But when he wasn’t…
That bloody bastard won’t get another chance.
* * * *
Nevvie, Clay, Peggy, and Andrew sat up and watched the storm’s progress. Edgar had slowed its forward movement, but its course remained unchanged. It meant the storm would take longer to hit land, giving residents more time to prepare.
It also meant a risk that the monster storm would draw even more energy from the warm Gulf waters. And it meant once the most destructive winds hit shore, they would batter the region for a longer period of time, increasing damage.
“Okay, Dad. Tell us what happened this afternoon.” She’d been dying for the twins to go to bed so she could ask him.
He let out a sigh. “I supposed, after my dealings with my ex-wife, that I shouldn’t be surprised by human nature.” He pursed his lips as he gathered his thoughts. “For someone proclaiming herself to be spiritual, Emily certainly carries quite a lot of venom in her heart.”
Clay frowned. “That bad?”
“I’m afraid so. I’ll spare you the specifics, but she tried even my nearly infinite patience. Elle was practically in tears by the time we finished. I thought I was going to have to order Danny out of the house. He did surprisingly well at ignoring Emily while she browbeat him. But when she turned her attention to Elle, he wanted to defend his sister. Very admirable, but I didn’t want him getting into a physical altercation with his mother.”
“He’s a good brother,” Clay said. “He’s always stuck up for Elle.”
“Did she say anything to you, Dad?” Nevvie asked.
“Oh, I’m sure she did, but I pretended she wasn’t even there. She paid me little attention when she realized she wasn’t going to get any sort of rise out of me.”
“Maybe she’s got a brain tumor,” Nevvie snarked. “Doesn’t that make people act completely whacked?”
“I wish,” Clay said. “I could forgive a lot if that was the case. Unfortunately, I think with all the sisters turning their backs on her and refusing to side with her, she’s decided to turn to the only people who would give her any sympathy.” He shook his head. “She’s been like that as long as I’ve known her. She clings to those who reaffirm her own beliefs. Once I stopped yes-dearing her and called her to the carpet for what she did, she turned on me, too.”
“Well, it doesn’t matter anymore,” Andrew said. “It’s finished. I did tell Danny and Elle to try to keep open minds and open hearts. To try to approach her again in the future to see if she would change her outlook.”
“Good luck with that,” Peggy said. “That girl has a harder head than all my other kids put together twice, and then some. She always tried to get her way, bossing them around, trying to keep them in line. I can’t tell you how many times Adam or I had to step in and tell her to quit being so pushy.”
“Like Dad said, it’s done with,” Nevvie said. “We’re a family, and we’ve got a lot to be thankful for. I’m not wasting any more time on her. One of these days, she’ll have her day of reckoning when the karma bus hits her.”
They couldn’t take their eyes off the TV. Around midnight, Nevvie finally stood. “I’m going to bed. Don’t know if I’ll get any sleep, but sitting here isn’t helping me any.”
“Good night, love,” Andrew said.
Peggy sat next to him on the sofa, looking comfortable snuggled against his side. “Good night, sugar. See you in the morning.”
Nevvie barely stifled her pleased smile as she went to her room, taking Harley with her. At least one good thing would come out of all of this. Peggy and Andrew made a cute couple.
She curled up in bed with the little dog and tried with little success to clear her mind and sleep.
I miss my guys.
Chapter Six
Tyler and Tom had a full house. Tyler didn’t mind under the circumstances, because it meant he wouldn’t have to worry about their safety.
It also made it feel less gloomy inside despite how much he missed Nevvie and the boys.
Throughout Thursday night, as the winds gradually picked up and the outer rain bands began sweeping through, everyone sat in the living room and watched the weather radar. Edgar had slowed to a torturous crawl of less than three miles per hour. With every update, the National Hurricane Center adjusted their eyewall landfall prediction later and later.
Now, it looked like they wouldn’t see the worst weather until at least sometime late Friday morning.
