Edge of Chaos (Love on the Edge #1) (8 page)

“You’re telling me the way he talked to you earlier today is . . . normal?”

“Actually, this morning was his good side. He has an ultra-short fuse. Anything can set him off, and the blowups are horrendous.”

“And you stick around because . . .” He let the question hang there.

There were several reasons, but the main one I wasn’t ready to tell him. I sighed. “We’ve grown up together. He’s had a hard go of it. His family cut him out of his life at sixteen, and ever since he’s kind of lived his life like the world is out to get him. He doesn’t really have anyone else besides me.”

Dash crunched down on a french fry. “Everyone has hard times. Doesn’t give them the excuse to treat other people poorly.”

My stomach clenched with the thought that there might be another way relationships worked. One without blowups or threats. Or one where I didn’t have to keep an innocent outing like this a secret. “It’s not an excuse . . . it’s . . . just the way Justin is.”

“Has he always been that way?”

“No. When we were kids, he was funny and sweet. Charming even.”

“Well, surely he has some of those moments now. Right?” he asked.

I tried to conjure up the last time I’d found Justin charming. The day he’d given me the Blue October tickets came to mind, but the horribly selfish sex afterward squashed the charm right out of the memory. I hoped the kid I’d fallen for was still in there. Justin had lost himself somewhere along the way, and I’d tried to help him find it again for years.

“What keeps you and Lindsay going strong?” I asked instead of answering him. “Magic? I mean, she’s obviously not into storms like you are.” I challenged him to take the spotlight off my relationship. Speaking about it out loud made me analyze it in ways I never had before, and the result knotted up my stomach.

“Honestly, I don’t know. We met at that party and then we just kind of happened. I’m not normally a serious relationship type guy.” A flush swept across his cheeks, and he glanced down.

“You played the field,” I said. He was smart and gorgeous. He could play all his life and never run out of partners.

“Yeah, you could say that. I’d never been in a relationship longer than a couple months. Thought I’d give it a try.”

“Something must’ve worked since it’s been a year,” I said.

“She cares for me. It’s a little intense at times, but I just got tired of the dating scene after a while, you know?”

I looked down at my nearly cleaned plate.

I had no idea what it was like to be single and have the freedom to browse. I glanced up at Dash, his bright green eyes holding mine. He was fully engaged in our conversation. He didn’t check his phone or have that glazed-over, tuned-out look.

If I
could
browse, I’d look for something in his section. My heart stuttered with the thought and heat rushed to my cheeks. Not that he’d ever notice me in that way; Lindsay and I were starkly different. I could never be the girl he wanted, an utlra-pretty, social butterfly, like her.

“You want anything else?” he asked.

I laid my napkin over my plate. “I’m throwing in the towel.”

He snatched the paper check the waitress had left at our table. “You did good. I would’ve had to leave you here if you’d only grabbed a fruit plate.” He winked at me and headed toward the counter.

“Don’t you want my share?” I asked, placing my hand on his forearm. His skin was warm stretched over the hard muscle. A hot tremble ran through my fingertips.

“No. You can get the next one,” he said and slipped out of my grasp.

My heart soared. The next one—and I hadn’t even had to beg.

“I’VE GOT TO
meet Paul and John at the lab before we head out on our chase later. You want to come with?” Dash asked as we exited class.

“Absolutely,” I said, stopping myself from asking to go on the chase with them. It had only been two days since Dash took me to brunch, and I was still a new girl to their tight-knit group so I didn’t want to push.

Dash motioned for me to follow him. We walked a short way to the neighboring brick building where a string of labs were used by students for interpreting data. He turned into the third door on the right of a long hallway. John and Paul were already inside and hovered over a table against the back wall. It had four computers spaced evenly on top of it and there were more scattered throughout the room.

Various maps and pictures of supercells lined the walls, not unlike our Physical Meteorology classroom. The boys had three of the computer screens up and running, each one showing a different image from a weather satellite and a station model weather map beneath it.

I hung back a ways, allowing Dash to join them, but couldn’t help smirking a little. I’d learned my freshman year of college that I was sharp when it came to interpreting weather maps, especially station models. The combined data displayed—air pressure, temperatures, wind velocities, cloud cover, and precipitation measurements—gave some people trouble when adding them all together and predicting the outcome. But to me, all the numbers and patterns aligned in my head quicker than if I was doing basic math, and the outcome clearly presented itself in my mind. That is one reason I knew I’d be a great meteorologist, because I could interpret this data on the fly and hopefully provide the most up-to-date and accurate report possible for the people in the path of a storm.

“Hey, Blake,” John said over his shoulder.

Paul gave me a nod while talking to Dash in hushed conversation.

“Hi,” I said, trying to focus on one of the images of a supercell hanging over some small-town water tower, but my eyes kept shifting back to the screens the boys stared at, begging me to calculate, predict.

