Path of Destruction (Broken Heartland, #2)(71)

“You too,” she said softly, wondering if he’d even heard her before he drove away.



“Why are you making this so hard?”

That night she lay in bed contemplating the past twenty-four hours. It was raining. The storm drain ran right beside her bedroom window, causing the steady beat to feel personal. Antagonistic even.

She hated rain, hated storms, and despised Mother Nature with a fiery passion.

When she’d taken the boots Kyle had bought to Cameron, she’d asked her the same question Cooper had. They were the very same words her dad repeated so often they were ingrained in her mind.

Everything she did was wrong.

Fighting with her dad made her mom cry.

Cooper was moving on and tired of keeping up with her crap.

Getting wasted with Jarrod Kent was a temporary fix that later made her feel sick and ashamed.

She’d caused Hayden’s family some kind of trouble she couldn’t even fully comprehend and now he was leaving.

The thought of returning to that school, to her fake family situation, to her sorry excuse for a life, for one more minute, was nearly incapacitating.

The answer seemed so simple that she didn’t know why she hadn’t done it sooner. No one would miss her. Her mom was busying herself rebuilding the family business, her dad was practically glued to her side, and Ella Jane honestly didn’t have a friend to speak of. Hayden had finally given up on her, Cooper had fallen for Cameron Nickelson, and Kyle was gone forever.

She just couldn’t do it anymore. She couldn’t be a walking, talking, living, breathing reminder of everyone’s pain—including her own—for another minute.

There was only one way out. It was time she got brave enough to take it.





“Pizza or Chinese food?” Cooper looked at the takeout menus on the counter. Mama Sulley’s would deliver, even way out where he lived, but if she wanted her fried rice and crab wantons, he’d have to call it in and go pick it up.

“Um, I don’t know. Maybe ask Sam and Will and let them decide. Either is fine with me, babe.”

Cooper smiled. She’d said it so simply. Babe. But there she was, in one of his old racing shirts and torn jeans. Granted, they’d probably been torn when she bought them, but still. He appreciated the thought behind it. Casual Cameron. Comfy Cameron tucked beneath his arm on the couch watching a movie. Not fidgeting or nervous or worried about the weather. Here because she wanted to be. Because she wanted to be with him.

Despite all of the odds being against them, they were officially a couple. They hadn’t discussed what had happened a few weeks ago with Ella Jane catching them in bed together, but Cameron had let it go and for that Coop was grateful. For once, things were finally going his way.

In a few weeks, they’d graduate high school, and then their lives might move in different directions—but they’d discussed it. Cameron was going to OSU to study meteorology and Cooper was going to start working full time at the docks. His parents had secured loans from the bank and one of his aunts in Colorado, and actually owning the farm and replacing the damaged equipment was no longer a vague possibility but a likely probability. They were currently out to dinner celebrating while Cooper and Cameron kept an eye on Will and Sam.

Life was good.

Yet Cooper had a nagging feeling—nothing too alarming, just a strange unsettled feeling that he chalked up to the old adage that things that seemed too good to be true probably were. And then there were always the few ounces of residual grief and guilt that never truly went away. Kyle wasn’t alive anymore, Ella Jane was still distancing herself from him, and Cooper knew he’d probably never have that kind of friendship with anyone ever again. He hoped like hell Ellie May would forgive him for losing it on her. He’d called and texted, but so far, his apologies had gone unanswered. She’d avoided him at school and wouldn’t even look him in the eye when he tried to talk to her.

Cameron was frowning at her phone when he stepped into the living room with the menus and yelled for his brothers.

“Everything okay?”

She nodded while tucking her phone into the side of the couch. “Yeah. Everything’s great.”

Cooper was about to inquire further because she certainly didn’t look as if everything were okay, but the boys bounded down the stair with the subtly of a herd of cattle.

“Pizza, meat lovers,” Sam called out in support of his dinner choice. “Extra sauce.”

“No way.” Will scoffed. “We had pizza twice last week. Can’t we grill or something? There are steaks in the freezer.”

“No time for them to thaw, buddy.” Cooper shrugged. “But we could do burgers on the grill. There’s ground chuck in the fridge.”

“Burgers are fine,” Will agreed.

“Burgers okay, Cam?”

Cameron didn’t answer.

“Cameron?”

She looked up from the phone she must’ve gotten back out while he had been debating dinner with his brothers, a strangely guilty expression on her face. She bit her lip and nodded. “I’m not actually all that hungry, so you guys just get whatever.”

Before he had time to say anything about her sudden change in demeanor, she’d returned her attention to her phone.

“Burgers it is, then,” Cooper said quietly. “Fellas, go wash up then you can help me get the grill ready. I’ll see if there’s any chips left in the pantry.”