Storm Warning (10 page)

“Okay. If you insist.” Sophie leaned in and placed a kiss on Cami’s cheek. It wasn’t the first time she’d done this. In fact, Sophie had probably kissed and hugged Cami more than anyone else. Sophie’s sincere gesture only reminded Cami of the times her parents faked admiration for their only daughter.

When her dad had been campaigning for school board president, he kept her pressed firmly to his side as he convinced voters that his platform was “taking care of our children.” Cami wasn’t stupid. She knew the real reason her father wanted to run for school board was to make sure that the unoccupied lots surrounding the school were sold to Prescott Development Industries. She and Hayden had overheard their fathers’ scheme to procure the land.

If the voters of Summit Bluffs had half a brain in their heads, they would have looked into Prescott Development. Not only was her dad best friends with Kevin Prescott, he was also one of the shareholders that was going to benefit richly off the acquisition. Not that she’d complain, despite how shady it was—and it was shady. Because there was now a Starbucks and Pinkberry within walking distance from her high school. And thanks to her dad’s push for the off-campus lunch period, she was able to walk her happy ass right on over there each day.

And her mother. She was as transparent as glass. When she’d win a pageant title, her mother would be the first one to wrap her arms around her and shed a few happy tears of
pride
. Theresa Nickelson was living vicariously through her daughter. Her tour on the pageant circuit had been cut short, thanks to Cami’s untimely arrival. Though Cami would lie to the masses and tell anyone who listened that she loved being in pageants, it was really just her guilt of being born that kept her in them. She actually felt as if she owed it to her mother.

Cami shut the door as she watched Sophie pull down the driveway and turned her attention to the full-length mirror in the foyer. She smoothed the wrinkles out of the sheer white tunic she was wearing over her swimsuit and ran her fingers through her dark hair. She looked at the clock. Thirty minutes. Just thirty more minutes and he’d be there.

As she walked through her big, empty house, she looked up at the family photos the interior decorator had strategically placed around each room. She briefly contemplated ripping them all down. The one with her mother in all her pageant glory. The one of her father and Hayden’s dad’s crew breaking ground on the new Rec center. The one of Cami and Hayden at last year’s senior prom, which should have been a fun memory, but it only reminded her that her parents had pushed her into that relationship too.

Then there was the obnoxiously large portrait centered above the fireplace. The one that pushed their charade to the extreme. The one with her father sitting in the center with his airbrushed wife and daughter on each side of him. The one that said “Look at us! We’re the perfect family! Feel free to be envious!” She rolled her eyes and pulled open the French doors that led out to the backyard. The cool blue water of the pool sparkled in the sunlight, and for just one second, she imagined what it would be like to dive in and never come up.

As the thought flickered in her mind, the rationalization that her parents would probably spin her death into some sort of PR campaign to boost their social status outweighed her inclination to drown herself. She could see the headlines now: TRAGIC DEATH OF A BEAUTY QUEEN. Her father would hire the best obituary writer in the state of Oklahoma and probably announce his candidacy for State Senator in the closing paragraph while her mother would inevitably start some foundation in her name that gave pageant dresses to underprivileged children.

She smirked sadly as she shook her head.
Not going to give them that satisfaction.

And then there was the fact that the one person who actually cared about her—Sophie—would be left to clean up the mess. She wouldn’t do that to her. It’d be days before Sophie returned, and Cami wouldn’t scar the one person who would actually miss her. She wouldn’t leave that sweet woman with the images of her floating in that water.

Even though she knew she wouldn’t do it, not really, the water called to her. Promised to ease the clawing ache inside, the one that whispered,
No one would really even care.

“What I wouldn’t give to know what you’re thinking right now…” a familiar voice called out across the lawn.

Cami pulled herself from her disturbing thoughts. Looking up, she saw sweet blue eyes staring back at her. She couldn’t drown herself. Not today anyways. Not when there was someone worth living for walking toward her.

“You don’t want to know,” she replied.

“That’s not true.” He smiled as they came face to face. “I’m pretty sure I want to know everything there is to know about you.”

She’d thought all day about the things she wanted to say to him, but as he stood there and she stared up into his eyes, she forgot them all.

“It was nothing,” she mumbled. “Just a stupid thought.”

He eyed her cautiously, as if he could see right through her. Her heart raced as she imagined him seeing what lay beneath the shiny surface. To all her heartache and self-pity. She didn’t want him to feel sorry for her. She didn’t want anyone to feel sorry for her. Plenty of people certainly had it worse.
Poor little rich girl
, her own self-conscious sneered at her.

She waited for him to say something, but he didn’t. Instead, he wrapped his arms around her waist and pulled her into his chest. As tightly as he was holding her, her head resting on his chest, she felt like she could breathe. Deeper than she had in a long time.

Kyle reached into his back pocket and pulled out his cell phone. Sliding his finger across the screen, he pulled up the camera app and held the phone at arm’s length.

“What are you doing?” Cami asked as he rested his head against hers. She saw his lips curling into a smile.

“Capturing a moment. That’s what photos are all about, right?” He chuckled, looking at her as if this were common knowledge.