“Come here a second,” Dash said after a few moments.

I set my bag on the table in front of me and quickly headed over. “Yeah?”

“We need you to settle something for us,” he said, eyeing Paul. “We’re about to head out on a chase, but there are two locations primed for tornado activity. I think this one with the squall line”—he pointed to the screen in the middle—“has more of a shot.”

“And I disagree,” Paul said, pointing to the screen on the right. “This one has a better chance.”

Dash sucked his teeth. “You see our problem.”

I leaned over Paul, who hadn’t moved from his seat in front of the screens. I glanced at each image of the sky the weather satellites provided for the two locations and then studied both station models beneath them. I had my answer within two minutes.

“I agree with Paul,” I said.

“What makes you do that?” Dash asked.

“Because”—I placed my hand on Paul’s shoulder with one hand and reached over to point at the middle of the screen with the other—“while you are correct about this awesome line of organized storms, they’ll most likely only produce damaging winds. Intense, sure, but not as likely for tornado activity as this one.” I pointed to the screen on the right with the collection of large gray bubble-like clouds covering the sky. “This combination of mammatus clouds and the warm temperature are primed for producing a tornado. Check out the wind velocity already,” I said, pointing it out on the surface map. “In fact”—I glanced at the clock in the upper right-hand corner of the screen—“hit refresh on the image. I bet you in the time we’ve been discussing this there is already an updraft developing.”

Paul clicked refresh.

Dash smacked him on the back once the image reloaded. “She’s right. Time to go.” He turned to me, placing his hand on my shoulder. “Nicely done. That was fast.”

“Wicked fast,” John said, scooting away from the table and gathering his gear.

Paul flashed Dash a knowing grin before glancing back at me. “Yeah, you did all right.” He smiled and walked toward the door.

“I’ll give you a call tomorrow,” Dash said. “And thanks.”

“Anytime,” I said, stopping myself from adding a
be careful
to the end of that statement
.
They chased for a living and knew what they were doing, but the concern for their safety was hard to ignore. I hung back to check out the other images pulled up on the screens, but turned my attention back to the boys as they exited the room.

Dash nudged Paul with his elbow as they walked through the door and whispered, “Told you she could do it.”

I sank into the seat Paul had once occupied, my heart swelling. They’d given me a test and Dash had been the one to believe in me. The sensation was new and totally blissful as I turned back to the screens, staring at the location where my prediction sent them.

“You ready?” Justin asked once I’d opened the door for him.

I smiled and nodded.

“Great, let’s go,” he said and swung around.

I climbed into his truck, my stomach twisting in anticipation. Justin had called last night and told me to be ready to go out at noon; he had a surprise for me. My jaw had nearly dropped to the floor, and it had taken me a good thirty seconds to respond. I couldn’t even remember the last time he’d been spontaneous.

I’d seen Dash every day since we’d had brunch last week, whether it be in class, hanging out in the weather lab, or going out to eat, and he more than fulfilled the intense longing I had for a true friendship.

But Justin didn’t know that.

I’d battled with myself ever since the first night I hung out with Dash, but in the end, I’d decided it was better if Justin believed I was studying on campus or working when I wasn’t with him. I didn’t like hiding it from him, but I also couldn’t stand another ultimatum, and I was sure he’d give me one if I confessed how close Dash and I had grown as friends. Even if it was innocent, Justin would find a way to make me feel guilty about it. So, if I was going to feel guilty anyway, at least this way I got to keep Dash’s friendship. And I hoped one day, possibly after I figured out how to get the two of them to meet so Justin could see how awesome Dash was, that I wouldn’t have to be so secretive about it.

“Here we are,” Justin said after a short drive. A genuine smile lit up his sharp-angled face. He navigated the truck into a parking spot in front of a bookstore connected to the mall.

“What’s the occasion?” I asked, stepping out of the truck.

He reached for my hand. “I feel like I never see you anymore.”

“I told you my last two years in school would be heavy,” I said. It was the truth, if not absolute. Sure, I’d spent some extra time with Dash and the guys but never when I was supposed to be with Justin. When Justin would call, I was there. It wasn’t my fault he assumed I’d just sit at home and wait by the phone until he did. It was better this way. The blowup wouldn’t be worth the full-truth, and it wouldn’t be merited anyway.

“I guess I didn’t realize how engrossed you’d be with it all. You missed my call yesterday. I’d wanted to take you to lunch.” He tugged me toward the entrance to the bookstore.

I let the confusion show on my face. I’d had my cell on me the whole day, which I’d spent in the weather lab with the boys. He hadn’t tried to call.

“So where were you, Blake?” he asked, as he held the door open for me.

“On campus. Studying. Where else would I be?” I swallowed hard, the sharpness in his eyes making my chest tight. That look was exactly why I couldn’t let him know every detail of my free time.