Storm Warning (Broken Heartland)

  Formatted by E.M. Tippetts Book Designs

  Another secret of the universe: Sometimes pain was like a storm that came out of nowhere. The clearest summer could end in a downpour. Could end in lightning and thunder.

  ― Benjamin Alire Sáen

  For everyone who’s ever had to weather a storm. Life is unpredictable, sometimes you just have to ride it out.

  She stared into his handsome face as she tried to find the words to say what she needed to. “For the first time in my life, I feel like I’m doing something right. Something no one else can judge or ruin. Or take away.”

  “I don’t want to hurt you,” he said so low she barely heard him.

  Leaning into the hand he used to brush the hair from her face, she pressed her lips to his palm. “So don’t.”

  Pulling back to give him the choice, she held her breath and waited. Both of their hearts beating fast, in time together, measuring the seconds that passed as they stood on the edge of the unknown.

  “We’ll go slow. If you want to stop, at any time, just tell me, okay?”

  She smiled as he submitted to her. Nodding, even though she knew what she wanted and that she’d never want him to stop, she leaned in and kissed him again.

  “I’ve never wanted anything the way I want you,” he said between kisses. His words burned into her heart, imprinting themselves onto her soul—where she planned to keep them forever.

  SUMMER. For most people my age, it was synonymous with freedom. Free from school, free from obligations, free from bells ringing telling us where to go and when. Long days and even longer nights. Parties. Drinking too much and hooking up. For me, it meant work.

  For as long as I could remember, summer equaled busting my ass with my family’s landscaping business, Mason Landscaping & Lawn Maintenance. This summer would be a little different since I’d graduated and would only be working part-time. But I’d be working all the same.

  I could still remember the day the letter came that held the key to my future. The one that determined whether or not I’d finally be able to get the hell out of Hope’s Grove, Oklahoma.

  “Kyle, it came! It’s here! Open it!” My sister Ella Jane’s bright blue eyes shone in the sunlight as she practically mauled me by the mailbox.

  “Jesus, EJ. Easy, girl.” I took the envelope from her and tucked it in the back pocket of my jeans. My best friend Coop grinned and shook his head. We both took serious pleasure in teasing my little sister damn near to death. Had since we were kids. In my mind, EJ was still a kid. Always would be. But I wasn’t blind. I had my suspicions that Coop was starting to see just how much of a kid my sixteen-year-old sister wasn’t.

  “Kyle Ryan Mason! You are not serious! Get that envelope out of your pocket and open it right this second.” She glared at me with her hands on her hips and I had to work to keep from smiling.

  “I think we should wait for Dad to get home. Don’t you?”

  If I could change anything about that day, it’s that moment that I would do differently. If I had the power to go back in time, back before everything went straight to hell, I would’ve ripped that envelope—the one with the news of my full football scholarship to Oklahoma State University—open right that second.

  I would’ve given EJ that last happy memory. Would’ve wrapped her in my arms and spun her around at the end of our dirt driveway. Would’ve let Coop thump me hard on the back in our “congrats, dude” sign of affection. I might have even let him hug EJ, though I would’ve been watching closely to make sure his hands stayed north of the equator.

  But…I didn’t. I held out on EJ because I thought that would make it more fun. Build the suspense. I’d always enjoyed being the center of attention. It had always come easily for me. My little sister was the shy one. The one who stood quietly in my shadow, in my corner, cheering me on in whatever I did.

  What I didn’t know was that my dad wasn’t coming home. I didn’t know that my mom would sit us down at the dinner table that night with tears in her eyes and tell us that he’d moved out while we were in school that day. That he’d checked out of our family for some city bitch named Valerie that he’d dated in high school or some bullshit. He’d been having an affair. Cheating on my mom. Cheating on our family.

  I didn’t know that I’d be opening my letter alone in my room that night. Listening to Ella Jane cry softly in the next room as I did.

  So this summer would be different. In more ways than one. I graduated from Hope’s Grove High School. Got into my dream college. And I’d be attending football camp pretty much all summer long. I only had one major lawn account to deal with—some family in Summit Bluffs was out of town for the summer so I had to take care of their lawn and their pool on the weekends when I was home.

  When summer ended, I’d be leaving my mom and sister behind to handle the family business all on their own. I was getting everything I ever wished for, and yet…the thought made my entire world spin in the wrong direction. I felt like a linebacker twice my size was headed right toward me. And I was powerless to do anything about it.

  Be alert to changing weather conditions. Look for approaching storms.

  “I’M not saying that we should break up exactly.” Cameron Nickelson glanced in the mirror at the reflection of her boyfriend of two years, who was still lying shirtless across the bed in his room. She applied a thin layer of slick gloss to her perfect pout before adding, “I just think with you going to stay with your grandparents for the summer and me going to St. Tropez, we should take some time apart. You know, like a break. Not a break up.”

  She studied the feigned look of concern on Hayden’s face. A part of her wanted him to reject her suggestion because the idea of being important to someone was a driving force in her way of life, but she knew he’d agree to the break.

