𝘾𝙝𝙖𝙥𝙩𝙚𝙧 𝙁𝙞𝙫𝙚
As Hadley wakes up she can tell that Tyler hadn't left, she can still smell his sandalwood and patchouli cologne, but she can't feel his weight anymore. Opening her eyes she sees clothing strown around the room, and hears the shower being turned off. Rolling over, she pulls the covers over her body, and snuggles into her pillow. The door to the bathroom opens as Tyler walks out in the same pair of jeans as last night, toweling at his dirty blonde hair.
He makes his way to the bed, and sits next to her leaning to kiss her, their lips meet in a slow battle, as he snakes his arms around her and forces her to sit up. He just barely pulls back to rest his forehead against hers "I'll see you out there?"
"You know, it." She says as she lies back. Tyler stands from his spot grabbing hit boots and undershirt, sparing once glance in her direction before he's gone.
Once the doors shut she releases a deep sigh. Mind reeling. What the hell was she thinking? Sleeping with someone like him? He's clearly not the type to settle down, and she's the exact opposite. After ten minutes of beating herself up she finally gets out of bed, grabbing at a pair of light wash jean shorts, her combat boots and a band tee. She hops in the shower and within thirty minutes she's ready for whatever life feels like throwing at her. Walking out the door she sees Tyler's hat lying on the ground from when she threw it off last night. In a impulsive and questionable decision she throws it on and leaves her room.
"Kate!" She yells seeing her friend walking towards the diner. The slightly older woman turns to wait for her, and does a double take seeing a certain some ones hat on her head. "Mornin', how was your night?"
Kate shakes her head smiling at her. "Uneventful, but based off of the hat you're wearing, I'd say yours went otherwise?"
Hadley can't stop the blush from coating her cheeks, as she glances down. "It was quite the night, but that's all your gettin' I don't kiss and tell,"
She locks arms with Kate and they make their way into the diner, spotting Javi, Scott and some older man. Walking over to the table she notices that as they get closer the conversation grows tight and quiet.
"When do you guys wanna head out?" Kate asks the group, not acknowledging the older man.
Javi nods in the mans direction "Kate, Hadley, This is Marshall Riggs, We've been working together he's one of the Storm PAR investors I told y'all about."
The older man turns to them with what looks like a condescending smile "How scary was that tornado two days ago?"
Kate answers before Hadley can say something rude "Not at all." Scott is staring lasers into them as scoffs at her words and Hadley is this close to pouring his drink over his head.
"Listen could you guys give us a couple minutes to finish up here? Maybe grab something to eat? Then we can head out," Javi asked.
Hadley didn't need to be told otherwise and walked over to the counter to order a serving of fries to go. Kate follows after her glancing back at the odd meeting. After retrieving her fries they abandon the diner and walk towards the same area as two days prior to check conditions.
They could both hear footsteps as someone came up behind them. Tyler. "Well, nothings coming out of that one."
"That one?" Kate questions "No, no. It's clearly moving into a stable environment."
Tyler glances at Hadley, a small smile graces his face at the sight of her in his hat, before he speaks. " Yeah, No low level cape, not enough shear to keep it interesting."
Hadley agrees "Yeah, that's gonna die out pretty quick."
"Not enough moisture to grow, where did y'all say you learned to track storms again?"
"We didn't" Kate smirked glancing over at Hadley who's laughing at the look on Tyler's face.
Tyler rolls his eyes at the women's antics "You know, we're gonna be stuck here all day, waitin' for nothin' to happen. How about we try to get along? All of us?"
Hadley glances at Kate as he speaks, she can tell that Kate's planning something.
"Hey! You know what, you're right. Tell ya what, Hadley and I will run and grab us some drinks. What would you like?"
Tyler's eyebrows raise and you can hear the skepticism in his voice "Really?"
"Yes, Tyler," Hadley says using all of her willpower not to start laughing in his face.
"I wouldn't mind an iced tea? Thank you," He turns to look towards the sky, as the two women slowly walk over to Javi and the rest of the Storm PAR group.
"We gotta get going, Javi."
Sadly their plan is foiled when he glances back and sees them talking to Javi and runs to his group.
"Alright give me a sec, I was almost done," He says a little confused at their pushiness.
"C'mon Javi, we gotta hurry!" Hadley says stomping her foot at him.
HONK! HONK! Looking over Tyler and his group are pulling out of the parking lot faster than bat's outta hell. Hadley flips him off and he just keep driving off with a little wave.
"Damn it!" Kate says, bothered that the wranglers had beat them.
They all moved into their cars as fast as possible with Kate crawling into the back and Hadley jumping in front, she wasn't even buckled as they sped up and started to catch up to Tyler's crew.
"What are you seeing?" Javi asks as Kate hums, staring at the forming storm.
"Okay, it has a nice looking structure, the moisture levels are just right, and lots of cape," Kate says from the back seat.
"Hadley?" Javi asks nodding at her.
"The flow's clean, it's pulling tons of warm moist air from the south." As Hadley says that the funnel slowly forms making it's way towards the ground "Yeah! That's our tornado baby!" Javi shouts, making Hadley jump slightly.
