Edge of Chaos (Love on the Edge #1) (22 page)

My eyes popped wide open and I shot up straight. “Are you serious?”

“Now look who’s happy at six thirty in the morning.”

Adrenaline coursed through my veins. I’d wanted to go on another chase the second the last one had ended.

“Are you in or not?”

“I’m so in! Just tell me when and where.” I hopped out of bed. Hail grunted but didn’t budge.

“I didn’t know if you’d want to after . . .”

“I’ve been wanting to talk to you about that night, to apologize—”

“Don’t,” he cut me off. “We both said and did things we didn’t mean. Let’s leave it at that, okay? I don’t want to lose my best friend over one bad decision.”

Did he mean kissing me or taking me to the party or both? My chest tightened, but I focused on the bridge he’d rebuilt just for me. “You’d never lose me, Dash.”

“All right then. I’ll pick you up at ten. You should pack a bag this time.”

I hung up and scrambled to get ready, even though I had plenty of time. Excitement built inside me, making my nerves feel like firework fuses, and successfully pushing all other thoughts away.

I managed to wait an hour before dialing my mom and asking her out to breakfast. She agreed and met me at a local cafe near campus.

Mom arrived before I did and picked a table near the back. I hugged her once I reached the table.

“You look great,” she said as she sat back down.

“Thanks, Mom.” I took the seat across from her. I hadn’t even put makeup on, but she was always ready to tell me I was beautiful. I kind of loved that about her.

We ordered our breakfast, and I caught her up on everything that had happened in the last few weeks. Minus one breakup and a night involving my new best friend and his body pressed against mine. Damn it, every time I stopped thinking about it, the scene popped into my head and replayed in high-def.

Focusing extremely hard on normal chatter with Mom helped cool the fiery thoughts, and I quickly arrived at the reason I’d called her after filling her in about the storm chase.

“Could you watch Hail for me?”

She sat her half eaten egg-and-turkey-sausage sandwich down. “You know I will, but do you have to do this?”

“Yes. Going on chases is an amazing experience. I can probably use it to write a paper for my Physical Meteorology class.”

She reached across the table and squeezed my hand. “I just worry about you.” She shuddered and pulled her hand back. “Chasing tornadoes. Honestly, I should’ve known you’d do something like this.”

“Why do you say that?” I asked and finished off the last bite of my chocolate croissant.

“When you were a baby, the only way I could get you to sleep was by playing a cassette recording of a thunderstorm.”

“I didn’t know that.”

She shrugged. “You about wore that tape out. Listened to it almost every day when you were seven, too. After you got caught in that thunderstorm on your way home from riding bikes.”

The image of a small cassette case with a lavender sky, dark clouds, and white lightning striking the ground popped behind my eyes. “I remember I found it in one of your old boxes of photos.”

“If I would’ve known I’d be sparking inspiration for a dangerous career I might have chosen to play ocean waves instead.”

“Then I’d be studying oceanography and flying to the coast for deep-sea diving excursions.” I took her hand and squeezed. “I’ll be fine, Mom. Dash will be there. He won’t let anything happen to me.”

Mom dabbed at her lips with a napkin. “How are you and Justin doing?”

Damn. I knew I couldn’t get away with her not asking.

“Well,” I said and took a deep breath before relaying the short version of the breakup. “We just weren’t right for each other,” I finished.

I expected her to do a victory lap around the table, but she only smiled. Of course she’d tried to tell me this numerous times over the years but it had never sunk in for me. I wished it would’ve. If I had listened to her I could’ve saved myself a hell of a lot of hurt and even more embarrassment over staying with him so long.

The tightness in my chest loosened as I took a sip of my orange juice.

Mom raised her hands and set them back down on the table. “I just want you to be happy, honey. You know I’ve always wanted that.” She reached for her drink. “This Dash must be really something.”

My eyes widened and I almost choked on my juice. Could she see the lust in my eyes every time I said his name? “Why do you say that?”

“All throughout breakfast it’s been Dash this and Dash that. I’d really like to meet this fellow.”

I breathed a sigh of relief. At least she hadn’t shoved an
I told you so
in my face.

“He’s my best friend. And we spend a lot of time together.” Time I now realized I didn’t have to hide from anyone anymore. A hot hunger flared within me. Dash’s lips on mine, me grinding against him, the delicious weight of him against me all flashed red in my mind. My hand trembled as I scraped a smear of chocolate off my plate.

“Plus we’re going on a chase in”—I glanced at my cell—“an hour!” I squeaked and stood up. “I’ve got to go.” Mom reached out to me, and I hugged her. “You remember how much to feed Hail every day?”

“Yes, honey. Goodness, you’d think I was incompetent.”

“You know it’s not that!” I had to measure Hail’s food out on a daily basis or she’d gain weight. Extra pounds on a bulldog equaled added breathing problems and heart stress. Something I didn’t need my only other best friend going through. “Thanks. Love you, Mom,” I said before power-walking to my car.

