Elizabeth Lee - Storm Warning

“What the fu—” Thunder cracked loud enough to drown out his words.

“She didn’t know you had a girlfriend, I take it,” Jarrod shouted over the rain. “She flipped her shit, dude. My bad. Anyways, no hard feelings, Prescott.” With that, the other boy jumped into his Audi SUV and spun his tires, slinging mud all over Hayden and his granddad’s truck.

No. No no no. It was so much worse than he thought. His mind ran wild with the knowledge Kent had dropped on him. She thought she’d been a side thing. Thought he was a lying cheater like her dad.

Surely she would know he wouldn’t have invited her to the party if he were hiding a girlfriend. Wouldn’t she? Jumping into the truck, he grabbed the damp phone from the pocket of his jeans. Luckily he had the most expensive protective case money could buy.

Every second it took the phone to pull up his recent calls was a second she was probably growing to hate him. Chest aching from how hard his heart was slamming into it, he cranked the truck with one hand and clicked on her name with the other.

A few beeps came through the line. We’re sorry. Your call cannot be completed—

He pressed the red end button and cursed the universe. And whoever the hell “we” was in the “We’re sorry,” recording.

The radio let out a long wail of a warning signal and an automated voice began rattling off a warning for nearby counties. Including Calumet. Which he was right in the middle of.

This is an extremely dangerous and life-threatening situation. If you cannot get underground, go to a storm shelter or an interior room of a sturdy building now.

The loud, rhythmic pounding of hail and rain on the roof of the truck echoed his frustration.

After trying to call again, he gave up and clicked through to his messaging screen.

His heart nearly thundered to a stop when he saw that he had a missed text from her. It was from ten minutes ago.

If you meant any of it, if any of it was real, meet me at The Ridge.

That was it. Nothing else. No “I hate you,” or “How could you?” His breathing was labored as he struggled to think. The Ridge was probably the worst possible place she could be. It was elevated and offered no protection. But he had to get there if that’s where she was. His fingers flew across the screen as he messaged her back.

On my way. I’ll explain everything, angel face.

A tiny sliver of relief glimmered in his chest. She was okay. He would explain. He would get Cami to talk to her if he had to, to tell her everything and anything she wanted to know. But first he had to get her the hell out of there and to someplace safe.

Pointing the truck toward The Ridge, he pulled onto the main road. The wipers rocked against the windshield as fast as they could in the currents of water washing over them. Hayden squinted, leaning as far forward as he could to try and see out of the windshield. Steam filled the cab and fogged up the windshield.

He pushed the panic rising up in him as far away as he could. If anything happened to her...It will be because of me.

When his phone buzzed in his hand, he nearly cried out in relief. But when he looked down, it wasn’t her calling.

Pops, the screen said.

“I’m heading home as soon as I find Ella Jane,” he said into the phone. “She’s at The Ridge and I—”

“Hayden, get…” The old man’s voice crackled through the line and then static burst into his ear. “Now…shattered…to the hospital.”

“What? Pops, I can’t hear you. What did you say?” Hayden gripped the steering wheel with his free hand and tried to stay in the middle of the road. He could feel the tires threatening to lose their grip in the rushing water.

“Your grandmother… unconscious.”

“Pops?”

“Ambulances…all out. Need you…”

The bad connection made Hayden want to hit something hard and throw the damned phone out the window. He couldn’t reach Ella Jane. Couldn’t understand a word his granddad was saying. Something about his grandmother and ambulances.

“Help,” was the last word he heard the old man say before the connection went dead.

But he couldn’t help. Couldn’t get to his girl and couldn’t get to his grandparents. Because the storm was right in front of him, coming at him like the trains Ella Jane loved to watch. It was wide and black—the devil dropping down to earth as his gran would say—and for a split second, he could only stare at it in awestruck horror.

Snapping out of his brief encounter with shock and turning the wheel as sharp as he could, he had one last thought as the tires squealed in protest, losing their fight against the rushing rapids.

I can’t help anyone, Pops. I can’t even help myself.

ON my way. I’ll explain everything, angel face.

