Storm Warning

CHAPTER Eleven





Tory closed her laptop on a sigh and rubbed her tired eyes. In twenty-four hours, their website had been hit four thousand times. She’d also spent the past hour and a half answering emails from fans and news stations around the area. She considered the conference a complete success—even if she left like curling into a ball and crying.

Tory glanced at the clock and was a little surprised to see it was already seven o’clock. Gabe hadn’t said so much as a word to her since their fight yesterday and Tory could still feel the chill. He’d been there to take photos of the conference for their website and had simply left the disk of pictures for her beside her laptop.

She knew she’d probably wounded his giant male ego when she hadn’t begged him to stay, but she couldn’t regret it. It was better that he know now that she wasn’t the type to run and hide behind a man when there was a problem and she wasn’t the type of woman to cling. Besides, as she had predicted, Vance hadn’t turned out to be a problem at all. They hadn’t even seen him after his and Tory’s encounter the previous day.

Tory turned the weather radio on and listened to a couple of updates on the storm they would be chasing in a couple hours. She wondered if Gabe would be back to the suite by then. Storms at night were something to see and she would hate for him to miss it because he was angry with her. She went into the main room of the suite, but Gabe wasn’t there.

Well, she decided sliding her hotel key and phone in her pocket—she would just go find him. She might find it in herself to apologize for keeping Vance’s appearance to herself. She might even ask him to stay. She just didn’t know.

She saw Adam as she was walking into the hotel bar. He was chatting it up with a pretty blond, who fluttered her lashes at him. Tory smiled and silently wished him luck.

She didn’t spot Gabe, however.

“Excuse me,” Tory signaled the bartender and leaned onto the counter. “Is there another bar close by?”

“Something wrong with this one?” The burly man winked causing his eyebrow ring to glitter in the light.

Tory smiled. “No. I’m looking for someone.”

“Ah, okay. Try Dj’s. It’s one block that way,” he motioned to their left, “and down four buildings. It’s big, brick, and loud. You can’t miss it.”

“Thank you.”

It was almost completely dark outside when Tory made it out into the hotel parking lot. She had truly missed Oklahoma sunsets—and Oklahoma air—and Oklahoma everything. The weather had turned cool, thanks to the cold front moving into the area. She had learned from the radar that this storm would be wild and wicked—her kind of storm—and it would probably hit around eight-thirty.

Absently, she brushed her hair out of her face when the wind whipped at it. She needed it cut, she thought rounding the corner of the building. Maybe after the season, she would go somewhere fancy and have it styled. She wondered what Gabe would think about her with shorter hair. Then, she wondered—like she’d wondered every time she thought of him lately—if they would even still be together then—if they were even together now.

She was so lost in her own thoughts that she didn’t notice the Viking’s van until it passed her and braked to a stop ahead of her. It wasn’t in her nature to fear, so she kept walking toward it. She wasn’t even afraid when Vance stepped out of the driver’s seat and Charlie emerged from the passenger side. Curious, Tory trudged ahead.

“You boys lost?”

“No.” It was Vance who spoke when Tory stopped in front of them. “We’re exactly where we need to be.”

Finally, uneasiness began to poke her in the brain. Stupid, she thought inwardly cursing herself. She had just walked right into a trap. “I’ll just leave it to you, then.” When she started to pass them, they stood firm and blocked her. “Let me by.”

“Looking for someone?” Vance asked.

“Your boyfriend, maybe?”

Uneasiness turned to icy fear. “Where’s Gabe?”

“He’s sleeping. He may have a headache when he wakes up, but he’ll be just fine.” Vance smiled, revealing perfectly white, gleaming teeth in the glow of the streetlight.

“What the hell did you do to him?”

Proud and boastful, Charlie peeped up. “I hit him on the back of the head with a baseball bat. Went down hard too,” he glanced at his brother and grinned.

“So you sucker-punched him. Doesn’t surprise me. If you had any balls at all, you’d be the one lying flat on your ass.”

Vance lunged, but Tory anticipated his movement and slammed her body into Charlie, who hit the ground with a pathetic squeal. Vance slipped in the dirt when he met with air. Tory ran, hoping she had diverted them enough.

She rounded the corner of an old building and ducked into the alley behind it. She was completely winded and struggled to pull air in and out of her abused lungs. This couldn’t be happening. She couldn’t be running from two crazy idiots in the dark.

Gabe.

They’d hurt him. She needed to find him and take care of him. Her heart galloped in her chest as she scanned the dark ally. She heard the sound of an engine growing closer. Her stomach dropped. She pushed off the wall and ran blindly.

If she could get back to the hotel, she would be safe. She could call the police and search for Gabe. He needed her now.





Gabe sauntered into the hotel bar and spotted Adam immediately. They were scheduled to leave in twenty minutes and Tory was nowhere to be found. He knew he’d hurt her, no matter how she’d tried to hide it. Her big, brown eyes were expressive and she could pull off a lie about as easy as Pinocchio.

He knew he had done the right thing, though. He’d achieved what he had set out to do. His portfolio was bulging now, thanks to the Pirates. He was both incredibly grateful and scraped raw. Tory hadn’t asked him to stay, hadn’t even hinted that she’d wanted him too. He’d brooded for an entire day to give her space, and still she hadn’t come to him.

He couldn’t be sorry for getting angry. She hadn’t even planned to tell him she’d run into Vance. No, he hadn’t turned out to be a problem, but Gabe had the right to know. After tomorrow, he wouldn’t have that right—unless she asked him to stay.

But first, he thought as he walked up to Adam, they had to find out where she was. He tapped Adam on the shoulder and was met with bleary eyes. “Are you drunk?”

“What? No, it’s almost time to leave.”

“Your eyes are blurry,” Gabe accused.

“I stayed out all night last night. I’m a little tired. See that cute blond over there?” He pointed to the side of the stage. “The one in pink? I got her number.”

“That’s great. Listen—do you know where Tory went?” He raised his voice to compete with the next song delivered by the live band. “Billy and the twins are looking, but they haven’t called me. Frankie and Kary are loading the trucks.”

Adam sighed and pushed off the bar. “I was looking for her earlier.” He walked out of the bar two lazy steps ahead of Gabe. “She’s not in your room?”

“No. She didn’t take her key.”

“Did you try her cell phone?” Adam asked as they reached the trucks. Frankie was loading the last suitcase.

“We have it all except for your and Tory’s things,” Frankie said to Gabe. “Kary can start on Tory’s stuff if we’re in a hurry.”

“Cell phones aren’t working,” Billy said, coming up behind them. “I’ve been trying to get Tory for an hour now. One of the towers must be down.”

For the first time, Gabe noticed it was windy. The sun had already set, bringing the temperature down to just above chilly. Surely Tory would have been back by now. She’d been excited for this storm. After having stayed at her parent’s house in Ada, she seemed to be looking at the chase in a new light. She anticipated watching a storm form rather than dreading it.

But where was she?