Free Storm Warning by Kadi Dillon

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.”
    “Is everything okay?” s he asked without looking at the food he held out to her. She could tell he was angry, she just didn’t know why.
    “What do you mean?”
    “Is everyone all right? No one got hurt, did they?”
    “No,” h e answered quickly with barely controlled violence . “No one except for you.”
    “Gabe, I’m fine. I’ve had much worse. I didn’t even have to get stitches or anything.” She took the plate when his hand began to shake.
    “You keep telling yourself that.” He grabbed his jacket and headed for the door.
    “Gabe.” She called out to him and he stopped, rigid in th e doorway. “Please don’t go anywhere yet . I— I need you here right now.”
    He turned slowly. She saw the change in his eyes —fury to control— and he nodded, dropping his jacket into a chair by the door. He crossed to the bed and sat on the edge of it.
    “Eat.”
    She complied eagerly, eating every bite and drinking two and a half cups of coffee. When he took her plate to the sink, she tried again.
    “What’s wrong?”
    His jaw tightened again and the plate clattered in the sink.
    “You could have been killed,” h e said in a flat, angry voice. He swallowed, his Adam’s apple bobbing roughly in his throat. “You ran after a tornado, Tory.”
    “I know. I’m sorry I scared everyone. I wasn’t really thinking.”
    He smiled now, only a little. “At least you’re honest.”
    She lay back again against the pillows. “How long are we staying here?”
    “Your brother said we’ll move out on Friday. He’s concerned about you, but I think he wants any excuse to be able to use the gym for a week. ”
    She ignored his attempt at distracting her and frowned. “Today’s Monday.”
    “Yes.”
    “Why are we wasting a week out of the chase? We s hould be following that system e ast.” Five days in one place? The thought caused her stomach to churn.
    “We would be if you weren’t physically exhausted and c ut up everywhere.”
    “I said I was sorry. And sorry isn’t something I usually am .” She smiled at his frown.
    “No, you wouldn’t be would you? You mean everything you do. Why should you be sorry for it?” His hand shot out and grabbed her arm. He pulled her to him and said into her ear, “Ever do that again, I’ll strangle you, you hear?”
    She had to giggle. “Yes, I hear.”
    He smiled now and hugged her close to him. She let herself lean and thought five days with him wo uldn’t be all that intolerable.
     
     
    Chapter Seven
     
    By Thursday, Gabe allowed a foul- tempered Tory to emerge from her sick room and join the world again. They walked down the busy street, hands linked like old friends.
    Friends, Tory mused. There had been no more blood heating kisses or electrifying promises from Gabe. He ’d been treating her like an invalid for the most part and would hardly even argue with her no matter how hard she tried to provoke him.
    Well, Tory thought wryly, enough was enough.
    No one discussed what had happened, except Gabe. He wasn’t as angry as he had been when he brought her home from the hospital, but there was something bothering him.
    He never slept in his room with her, and he never left until she was asleep. A few times she awoke during the night to find an empty roo m. He was always back when she woke in the morning waiting with a plate of food to force feed her.
    “I’ve been thinking,” s he said after they settled on a park bench to share a giant , salty pretzel.
    “Uh oh. ”
    “No, it’s good,” she hastened to assure him. “I’ve been thinking of Ashley and Phil. He got out of