Storm Warning (10 page)

“He’s alive. Get me clean tow
els to stop the bleeding.” Ruthlessly controlling her emotions, Tory
ran her hands over his body
to che
ck for broken bones. She
hardly noticed the sound of splitting wood as Adam and Gabe busted down the back door.

“What the hell, Tory!”
Adam
came
into the house and was at her side in an instant
,
holding a clean towel in the gash on the man’s side.

“Call an ambulance!”
she
shouted at Gabe who was alrea
dy dialing. “What’s his name?” s
he asked the girl.

“Phil. He’s my father.” She
set
more
towels next to Tory.

“Phil,” Tory said to the unconscious man, “you just hold on. We’re getting you help.”

“Thank you so much for coming.”
Tears slid down
the girl’s
cheeks
. “How did you know?”

“We’re storm chasers
. We were watching that tornado,” Adam told her.
“What’s your name?”

“Ashley.”

“Why don’t you have a cellar?” Tory asked.

“We never could afford one.
We’ve always used the bathroom,
” Ashley said
,
taking
her father’s hand in hers.

“They’re on their way,
” Gabe
crouched down next to Tory, glaring.
“You’re bleeding.”

“I busted through that window.”

“A door wouldn’t have been more productive?” Gabe all but shouted at her.

“
Of course it would have. If it had opened.”

Gabe shoved away and stormed out what was left of the back door.
Tory didn’t care. She didn’t need his attitude at the moment. She had plenty to deal with. Phil moaned when she added a second towel to the blood-soaked one
on
his side. She tried to talk to him, bu
t his lids fluttered and closed again.

Adam took
a
jug
of water out of the backpack he carried and wet the corner of a towel to clean up some of the cuts on Phil’s face. They didn’t look deep once the blood was gone, but the gouge on his side was serious.

“There’s the a
mbulance,
” Adam commented
a minute later and everything was a daze
of confusion and speed
from there
.

After the paramedics loaded
Phil
in
to the ambulance, Ashley hugged Tory
and
went with her father.

Tory stood in the ho
use for a moment alone, staring at the ruined furniture, gaping holes, and wet floors through a sheen of tears. She
fought
them
desperately
,
thinking she’d
held on this long.
She couldn’t let herself fall apart yet.

“You’re going to the hospital,
” Gabe said
quietly
.

She shook her head, afraid she would cry.
She hadn’t even heard him come back inside.

“Yes, you are. You’re bleeding everywhere.” He was standing right behind her.

Silent tears were
already
falling down her cheeks. She let out a shaky breath to get a hold on herself
. She would have too, she knew, but
the warmth
Gabe’s hand
was there
on her shoulder
and the pressure in her chest was too much to bear
.

She covered her face with her hands and sobbed. Gabe
turned her and pulled her up against him.

“Get it out, Tory.” His voice was so gentle, so understanding that
Tory wept more.

“I saw how it could have gone in
my head,” s
he said between choking sobs. “I couldn’
t stand there and d-do nothing!”

“I know
you couldn’t
.” Gabe brushed
a strand of
hair out of her face
, wiped the moisture off
her cheeks with the pad
s
of his thumb
s
.

“It could have been so much worse for them.” Tory
sighed,
swiping
at the tears
. The storm had passed, she thought
,
and
closed her eyes to stop the pounding in her head
.

Gabe held her against him
, giving no sign
that
he was going to let her go
.

Adam
came in and stopped short. “T
he
guys are here.”

“I’m not going to the hospital.” Tory
jerked
back. “It’s just cuts. Nothing that will need stitches.”

“You’re going,” Gabe commanded quietly, then left the house. Tory
watched him go,
then
wrapped her arms around herself since he’d taken the warmth with him.

“
We’d feel better if you went and got checked out.”

“Adam, I’m fine.”
Then she looked at her brother and saw the barely controlled anger in his glare. The storm hadn’t passed yet, after all.

“What
the hell were you doing, Tory?
You could have been killed!”

“I’m a chaser, Adam. I knew what I was doing.”

“Bullshit. You just ran. I saw the look in your eyes. You
had
no idea what you were doing. You weren’t thinking.”
His big hands curled into fists at his sides.

“Adam, please don’t,” s
he said quietly.

Gabe came back through the door and wrapped his jacket around Tory. “I’m fine, you guys.
I just need a couple aspirin and a hot bath.
”

“Shut up,
” Gabe ordered curtly and swept
her
off her feet to carry her to the truck.

If she thought it would do any good to argue, she would have. But instead, she let him carry her to the truck
, then into the Emergency Room—and later,
back to his hotel room.

