Whirlwind

22. Finley

Chapter twenty-two

Finley

The last time a tornado came barreling at me, Ryker was on top of me, and I was trying to avoid gulping down muddy ditch water while praying we’d survive. Now, safely strapped inside Thor, the fear is different. The whirling gusts slam debris against the armored vehicle, and the vortex’s roar fills the air, but this time, I feel strangely calm as we head the short distance into its direct path—intentionally, this time.

“I still can’t believe Joey volunteered to miss this,” I yell over the noise as Ryker hits the gas.

“Who knows? Maybe we’ll do this again later tonight. He can come then.”

“One not good enough for you, Tornado Daddy?”

He smirks as he brakes, coming to an abrupt stop right where the tornado is going to pass over us. “You know me, Ms. Buckley. I always want more.”

He leans forward as he says it, and I think he’s going to kiss me, but a chunk of debris hitting the car stops him. The vehicle shakes, and the sky outside turns a darker gray, nearly black, as the outer edge of the tornado engulfs us.

“Get the subsonic sensor,” Ryker says so calmly you’d think we were about to get hit with a little airplane turbulence instead of a massive wedge tornado that could easily kill us. I love it, though—I love that he’s no longer treating me like glass but as his equal, like he did before everything happened between us .

Ryker turns his attention to buttons on the front dash while I pull the sensor from a box near my feet. Thor starts to make a grinding noise and shakes before ceasing.

“Spikes are in the ground, and windows are secure,” he says as I place the sensor between us.

“Sensor is good.” I tap it gently. Unlike a lot of other sensors that need to be outside, this one will pick up data from inside the vehicle. Makes things a lot easier and not as dangerous. And unlike the sensor in the rocket, this can only pick up data from the base of the tornado.

“Debris coming from our left—brace, Finley.”

Something hits the car, and I grab the “oh shit” handle with one hand and clutch my harness with the other. My entire body jolts, but Thor hardly moves. The roaring sound of a train is louder than I’ve ever experienced, and my ears popping makes it almost impossible to hear Ryker’s next words.

“We’re in it, Finley! We’re in it!”

We make eye contact, but instead of fear or worry in his pale green irises—like the other night, when we were running for our lives—I see only excitement and happiness. He smiles then turns his head, and my gaze follows, both of us watching as the black mass overtakes us completely.

Thor rocks, but the spikes keep us level with the ground, and my heart pounds so hard I swear it’s coming out of my chest. I exhale forcefully. “This is fucking insane!”

Ryker laughs exuberantly as my ears pop again. I bounce my gaze from window to window, trying to take in every moment. Wood, grass, rocks and god-knows-what-else fly in front of the windshield, and more debris hits Thor hard. Thankfully, the armored vehicle only shakes, withstanding the beating it was built to take and keeping us safe.

“Woo-wee!” Ryker hollers as if Joey has overtaken his body for a moment. “This never gets old!”

Thor continues to vibrate, and the sound of the train wails around us. My adrenaline is so high, and my pulse is so fast, I’m now sweating. Before I know it, my eyes start to water. I blink the tears back, and then I feel Ryker pulling at my hand gripping the harness. He grasps it tightly in his.

“You’re in a tornado, Finley!” he yells. “You’re in one!”

I let out a loud laugh as more debris rocks the car, and Ryker chuckles alongside me. I take it all in for another brief moment before the air around us begins to calm, the massive wedge moving on to its next target. It took only a minute or less for it to pass over us.

My ears pop again. Ryker still grips my hand.

I take in several breaths, feeling as if I ran a marathon, and I stare at the small bits of debris and rain that continue to spin around us as the supercell moves further away. The entire time, Ryker and I stay still and silent, held captive by the moment.

When the tornado has traveled into the distance and I can hear the sounds of our breathing again along with the steady beat of the windshield wipers, I squeeze Ryker’s hand back and look at him.

“You did it,” I say. “You fucking did it.”

Ryker’s lips tip into a gentle smile as he brings my hand up to his mouth and kisses my knuckles. “ We did it.”