  Sure, she loved Hayden. But she knew as well as he did that they weren’t in love. They were together because that was the way it was supposed to be. Popular guys and popular girls from the same financial standing were supposed to be together. At least that’s what her parents had raised her to believe.

  So, when they were freshmen in high school and their peers were pairing off into couples, Hayden and Cami—as she was known as by those closest to her—decided it would be in their best interest, and most beneficial to their reputations, to become the it couple at Summit Bluffs High School. They had based their relationship on the friendship they’d developed growing up in the elite circle their parents forced them into, complete with built-in wealth, status, and popularity.

  Cami and Hayden understood the pressures that came with being expected to be perfect. Both of them had parents that pushed them to excel and achieve even when they didn’t want to—Cami with pageants and Hayden with lacrosse—not to mention the 4.0 GPAs they were expected to maintain while climbing the social ladder.

  “Okay,” Hayden finally answered. “I mean, if that’s what you want,” he added. She could tell that he was just saying it to soften the blow to her ego and that he would be just fine without her this summer. She smiled, noting that Hayden Prescott did have a sweet side, despite his arrogant façade. She also admired the way his chiseled stomach remained tight as he sat up and scooted to the end of the bed. “How about one more round for old times’ sake?” Before she could say a word, he grabbed her thighs and pulled her back into his lap. The popularity and reputation boosts weren’t the only benefits to their relationship.

  They’d been each other’s firsts and definitely enjoyed the benefit of each other’s company. Or at least, she was pretty sure she’d been his first.

  “Well,” Cami began, turning in his lap to face him. “If you insist.”

/>   He ran his thumb across her lips, removing the gloss she’d just applied. “Oh, I insist.” He chuckled before kissing her, giving her the cocky smirk that had practically every girl she knew eager to be in her place.

  But as nice as kissing Hayden was, even though he definitely had mastered making out and more, Cami had yet to feel the spine-tingling, stop-you-in-your-tracks, leave-you-breathless type of kiss she had seen in the movies and read about in the romance novels she’d snuck from her mom’s secret stash. Which was one of the main reasons she’d suggested the whole break thing.

  She was off to the sunny beaches of St. Tropez for the summer, and the idea of having a whirlwind fling that actually left her breathless was all she could think about. Even though she knew she’d start the next school year back on Hayden’s arm, three months of doing what she actually wanted for once sounded nice.

  “WHAT do you mean I’m not going?” Cami asked as she watched her mother walk toward the front door. Right outside that door was the town car that was waiting to drive them to the airport. The one Cami was supposed to be loading her Louis Vuitton suitcase in at that very moment. Instead, her father wheeled it back toward the staircase that led up to her second-floor bedroom.

  “Exactly what I said,” her mother answered shortly.

  “But you said this was a trip for us. You said if I placed in the Miss Teen Oklahoma pageant that we’d go celebrate. I don’t understand why you suddenly decided that I don’t get to go. This isn’t fair,” she pleaded.

  Theresa Nickelson—or as she preferred to be known, Former Miss Oklahoma—placed her hand on her daughter’s shoulder and painted on the fake smile she’d perfected over years of being on the pageant circuit.

  “Cameron,” she said in a sugary sweet tone. “I said that you could go to St. Tropez with me if you won Miss Teen Oklahoma. Not placed. Perhaps you should use the summer to figure out why exactly you didn’t take home that crown. Tighten up a little for the swimsuit competition.” She paused to give her daughter’s hip a harsh pat. “Maybe next year we’ll actually have a reason to celebrate.” With that, her mother was out the door and on her way to the island vacation Cameron had been dreaming about for months.

  Two tears escaped the overflowing pools in her eyes. She let them fall onto her cheeks before turning to run up the steps to her room.

  She knew she shouldn’t have been surprised by her mother’s decision to leave her behind. It was kind of their thing. The only time her mother actually acknowledged her existence was when she had a crown on her head and sash across her chest. That was when her mom brought out the big guns, making immense promises she never followed through on.

  Cami threw herself on the queen-sized bed in the center of her bedroom and cursed herself for actually thinking her mother wanted to spend time with her. Then she cursed herself again for falling for her mother’s promise of “a mother-daughter getaway.”

  Her mother was nothing if not consistent. Every summer she would get Cami’s hopes up by planning something fun for the two of them only to pull the rug out from under her unsuspecting daughter. As much as she hated to admit it, this year she’d been stupid enough to fall for it. Again.

  Cami’s dream of finding summer love on the beach seeped into her pillow along with her tears. She had a pretty good idea that her mother had the exact same idea and didn’t want her daughter tagging along to complicate things with the cabana boy or whatever unsuspecting guy she preyed upon. Cami swore to herself that this was the last time she would believe a word that came out of her mother’s mouth. She let her sobs drown out the little voice inside her that said this would not be the case.

  “You okay, sweetheart?”

  She unburied her face from her damp pillow and watched her father wheel her suitcase back into her room.

  “You know how your mother is,” he tried to reason with his daughter, his brown eyes crinkling as he forced a smile. “You shouldn’t have gotten your hopes up.”

  “Yeah. I know.” The emptiness she felt at his words hollowed out her stomach. No matter how hard she tried to make it seem normal, the relationship she had with her parents was anything but.

