Edge of Chaos (Love on the Edge #1) (30 page)

“It’s not worth your life!”

“How many times do I have to tell you? I know these storms and how to handle them.”

“You can never know storms, Dash. And the minute you think you do, it’ll turn on you.”

“Well, I’m used to that, aren’t I?”

“What the hell is that supposed to mean?” I yelled at his back as he walked toward his truck.

“Nothing,” he said and flung his truck door open, leaning over an opened laptop.

The rain continued to dump buckets on us, and it thundered so loud I flinched every time. I gripped his shoulder and forced him to look at me. “What did you mean?”

His shoulders dropped. “You! I know I said I’d give you time, and I still will, but it took me all of five minutes to realize I was crazy about you. That’s why I can’t be around you until you’ve made up your mind. It physically hurts to be near you and not touch you.” He grabbed at his chest like the lightning cracking the sky had hit him.

I looked toward the sky and raked my hands through my soaked hair. “I’m so sorry. But I couldn’t be
that
girl.”

“What girl?”

“The relationship girl or the broken girl. I had to figure out who I was outside of him before I could even think of giving myself to someone else.”

“I know that. Did you figure it out?”

I took a step forward, the rain drenching my entire body. The move felt like a leap. No going back. “I’m the girl you saw, even before I could see her myself. I’m the girl who always eats three cookies instead of one and who thinks Nutella belongs in the dairy food group. I’m the girl who chases tornadoes, interprets weather maps on the fly, and senses when it’ll downpour.” I glanced up, my eyes stinging with the rain. “I want to save lives someday, and I want to be an asset in weather reporting and tracking. So, which girl am I?” I took a deep breath, my revelation pouring out of me harder than the rain. “Yours.”

Dash’s eyes widened. “Truly?”

“If you’ll have me as is. Baggage and all.”

“Took you long enough, woman.” He lunged at me, pinning my back against his truck, his lips crushing mine.

I opened my mouth, letting him in, relishing the feel of his warm tongue mixed with the cold rain that drenched us both. We were only getting wetter, but I didn’t push him away; instead I yanked him closer, our hips pressing against each other. He explored my body everywhere his hands could reach—and with total abandon. I’d finally lifted the restraints on the passion we’d bottled up for way too long. I felt like I was about to burst like the storm that had gathered around us to shake the world.

I
shook now, trembled with delight as I sucked Dash’s tongue into my mouth. His fingers slipped into my jeans, and he pressed against my warmth with his rain-soaked fingers. I gasped, his mouth still on mine as he rubbed against me, drawing out a delicious tension that made my thighs quiver. A deep pulse throbbed low in my belly, and all I wanted to do was drop to the ground and have Dash on me, in me, consuming me.

Dash jerked his head back, his green eyes sparking with matched lust. We were on the same page as usual. I tucked my hand low between us, exploring the length of him, and smiled when he growled. He moved to my mouth again, an inch from my lips, and then the sky screamed.

Thunder clapped so loud and close it shook my chest like a hit with a sledgehammer.

Reality crashed down all around us, harder than the downpour.

We’d been careless getting caught up in the moment like that.

Dangerous.

The storm had arrived, on top of us like I ached for Dash to be on me.

And it was show time.

The funnel clouds I’d spotted earlier had dropped lower and combined sometime in our distraction. In seconds it met the ground, forming a tornado, at least one hundred and fifty yards wide. It quickly churned up a massive amount of earth. The horrible roaring sound of a freight train screeched through the sky.

My heart jumped into my throat. I’d never seen a tornado so big or so beautiful. Even over five hundred yards away, the wind soared past Dash and I, flapping my hair back and forth wildly. I glanced at Dash, shocked he’d had the presence to get his camera out when I could only stand in awe.

The tornado moved with an elegant fierceness that both mesmerized and terrified me. Adrenaline coursed through my veins, pumping my heart against my chest so hard I thought it would bust. My limbs shook—the fight or flight instinct battling within—and my brain called me an idiot for not taking cover.

It was spectacular the way the beast snaked from the clouds in the sky and pierced the ground beneath it. And in that moment I understood why Dash was here, why he didn’t want to miss this. I clutched his free hand.

Dash went rigid and jerked his hand away. He tossed the camera in his truck and grabbed my waist, pulling me around to the other side of it.

“It’s changing course!” he yelled and shoved me into the passenger seat.

My fingers trembled as I fumbled with the seatbelt, all the giddy sensations leaving my body quicker than a blink. As I looked out of the windshield at the massive monster headed toward us, I remembered the
stupidity
of being out here.

Dash slammed the door, buckled up, and spun his truck around. The tires splayed mud all over my car, and I only spared half a thought as to what would become of it. He peeled out, speeding down the way I’d come in, but not fast enough. The wet earth sucked on the truck’s motion and threatened to stop our retreat all together.

The back end of the truck jerked suddenly, as if the Hulk had grabbed ahold of Dash’s tailgate. The force slammed us against our locked seatbelts. A wallop of heat burst in my chest from the abrupt halt. The back wheels squealed, Dash’s foot placed firmly on the gas. We looked at each other and then backward.

We were entirely too close. The massive churning beast stalked right behind us, stretching across the road and field. The truck’s back end was caught in the outer suction vortex of the tornado, but the primary would swallow us whole in seconds.

I grabbed Dash’s hand, which gripped the steering wheel. “What’s your real name?” I shouted and clenched my eyes shut.

“What?”

“We’re about to die, Dash! I love you and want to know your real name!” I screamed over the rushing sound of the wind threatening to consume us. I thought of my mother and Hail. I hoped they knew how much I loved them.

“No! We’re not going to die!” he shouted back.

