ChasingSin
Authors: Sara Brookes
Chasing Sin
Every spring, Kate risks her life
chasing violent storms. Tired of watching her take unnecessary chances, two of
her closest friends offer a different thrill. Devoted lovers Snyder and Tripp
don’t just share a passion for nature’s fury; they long to have the fearless
woman between them.
Though reluctant, Kate finds the
proposition is too irresistible to refuse. Her acceptance leads to an explosive
night of no-holds-barred sex for the threesome. However, when morning dawns,
she realizes this type of unusual relationship isn’t one she belongs in.
Despite her best efforts to keep
the men at arm’s length, Kate is soon facing down the storm of the century with
Snyder and Tripp by her side. When Mother Nature intrudes, the trio discovers
shelter in each other’s arms. With the hurricane raging outside and passion
raging inside, everything is at stake.
Ellora’s Cave Publishing
Chasing Sin
ISBN 9781419940057
ALL RIGHTS RESERVED
Chasing Sin Copyright © 2012 Sara Brookes
Edited by Briana St. James
Cover design by Dar Albert
Photos: dpaint, Druce Rolff/Shutterstock.com; Fotolia.com
Electronic book publication April 2012
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Chasing Sin
Sara Brookes
Chapter One
“She’s fucking insane.”
Snyder slammed on the brakes and narrowly missed Kate’s Jeep
when she swerved in front of him. “Give me directions instead of commentary,
Tripp. You pay attention to the tornado and I’ll pay attention to crazy
drivers.”
He gunned the engine of his truck as he watched the
offending vehicle speed down the dirt road dividing a freshly plowed field.
“Where the hell is she going?” he muttered, more to himself than his partner in
the passenger seat.
The ominous supercell had dropped a howling twister a few
miles back. Now the race was on to catch it. Tripp’s fingers tapped on the
screen of the tablet he was using for a GPS. “Take this road here and keep
following it. Should put us a few miles ahead of this cell.”
“Got it. What kind of action are you seeing?”
The keys of the laptop mounted to the dashboard clacked as
Tripp’s fingers flew over them and he snorted. “Straight and steady, for the
moment. Kate must know something we don’t.”
Snyder gritted his teeth as he flipped on the blinker and
sped past a slower-moving car. “Not my problem right now. Besides, she isn’t
exactly behaving any differently than normal.”
Their colleague Kate Sinclair was a risk taker and an
adrenaline junkie—a definite plus considering the reason they drove thousands
of miles in one day. Craziness was always beneficial when chasing violent
storms that were capable of leveling entire towns. Snyder hated to admit it,
but Kate’s brash actions always got the team what they needed. The data they
collected was vital and necessary to increase warning times.
“Just get me where I need to be so we can intercept this
thing and get out of here before things really get nasty.”
“Take a right. Pick up the road at the end and follow it
out.”
The abrupt change of direction worried Snyder. “Is it
shifting?”
“A bit, yeah. This should compensate and keep us in the
path.
Shit
.”
Been waiting for that.
Out of the corner of his eye,
Snyder saw Tripp Dawson drum his fingers against the seat while he studied the
netbook in his lap. That kind of contemplation was not a good sign when they
were chasing a vortex generating winds over one hundred miles an hour. “What
now?”
Tripp muttered something under his breath and Snyder cleared
his throat to get his attention. “Shifting again. There doesn’t seem to be any
kind of clear path that I can make out. She went from straight as an arrow to
as crooked as the mountains back home. It’s almost impossible to track like
this—look out!”
Prepared this time, Snyder let off the accelerator and
tapped the brakes. To his left, Kate’s white Jeep sped through a stop sign. If
he hadn’t stopped before the intersection, she would have slammed into the side
of his truck.
Fucking insane is putting it lightly.
Well past annoyed now, he immediately jerked the wheel to
the right and slammed the accelerator to the floor. Tripp fumbled for the
handle over the window as the truck hit a few cavernous potholes that sent
expensive equipment flying. Snyder would replace anything he broke with his own
money when this chase was over. For the moment, broken equipment was the least
of his worries.
Knowing she wouldn’t bother to answer her cell phone, Snyder
thumbed the receiver on his radio with one hand and hollered into the handset.
“Kate, get your head out of your ass. You’re going to get one of us killed if
you keep driving like this.”
The vehicle in front of them took a hard left without
signaling or stepping on the brakes. Caught unaware, Snyder flew past the turn,
unable to stop with his heavier vehicle.
“Fuck me. SKYWARN spotters report it’s increasing in size
and strength again. Just took out the entire power grid.”