  Mothers were supposed to want to spend time with their children and fathers were supposed to offer love and support, not rationalize their wive’s immature behavior.

  Just as she began to write both of her parents off, her father stepped over to the edge of the bed and offered Cami a comforting pat on her back.

  “You’ll still have a good summer,” he began, and for a brief moment, Cami actually thought he was going to suggest that the two of them spend some time together. A tiny hopeful smile crept across her face.

  She didn’t see her dad on a regular basis. Between his busy work schedule and her social one, they spoke only in passing. She saw her mom at dress fittings, hair appointments, and pageant practice. Her dad, not so much.

  “Why don’t you call the girls and have a pool party tonight?” he suggested. “I’m going into the city to get a head start on all the work I’ve got this week.”

  She let out a breath as her heart grew heavier in her chest. The weight of it felt like too much in times like these. Cami’s father was much more transparent than her mother. His affair, which he usually referred to as ‘work,’ was something her mother knew all about and turned a blind eye to. Cami knew this from the many phone conversations she’d overhead her mother having with women in her inner circle.

  According to her mom, Derek Nickelson justified deserving a girlfriend because he provided a lavish lifestyle for his wife and daughter, maintained a high profile in the community they lived in, and pretended to be interested in his child’s well-being. He even served as the School Board President. And because his own infidelity kept him too busy to notice hers, Theresa Nickelson didn’t really mind.

  From the outside, the Nickelsons looked like they had it all together. Which couldn’t be any further from the truth.

  “Okay, Daddy,” Cami agreed. “That sounds like fun.”

  He placed a kiss on the top of her head. “Let Sophie know if you need anything,” he added as he backed toward the door. Sophie was their maid and the only person in the house that Cami saw daily. “I’ll leave some cash on the counter, and you have your Visa.”

  Once he was gone, Cami returned her face to the quiet comfort of her pillow and silently thanked her mother for forcing her into the pageants she hated so much. If nothing else, she’d learned how to lie and paint the picture of perfection everyone expected her to be.

  She heard her father’s car pull out of the garage and closed her eyes. There was no way she was having a party tonight. She couldn’t deal with letting her girlfriends know that her mother had ditched her once again. She’d used every excuse in the book for that woman and she had run out of ideas. Just the thought of having everyone talking about “poor Cami” behind her back made her want to puke.

  She had a reputation to uphold. This summer, Cami was going to hide out, protect the lie her sorry excuse for a family had forced her into. When the school bell rang, she was going to fill her friends’ ears with the details of the wild summer romance she had promised them she was going to have. Even if she had to make the whole thing up.

  “THIS is a joke, right? You’re pissed I wrecked the Bentley so you’re screwing with me.”

  He watched as his mother rubbed the bridge of her nose and then widened her hand to grip her temples. His dad just stood there, checking his phone for the fiftieth time. One of them needed to cut the bullshit and soon or he was going to lose it.

  “Hayden, honestly. It’s a car. We were just glad you weren’t hurt. This wasn’t even our idea.” His mother sighed as she looked to his father for some assistance. She didn’t get any. The man couldn’t even glance up from the device he held. Hayden knew why. It was baseball season. People were still placing bets. If his mother knew about his dad’s shady side business, she ignored it.

  “Okay, so if it’s just a car, why send me to th
e middle of nowhere? I’m seventeen years old. I don’t need summer camp, dammit.”

  “Watch your mouth,” his dad scolded, finally looking up. “It’s not summer camp. It’s your grandparents’ farm in Hope’s Grove, and they have some friends who could use a hand. The Masons’ son left for college early or something and is only helping out part time. I’m pretty sure Brad Mason is living here in Summit Bluffs with Valerie Darden. So it’s just a single mother and her daughter running a somewhat successful landscaping business. You could use a summer of hard work.”

  Hayden gritted his teeth together and glared at his father. “Oh yeah, Dad? I thought I had been working hard? Or doesn’t what I’ve been doing count?”

  His mother scrunched her brow and her imploring gaze swung from him to his father and back again.

  Before she could ask any questions, his father stepped toward him. “Enough. Pack your bags. Your grandfather will pick you up first thing in the morning.”

  AFTER he’d received the shitty news of being sent to Camp Townie Inbred for the summer, his girlfriend had come over. To add insult to injury, she’d announced she wanted to take a “break.” Normally he wouldn’t have cared. He had a few things going on the side. Cami was just the main course because his parents said so. But knowing he’d be stuck out in the middle of nowhere without even the hope of a conjugal visit since she’d be in St. Tropez with her mother, probably tag-teaming cabana boys, sucked hairy balls.

  At least he’d gotten lucky one last time.

  But he doubted that would hold him over all summer long. He was pretty sure none of the toothless townies were going to be his type.

  The drive to Hope’s Grove wasn’t even an hour. But it might as well have been in another time zone. Summit Bluffs had a high-end mall, a movie theatre, and a high school home to the three-time state football and lacrosse champs. Hope’s Grove had…dirt. And corn. So far, that was all he’d seen.