The moment is interrupted by the most amazing thing Hadley had ever seen, a second funnel forming. "Oh my god, there's two of them? I've never seen that happen in my time chasing!"
Glancing back at Kate the two share the moment, knowing how lucky they are to see it. Kate breaks the silence "Move faster, Javi,"
Tyler's truck pulls next to there's as they speed down the road, Hadley looks over meeting his eyes and rolling the window down, and gives a little wave, glancing at Javi she tells him to speed up. Tyler's truck catches up with them just as quickly "Alright guys, let's stop playing games. Let's cut these guys off," Javi says into his earpiece.
Hadley smirks at Tyler as they cut him off and mockingly does his little finger tornado, as they speed past, and in the rearview she can see the rest of their cars passing Tyler's crew.
Javi laughs "There ya go Owens, Alright which one am I going for guys?"
Kate is staring at the monitor "Let's go for the right there should be a road coming up."
"Alright everybody, we're going right," Javi speaks into his earpiece again.
Hadley almost wants to agree but looking over and seeing the wheat and the direction it was blowing she can tell that the left is the one they actually want.
"GO LEFT! Left! Take a left!" with that Javi takes a hard left and everyone is slightly thrown from the hard turn.
Hadley glances and sees the right tornado already dying out while there's is standing strong, "WHOO! LET"S GO!" Javi shouts "How did you know that was gonna happen Hadley?"
She grins at him proud of herself for noticing it "The wheat, the direction it was blowing in was North, which is exactly what this one needed to stabilize."
"Good catch, Hadley!" Kate says squeezing her shoulder.
Everyone got into position and the only one left was lion. They quickly pulled to a stop in front of the tornado, they all piled out. Pulling the radar from the bed of the truck and placing it on the ground where it dug in.
They all ran and got back in the truck, the tornado was nearly on them, as the reversed "We lost your radar, Javi. You got eyes on the tornado?" Scott came over the radio.
"Oh, we got eyes on it alright," Hadley says aloud watching as the tornado grows larger, tearing through everything in it's path as they drive in reverse. Powerlines, trees, an entire barn, it tore through it all.
"Oh shit!" Hadley screeches as a chicken coop slams into the back of the truck causing Javi to lose control of the truck for a moment only to turn the car in the correct direction.
"What the hell was that?" Kate yells looking back.
"I think I killed some chickens," Javi says as he tries to focus on pulling out of the way of the tornado.
As the truck reverses out of the way Hadley slams her temple against the window and feels herself black out for a moment, quickly moving to cover her ears at the sound of the tornado as it grazes the front of the truck.
All of a sudden as Javi clears the front windshield a chicken falls onto the front of the truck, making them all jump. "Javi you hear me?" Scott interrupts over the radio, as Hadley watches the chicken jump off the truck.
"Yeah, I can hear you."
"We've got two radars looking good. The third was pulling great data, we need to find it and download all of it."
Kate glances up from the monitor with a look of worry "Guys, the tornado's headed towards a small town."
"They already called it in, there's nothing we can do now."
"That's not true they could need help, Javi," Hadley cuts in.
He tries to explain why they should stay "There's a GPS tracker on the radar, we need to find it before it dies."
"If Scott and the others would like to look for the radar while we help rummage through what's left of some people lives they can, but we need to go help them." Hadley says firmly looking to her friend, daring him to say otherwise.
For them this might just be another tornado to follow and gain data from, but for the people in that town it was one of the worst days of their lives. They couldn't just ignore that and keep going.
It was a good thing that Javi had listened to them by the time they pulled up to the small town, it was decimated. Ambulances and cop cars everywhere they looked, the remains of these peoples everyday lives were shredded and homes destroyed, missing animals, and injured people.
Hadley is handing a woman a picture frame and a stuffed animal as Kate stands next to her, and Javi hands the woman a business card. They begin walking over to the Storm PAR cars as Javi speaks "You guys where right back there, It's good that we helped them,"
"I wish there was more we could do," Kate speaks, turning to Javi "Could the data from the PAR radar show us how the tornado died?"
"Yeah, why?" He asks glancing back at Hadley who kept slowing to look around for salvageable items to turn in.
"I don't know, Maybe we can use it to prevent all this?"
"That's the Kate I know," He says grinning at the both of them and throwing the keys to Hadley. "You guys take the truck, I'm gonna deal with locating the radar, you guys should rest." He then walks towards where Riggs and Scott were talking.
Hadley looks around hearing a whistle, that's when she sees Tyler and Boone bent down in some of the rubble calling for what she has to assume is a lost animal. She smiles at the thought of them being willing to help out in the aftermath caused by the thing that they chase so closely. Looking up ahead as she and Kate continue to walk she notices the group is selling shirts and notices as Kate tenses at the sight, why would they set up shop in a disaster zone?
Out of nowhere Tyler walks up "That was a nice play on the left twin," he says walking over to them.
