Storm Warning (5 page)

“Look,
” she said, straining for patience. Did he actually believe they were pals?
“
I understand we may have gotten off on the wrong foot. You may be under the impression that I like you. But I don’t.”

He smirked and that just grated her
more
. “I know exactly what
you feel for me.” H
is gaze
swept
down the length of her body. “I felt it last night while we danced.”

Her cheeks heated and she clenched her fist
s
behind her back.

“Listen,” s
he said between her teeth. “I feel nothing more than resentment and annoyance for you. You better remember that while you’re on your little vacation. You ma
y also want to remember that I’
m in charge and you will stay out of my way.”

“What’s really eating at you, Tory?” He closed the space between them.

“You are. This is my chase.”

“What are you chasing exactly?” He skimmed his finger down her bruised cheek.

She stiffened because
s
he refused to shrink away. She wouldn’t give him that satisfaction. She pinned him with a glare, willing looks to kill.

“Storms, Mr. Wills. Surely you knew that before you weaseled your way on to my team.”

He flattened his hand on her face and brought his other hand to her back. He pulled her up against him and brought his face mere inches
from
hers. She held her breath.

“You’ll get a storm, Tory. You’ll get one hell of a storm before this is over.” He whispered
it close, his breath sending
chills through
out her entire body. “Why are you shaking?”

“I’m not.”

For the first time, Tory noticed their surroundings. Apart from the open door, the room was
low
ly lit,
cast
ing
shadows through
out the room.
It smelt purely of male. The sheets he’d slept in were disheveled and she just knew they carried his scent.
Some may have found it
all
romantic. Tory found it infuriating.

Grey eyes
seared
into hers and she knew.
S
he would get one hell of a storm. She shook her head
to clear it
and stepped back out of his range. “Truck
s leave in twenty minutes, Mr.—”

“Gabe.”

“Twenty minutes. Be ready
or you’ll be sticking out your thumb
.” With that
,
she swept out of the room.

Twenty-two minutes later, Gabe sauntered out to the trucks. Tory was already fuming from the s
cene in his hotel room. Now the
man had the nerve to be purposely late just to spite her.

She glanced around at her crew and each and every smile vanished from
their faces—except Adam’s
. Gabe strolled up to Tory and
took the bag she was holding. He
hefted it
easily
into the back of an SUV.

“Nice of you to show up,” s
he commented and jumped into the passenger seat.

When she realized Gabe had climbed
into
the
back seat
,
she
tense
d
and then deliberately
turn
ed
to
stare out the window. Adam climbed in and gunned the engine. “Here we go. Storm
’s
developing in North West Kansas. Doesn’t look like much
,
but it’s early yet and everywhere else is clear.”

“You’re a prick, Adam.”

“Love you too, sis.”

“I think
you’re a pretty good guy,” Gabe commented

“No one asked you,” she growled.

They drove most of the three hour drive in silence. Gabe would occasionally snap a photo on his smaller digital camera and Adam would use the two way radio to communicate with the other two trucks.

“
Kary probably misses her husband,
” Adam
said
after hanging up the microphone.

“Probably so,” was
Tory’s clipped response.

“She could bring him with us next season.”

Tory snorted. “You know how I feel about excess baggage.”

“Kary would keep him out of the way.”

“So, tel
l me about the team,”
Gabe said as they crossed the Kansas state line. Since Tory remained silent, Adam shrugged.

“Well, you know Billy. He
and his
wife
live
here is Kansas
.
W
e stay
there
whenever there’s a storm down that way. He started
the t
e
am
with Tory
and
me
. Joel and Jack are bachelors
.” He turned the truck down a narrow road. “We met them at a convention one year and they
’ve
tagged along ever since. This is
Kary’s
second year with us. S
he’s a great scientist. Frankie is my cousin. He’s been hanging around a few years. What is this, Tor? His fourth year?”

“Something like that.”

“Yeah, fourth ye
ar. He kinda does his own thing,” Adam continued. “My Aunt Marth
a is his Mam
a
. Ah, that’s about it. You know me. You know Tory.”

“
You guys work great together.”

“
Enough about us, though
. I want to know all about the li
festyles of the rich and famous,
” Adam drawled.

Gabe snorted. “I’ve lived in L.A. all my life. Snapped the picture that made me famous by accident. Got noticed. That’s about it.”

“Awe, come on. How do you spend all that money?”

Tory glared at her brother, but he paid her no mind. She didn’t like him being chummy with the enemy. She didn’t want to know all these things about Gabe. It made him more human.

