ChasingSin (10 page)

The corner of her mouth lifted in a wry smile in an attempt
to lessen his ire. “Surprise.”

“How long have you known?” he demanded.

Tripp clutched her upper arm and encouraged them to sit up.
“As much as he deserves an answer to that, we need to get inside before this
whole porch goes.”

Nodding in agreement, she stumbled through the door and
Tripp locked it behind them as if it would keep away the violence happening on
the other side of the glass. Snyder’s weight crushed against her as he wrapped
her in a big bear hug even as the foundation of the house shook when another
round of waves hit. Tripp’s arms wrapped around them both and they clutched her
as the hurricane continued to rage.

Together, they formed an unshakable bond the hurricane
couldn’t waver. Held in their embrace, Kate realized how wrong she’d been to
keep her pregnancy a secret from both men. She also realized how foolish she’d
been to leave the hotel that morning without telling them of her fears about
altering their lifestyle too much.

She held Snyder closer and fought to think about the fact
she could have lost him in the blink of an eye. Then he never would have known
he had a future to worry about. She would probably have nightmares about this
whole situation if they made it through this storm in once piece.

Knowing she still owed Snyder an answer, she pushed her wet
hair out of her face and wrapped her arms around her body in an effort to stop
shivering. “I’ve known for a few weeks. Flew to Florida to track Hurricane
Harriet and spent the flight there in the bathroom. Since I’ve never gotten
airsick in my life, I knew something was going on. Doctor confirmed it last
week, about the same time Jean starting forming off the coast of Africa.”

He stepped closer, boxing her in. Warmth radiated from his
body despite the fact he was just as soaked as she was. That heat called to
her, but she held her ground for the moment. Everything needed to be laid out
on the table now that she’d spilled her secret. They both deserved some
answers.

“It was that night at the hotel, wasn’t it? After the
tornado in Jewell.”

“Yes,” she answered without hesitation. “I’m not asking
either of you for anything. I wanted to tell you, but I didn’t exactly leave
things on the best of terms.”

Snyder pointed to where the back porch had been just minutes
ago. “And you chose right then to tell me?”

She winced. “I panicked. I’m sorry. If you don’t—”

“If I don’t what? Want you? Want the baby? God, Kate,
haven’t you figured it all out by now? We love you. We always have. Nothing has
changed from that night. Absolutely nothing.”

“I tried to tell her that,” Tripp added wryly and she shook
her head. He wasn’t helping matters.

Snyder’s gaze narrowed, his eyes flashing hot as he growled.
“Wait a second, you knew?”

Tripp set a calming hand on the center of Snyder’s chest.
“You always said I paid attention to things better than you. I figured it out.
She didn’t have to say a word.”

She didn’t need Tripp to stand up for her, but she was
grateful he’d done so. “It’s my fault for keeping it from you. From you both.
It wasn’t as if I could just call you up and say hey—remember, that hot night?
Well, surprise, you’re going to be dads. We don’t exactly live lifestyles
suited for kids. That’s why I didn’t say anything. We all take risks without a
second thought.”

“Some more than others.”

She followed Snyder’s gaze out the back windows. The ones
being battered with high velocity rain from the intense winds. With the porch
hanging on by a few nails, there was a lot less house between them and the
storm than she preferred.

“Exactly. You both have to know, if I thought I wouldn’t be
safe—that our child wouldn’t be safe—I would have never come here. I’m sorry I
made a mistake on more than a few things. But the bottom line is that I can’t
ask you two to give up your piloting jobs. Or give up any part of your lives
for me. That’s why I didn’t stick around.”

“The hell you can’t. In fact, I don’t think either of us
will give you a choice in the matter. We’ll figure it out and make it work.
Whatever it takes, got it?”

“That’s going to be if we live through this.” As if to
punctuate her statement, a sharp gust of wind whistled against the roof.

Tripp snorted. “This will be easy compared to what we’re in
store for with a kid.”

