Hell of A Storm (Twisters Tyler x OC)

Chapter 16 - Scared of Nothin' but Scared to Death

Sorry this took so long... I know that makes me sound like a broken record, but I wanted to make sure this came out the way I originally intended it to.

All errors are my own ;)

I didn't take the bus back the next morning and chose to ride out the rest of the Wrangler's 'tour' with them. Tyler had asked me if I still wanted to leave the morning after, and I admitted the thought was still there, that maybe it would just be easier to go back and let them finish. He had insisted that it wouldn't be easier, at least not for him. He tried to apologize again for the actions after the tornado, but I quickly stopped him. We knew whatever we were, whatever this was, it was going to be work for both of us, for us to trust each other completely, let our walls down, know each other's fears and insecurities... and I wanted to know Tyler, and staying with his team, his family, helped me see and understand the man that I had come to care for deeply.

Time went by faster than expected and before I knew it, we were at Mrs. Carters house for a final farewell barbeque for Kate and myself. Despite my decision to stay, to take the job in Arkansas, I still had yet to tell anyone outside of Kate. I was able to figure out a tenant for the remainder of my lease and a co-worker offered to pack up what was left in my apartment and send it to me. The Little Rock office had already figured out housing and I was expected to be there in the next week to talk with my new boss. All of that aside, the plane ticket still sat on the end table of the guest room and still carried a heavy weight with it. It wasn't like I didn't want to tell Tyler; I did, I wanted to tell all of them, but something about saying it out loud made the whole thing more real.

"What are you waiting for?" Kate asked me and I sighed, shaking my head.

"I don't know... for him to realize I'm more work than worth." I shrugged.

"Please tell me your kidding." She shot me a look and I instantly regretted voicing the thought. "Maybe if we had just met him, I would humor you, since he was pretty show-boaty when we met him, but after the last few weeks..."

"But that's just it, the last few weeks it's been hard, I have been difficult. I mean I dragged his team into a massive F5 tornado that now haunts them..."

"You didn't lead them they chose to go." Kate interrupted but I waved off her comment.

"Stole and totaled his truck..."

"I stole it, and it wasn't totaled." She chimed in again.

"He basically took care of me while I healed..."

"So did Boone, Javi, Lily, Dani, my mom..."

"Will you stop that." I glared at her.

"When you say something that doesn't sound like you are trying to convince me of something that you are fabricating to self-sabotage a relationship with a guy who is head over heels for you...There's gonna be bumps Anna."

"There has been a lot of bumps." I said, rubbing my head. "I mean the whole tour thing..."

"I thought you talked out the misunderstanding and realized neither of you were wrong?" Kate stopped packing her bag and turned to sit beside me.

"It was after." I turned my head to look at her and she scowled at me. "Someone asked about us, me and you, and El Reno." I sighed thinking about two days ago. "Whatever Boone posted...someone recognized us from the papers five years ago and asked about it. It brought up a lot of conversation about my brother, Praveen and Addy and turned into a whole thing about if it was true, if we had dragged the wranglers into our experiment again nearly killing them..."