The power flickered once before midnight, but didn’t go out completely. Kyle and Jacob seemed especially nervous, having spent most of their lives growing up in Sheridan, Wyoming, despite being born in Florida. Tom-Tom, Pete and Eddie’s yellow Lab, sat on the floor between the two young men. They both pet him, apparently drawing comfort from the dog’s presence.
When Pete couldn’t hide his yawns any longer, he stood and stretched. “I’m hitting the sack. Wake me up if the apocalypse is about to kill us,” he joked before walking down the hall.
Kelly had enough as well. She kissed John good-night. “Me, too.” Kelly and John had the pull-out couch in Tom’s office. Pete and Eddie had the guest room, and Jacob and Kyle had air mattresses on the floor in the nursery. Eventually, Eddie and Jacob both gave up the vigil and went to bed.
Around one o’clock in the morning, Tom patted Tyler’s shoulder. “I can’t keep my eyes open,” he said. “Edgar’s coming whether we like it or not. I’m going to try to get some sleep before it gets wild and wooly in the morning. You coming?”
Tyler shook his head. “I’d rather not. I’ll stay up and watch the weather.”
“It’s okay. I’m staying up,” Kyle volunteered. “You go to bed.”
John overruled them both. “You guys all need to get to sleep. I’ll come wake you up at six and then get some sleep myself. I spent my fair share on all-night watches. I’m used to it.” John had just recently retired from the air force.
Tyler wanted to argue, but decided maybe he was right. “I’ll be right there, Tom,” he said. “I need to go shut down my computer.” He stepped into the office and headed for his desk. Yes, he had to shut down his computer.
He also had to lock the gun in his file cabinet. He’d worn it in the back holster all night. With both tasks complete, he followed Tom to bed.
When Tyler crawled into bed next to him, Tom rolled to face him and hooked a leg around his.
“You okay, buddy?” Tom asked. “You’ve acted odd all night.”
“I’m worried.”
Tom kissed him. “Let me unworry you,” he said.
“I think you already used that line on me once this week, love.”
“Yeah, I’m not a completely brain-damaged asshole. I believe in sticking with what works.” He slipped a hand behind Tyler’s head and kissed him again, allowing no escape.
Tyler felt his lover’s cock harden between them. His own traitorously willful member responded to the call as Tom’s tongue slid into his mouth. Silky hot, Tom tasted and teased, flicking over Tyler’s teeth, demanding an answer.
Who am I kidding? He could never resist Tom when he took control like that. He softly moaned into Tom’s mouth and ground his hips against him, their cocks rubbing together. Tom’s free hand slipped between them, grabbing both their cocks and slowly stroking even as his tongue still teased and tormented Tyler’s.
Tyler’s eyes dropped closed as his passion took over. Tom’s hand, warm and deliciously squeezing, worked up and down their shafts.
“That’s it, buddy,” Tom said. “We’ll do it quick and dirty and we’ll both sleep better. You just let me take care of everything.” Tyler felt him reach back. Then a moment later came the sensation of him drizzling lube over their cocks.
Tyler softly moaned at the increased pleasure as Tom fisted both their cocks and stroked harder, faster.
Tom hooked his free arm under Tyler’s neck and around his shoulders, holding him tightly. Tyler couldn’t help but rock his hips in time with Tom’s strokes.
&nbs
p; “That’s it,” Tom said. “You’re gonna come real hard for me.” Tom covered Tyler’s mouth with his, giving no quarter, taking what he wanted.
Tyler knew he wouldn’t last long like this, not with the insistent way Tom’s hand milked their cocks together.
As Tom hugged him tighter still, Tyler felt the freedom to let go to his lover. When Tyler felt his balls draw up tight, he knew he was close.
“That’s it. I can feel how close you are,” Tom said. “Come hard for me.” Tom stroked harder, faster, his own cock hot, living steel pressed against Tyler’s shaft as he fucked Tyler’s mouth with his tongue.
Without even trying to hold back, Tyler felt his juices explode up through his cock. Tom’s moans answered his as he felt the other man’s cock pulse and throb against him, their cum coating both of their bodies. His hand fell still and his tongue changed from invasive to gentle explorations. As they caught their breath, Tom’s other hand slid up Tyler’s back and fisted in his hair.