The tires screeched and the smell of hot rubber filled the cab before the truck suddenly took off. I popped my eyes open, shocked that Dash gained speed and fishtailed all over the dirt road.

I spun in my seat and scanned the area behind us. The tornado let us go, but kept chasing
us
in a terrifying role reversal. Dash sped down the road, taking a hard turn onto the paved road that led toward the town. We gained a tiny bit of distance, but the beast took up the entire back view of Dash’s truck. I couldn’t tear my eyes away, and once I separated sheer terror from duty, I reached down for Dash’s camera.

I’d barely pressed the record button before Dash took another fast turn.

“Fuck!” he screamed, the tires squelching in the background, Dash losing control of the truck as he tried to slow our momentum.

I whipped my head around just in time to see us crash head on into a telephone pole. The sound of metal and glass crunching broke through the roaring wind and pouring rain, and I was jerked so hard forward and back my head slammed into the back of the seat.

Stars burst behind my eyes, but the adrenaline quickly cleared the stun of the crash.

“Are you all right?” Dash already had his seatbelt unbuckled and reached over to me.

“I’m fine,” I assured him with a gasping breath, my heart racing.

He turned the key over and over, but the truck was dead. He glanced behind him. “We’ve got no time. I was heading to that gas station.” He pointed to where a gas station sat empty only a parking lot length away. “Run. Now!”

He didn’t leave room for a discussion. Neither did the screeching beast behind us. I bolted out of the door, my feet shaking with adrenaline as they hit the pavement. Dash stuck close behind me as the wind whipped my hair back and forth, suctioning my clothes to my body. It was like running against an ocean current, and the short distance to the station became an Olympic event. Dash pushed at my back the entire time, forcing me to go faster, until we finally made it.

The lights were off inside and the doors wouldn’t budge.

“Damn it!” I screamed, yanking on the handle as if my strength and determination could break the locks.

Dash was two steps ahead of me, grabbing a huge rock that held down a fat, three-foot-high stack of newspapers left out for what I assumed was recycling, and smashed the glass door. He kicked the rest of it in, and we clambered through, rushing toward the back of the store where the access to the large cooler stood.

I jerked open the door, chills instantly covering my wet skin as we entered the cooler. Dash slammed the door shut, pushing me to the farthest back wall, the only spot in the station that could be considered the most interior.

I dropped to my knees in the corner, Dash kneeling next to me, and hoped the three walls made of strong metal would withstand the tornado. The wide variety of soda bottles rattled in their cases, the doors on the outside opening and closing frantically. The energy pumping through my veins made my entire body tremble, and I locked eyes with Dash, an apology on my lips.

He shook his head, opening his mouth to speak, but was cut off when the roaring sound outside reached an epic high.

It was here.

And it would swallow this place.

The heavy weight of Dash’s body fell on top of me then, pinning me to the ground as I heard the glass from the cooler doors break, and the thunking sound of hundreds of plastic bottles hitting the ground. I felt Dash jerk above me, but couldn’t hear if he said anything. I could only lay there, praying for the sound of the wind to go silent.

After an eternity—or a few minutes—it finally did. Dash rolled off me, and hissed as he grabbed his leg.

I quickly jumped up as he yanked a four-inch piece of glass out of the back of his thigh with a yelp.

“Dash!” I instantly covered the wound with my hands. His blood pooled beneath my fingers, warm and sticky.

“It’s fine, Blake.”

“No it’s not! You’re hurt. Because of me!” Damn it, he wouldn’t be hurt if he didn’t feel the need to protect me.

“It’s not your fault I chose to take shelter in a fucking glass box.”

I shook my head, pressing harder on the wound. “You wouldn’t have even chased this storm if I hadn’t pushed you away.” Tears filled my eyes, knowing his more-than-reckless behavior had been a direct result of me.

He cupped my cheek, forcing me to look him in the eye. “Stop. You can’t keep taking the blame for everything, woman. You know I would’ve chased this every time.”

I sighed. Maybe. We’d never know, because I’d do everything in my power to talk him off monsters like these. Or at least get him to compromise to chasing from a safer distance. Fuck we’d been too close. I peeled my hand away from the wound to look closer. If this had been the same spot on the front of his thigh, instead of the back, Dash could’ve bled out in my arms.

The injury wasn’t life threatening, but the danger was real. We’d been lucky.

I couldn’t lose him. Not now. Not ever. And I knew that didn’t make a difference because we would never stop chasing and the storms would never stop chasing us back.

I yanked off my T-shirt, leaving me in the spaghetti-strap tank top I wore beneath it, and twisted and wrapped it tightly around the wound. Dash flinched as I secured it, but then he reached for me.

“Blake.” He sighed my name like it was a prayer. Like after nearly being eaten by a tornado it was the only word he ever wanted to say again. And I melted. Fell into his open arms, pressing my chest against his, and kissing the hell out of him.

I kissed him hard enough to convey my love, hard enough to show him my anger at his recklessness, and hard enough to take the blame for not being able to talk him out of this storm. He tugged on my hair, yanking me closer, and I gasped against his lips.

The heat between my thighs had me aching to let him in, let him be as close as humanly possible, but the realization of where we were stopped me. I slowly pulled back, my chest heaving.

Dash gave me a look that was both disappointment and understanding. “We have to search the damage. See if there are any victims.”

“Can you walk?” I asked, standing up and offering him a hand.

He took it and stood, wincing but able to walk with a limp.

I forced his arm across my shoulder, bearing as much of his weight as I could. Together we walked out of the cooler—careful not to trip on the hundreds of soda bottles littering the floor—into the gas station, which no longer had an entrance. The tiled floor, covered in candy, napkins, boxes, drinks, and broken glass, simply gave way to the parking lot outside, the glass and metal front of the building had been completely wiped out.