“Christ almighty, don’t sound so fucking confident. I’ll bust a nut.”
I couldn’t stop the burst of laughter at Marshall’s sputtering. Grinning, I turned toward him and motioned for the phone, which he handed over without a word. His cheeks were a glorious shade of red that reminded me of what we’d gotten up to last night, and I willed my semi down.
“Kajir,” I warned. “If this is your twisted way of flirting with my man, I’ll need to go medieval on your ass.”
At my words, Marshall’s eyes melted from wide as dinner plates to warm puddles of gooey warmth. He snuggled into my side with a content sigh, one arm winding its way around my waist.
Pleased at his open affection, I draped my free arm around his shoulders and pressed a soft kiss to his temple as I listened to Kajir.
“Well, fuck me. Look who decided to grow some fucking balls,” Kajir said, a slight tinge of humor to his voice. “Glad to hear that you’ve finally fucking claimed a new man. We were worried that you’d never get over Jackson. About fucking time.”
“Why, Kajir,” I said with a chuckle, resigned to the fact that the small-town gossips had been busy over the last couple of days. “Do I detect a hint of concern in your words?”
“Fuck no. I’m just repeating what the rest of the town says behind your fucking back.”
Yup, there it was. I rolled my eyes. I’d known that taking Marshall and Rose to Malone’s would set their tongues wagging, so it wasn’t like I could say that I was all that surprised. “Wonderful. Thank you for the clarification.”
“Fuck off.” The sound of glass shattering filtered through the speaker before Kajir started yelling. “Johnny, if you’ve fucking shattered the back window of that gorgeous Chevy Impala, I’ll have your fucking balls pickled by lunchtime.” He huffed a frustrated sigh, then lowered his voice to continue speaking to me. “Daniel, bring your boy over sometime today to sign some fucking paperwork. The glass guy delivered a fuck-ton of legal shit that I need to get sorted, and his signature is part of it. Don’t make me fucking chase either of you for it. I don’t have the fucking time.”
Before I could agree or argue with him, he hung up on me. I smirked and handed Marshall his phone back. “We need to dropby Kajir’s later to get some paperwork signed. Sounds like it’s insurance related.”
Pocketing the phone with one hand, Marshall nodded, his nose rubbing against my neck as he squeezed me closer with the other. “Okay.”
The warm feeling that had been steadily growing over the past few days pulsed again, enough for me to give him another kiss on the temple before I realized what I was doing.
I felt Marshall stiffen next to me, setting me on edge. “What is that?”
Relaxing, I let out a chuckle. “Oh, it’s just glitter. The town kids—”
“No, not the glitter, although that is admittedly hilarious.” Frowning, he pulled out of my hold and leaned forward on the fence, tilting his head as he stared past the cattle, then lifted a finger to point toward the horizon. “That.”
I followed his gaze and squinted.
A thick band of heavy dark clouds streaked across the horizon, set against a sliver of clear blue sky peeking out from underneath. I’d noticed the storm clouds that had been gathering on our way out. Assuming that Marshall had seen the same thing I had, this must be something new that had caught his attention.
Something that had him worried.
I scanned the horizon until my eyes caught on a thin shadow that connected the thick dark cloud to the ground.
A thin shadow that hypnotically wavered from one side to the other.
“Fuck…,” I muttered as I gripped the fence so hard, my knuckles turned white.
“No,” Marshall stated plainly but firmly. “If that’s what I think it is, you would have gotten a notification—”
His words cut off when my phone beeped.
“No,” he repeated, the word now uncertain.
Willing myself to keep my breathing under control, I dug my phone out of my back pocket and checked the screen.
Emergency tornado alert for the town of Rockdale. Seek shelter immediately.
“Fuck.” I showed Marshall the screen, and all the color drained from his face. “We have to get back home.Now.”
“No…,” Marshall breathed out shakily, his feet frozen to the ground. “Not again.”
“Sweetheart, we gotta move.” I gently but purposely turned him toward the four-wheeler. “It’s far enough away that we’ll be fine, but we need to get back to Rose. Come on.”
