Page 22 of Whirlwind

“Shit! You’re the amazing master’s student he’s gushed to me about?” Joey asks.

I flip my full attention to Professor West now. To my surprise, he doesn’t look embarrassed that he was just outed for talking about me.

“She’s the one,” he says, voice laced with soft admiration. His eyes meet mine, and warmth pools in my stomach, my body forgetting for a moment that we’re mad at him.

“Well, fuck me sideways! I should’ve put the pieces together. But I forgot you were studying at Midland Springs for your master’s program.”

I shove away the warm fuzzy feeling and smile at Joey. “It’s okay, we haven’t checked in for a while now. Last I knew, you were working for your local Channel 5.”

Joey drops his arm from my shoulders. “Decided it wasn’t for me. Just had my last day, actually.”

“Congrats?” I ask.

He chuckles. “Hell yeah. Called up Tornado Daddy a couple of weeks ago and asked if I could come along on a few chases to see where things go. I’ve gotten into drone operating and analyzing storm data from chases in the last year.”

“I didn’t know you chased together—or that you knew each other.”

Joey moves us and throws his arm around Ryker now, too, much to the professor’s annoyance. But I can see a faint smile hiding underneath his glower.

“T-Daddy and I go way back—like a whole year and a half.”

Ryker ducks out from under Joey’s arm and picks up one of his bags for him. “Don’t call me that.”

“Would you rather I call you Twister Tamer?”

“No.” He groans.

“Oh good, because then I’d have to return all my custom T-shirts.”

My eyes widen, and I look at Joey’s chest. He’s got a brown plaid button-up on with a white T peeking out from underneath.

“You’re joking,” Ryker says.

Joey shrugs. “I guess you’ll have to find out. Or one of you can undress me. But I think we should probably get on the road so we don’t miss any tornadoes.”

Ryker says something under his breath that sounds a lot like “kill me now” before walking off toward the truck with Joey’s bag.

Joey’s arm squeezes my shoulders, and I look up at his boyish face to see sandy-blond hair peeking out from under his hat.

“You really have not changed.” I grin.

“Would you want me to?”

“Not a chance.”

Chapter nine

Ryker

“Then the old manlooks out at the tornado that just destroyed his house and yells, ‘Thanks for the chance to redecorate—I hated my ex-wife’s wallpaper!’”

Finley’s pretty laugh floats through the truck, and while I should be happy she’s laughing and smiling after yesterday, I’m not. Because Joseph fucking Jensen is the one making her laugh and not me.

Finley turns her body so she can see Joey in the back seat better. “You’re serious?” she asks.

“I don’t lie, Ms. Buckley.”

Finley turns back around, and I don’t miss how she rolls her eyes at him. She’s done that several times, but the smile he’s put on her face has remained despite his many antics. If anything, it’s only gotten wider.

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