She’d been staring at his reply for every second of the eleven minutes since it had come through. The storm was raging outside of her truck and he still hadn’t shown.

Panic swirled inside of her. Panic and hurt and betrayal and the deep need to know he was okay even if it had all been a lie.

And then once she knew he was okay, she would demand the truth. Even if the truth was she’d just been a summer fling behind his beautiful girlfriend’s back.

Anything was better than not knowing.

Her phone vibrated in her hand, jolting her from her trance of staring at it and playing out a dozen possible scenarios in her head.

Her brother’s face filled her screen. She pressed accept on a sigh.

“Kyle?”

“Where the hell are you, EJ?” The panic in his voice was a thousand times more intense than her own.

“The Ridge. I was supposed to meet—”

“Get your ass home right this second. They just issued a tornado warning. It’s touching down. You have to get out of there.”

Her brother was the calmest person she knew. It took a lot—well, it took a guy making a move on her—to really upset him. And she’d never heard him this upset.

“I am. Hayden is meeting me here and then I’ll—”

“Listen to me, dammit. Forget Hayden. Do you hear me, EJ? Forget him. Get home right now.”

“Okay, okay.” She cranked her truck and jumped at the sound of the wailing sirens both inside and outside of her truck.

Weather Service Meteorologists and storm spotters are tracking a large and extremely dangerous storm cell that has been identified as a tornado six miles southeast of Oklahoma City. Doppler Radar shows this tornado moving east at approximately forty miles per hour.

This is a tornado emergency for the following counties…Arden, Beacon, Calumet, Dessin—

“Kyle. Are you still there?”

Her hand shook visibly—or maybe her entire body was shaking—as she reached to turn the radio down so she could hear her brother through the phone.

“Don’t take the main road. It’s flooded,” he shouted at her.

She reached down and shifted into reverse, but when she hit the gas, the tires spun. Solid thunks of hail began to beat down on the roof and tears slipped from her eyes. This was so bad. She was an idiot. She’d lived in Oklahoma her entire life. She knew the warning signs. But she’d ignored each and every one of them—distracted by something that was over before it had begun.

Slamming her foot down as hard as she could, she cried out when it didn’t budge.

“I’m stuck, Kyle. The truck. It’s stuck in the mud. It’s not budging.”

As soon as the words were out of her mouth, she heard it. Surely the trains aren’t running in this weather.

But she could hear it coming, could feel the vibration.

Static blared through the speaker against her ear, but she thought she heard her brother’s voice.

“It’ll be okay…coming to get you.”

His words soothed her for the moment. Her body trembled in the truck as she clutched her phone and waited for her savior. The one man she could actually depend on, count on to be there for her. The only one she’d ever be able trust.

“SHE’S stuck in the mud at The Ridge. I’m going to go get her in my truck. Park your dad’s truck in the barn now before this hail destroys it and it ain’t worth shit,” Kyle yelled at Coop through the rain beating down on him as he got out of the passenger side.

“No. Hell no. I’m coming with you. Get your ass back in this truck,” Coop demanded.

“No. This will blow over and then what will you tell your dad? What will he do about paying the bills? Go! Now!”

Kyle slammed the door and started to dart through the rain toward his own truck, but Coop got out and grabbed him before he got there.

“I’m going with you. I’ll put the truck in the barn first but I’m going.”

Kyle jerked free of his best friend’s grasp and shook his head. “There’s no time. EJ’s in the worst place she could be. I have to go now!”

“To hell with the truck, Kyle. I love her. I’m going.”

“I love her, too, Coop. She’s my damned sister. But I need you to stay here. Run inside and make sure Mama is down in the basement.”

“No,” Coop said, shouting to be heard over the downpour. “I mean, I love her like I’m in love with her. You can kick my ass for it later, but I’ve always loved her. I love her more than I should. Not like a brother. Nothing like a brother, in fact.”

Excellent time for a heart-to-heart, Coop. Kyle nodded frantically as water blinded him. “I know that, jackass. That’s why I trust you to take care of her. It’s why I asked you to do that when I’m gone. But I’m here now and I need you here and every second we waste arguing is a second she’s out there alone. Move your truck and then go the hell inside.”