She’d never really thought about it like that. Every photo she’d ever been in was staged. A way of showing she was the perfect daughter. Perfect beauty queen. Perfect girlfriend. Like evidence. Or proof her parents needed to impress their friends and constituents. In all her seventeen years, she’d never thought about capturing a moment—or
any
moment she wanted to capture for that matter.

Kyle lined up the camera and snapped the picture just as Cami turned and placed her lips on his cheek. Being hugged by Kyle in the backyard of her house where she’d just contemplated ending her miserable life had become a moment she wanted to capture.

“Got it.” Kyle grinned, turning his head. His nose brushed against hers, their gazes locked on one another’s.

“Good.” She nudged her nose back against his. She wanted to thank him for reminding her that life wasn’t all bad. She wanted to tell him everything she was thinking. That she wanted to know everything about him, too. But more than that, she wanted to kiss him. Badly. Or maybe she wanted to be kissed by him. The very moment she thought it she realized she’d never wanted anything more.

If you see approaching storms or any of the danger signs, be prepared to take shelter immediately.

T
HE
summer hadn’t started out exactly the way Cami had planned it, but by the first Sunday in July, things were looking up. Way up. After her first run-in with Kyle Mason, she’d actually made an effort to be poolside when he arrived to do the lawn maintenance every week.

She enjoyed watching him work. She’d position her lounge chair in the best angle for watching him bob his head along with the music he was listening to as he mowed, trimmed, raked, and sprayed his way around the yard.

She looked forward to seeing him work up a sweat—seeing it bead on his sun-kissed skin and roll down each and every muscle—but her favorite part of the day was when he’d come over and sit down on the end of her chair. She always had a water bottle waiting for him and he always had some compliment ready to go that made her feel like the giddy teenage girl she tried to hide.

The bone-deep chill of loneliness she’d felt when her parents had deserted her was quickly being replaced with the warm tingles of anticipation she felt every weekend while waiting for him to arrive.

“How are you today, Belle?” Kyle asked, taking a drink from the ice cold bottle she had handed him before he pulled his shirt over his head and wiped the perspiration from his face. Her eyes settled in on his chest and she felt the butterflies in her stomach take flight.

“Belle?” She raised an eyebrow once she managed to stop herself from drooling. She batted her lashes at him and reminded herself that he was eighteen and just graduated high school. He wasn’t a boy anymore. He was a man and judging by the way he was drinking her in, he was a man that was interested in her. Kyle looked at her like she was the best thing he’d ever laid eyes on. The fact that she was still in high school didn’t seem to matter to him so she pushed it far from her mind.

“Just a pretty nickname for a pretty girl.” He smirked. “One of the few things I remember from that year of French I was forced to take when I was a sophomore.”

She grinned at the thoughtfulness he’d put into the nickname he had just given her. He pulled his cellphone from his pocket and tossed it on the chair. “Anymore questions, Belle?”

“Well, what am I supposed to call you?” She sat up in her chair closing the distance between them. As she made her way inch by inch closer to him, he bent forward to mess with the laces on his boots. “Beau?”

“Beau as in your
boyfriend
? Cameron Nickelson, are you asking me to go steady?” he teased.

Cami felt her cheeks blush red.
Had she meant it that way?
She wasn't sure what the status of their arrangement was, but she felt strangely calm about it all.

“Maybe I did,” she teased, before adding, “
Je suppose que vous ne le saurez jamais.”

He lifted the shoulder her mouth was closest to, apparently ignoring the fact that she was practically hovering over him. Freeing his feet from his boots and socks, he said, “What did you just say?” He turned swiftly, with a questioning smile, but before she had time to answer he looped his arm under her knees and pulled her up into his arms bride over the threshold style.

“Maybe you should have paid better attention in French class,
Beau.
” She let out a startled laugh. He neared the edge of the pool and she realized exactly why he had ditched his shirt, shoes, and cellphone. “Don’t even think about it!” She slapped his chest playfully. “Put me down!”

“Oh, I’ll put you down.” He chuckled right before he jumped into the water with her in tow.

She wiggled free of his arms and popped up out of the water taking in a breath. The cool water was a welcomed relief from the July heat, but now her hair was wet and the chlorine did nothing but dry it out. She’d have to send Sophie out for a conditioning treatment ASAP.

Pushing the hair from her face as the ripples in the water smoothed out, she looked around for Kyle. She knew he was lurking under the surface, waiting to pull her under or splash her. She still jumped and let out a little shriek when she felt his arms wrap around her from behind.

“You got my hair wet,” she pouted, turning in his arms to face him. Effortlessly, her arms moved around his neck and she let him pull her body to his.

“You’ll be fine, Belle.” He laughed, brushing his nose against hers. “It will dry.” This was the third week in a row that Kyle had been to her house, but it was the first time she actually thought he was going to kiss her. They’d spent the past two Sundays casually talking about nothing in particular and everything all at the same time. She knew that he spent the majority of the week at football training, and as she felt his hard chest press against her, she was thankful for all his dedication to the sport.