Tom lifted his mouth from Tyler’s. “Cleanup time, buddy,” he whispered. “Who’s my good boy?”
Tyler opened his mouth wide, moaning softly as Tom’s fingers slid between his lips. He eagerly sucked, smiling inwardly that Tom had used the edible blueberry-flavored lube. He spent long, satisfying minutes licking his hand clean before sitting up and pushing Tom back so he could lick their mixed seed off his lover’s belly.
Tom stroked Tyler’s hair. “Such a good boy,” he whispered.
Tyler crawled up the bed and kissed him. “Thank you, Sir.” After a quick trip to the bathroom for a dry towel and a warm, wet washcloth, he cleaned up, wiped down Tom, then curled back in bed with him.
Tom slung an arm around him. “Think you can sleep now?” His voice already sounded drowsy, drifting.
“I’m sure I will, love.”
* * * *
Even with Harley’s comforting warmth snuggled in bed with her, Nevvie got little sleep. She turned the Weather Channel on again and couldn’t help watching Edgar’s inexorable progress toward Tampa. Before dawn arrived, she walked Harley, started a pot of coffee, and took a mug into the living room to watch the weather on the big TV.
Laurie walked out in her pj’s. Without a word, she curled up on the couch with Nevvie. She hugged Harley to her chest while Nevvie hugged Laurie to hers.
Nevvie had vowed she wouldn’t spend the whole day watching and worrying, but she couldn’t help it.
* * * *
The power went out a little after 5:00 a.m. Friday morning and didn’t come back on. Tom waited, counting, then relaxing when the whole-house genny eventually kicked in and took over. He sat up and got out of bed and, with John’s help, started walking around the house, unplugging everything that didn’t need to be plugged in. The less drain on the genny, the longer the propane would last.
“Is the cable still on?” Tom asked John.
“Yes, surprisingly.”
“All our lines are buried in the development. I expected to lose electric because of the feeder lines going down, but cable might stay up longer.” He picked up the house phone. Silence met him. “Landlines are down.” He picked up his cell phone from where he left it on the counter to charge and called Tyler’s phone. He waited, staring at Tyler’s phone on the counter. Finally, after three rings, Tyler’s phone began to ring. He immediately silenced it. “Wonder how long cell towers will last?”
“Probably not much longer,” John said. He’d turned the TV and cable box back on and pointed at the radar image. Across the bottom of the screen, a crawler scrolled with information about various neighborhoods. “It’s a strong Cat 4, with Cat 5 gusts at the eyewall. Now they’re saying the eyewall isn’t going to make landfall until sometime late this afternoon.”
“Shit.” Outside, the wind was already rushing past the metal storm shutters, punctuated by howling gusts. “We’re in for a long day.”
“They said there’s flooding reported in a lot of places. Including Town ’n’ Country.”
“I’m sorry,” Tom said.
John shrugged. “Not much I can do about it. We’ve got insurance.” He scrubbed his face with his hands. “I’m going to tell Nevvie to go ahead and get Laurie registered for school up there. There’s no reason to drag her back down here when I don’t even know where we’re going to live.”
“Well, for starters, you always have here,” Tom insisted. “And we don’t know for sure your house will be badly damaged.”
“During the four-o’clock report, they had a reporter out on Tampa Road, less than a half mile from our house. He had water up to his knees. He was standing in the middle of the road.”
“Oh. Shit.”
“Yeah. Exactly. In my head, I think I’ve already written it off as a total loss. The good thing is, we’re used to moving. Kelly grabbed the important stuff like pictures and keepsakes that we can’t replace. We can buy more furniture and clothes and crap like that.” He patted Tom on the arm. “Since you’re up, I’m going to try to grab some sleep. Wake me if you need me.”
Tom stared at the radar picture on the TV. Edgar was a weather monster of truly Frankenstein proportions. The newscaster repeated the very thought running through Tom’s mind.