As if in disagreement, the hurricane howled in rage as she
battered the beach house. She seemed furious she couldn’t seem to take exactly
what she wanted and had missed the opportunity to swallow Snyder whole. The
Gulf was an ugly gray color now, angry and raw with its fury as the waves
continued to crash ashore.

The house creaked as it tried to withstand nature’s fury,
and from the sound of things, she wasn’t sure they had much more time.

In fact, she was positive.

A loud crack sounded outside as the ocean crashed forcefully
into the house and a sharp pain radiated up her hip as she was thrown into the
counter. Tripp was at her side immediately, soothing his hand over her hip as
he pulled her upright.

She started to reach for her computer, but he snatched her
hand away. “Think your equipment is the least of our worries at this point.”

The house groaned again as another large wave slammed into
the pilings that had already taken a beating. “Think it’s time to get the hell
out of Dodge.”

“Where are we going to go?”

Her answer was cut off by the sharp crack from the back of
the house. She turned just in time to watch the rest of the back porch plummet
into the chaotic waves.

“We have to leave.
Now
.”

The house groaned as another round of waves battered the
already shaky posts. “We can’t leave. She’ll chew us up out there.”

Snyder grabbed her arm and tugged her along with him. “We
don’t have a choice anymore and I’ll be dammed if I’m going to let that bitch
have the last say in our lives.”

Another wave slammed into the house and everything shook.
The house gave a deep agony filled groan and the wood underfoot gave an audible
pop as it surged forward.

Kate grabbed for the nearest wall as the entire house
shifted and everything went flying. A teeth-jarring rattle shook her bones and
she met troubled gazes. They were worried. She’d seen those expressions from
them before. The most recent occurring when Snyder pulled her from the tornado
in Kansas.

Suddenly, this wasn’t about studying the storm anymore.

It was about surviving it.

“Let’s go.”

The house shimmied and a loud crack split the air. The
flooring fell away, and for a moment they were suspended in mid-air. The
feeling of weightless made her stomach heave and she desperately wanted the
moment to be over. They met with the floor a few seconds later with a
teeth-jarring thud.

Snyder swore as he got to his feet and pushed her forward.
She stumbled, tripping over an area rug, and Tripp shoved his shoulder under
her arm, taking most of her weight. The house groaned again.

“Move it!”

Needles of pain stung her skin as she ran out the front
door. The overwash wasn’t as bad as it could have been, only because of the
barrier dune that ran directly under the house. However, judging by the fact
the water was up to the running boards of her Jeep, she knew driving would be
impossible.

“We need to get somewhere else. We’re sitting ducks if we’re
still out here on the south side of this fucking monster.”

She stumbled at the bottom of the stairs and both Snyder and
Tripp’s arms came around her waist to force her to run at their speed. When
they’d reached what she guessed was the street, she turned and watched
helplessly as the ocean stole the house, swallowing it whole in one monstrously
destructive gulp.

The wind howled, whipping her hair into her face and
reminding her there was no time to mourn its passing.

Snyder shoved against her to get her moving and they headed
away from the shore.

She clutched at Tripp’s shirt as they all fought against the
malicious wind. Salt water filled with pieces of wood from something the storm
had already destroyed lapped at her calves. Then the storm seemed to reach its
climax, screaming loud and long before the world around them went dead calm.

Bright sunlight beamed down from a virtually cloudless sky
and she stared up in awe. Blue sky stretched overhead and it was as if the past
few hours of utter chaos had never occurred. If she didn’t know better, she’d
have thought it had all been a dream.

The world seemed so surreal and untainted. The landscape
around her painted a different picture.

“We’re in the eye.”

This was the first time she’d ever been in such a situation
and didn’t know how to judge their time. Her fingers itched to have a computer
nearby to look at a forecast model. Had this been a tornado, she would have
known without hesitation. “How much time do you think we have?”

Snyder looked out over the horizon. “Half hour, maybe? We’re
going to need to find somewhere safer to ride out the backside of the storm.”