The laptop they used for their storm lab broke free from its
clips and hit the windshield as Snyder slammed on the brakes and threw the gearshift
into reverse. Tripp scrambled to collect everything before it went flying.
On the right path, Snyder used the radio once more. “Kate,
this thing is bigger than they’re expecting and growing by the second. It’s too
damn dangerous. Call off the chase now. It’s not worth the risk.”
When radio silence met him, he tossed the receiver to the
dashboard and gripped the steering wheel. This time, when Kate made a sharp
turn, he was ready for it and took it with her.
“We’re not chasing the funnel anymore, are we?” Snyder kept
his focus on the road ahead and ignored Tripp’s question. He pushed the truck
more than he would have normally because the tornado was the least of his
worries. The last thing he wanted to do was scrape Kate off the side of some
dirt back road in the middle of Kansas.
Kate suddenly braked, coming to a complete stop in the
center of the road. Her door flew open and she jumped out, camera in hand.
Ignoring the truck as they approached, she immediately went to the other side
of the Jeep, using the front quarter panel to brace her body against the wind.
Snyder stopped the truck a few yards away and narrowed his
gaze as he kept an eye on his colleague, who’d willingly put herself in danger.
“What does Doppler say?”
“Radar is showing it’s losing some energy, but still staying
on this heading.”
Which mean it would pass close by, but not enough to put
them in any kind of serious danger. Snyder leaned forward and adjusted the
video camera mounted on the dash as he studied the dark clouds.
The radio crackled and Tripp made a grab for it. “Blaney? We
got one.”
“We lost you guys back near the airport. Where the hell are
you?”
“We’re out on 9 near Jewell.” Tripp shook his head and
rolled his eyes at Snyder with all the hoots and hollers that came across the
radio. The group was an assortment of students from Kate’s forecasting classes
at the University of Oklahoma. Most of them were just as crazy as the woman in
front of them.
“Caught it, didn’t you? We’ll monitor things from here.
Charley is getting some good video.”
So is someone else
. Snyder continued to watch as Kate
snapped picture after picture of the storm and wondered what had driven her to
take this track. He would have never guessed the storm would be here right at
this moment. He’d always thought his instincts about storms were dead on until
he’d met Kate five years ago.
Their first day in the field, she’d put him to utter shame
when he hadn’t followed her forecasting and ended up in another state. She’d
intercepted the storm of her career and he’d encountered nothing but miles and
miles of a sky free of any sort of storm clouds. His first blue sky bust.
He and Tripp had learned a lot since then, and they owed it
all to Kate.
“Not good. Not good.”
The tight strain in Tripp’s voice caught Snyder’s attention.
“What?”
“Tornado’s heading right for us.”
Fear tightened Snyder’s gut as Tripp’s worried gaze met his.
“Hell. Get over here. Turn us around and I’ll get her whether or not she likes
it.” Wind bit at him as soon as he stepped out of the truck. Focused on one
goal, he didn’t care if it ripped him to shreds.
He focused on the fact they
all
needed to get out of
here.
As he held up his arms to deflect the wind, the rain
started. Driven by high-speed winds, the drops lashed at him, soaking his
clothing in seconds. The heavy weight of his wet cotton tee and jeans didn’t
deter him in his quest. He fought the gusts, wrestling with the ferocity of
nature to get to his goal.
The howling was horrible and reminded him of a jet engine
barreling down a runway right for them. That strong wind whipped Kate’s black
hair, tangling it as she widened her stance in order to brace herself against
the approaching storm. She moved with a casual ease that gave no hint to the
danger swirling less than a half mile from where they stood.
The elephant-trunk-shaped tornado gave a deep growl as it
chewed up the field. It had darkened considerably since they’d started the
chase, the dirt and debris it churned up altering the color to a deep, murky
gray. If Snyder hadn’t been so worried about getting Kate and leaving, he might
have taken the time to be impressed with Mother Nature’s creation.
He ducked as a thin tree branch narrowly missed his head and
reminded him why he was in this mess. The Jeep provided a good anchor and he
braced himself against it as he pressed forward.
“Kate, we have to get out of here.”
She was so focused she didn’t even bother to look at him.
“I’ll be fine. She’s been shifting the whole path. She’ll shift again.”
“No, she won’t. She’s headed right for you. Come on!” He
grabbed for her arm, tugging hard in an effort to get her to follow. The horn
on his truck blared loudly, a quick-fire round of beeps as Tripp leaned on it.
“No!” She wrenched away from his hold and continued to take
pictures.