“Take these
.” Gabe
handed the pills to her before closing
the curtains in his hotel room.

Assuming the little white pills were for pain, Tory swallowed them without argument. She had been right, no stitches were necessary. However,
Dr. Uptight
decided exhaustion was Tory’s main
problem
and she would need several days of bed
rest for the scrapes to heal.

“Dr. Upbright is an idiot,
” Tory commented,
snuggling
deep into Gabe’s pillows.

“Yes, but he was right. You need rest.”

“I can rest the same in my own room.”
But she
felt her eyes getting heavy.
They had the same type of bed, but for some reason, his was much more comfortable. Maybe it was his scent on the sheets, she mused. He always smelled really good.

“Yes, but then I can’t keep an eye on you.”

“What are you going to be doing while I
rest
?”
She blinked twice, but the room stayed fuzzy. What were those pills for?

“Editing pictures.”

Tory sniffed. “I have work I could be doing, too. I have two articles to write. The website needs updating, and I need to start organizing our annual fundraiser.” Her words were slurred and her hands felt like slabs of meat.

“
Go to sleep.”

“What the
hell did you give me anyway?”

“Sleeping pill.”

“Bastard,” s
he muttered before she slipped into darkness.

Sirens were
screaming. The sky was a murky, cantankerous green that reminded her of her Mommy’s eyes.
Aside from the intrusive shrill of the siren, it was calm outside. The leaves on the trees did
n’t move—
the blade
s
of grass didn’t dance. The little hairs on the back of her neck stood straight up.

Tory sat on her
blanket and
watched the sky. Cheese sandwiches were spread
out around the blanket for five
imaginary guests—and Barbie—
who were also
watching
the
clouds
.

Her d
addy was in his shop across the driveway. Tory could see him and she smiled.

“There’s Daddy,” s
he told Barbie
,
then turned around to
watch
mother
run
out of the house and toward her. Toward death.

Her mother was shouting
,
but Tory couldn’t hear
the words
. The sirens were too loud
, she mused, all though she never heard her mother’s voice anymore. Tory turned back to the field and watched the tornado with wonder.

Her father was first. He ran out of the shed and yelled
at Tory and her mother with no voice
.
B
efore Tory could help him, he was gone. She saw her mother’s face and began to cry.

Her mother ran toward the tornado. Why did she run? Tory asked herself later. Her husband was gone. Tornados don’t give back things they take. Not alive, anyway.

Tory stood up. She had to go to her mother. Tears streaming down her face, Barbie in one han
d, Tory started across the yard, stopping
short when her mother vanished
too
.

She
cried out, calling for them.
The tornado kept
spinning toward the fields on the other side of the house
. Tory tried to chase it. If it would take her too, she coul
d be with her Mommy and Daddy—b
ut it was faster.

So much faster.

She
stopped running when the t
ornado went back up into the sky. It was eer
ie again.

Calm, quiet, and over.

Tory sat up straight in bed and sucked in a painful breath. She wanted to scream and cry
,
but even that wasn’t possible.

Gabe was sitting on the bed beside her. He took her ice cold hands in his.

“It’s okay, Tory. It was just a dream.”

“No, it wasn’t. It wasn’t a dream.”
It was a memory.
She shook her head and fought for calm. Gabe handed her a cup of something. She didn’t care what it was. She sucked it down greedily.

Coffee, she realized
,
even though she
could hardly taste
it. The smell helped bring her out of her panic. She sat on the bed staring at
their joined hands. His long, dark fingers tangled with her slim, pale ones.

“Thank you,” s
he managed after a moment. “How long did I sleep?”

“About twelve hours.”

She nodded alth
ough she hated to lose
so
much time.
She supposed she had needed it. Her muscles were lax and loose, the scrapes barely bothered her.
She glanced at Gabe and noticed with a frown that he was still dressed in the clothes he wore on the chase.

“You haven’t been to bed?”

“No.”

“You didn’t have to stay up because of me.”

He snorted and flipped a light on. Opening the refrigerator, he pulled out a sack, arranged
food on a plate
,
and popped it in the microwave.

“Are you feeling okay?” h
e asked her as he topped off her coffee.
“Nauseou
s, dizzy?”

“No, I’m f
ine.” She
lay back against the pillow
she
’d
propped. “How are you?”

“Wonderful.”

Tory heard th
e sarcasm in his voice—
saw his dark features
drawn
before
he turned around to stare at nothing.

“Gabe?” s
he said quietly.

“
I’m fine
.” He pulled the plate out and brought it over to her. “You need to eat something. It’s been too long for you to go without something in your system.”