Ozrik #2
The man glanced up again and frowned. “What?”
I realized I’d been staring. “I asked you a question. You didn’t answer.”
“I’m fine.”
“You don’t seem fine.”
He huffed a humorless laugh. “Thanks.”
He refocused on the sink, resuming his original position, clinging to the basin with his head dangling and his face dripping.
For whatever reason, I couldn’t stop staring. Admiring. Absorbing every detail of his physique and facial features. He was… attractive in a subdued sort of way, but it was his evident distress that made it hard to walk away.
The third time he lifted his gaze, I snapped out of it and shut off the water at my sink. Creeping on people was not my style. What the hell was I doing?
I grabbed a few paper towels from a dispenser and aimed for the door, chiding my distracted mind.
The guy clearly didn’t want help. Tossing the used towels in the receptacle, I placed my hand on the door, ready to exit, but I glanced back one last time—needing a final look—only to find the guy watching me.
The air crackled with something I couldn’t identify. The fine hairs on my arms stood erect. Water dripped off his lips and eyelashes. More rolled like tears down his cheeks.
The connection lasted seconds before he looked away.
I stared for another beat, taking him in and battling with a sense of wonder and an odd familiarity I couldn’t put my finger on. Did I know this guy? No. I’d never met him before in my life, and I didn’t live near Oklahoma City. Before he caught me staring again, I pushed the door open and left.
I met up with my team near a bank of elevators. Huddled together, the guys chatted in low whispers. Vern waved when he caught sight of me, and Noah shifted so I could join their cluster.
“You’ll never guess who’s here.” Lex’s tone was ripe with indignation.
“Who?”
“Olivia fucking Windrow and her Riders.”
“What?” I whipped my head around, scanning the vast lobby and all its nooks and crannies. Sure enough, within seconds, I spotted Olivia and her group gathered a few feet from the information desk.
I scowled at Vern. “Why are they here?”
“No idea. Dennis never mentioned them. I was led to believe the producer asked for us. It makes no sense.”
“Hold up. Who’s that?” Lex’s attention remained fixed on the other group.
I followed his gaze as the stranger from the bathroom approached Olivia.
The distress I’d witnessed less than five minutes ago had been replaced by blank stoicism.
Again, I was struck by his trim body and unassuming features.
This unmistakable draw made no sense. He wasn’t my usual type.
I preferred guys a little wrecked, a lot devious, and way less put together.
His preppy style was none of those things.
“Do they have a new member?” Vern directed the question at me.
Attention focused on the stranger, I shrugged. “How am I supposed to know?”
“You stalk their channel.”
Again, I shook my head. “Never seen him before in my life.” I would have remembered.
As my group pondered the connection, the guy leaned close to Olivia and spoke in her ear as though imparting a secret.
Olivia glanced in our direction, smile dissolving. Her face reddened as her brows formed a sharp V. She spoke to her group, and within seconds, the entire entourage stared across the lobby—all but the guy from the bathroom, whose gaze remained fixed on the glossy tiles beneath his feet.
“Oh, man.” Noah slapped Vern’s shoulder. “I know who that is? It’s Olivia’s brother.”
“Olivia has a brother?” I asked, perplexed. “Impossible. He wasn’t in any of their videos.”
I would know since I watched them countless times, admiring Olivia’s… Holy shit.
Out of nowhere, the vague sense of familiarity smacked me in the face.
Siblings. They were fucking siblings. It made sense now.
He and Olivia shared similar features: both unreasonably attractive in a way so unassuming it was easy to miss unless you paid attention, and I’d been paying close attention to Olivia for months.
“They’re twins,” Noah said.
“Twins?” I diverted my attention to my friend before re-examining the pair across the lobby.
“Yeah. I heard he went to seminary school, or whatever it’s called. Was going to be a priest, but got kicked out or dropped out or something. Ended up taking meteorology here in the city instead. I think it was meteorology. He has a fancy degree.”
Seminary school? A priest?
Okay, I saw it. The preppy look could be mistaken for a churchy vibe.
Kicked out? I wondered why.
The guy had a degree in meteorology? Shit.
No wonder Olivia had brought him. A degree like that would look damn good on a résumé for a show that was looking to hire storm chasers.
I had a bad feeling about this. What had seemed special and exciting—potentially life-changing—a mere twenty-four hours ago was quickly slipping through my fingers.
“Vern…”
“I don’t know, dude. I swear to god. Dennis didn’t mention them. It sounded like we had this in the bag.”
“Let’s go up.” Noah shoved us toward the elevator. “If they’re here for the same reason, we should show our faces first and be sure to make a good impression.”
So that was what we did. We piled into an elevator and rode to the eleventh floor to meet with Dennis Hawking and a producer about a show that Vern claimed we’d already been given. If the Wind Riders thought their three years of experience trumped our six, they were wrong.
I didn’t need a degree in meteorology to chase storms, and my balls were definitely bigger than both Olivia’s and her brother’s combined. Although I had a sudden and unexpected urge to ask the brother for picture proof.
You know, for science.