“…and this is the worst-case scenario emergency officials have been warning residents of for years. If you haven’t evacuated yet, officials say you must hunker down in place and wait out the storm. Fire rescue will not be dispatched after six o’clock this morning due to the high winds. If you are experiencing flooding, try to evacuate vertically into your attic, but make sure you have a means to escape if the water reaches that high. Officials recommend taking an ax or sledgehammer and breaking a hole in the roof for escape…”
Tom heavily sat on the sofa and watched.
* * * *
Tyler cooked breakfast for everyone. The cable blipped out for a minute a little after eight in the morning, but came back on. Tom wondered how many more of those blips would happen before they lost it for good. They still had water pressure, and had stocked ten five-gallon jugs in the garage, as well as several flats of bottled water. Their three rain barrels in the yard were likely already overflowing, and if necessary, they could use that for flushing toilets.
There wasn’t much they could do but wait and worry. Tom walked the house, checking for roof leaks. Around four in the afternoon, he used the ladder to crawl up into the attic access and shone a flashlight around. So far, so good.
But they hadn’t even experienced the worst of the storm’s wrath yet. Latest predictions put the eye making landfall around eight that night. And they still had to survive the back side of the storm. The eyewall had grown in size and developed a classic “stadium” look on satellite. Which fascinated the hell out of the weather forecasters, but it sucked for those of them stuck riding it out and not in a comfy station hundreds of miles from the destruction.
The only good thing was it looked like they would miss the eyewall. It was set to cross several miles south and east of them, marginally putting them on the “good” side of the storm.
Not that there was anything good about a storm this size. Coastal communities all the way south to Ft. Myers were reporting storm surges, although not as devastating as the one hitting the Tampa region. Several shots of downtown Tampa showed streets completely awash and flooding reaching past the first floors of buildings.
They lost cable a little before four that afternoon. It blipped several times before snow filled the screen. Tom turned it off and unplugged the TV and cable box. “Guess we’re stuck with radio.”
They put the battery-operated radio in the middle of the coffee table. One of the stations was simulcasting the local NBC affiliate’s storm coverage. Everyone gathered around it, listening as the winds howled outside.
* * * *
Nevvie took little comfort from the frequent texts she received throughout the day from Tom, Tyler, and her parents.
We’re fine.
House fine.
Don’t
worry.
Incredulous, she looked at that text from Tyler. Don’t worry? That was like asking her not to frakking breathe. Pot calling kettle black? she started to text back before deleting it.
Getting snippy with him wouldn’t help anything.
She let Adam talk her and Laurie into playing a video game with him, which at least got the radar off the TV and took their minds away from the storm for a little while. Andrew made everyone lunch and brought it out to the living room instead of having them turn the game off and eat in the kitchen.
After putting Adam and Mikey down for their naps, Nevvie turned the TV back to the weather. Laurie sat with Harley in her lap, hugging him as they watched.
“Our house is going to be destroyed, isn’t it?” Laurie softly asked.
Nevvie didn’t know what to say to her. She was too old for false promises. “I don’t know, sweetie.”
“We’re in the flood zone.” She pointed to a map being displayed on the screen. The Weather Channel was helpfully uplinking the Tampa NBC affiliate’s satellite feed to the world.
“You sure you girls want to be watching this?” Peggy gently asked.
“Yes,” they said in unison. Then they smiled at each other before laughing.
Even Peggy smiled. “I reckon it’s not real hard to see y’all are sisters.”
* * * *
The wind picked up. Tom thought it sounded like a thousand screaming banshees swirling around their house, punctuated by the occasional thud of something hitting one of the shutters. But with the exception of a couple of minor leaks around the plumbing vents, the roof held. He had no way of knowing how many shingles the wind had already ripped off, or how many more they’d lose, but at least the decking remained secure.
For now.
For most of the afternoon they played cards and other games, like Scrabble and Monopoly. Tyler made everyone dinner at five. They ate in the living room, gathered around the radio and listening to the newscasters talk about the storm.