Path of Destruction (12 page)

“Thought you said it was nothing,” he said, taking in the sight of her.

There she was huddled up in a tiny, dark room, in the basement no less, crying after she’d just claimed she was fine. Her face was streaked with tears as she stared up at him like a deer in headlights. The startled look in her eyes was practically driving him to wrap his arms around her and tell her that everything was going to be okay. But he didn’t.

Coop thought he had a good handle on the emotional rollercoaster ride of women. He’d been seated in the front cart for a lot of up-and-down rides lately. First with Ella Jane, and then his own mother, who for the life of her couldn’t fight back a tear at the mention of anything farm-related. But this girl. This girl was different.

He’d noticed it the first day he’d seen her. One minute, she was Miss Popular, strutting around on Hayden Prescott’s arm and going toe to toe with bitches like Raquel. Another minute, mostly when she was alone—or thought she was—he’d catch her about to break into a million pieces. At least with his mom and Ella Jane, he knew the triggers. He knew what was going to set them off. Cameron Nickelson had no switch. No fuse. No evident buttons to push. At least not any he’d found. Yet.

“What are you doing here?”

“I could ask you the same thing.” He slid an empty milk crate across the floor with his foot before taking a seat on it across from her. He placed his hands on her knees. She’d worn a pair of black skinny jeans today, but he could feel the warmth of her skin through the fabric. “You okay?”

“Not really.” She looked up into his eyes and shook her head as she sucked in a breath, a quiet sob slipping out.

“Don’t let Ella Jane get you all worked up,” he suggested, but he could tell that there was more going on here with her than just a hallway run-in with EJ.

“It’s not that. I mean it is, but...” She hesitated. Then she gave her head a firm shake and wiped the tears from her eyes. “It’s just been a really rough month, you know?”

“I sure do.”

“It’s just one of those days where it feels like nothing is ever going to get better,” she said. “I’m just so tired of feeling like shit all the time.” Her shoulders fell, like she’d just let a little weight off them.

Coop searched her face for answers, but got nothing. He wanted to press her more. He doubted that it was anything major.

Pretty rich girl who has the world at her fingertips. She’d been so lucky the night of the storm—survived and all. At least that’s what he’d heard everyone say in the hallways when she walked by. What in the hell could have her looking like her world had ended?

He smoothed his hands over her knees, reveling in the way she was watching his hands move. It had even been a conscious movement—only meant to be comforting—but he wasn’t going to deny the fact that it felt pretty good to touch her. She was gorgeous and he was a dude. It had been a while since he’d even thought about
being
with anyone. His affections toward Ella Jane lately had been strictly platonic and he hadn’t had time to even think about dating, or even just messing around, with anyone. His life was school and work. He’d started to think that that’s all it was ever going to be, but sitting there in front of Cameron, he let his mind wander for just a split second. Wondering if her lips tasted as sweet as they looked. The fact that she hadn’t shoved him backward and told him to get the hell away from her was a miracle in and of itself.

She cleared her throat and wiped her eyes, ending his daydream. The last thing he should have been doing was thinking about kissing this girl he barely knew.

“Whatever it is that has you so upset, it’s gotta get better,” he offered, hoping that it was true.

She started to smile when her phone chimed. She fumbled it from her back pocket. He didn’t miss the tremble in her hands as she pulled it to her face and her eyes went wide.

“A thunderstorm warning.” She looked up at him and repeated, “There’s a thunderstorm warning.”

Coop could feel the panic radiating off her as her legs shook beneath his hands.

“It’s just a thunderstorm,” he said, trying to soothe her.

“Thunderstorms are always first,” she continued without removing her eyes from the phone. “It’s never
just
a tornado. There’s always rain. Then wind. Sometimes hail. Then the tornadoes come,” she rambled, standing up and taking a few steps. She turned back to him. “The sky looked a little green this morning, right? I mean, it always has a weird color before a big storm. Like last time. The sky was like a pea-green color and we all just ignored it.”

He stared at her. Watched every bit of common sense fade right out of her head and watched her morph into an anxiety-ridden fool. Not a fool. If the rumors were true, she’d been through the wringer that night. It had obviously screwed her up. She was scared. Beyond scared. Before he let his nerves get the best of him, he took in a deep breath.

It’s just a thunderstorm.

“Cameron.” He gave her shoulders a firm grip, steadying her sway.

Her eyes were fixed to the screen. She was fixated on the small radar—the swirls of green, yellow, and red swirling around had hypnotized her.

“It’s almost here,” she whispered. “We should get under something. Get in a far corner. There’s no windows down here, right?” Her eyes went on a frantic search of their surroundings.

“Look at me,” he pleaded, dropping his hands to her hips. She didn’t. “Look at me, damn it!”

Her eyes shot to his, and all he could see was fear. He felt something tighten in his chest as he pulled her into his arm, not having a clue what else would calm her down. Maybe if she could feel that he was calm, he could transfer it over.

“We’re okay. It’s just a storm.” He felt the tension in her body start to lessen as she dropped her arms to her side. “We’re in the basement. Safest place we can be.”

As if the universe was trying to totally fuck up any credibility he had, the school storm sirens went off, blaring at max capacity. She jumped in his arms. His heart and stomach dropped as held on to her. What if she was right? What if a tornado was headed right toward them? There was nothing he could do to stop it. He just needed to keep her calm.

“Oh my god,” she cried out. “I knew it was going to happen again.”

“It’s gonna be okay,” he said as she continued to ramble on. “We’ll wait it out. I’ll keep you safe.”

The sounds of the wind and rain outside were barely audible from where they were, especially with the incessant howl of the warning sirens. His mind wandered to Ella Jane. Was she safe? He was supposed to be protecting her. She was probably in the same panicked state as Cameron.