I smile back, then he pulls his hand away so he can unbuckle his harness. Once he’s free, he leans over the sensor between us and brushes a tear I didn’t know had fallen off my cheek.

“Are you okay?”

“Never better. That was…beyond words.”

Ryker leans closer so his lips are near mine. “I need to kiss you, Finley. Can I?”

My shallow breaths puff against his lips. “The others could come at any moment.”

“I don’t care. They can watch.”

I chuckle lightly, and he smiles lopsidedly, his mouth nearly touching mine. Instead of answering him, I press my mouth to his. His lips are slightly chapped and rough from the elements, but I don’t care. My mouth opens to him, and his tongue dives in, coaxing me to open further so he can devour me.

I dive my hand into his hair and kiss him as if this is the last kiss I’ll have for the rest of my life. I have no idea what’s going to happen after today, how Ryker and I will be together or make our relationship work, but I don’t care. He’s all I want right now.

“Finley,” he groans between kisses. “I—”

“Hey! Stop sucking face!” a muffled voice yells. “Us sons of bitches did it!”

I jump back from Ryker and meet Joey’s roguish eyes from the driver-side window. He looks windblown and tired but elated.

“Come on, lovebirds!” he yells.

Ryker’s eyes sparkle playfully as his lips quirk up, and I shrug. “You heard the man. Let’s go celebrate.”

He groans, and I huff.

“We can kiss later,” I add.

Without waiting for his response, I unbuckle my harness and hit the button for my door so it lifts up. When I’m outside, I see Ryker’s truck parked behind us with its headlights on. Ezra and Hawk are in front of it sort of hugging, but it’s awkward because Hawk has a computer in one hand.

Ryker steps out of Thor a second later, and Joey embraces him. “You should see this fucking data, T-Daddy. The twister has still got the sensor all up in her! She’s going to carry it for miles.”

I laugh at his choice of words but continue my steps toward Hawk and Ezra. Ezra holds his phone camera up to me and says, “Here’s one of our chasers, Finley. She helped successfully launch one of Tempest Trackers’ rockets today. Say hi, Finley.”

I wave awkwardly. “Hi, Finley.”

Ezra chuckles then turns the camera toward Ryker and Joey. Joey shakes Ryker’s shoulders and beams proudly .

“He did it, y’all. Tornado Daddy tamed another twister. But he tamed this one so well, we may be able to tame them for good with all the data we got.” Joey hoots and holds out the front of his T-shirt. It’s another variation of the shirt he had on yesterday, except this one is just one giant image of Ryker’s face with “Tornado Daddy is My Daddy” framing it.

“You can get these puppies on my website at www dot—”

“That’s enough of that.” Ryker steps in front of him. “Thank god we aren’t live streaming this. Ezra can edit it out before it’s posted.”

Joey winks at me, and I know he’s going to post that website on his personal socials at some point, if he hasn’t already.

“Look at this data, Ryker,” Hawk says. Ryker approaches him and looks at the computer screen. His eyes light up, and he whistles.

“We’re going to be very busy.”

“Hell yeah, we are!” Hawk adds.

The two men embrace before they pull Ezra in to join them. While they all chat and slap each other on the backs, Joey sidles up to me, throwing his arm around my shoulders. “You good, Sharkie?”

“I’m good, Sparkie. You good?”

He woofs in response and squeezes me tighter. “Things are gonna change with this data, Fin. We’re part of something big here.”

I look up at Joey with a warm expression on my face then over at Ryker and his team. Ryker turns his attention to me as if he can feel my gaze and smiles. My stomach flips, and Joey’s words ring in my ears. We are part of something big here today, but the question is: Will I continue to be?

There’s so much left unknown, and it’s not like Ryker and I can be together right away if he continues to work at the university. And if he quits, what does that mean for today’s research and the paper we’re supposed to publish? This specific trip was funded by the meteorology department. What if they find out and pull the plug on the whole thing?

Ryker frowns, and I realize it’s because I’m frowning. I quickly wipe it away and replace it with a smile. There will be time to worry about this tomorrow—for now, I want Ryker and the team to have their moment of glory.