"Yeah well, it's not like it helped anybody," Kate says glancing around at the devastation. They all looked on as Riggs hands a card to who seems to be the owner of what used to be a bar.
Tyler looks down a glower on his face "Didn't know Storm PAR was in the business of helping,"
"Well from what I see, they're trying to make a difference," Kate retorts, anger filling her voice.
"Yeah, that's one way to put it, I guess," Tyler says crossly.
"What's that supposed to mean, Tyler?" Hadley speaks up wondering what he seems to know about the group they're doing a favor.
"Do you even know who your chasing for? How much more do these people have to lose before y'all are done making a difference?" He says louder as he moves towards them, clearly upset at what was happening.
Kate speaks up before Hadley can say anything "Sorry, says the guy setting up shop, selling t-shirts and mugs after a storm's hit,"
Tyler just ignores her and smirks at the ground clearly not getting to the two women in front of him. They're interrupted by Ben "Tyler do you have a minute for some questions?"
Tyler glances at them for a moment "Sorry I got a dog to find at the moment. Talk to them since they have all the answers." Walking off yelling for Boone.
"Maybe not right now, sorry Ben," Hadley says apologetically as she follows after Kate, who stormed off.
At the truck is when Hadley and Kate both see that the group is handing things out not selling them. Lily walks over to them with food and water "Was wonderin' if you guys were hungry?" They both shake there heads but thank her. "Take the water at least if your staying to dig around, need to stay hydrated."
Lily walks off towards her group handing the food to one of the community members. Kate turns to get in the car, but Hadley stops her. "Hey, I'm gonna stay back,"
Kate furrows her eyebrows "What for?" looking around.
"I want to talk to Tyler about something plus, I'm not really in the mood to be holed up in a motel room right now, I'm a little too wired,"
Kate looks at her in question "How are you gonna get back to the motel?"
"I'm clearly gonna hitch a ride with Tyler, he can't stay mad at me to long, especially if he want's this back," She says tipping Tyler's hat that still sat loosely on her head.
With the conformation that she'll be okay, Kate heads off in the truck as she goes to find Tyler. She spots him digging around some rubble, still whistling for the dog from earlier. "Tyler!"
He glances up and his face hardens and then softens when he realizes she's alone. He stands walking over to her and stopping with his hands on his hips. "Where's your ride Storm PAR?"
"That's what we're calling me now?" She asks sadly.
"Well if the shoe fit's, Hadley. Wear it," he says his irritation still at the forefront of his mind.
"Tyler, Please don't be mad, we don't work for them, we're only doing a favor for Javi because he's an old friend. Okay I'll admit that I don't know everything that's going on, clearly you do though, so just explain it to me? Please it's all I ask, I'm sorry for being ignorant."
He turns back to her and his face softens "I'm sorry, I shouldn't be so rude, Do you have any clue what Riggs is doin' handing out those cards?"
They walk together "I just assumed they could call the business he works for to get ahold of loans or receive surveyors to check out the land."
He shakes his head "No, they buy land, typically for cheap. They're profiting off of these people's pain and suffering, they don't have anything so most times they're willing to sell there land in hopes of having just enough to pay for bottom of the barrel homes and places to stay."
Hadley's head hangs and she wraps her arms around herself "Damn it! We didn't know Tyler, Jesus. I'm sorry, clearly we're in the wrong, I just never expected Javi to stoop to this level." Her hand coming to rub at the spot she had banged earlier, it had already begun to bruise and it was slightly raised, only adding to the ache in her head.
He stops and looks around before pulling her into his arms, resting his head on hers careful of the raised spot on her temple. "It's okay, you didn't know."
They sway for a moment "Now how'd that happen to your head darlin'?" he asks running his thumb over it lightly as she hisses at the feeling.
"When we were trying to get away from the tornado it got a bit rough, slammed it into the window of the truck."
He sucks on his teeth "You should probably get checked out sweetheart,"
"No I'm fine, really. I don't doubt it'll be sore for a day or two, but I've survived worse." His eyebrows furrow in concern.
Just barely seeing over his shoulder, Hadley notices a small black Chihuahua worming out from under a small pile of debris. "OH MY GOSH!"
Quickly pulling back from him and rushing towards the dog, she has it in her arms faster than you can say the word Chihuahua. Tyler laughs at the girl who's now smothering the tiny dog in kisses as she walks back over to him. "Looks like I found that dog you were searching for,"
"Looks like it, darlin'. Why don't we go see if we can find it's owner?" He asks throwing an arm around her and directing them towards the animal tent, as she continues to love on the clearly shaken dog.
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A/N: And that's a wrap on #5. This is book is bringing me a lot of happiness currently.
My 24th birthday was the 13th and sadly I've been sick with Covid. So no celebration, plus I'm missing work which means less money and now someone at work felt the need to start drama so this is a much needed escape from reality.
I hope you've enjoyed it so far, I'm really pushing myself as a writer, I typically follow plots perfectly and don't add much because I'm worried it's gonna be bad, but I think I'm getting better at it. If you feel like it maybe leave a comment or a vote, anything is appreciated.
XOXO, stormhrt.