I gave Hail a brand-new bone and kissed the top of her head before grabbing my duffle and waiting outside for Dash. My excitement bordered on insanity, but I really couldn’t handle him coming inside—the couch wasn’t far from the door and part of me wasn’t sure if I could see him on it again without wanting to rip his clothes off.

I focused on the sky to stop the train of thought. A normal clear blue stretched above me, but I knew when we made it to Bartlesville we’d see a whole lot of action. I’d checked out the predictions online and Dash was spot on. A supercell headed that direction—much larger than the last two chases. My knee bounced up and down, the uncontrollable energy working its way out of my body.

Dash’s truck pulled into the parking lot. He honked the horn four times, hung his head out of the window, and whooped like a maniac as he parked. I practically sprinted to the passenger side, tossing my duffle in the small space behind the seat.

“You ready for this?” he asked, flashing his damn smile that melted my insides. I swallowed hard and tried not to think about his hands on me.

“Yes?” I was ecstatic, though I couldn’t deny the cold hands of fear clutching my spine. I thought since this was my third chase I wouldn’t be as nervous, but the idea of actually seeing a tornado up-close produced an undeniable combination of anxiety and excitement within me.

“Awesome, let’s get to it!” He pulled out of my complex and broke the speed limit once we hit the highway.

The entire hour and a half drive Dash talked about everything but
that
night. I was sure by the time we stopped at a local motel that he’d decided kissing me really was a mistake and didn’t merit further exploration. Which was good, right? Our friendship was more important than seeing just how far we could push each other over the edge . . . physically. My heart sank. Yeah, I’d just keep telling myself that.

Paul and John stood outside of a room with the door open. Dash and I walked inside and set our stuff down. Four laptops were up and running. Two on one of the double beds and two on the small round table near the window. Each one had a different image or map up, showing the locations for the string of storms forming across the area.

The energy inside the room was palpable, like someone had pumped vaporized Red Bull into the AC vents. John’s faux-hawk wasn’t as perfectly put together, like he’d run his hands through it too many times. He and Paul were busy watching radar and tracking the storm. Dash worried over all the camera equipment.

“Paul, tell me you didn’t forget the shutter trigger for the Olympus!
If you forgot it again and we miss getting the lightning still-shots I’m going to ice you.”

“Relax, bro, it’s in the other bag.” Paul glanced at me sideways once Dash turned his back. “You see the way he treats me?”

I laughed and rocked back and forth on my heels near the doorway, too excited to sit down. Since I wasn’t a cool storm chaser with a special decked-out laptop I elected to watch the sky.

It was slate-gray and moving. No funnel formations yet, but the dark clouds hung low and wide, and wisps of their structures swirled slowly as they migrated east. The rain hit a few minutes after we arrived and it plinked off the asphalt in tiny bursts. A few people got out of cars, dragging luggage to their rooms. A wave of icy fear crashed inside my chest and I whipped my head around.

“It isn’t predicted to hit the town is it?”

Each of them glanced up at me.

“It shouldn’t,” John said. “Doppler is placing it farther east where there’s mostly farmland. But you know we can’t pinpoint it, Blake. It could happen.”

My shoulders dropped. Of course it could. I glanced at Dash, who stared into the distance lost in thought. He knew all too well what a tornado could do to a town. I swallowed hard. Did he see the destruction and devastation from his past every time he went on a chase?

I crossed the room and leaned over John’s shoulder, eyeing the satellite images he had pulled up on both his laptops.

“Don’t worry, Blake,” John said, turning his head to look up at me. “I’m sure the news is on right now, warning people about this.”

I sighed and nodded. He was right. Meteorologists would be showering the locals with information. The same data we were accessing now. Of course, they’d be warning people away from the storm as opposed to searching for ways to get in front of it.

I pointed to the screen on John’s left, noting the surface map’s data. “The air pressure on this location is increasing along with the temperature. Keep an eye on this one. It looks prime to fire.” I returned to my spot in the doorway, eyes trained on the sky. I wrung my hands out, the anticipation coiling inside me like a spring.

“This will help you relax,” Paul said, glancing at me over his opened laptop. “What does a meteorologist cry before she tees off?”

I rolled my eyes. This was not the time for one of his jokes.

“Fore-cast!” He dragged the punch line out without me baiting him.

I laughed despite my efforts not to.

Paul gave me a sincere smile and went back to staring at the laptop screen.

“You were right!” John hollered. “The cell is about to fire. We need to head north on 75 if we want to get ahead of this thing.” He slammed his laptops shut.

Suddenly the room was in a frenzy. Dash shoved the cameras and recorders inside their bags, and John slipped all the laptops into their cases. Each slung bags over their shoulders and scrambled toward the door. I quickly jumped out of the way.

Dash stopped outside the door and turned to me. “Blake, we have to move!” He bounced on the balls of his feet.

My heart surged with adrenaline and excitement fluttered inside my stomach. And if I was being totally honest, I couldn’t decide if the thrill was from the storm we were chasing or the look in Dash’s eyes.