shielded behind gas station sunglasses Kyle had bought on a road trip to OSU.

Cooper recognized all the familiar things about her, but it was what was different that he couldn’t identify accurately. Heads of several other latecomers turned as she strode past them without a pencil or notebook in sight. She pocketed the truck keys without looking up at him. Cooper reached out and took her elbow.

“You don’t have to do this, you know. Take another week, Ellie May. Hell, take two more weeks. You won’t miss a damn thing.”

She arched a brow behind the glasses before lifting them onto her head.

The rims of her blue eyes were red as if she’d been crying and her face still bore faint marks of abuse from the battering the woods had given her in the storm. Cooper’s chest tightened as her pain pressed against him. If there was one thing he knew about Ella Jane Mason, it was that, once she made her mind up about something, there was no going back. It was the reason he hadn’t made a move after seeing her with Pretty Boy. She’d already made her choice.

Or had she? Had she even known her options?

He watched as she looked helplessly at the enormous columns barring the front entrance of Summit Bluffs High School.

For whatever reason, she was determined to do this. So he was determined to be there for her. Taking a deep breath, he offered her his arm.

Surprisingly, she took it.

Cooper’s mind ran through the multiple hazards that she might encounter as they walked up the steps. Rich bitches who’d make fun of her, Pretty Boy and his arm candy, teachers who might bring up her brother or give her shit about not talking. Steeling himself, he pulled the tinted glass door open for her. Whatever came at her, he’d be there—protecting her, shielding her from any potential and unnecessary pain.

He told himself that being her stand-in big brother was temporary. He’d just fill this role for now, because right now, this was what she needed. But maybe in time, he’d gather the courage to ask her to be something more.

A late bell rang and the halls began to clear completely. A low whistle and an unexpected tightening on his arm caught his attention. He glanced at EJ then followed her line of sight.

What he saw settled on his chest with a pressure equivalent to what she was exerting on his arm. Cooper didn’t know how this combining of rival schools was going to play out or whose dumbass idea it was, but one thing was for certain.

There was about to be a whole lot more damage in the state of Oklahoma.

I
f ever a day had been the most fucked up it could possibly be, this was it.

He’d dreamt of her. And he was never one to remember his dreams. But today, he did. He was pretty sure it was the type of dream he couldn’t forget even if he tried.

She was smiling—until it began to rain. Then tears slicked down her face until he couldn’t tell the difference between them and the rain. He reached to wipe them away, feeling weighed down into the mud by her pain. She jerked back and broke into a full sprint toward the oncoming train.

“Ella Jane,” he called out, but his voice was drowned out by the blasting blare of train horn. He tried to chase after her but his legs were heavy, sinking deeper and deeper into the mud. “Wait, dammit. Wait!
Please!
” he screamed. But she kept running full speed despite the blaring horn.

The moment she stepped in front of it, he woke up, his body thrusting instantly upright as he tried to scream her name once more.

The train sounded the alarm again and he looked over to see his cell phone attempting to wake him.

Jesus.

His English Bulldog, Atticus, startled awake next to him.

“Sorry, boy,” Hayden said, his voice still thick with sleep. “Bad dream.”

He reached over and gave the dog a rough rub over the head and behind the ears. Atticus licked his face once before hopping off the bed and marching out of the room. Hayden fell back onto the mattress momentarily, closing his eyes and picturing her face.

Just like in real life, he couldn’t reach her, couldn’t get her to reach out to him.

As if that hadn’t been a rude enough awakening that left him with a dull ache in his chest, he got to spend breakfast arguing with his mom over his grandma. She’d wandered out to the backyard the night before and slipped and fallen in the pool. If he hadn’t looked out the window in time to yell down to his dad to pull her out, they’d probably be planning her funeral this morning.

“It’s not safe for her here, Hayden. Look what happened yesterday.”

“We need an alarm on the doors like we had when I was a kid. And a lock on the pool gate,” Hayden countered.

His mom sighed and cast a pleading look at his father, who busied himself sipping coffee and scrolling across the screen of his tablet.

His grandfather might have died in the storm, but his voice lived on in Hayden’s head. Reminding him to man up, to do what was right, and to stop being the selfish, spoiled asshole his parents were raising him to be. He wasn’t a kid anymore. He could decide who he wanted to be despite them. And what he wanted to be was a decent grandson who honored his grandfather’s memory by taking the best care possible of the person he’d loved more than anyone.

“Today, after practice, I’ll install the alarm on the doors leading to the pool. And I’ll call about getting a better gate. I’ll use the money I made this summer.”

Having decided to trade his Bentley in for a Jeep Wrangler, Hayden had money left over from his summer at Mason Landscaping & Lawn Care. Plus the souvenir broken heart from the girl who still wouldn’t return his calls.

“It’s sweet that you care so much,” his mom said as he grabbed his keys from the basket on the counter. “But at some point, caring just isn’t enough.”

He was realizing that. Not that he wanted to talk about it with his parents. All his mom wanted to talk about was sending his grandma to a long-term care facility, and dear old dad wasn’t much better. The night before, his grand words of wisdom for his son were about the bets he wanted him to take on upcoming football games.

He sighed and tossed them a brief goodbye before heading to school. He couldn’t help but wonder if she’d be there. When he’d overheard his dad tell his mom that the school board had announced that the Hope’s Grove students would be joining them, he’d felt as if his entire universe had been flipped upside down.