He grunted, incensed she’d driven him to do what he was
about to do. But he couldn’t just stand here and watch her get sucked up by the
very same thing she spent her life chasing.
“Fine. We’ll do this the hard way.” He bent, lunging forward
to take her at the waist. Her camera hit his lower back, but he ignored the
dull sting of pain. Lifting her over his shoulder, he turned and ran as best as
he could for where Tripp waited in the truck.
Rain pelted them, needles of pain stinging his skin because
of the whipping wind. The sound was now deafening and the rapid decrease in
pressure pushed against his head, reminding him of the dangerousness of the
situation. The beast swirling toward them howled in anger because they were
escaping. It wanted a meal, but he wasn’t about to give it the satisfaction.
Kate fought against him, her damp clothing and his wet grip
making it hard for him to keep a handhold on her. Determined, he tightened his
grasp and she struggled. The chaotic air around them was now filled with dirt
and other debris that could quickly turn deadly if they continued to stay
outside unprotected.
“You’re an asshole. Why don’t you mind your own business?”
She continued to verbally lash him, but the high-pitched whine of the
approaching funnel stole her words.
He wrenched open the passenger door as soon as he arrived at
the truck and pushed her into the cab, following quickly so she couldn’t
escape. The door slammed behind him and he caught Kate’s fist before it plowed
into his face.
“Gun it, Tripp.”
Tripp threw the gearshift into reverse and slammed his foot
down on the pedal.
“No!” She attempted to throw another punch at him, but
Snyder banded his arm around her and the seat in order to keep her inside the
truck.
“Kate, stop. It’s over. Look.”
The truck stopped at a safe distance for them to still
observe the storm. Snyder hunched even more protectively over Kate and stared
through the windshield in disbelief at the chaotic vortex engulfed Kate’s Jeep,
pulling it high into the swirling winds before devouring it completely. Kate’s
fingers bit into Snyder’s biceps and her soft curses filled the cabin of the
truck as they all watched helplessly as her vehicle was tossed around as if it
were a child’s Matchbox car.
The deep growl the tornado gave indicated the Jeep had only
whet its appetite. Now it took direct aim at Snyder’s truck as it shifted
directions again. A heavy piece of debris slammed into the side of the truck
with such force the vehicle went up on two wheels and jerked to the left.
Panic stabbed at Snyder’s gut. “Back up! Back up! Get us the
fuck out of here!”
The truck slammed onto four wheels again and the engine
roared to life as it found its footing. The transmission kicked into gear and
Tripp gunned the engine in reverse as he fought with the wind lashing the
vehicle. He slammed the brake pedal to the floor, switched gears and maneuvered
the truck to drive at a right angle to the tornado. Hail slammed against the
roof, no doubt creating large, deep dents in the sheet metal.
Kate rocked against Snyder as the truck jerked to a stop
when they’d gone a safe distance and the tornado moved away. Safe now, Tripp
rested his forehead against the steering wheel and let his hands fall away.
When his breathing settled in a normal pattern again, he sat up and threw his
arm over the back of the bench seat.
Tripp’s gaze met his and Snyder indicated he was all right
as he pulled Kate tighter and reached for Tripp’s hand. He needed a slice of
comfort from his lover after the sudden rush of the past few seconds. Tripp’s
fingers wound around his and squeezed, smiling as he brushed his other hand
over his face.
There would be hell to pay for both of them after this,
regardless of the fact Kate had put herself in harm’s way. She wouldn’t see
this rationale because she would be too pissed at both of them for breaking
procedure and chasing after her instead of the storm.
He knew he and Tripp would have to be the voice of reason
because this wasn’t over even though the vicious vortex had already started to
dissipate. Thunder rumbled through the dark gray clouds overhead, but the
violence of the storm had dissolved enough for Snyder to feel comfortable
releasing Kate.
To Snyder’s surprise, the feisty woman sat quietly between
them as Tripp guided the truck back to where they’d been just minutes ago. Deep
ruts from the truck’s tires had been carved into the now-muddy road where the
tornado had pushed them.
As they drew closer, some of Kate’s ire seemed to disperse
as she took in the path of destruction left in the tornado’s wake. The sweet
aroma of sap from broken tree branches filled the air as Snyder opened the door
and stepped out onto the roadway.
Pieces of debris littered the road, and as they walked
around the bend, a small house came into view around a row of trees. Most of
the shingles had been stripped away by the high winds and Kate’s Jeep lay
imbedded in the center of the ranch-style house. True to the unpredictable
nature of tornadoes, it seemed to be the only major damage the house had
sustained.