“I’ve got a penthouse in L.A. and a cabin in Colorado. Otherwise, I
do things like
invest in crazy storm chasing teams
so I can
tag along
and
get spectacular
pictures.”

Adam laughed.

Tory closed her eyes. Some people had it so easy, she mused. She remembered all
too
clearly the days after she
’d
turned
sixteen. She
’d
waited tables every day—saving every penny she could—so that one day, she could fly.

Then she remembered being eighteen years old and meeting
her brother
for the first time. She had been standing in the café after working a double shift on a Saturday and he walked in.

“
Are you Tory Fairchild
?” h
e had asked. “
I’m Adam. We have the same father. He doesn’t know about me
.”

They had stuck together ever since
.
E
ven after she
’d
told him their father had died ten years prior
, he’d stayed
. She
’d
pulled out the eight thousa
nd dollars she had saved and he’d had some money
to spare.
Sam and Lou’s Café
sponsored their first year of storm chasing.

They
’d
met Billy Small during a weather seminar in Tulsa, Oklahoma and the three of them
set out
—
Billy for his research, Adam for the
adventure
, and Tory for
atonement
.

Tears welled up in
her
eyes. At eight years old
,
she knew what it was like to have
her
home and heart ripped away when it was right
with
in her reach.

For years
,
she was so angry with herself for not
holding on tight enough. Even when she’d
grown up and realized there was physically nothing she could
h
ave
done to save her family,
she was still angry. Maybe even more so.

“
—
for
anything in the world, huh Tory?” Adam nudged her and brought her out of her trance.

“Hm? What?”

“Are you okay? You look a little pale.” He brou
ght his hand to her forehead. T
he brotherly gesture amus
ed her more than it annoyed her.

“I’m fine, j
ust hung over.” She
straightened
in the seat.

“It’s only about a half hour ‘
till
we reach the h
otel. Gabe scored big. This one’s
got an indoor pool and fitness center. Seeing as how we’ll be there for a week, I think I’m going to be gaining a new pair of biceps.”

Tory frowned. It wasn’
t possible to be happy about a warm, cozy bed versu
s the hard interior of an SUV
—
n
ot when she wasn’t the one supplying it.
In fact, it irked her so much that
she decided she would be just as comfortable in the truck for the next week.

“This storm is going to be good. It didn’t lo
ok like much this morning
,
but look
—
you can already see some of the clouds.”

“What’s it like see
ing
a tornado?” Gabe asked as they rolled into town.

“Man, you mean you’ve never seen one? At all?” Adam asked, baffled.

“Nope. Don’t get many in L.A.”

“It’s like nothing else. First, it gets dead silent. Creepy a
s hell. Then the sky just like—
falls down and circles. Half the time, it looks like the ground rises up to meet it and
it just goes. It’s insane. A
thrill.”

“How about you, Tory? Got any scientific explanations?”

She shrugged and focused her gaze out the window
,
where it had been the entire trip. She was still angry with him
, and she wouldn’t forget it.
He made her feel something besides the
hatred she had sworn herself too. And he enjoyed every minute of it.

“Tory hates tornadoes.
”

“That’s enough, Adam,
”
she
said calmly enough.

“Well, it’s true.
”

“You hate them and you chase them?” Gabe asked.

She hated the hint of curiosity in his tone. It was none of his damn business.
She worked to keep her tone flat and unemotional.
“I don’t hate them.”

“Well, you certainly don’t
—
”

“God damn it, Adam! I said that’s enough!”

Adam put the car i
n P
ark in front of the hotel,
met her glare spark for spark
,
and held it there.
Even though her mind knew her brother meant no harm, her heart shuddered with pain. Years, she thought
—aching—and the pain still destroyed her. She cursed the tears and fought them back. She already looked like a fool. Crying would only make it worse.

“What’s with you
,
Tory?”

“Just leave me alone,
”
s
he said quietly
, her voice radiating the pain. She jumped out of the truck and stomped off, not giving a damn where she was going.

Gabe stayed in his seat, rooted, and watched Tory walk
—more like stagger—away. He’d heard about her temper, but didn’t picture it being so intense. Her brother had struck a nerve, and he’d struck it hard.
Her voice had been fierce and angry, but her eyes—

Adam su
cked in a
long
breath. “By the way, you may as well
get one less room. She won’t stay in one.”

“Then where’s she going to sleep?”

Adam pointed at the passenger seat and stepped out of the truck.
Gabe ground his teeth together. She had a knack for pissing him off and he wasn’t sure if he liked it. He took his seatbelt off and left the truck.