Path of Destruction (Broken Heartland, #2)(72)

Once the boys were gone, he sat down next to her on the couch. Her phone disappeared as if she’d suddenly become a magician. “Is there something you want to talk about?”

He knew her parents weren’t thrilled about her seeing him, just like he knew Ella Jane wasn’t too thrilled about it either. But everyone else could build a bridge and get over it. This was his life and right now he was with the girl who needed him, the one he needed.

“Nothing. It’s nothing. Sorry. Did we decide on dinner? Chinese food sounds great.”

Cooper sighed. “Okay. I’ll order your usual and go pick it up once I’ve made the boys some burgers.”

“Sounds good.” Cameron gave a blatantly forced smile.

Standing and making his way back into the kitchen, Coop flipped open the menu from Mr. Chen’s. He lifted his cell phone from the counter and pressed the screen. Alerts for two missed calls from his dad and one text message from Ella Jane greeted him.

He clicked the text. What he saw didn’t make sense. He stared at the image for a full minute, or maybe a full hour, before reading the words.





Ask her about him.


That’s all it said. But it was the picture that he couldn’t tear his eyes from.

Kyle and Cameron. Cameron and Kyle.

She was smiling and he was kissing the side of her face.

Kyle kissing Cameron.

His Cameron, who apparently wasn’t his Cameron after all.

The realization came on slow but hit him hard. The mystery girl from the Bluffs, the one his best friend had fallen in love with, the one he’d been so sure loved him even though she’d blown him off, the one who’d changed everything Kyle thought he knew about Summit Bluffs girls, was sitting in his living room.

The pact he’d made with his best friend to never ever let a girl come between them, to never even so much as flirt with one if the other liked her, to never make a move on one the other had dated or been interested in, played in his head again and again. His fists clenched at his sides and he realized that he was jealous of—and angry with—his dead best friend. He couldn’t even begin to contemplate precisely how messed up that was.

It wasn’t until the ringing started that Cooper returned to the present.

But it wasn’t his phone ringing. It was the doorbell. He didn’t look at her as he walked to his front door. He didn’t look at anything. He could hardly see straight.

How long was she going to lie to him? Was she playing him? Was this some sick game of hers? A way of remaining close to Kyle?

Nothing in his head was good at the moment so he said nothing.

Steely blue eyes rimmed with red evidence of tears were the first things he saw when he opened the door.

“Mrs. Mason?” he sputtered out before he saw EJ’s dad behind her.

“Brantley,” he began, stepping forward. “Have you seen Ella Jane at all since last night?”

Cooper glanced over at Cameron out of instinct. Her eyes were wide and she was unapologetically eavesdropping.

“No, sir. I haven’t. She, um, texted me earlier, but that’s it.”

Mr. Mason nodded. “Did she say anything about where she was or if she was going somewhere in the text?”

Cooper shook his head. “No. It was a picture of Kyle. One she thought I’d want to see I guess.”

Mrs. Mason let out a choked whimper that startled him. It sounded as if Cameron might have as well.

Mr. Mason ignored them both. “Are your mom and dad home?”

EJ’s dad always had a commanding presence that made him feel like a little kid, and like he’d done something wrong.

“No, sir. They went out to dinner. Do you want me to call them?”

“We’ve left messages for them already,” Mr. Mason told him. “Come on, Millie. We’ll check—”

“Wait.” Millicent Mason reached out and grabbed Cooper by the arm. “You’re her best friend. If you know anything about where she is or if something’s happened to her, even if she made you promise not to tell, please, please tell me.” Her voice was wavering on the line of a determined plea and about to lose her shit completely.

Cooper backed up a little, patting her hand and removing it. “Happened to her? I swear she didn’t say anything about anything like that to me. I can get my phone if you want to see.”

Brad Mason rolled his eyes. “We don’t need to see your phone, son. Just call us if you hear anything. Or have your parents call us.”

“Hear anything about what exactly? What’s going on?”

“Ella Jane…” her mother began slowly before her voice cracked. “She’s gone. She’s missing.”





My truck idled at the stoplight as it turned from green to red and back again. Thankfully there was no one else on Main Street at two in the morning.

I’d been driving around for hours, trying to clear my head and sending up silent prayers to the universe or whoever was listening. But now I’m stuck at a crossroads and unable to move forward until I decide on one road or another.

The truth is, prayers or no prayers, I’ll have to stop at the cemetery, and if she isn’t there, I’ll have to make a hard decision—one that will likely cost me what little bit of happiness I’ve managed to find.