“Backside’s always the worst.”

She knew that was only the case because everything had
already been beaten to within an inch of its life. And anything that hadn’t
been destroyed already would now get the high-speed winds coming from the
opposite direction. Instead of the slow build up as in the beginning of the
storm, coming out of the eye felt as though someone had shifted to overdrive on
a prime sports car and shot from zero to one hundred in two seconds.

“Exactly why we should get as far inland as we can get in a
very short amount of time.”

She agreed, but a quick glance over her shoulder to what had
once been her family’s summer home made her pull away from the men.

“Kate!”

“It’s all right. I won’t be long.” She approached slowly,
her eyes burning from the sting of tears she fought to contain. The house lay
in shambles. A pile of wood, and destruction that would never again be
somewhere she could call home. This was the place she’d wanted to be her
salvation. The place she found where she could handle this pregnancy and the
changes it would bring to her life.

A flash of color caught her attention amidst the rubble and
she immediately recognized the faded windsock she’d brought inside to shelter
it from the storm.

“Kate!”

She ignored the men, carefully picking her way through the
twisted pile of wood, her mind focused on one singular goal.

The men came up behind her, but she didn’t let that deter
her. Strong hands bracketed her waist to provide support and she reached out as
she leaned closer to her prize. She plucked the faded strips of heavy canvas
from the wood, feeling a comfort settle over her when it was in her possession
again. The collapse of the house had further damaged the ornament, but for the
most part, the windsock remained intact.

She turned, stuffing the small memento into her pocket.
“Sorry.”

“That’s all right. It meant a lot to you. We really need to
get going.”

Seeing the destruction of her house made her realize they
were fighting a losing battle. “And where are we going to go? We’re on an
island a mile wide and in about twenty minutes, the water and wind are going to
get worse.”

“Head toward higher ground.”

“There is no higher ground,” Tripp fired back at Snyder.

“Well, we can’t stand here and argue about it. Let’s just
head inland some more, at least get away from the shore.”

She wanted to give up, end the fight here and now because
she was exhausted. But she’d never surrendered to a storm before and right now
didn’t seem to be the best time to choose that route. There was too much for
her to live for now and that resolve was what propelled her to follow the men.

She followed them for a few minutes, trying to not become
lost in figuring out what the pieces in the water around her had once been.
Caught up, she was taken aback when she felt the hurricane press against her
back. Stunned at the familiar feel, she stopped. Both men turned, surprised at
her sudden halt.

“What’s wrong?”

There was no one thing she could put her finger on. Maybe it
was simply the change in pressure that felt so familiar. She’d experienced that
sensation enough chasing tornadoes. All she knew was something was about to
change and the danger they faced was about to get exponentially worse.

“We need to get somewhere safe.
Now
.”

“Kate?”

“Is everything all right?” Their twin expressions of concern
were warranted.

“No. No, it’s not.” Her gut twisted in a knot as the
knowledge swelled inside her. She didn’t need her computer, her instincts had
never driven her wrong and she knew exactly what was happening with the storm.
“She’s strengthening. She’s chewing up the bay and using it to feed her over
land instead of letting it weaken her. I bet you anything she’s tearing apart
that storm to the west instead of the other way around.”

“So what you’re saying is if we don’t get off the island,
we’re as good as dead.”

Kate’s eyes went wide in disbelief. “
Oh God.
It’s too
late.”

A blast of wind slammed into her, tossing her off her feet.
The ground rushed up at her and she had just enough time to brace her hands
around her waist before she hit the water with enough force to steal her
breath.

They were at her side in the blink of an eye, pulling her
out of the water to check her for injuries. “I’m fine.” She allowed Tripp to
pull her into his arms, too stunned at the horrific destruction everywhere she
looked.

Left with no other choice, they continued to trudge through
the water, winds lashing at them. Each time they felt as if they’d made some
kind of progress forward, the violent gust of wind seemed to knock them back.