“You can’t be sure! It’s red, see!” She pointed at a tiny red blip on her screen. She’d already convinced herself that it was really happening. That another massive tornado was headed straight for them.

Coop knew the odds of another EF-4 hitting the area were slim, but his heart rate was still on the climb. The small light bulb hanging in the center of the room they were in flickered, sending her straight off the edge of the emotional cliff she was teetering on.

“No, no, no,” she rambled. “This cannot be happening.”

“Give me that damn thing!” Coop had had enough. He took the phone from her hand shoved it in his pocket. He knew they were in the safest possible place they could be in. Her obsessing over some picture of what was happening was not going to change the situation. “Just try to stay calm. It will be past us in no time.”

“You can’t possibly know that!”

He moved his arms back around her waist and pulled her toward him. He felt bad for yelling at her, but she didn’t seem to listen when he tried reasoning with her like a normal person. Maybe he couldn’t calm her down.

“We’re okay,” he repeated right before a crack of thunder threatened his promise. He couldn’t win. “You’re okay.”

She shook her head. Tears were rolling down her face and he could feel her legs wobbling beneath her. His calming words didn’t seem to be working and it didn’t matter how tightly he was holding her, she was still a nervous wreck. He’d run out of ideas to keep this girl in one piece. She was biting her bottom lip so hard that he knew she was about to draw blood. He’d be damned if he was going to let her hurt herself on top of everything else. She was obviously in enough emotional distress to last her a lifetime.

The lights finally gave out and as the darkness surrounded them he crashed his lips to hers. If she wanted to bite someone’s lip, she could bite his. At least that way he’d be the one in physical pain. He could save her from that.

T
he alarm was obnoxious and gave her an instant headache. She frowned as she tried to figure out what it meant.

“Ladies and gentlemen, looks like it’s tornado drill time,” Mrs. Griffin announced as students stood and lined up at the door. “Leave your belongings. Make your way in a single-file line to the locker room hall beside the gym.”

Everyone shuffled out of the classroom, desks screeching noisily as they were bumped out of the way.

It’s just a drill.

Wasn’t it?

Surely it was. It was nearly November, though it was storming pretty hard outside.

Following the two guys shoving each other playfully in front of her, she locked eyes with Hayden as he came out of the classroom across from hers. She’d been avoiding him ever since the night he’d caught her at the train tracks. He smirked, likely replaying the memory of the way she’d thrown herself at him so stupidly a few weeks ago before her dad had interrupted.

She bit her lip and avoided his gaze.

The hallway became even more crowded the closer they got to the designated shelter areas. Unlike her high school, this one had an actual storm shelter built beneath the gymnasium and auditorium. The locker rooms were down there so that the space was doubly useful. As she descended the stairs while shoulder-to-shoulder with the students beside her, her nostrils were assaulted by the stench of stale sweat and body odor. She didn’t know if it was from the locker rooms or the people around her. What she did know was that, the moment they packed themselves like cattle into the tight hallways, she felt Hayden Prescott’s breath on her neck.

“Been avoiding me, angel face?”

“No,” she hissed over her shoulder.

“I don’t believe you.”

“I don’t care.”

“Look at me.” Hayden placed his hand firmly onto her waist. “You can’t avoid me forever. You know I’m right.”

Whirling on him, Ella Jane narrowed her eyes. “What do you want from me? Why can’t you just let it go?”

“Everything. I want you to tell me everything. Why you didn’t call me when your brother passed, why you didn’t speak for two weeks after the storm, why you’re so angry, and most of all…”

She stared at his mouth, captivated by the soft force behind his words. He really wanted to know all of these things. But why?

“Most of all what?” she whispered without meaning to.

“Why what happened this summer doesn’t seem to mean anything to you. It meant a hell of a lot to me,” he admitted. “So, if you’ve got a secret to how I can switch off actually giving a shit, well, I’d love to hear it.”

She swallowed and tried to process his confession. There was no secret switch. Taking a deep breath, she did her best to explain why she’d treated him the way she had.

“Hayden…I…” Another breath was needed for this. She looked up into his eyes, feeling in that moment as if they were alone in that locker room hallway instead of crammed between half the student body. “I do still care. I just… Compared to losing Kyle, losing you doesn’t hurt as much.” Her voice faltered on her brother’s name, but she knew she got her point across.

His eyes hardened, and she knew instantly that her words had wounded him. The one time she wasn’t trying to push him away and somehow she did.

“I get it,” he said after a teacher had passed, counting heads, making them truly seem like nameless cattle. “But I guess losing Pops was different for me. It made me realize that I should be honest when someone means something to me, that I shouldn’t waste time pushing them away because who knows how much time we have left.” He shrugged and glanced over her head at a group of girls nearby that EJ suspected might be listening or trying to listen in on their private conversation.

“Hayden…” She sighed, thinking briefly of how Cooper rode his bike a lot more recklessly—if at all—now, and how Cameron Nickelson was just trying to blow her off and pretend the summer had never even happened. “I guess we all handle grief differently.”

She looked around, pressing herself harder against the wall in hopes of just disappearing. His words were bringing feelings to the surface that she’d worked so hard to shove down into the deep recesses of her soul.

“Guess so,” he said evenly.

His shoulders lowered and his “Guess so” had the
well, that’s that
feel to it that made her stomach hurt. Was he done then? Done trying to push her to admit how much their summer had meant to her? If this was it, she felt like she had to be completely honest.

Reaching a hand to grasp the front of his black Henley, she tugged him toward her gently. When she had his full wide-eyed attention, she licked her lips and took one last healing breath.