Path of Destruction (Broken Heartland, #2)(23)

She deserves to know the truth.

Ella Jane might have deserved to know what had happened between Cami and Kyle that summer, but as far as Cami was concerned it was her secret to keep. She’d loved him—still loved him—and no part of her wanted to share that with anyone. Not her parents, not Hayden, and especially not Ella Jane Mason. That girl had been nothing but trouble since she’d walked through the doors of SBHS.

It irked Cami that Ella Jane had two great guys up in arms over her. She knew why it bothered her that Hayden liked the unstable chick so much. He’d been her best friend long before he was her boyfriend. It was Brantley Cooper that she couldn’t understand why she gave a damn. She’d talked to him one time—during the social committee meeting—and it hadn’t even been for very long. Aside from his blatant hatred for Hayden, he was nice. And funny. And better looking than ninety-nine percent of the school population—with his short, dark hair and dark-brown, see-right-through-you eyes. He even managed to make the whole corn-fed, farm-bred thing appealing. He shouldn’t have been wasting his time on some girl that obviously didn’t know a good thing when she had one. Hell, she had two good things and she didn’t want either of them.

Monday, Cami had managed to convince her parents she wasn’t feeling well and stayed home. But Tuesday morning was a different story. When Cami had left for school, she grabbed her cell phone, but not because she was finally ready to talk to anyone. She’d seen the forecast the night before and, according to the weatherman, the area had a chance for strong storms.

Last year, she would have just gone, letting the weather gods determine the outcome for the day, but now... She didn’t want to take any chances. Not being prepared had almost cost her her life and it had taken Kyle’s. If a tornado was about to rip through town, she was going to be ready for it. She downloaded every weather app known to man onto her iPhone. Like a walking weather station. She wandered down the hallway, toward her locker, her eyes focused in on the screen.

“Morning, Cami,” a voice called out.

“Hey,” she answered robotically, not at all invested in who had greeted her. She had other things to worry about. According to the latest radar image, the storms were taking shape and due in the area in the next hour or so.

Her stomach knotted and she could feel a sheen of sweat slick her hands. She let out the breath she’d unconsciously held in as she double-checked her findings.

I should have stayed home.

Of course, when she mentioned to her mother that there was a seventy-percent chance of storms this morning, she’d laughed off her concern.

“I saw the weather report, dear. It’s nothing to worry about. Just thunderstorms,” her mom had reassured repeatedly.

Just thunderstorms, her ass. How was she so nonchalant about this?

“You don’t know that it’s just going to be a thunderstorm. Conditions are favorable for—”

“Cameron, you’re going to school,” her mother stated flatly. “You are not going to hide that pretty little face every time it thunders around here. You’ll be safe at school. Now go.”

She’d thought about arguing with her, bringing up statistics about school shootings and storms that had hit when school was in session, but she didn’t have the energy. She’d gone to school as her mother had wished. The high school had a basement, so if it got too bad, Cami would skip class and head straight for the utility closet she knew Raquel had used to make out with seniors in freshman year.

Cami shoved her belongings into her locker and tucked her cell phone into her back pocket. As she pulled out her school-assigned iPad and readied herself for her morning English class, she wondered exactly how long it would take to download the radar app onto the tablet. With a bigger screen she could zoom in on the exact path of the storm. She felt a soft smile tug at her lips at her genius idea. She’d be able to stay up to date with the weather during class with her teacher being none the wiser.

“You look awfully happy for someone who’s keeping a pretty big secret.”

Cami closed her locker to find the one person who needed a storm warning all her own. Warning: Blond Hurricane Seeking Answers. The nine missed calls should have tipped her off that Ella Jane wasn’t going to just let it go.

“I’m not...” Cami shook her head, feeling as nervous as she had when she saw the forecast that morning. Of course, Ella Jane Mason would track her down at school. It was just wishful thinking to hope that she’d stay on her side of the building.

“Look, I know it’s you. You were the mystery girl that my brother spent all of his time with this summer. Your picture is all over his phone. I heard your voicemail and I checked the invoices. You were the only account he had in the Bluffs. I know that you had something going on with him and you’re going to tell me exactly what happened between the two of you.”

Like hell I am.

“Nothing,” Cami lied easily, wondering how long she’d be able to keep the denial with Ella Jane acting like a damn super sleuth. Wouldn’t be long until she had video surveillance of them at the Pinkberry drive-thru. “He was our landscaper. That’s all. And the voicemail...” she started to say as a flood of images from the night of the storm crashed down on her.

She’d called him from that rickety old barn, professing her love for him before she’d made a break for the root cellar.