Page 32 of Day of the Storm

“Houston is at the station and plans to stay as long as needed. Boston’s place took some serious damage, Caspian and Lanthom were heading to our place. Dante and Nolan are grabbing Boston on their way. We… were waiting for you to check in. You and A.J.”

“She was trapped beneath some rubble for a while. I couldn’t leave her there. You know… big brother responsibility and all.” His words were casual, but she would never forget the fear on his face while they searched for his sister. How much he had been hurting.

“Sit. It’s going to be a few hours until we can get you in, son, but I am damned glad you are here.” Just like that, his dad practically yanked him close and hugged him. Mike just huggedhim right back. The emotion on both men’s faces struck her hard.

He definitely was not the callous jerk she had thought he was. Not at all.

14

It wasa lot longer than a few hours. When Daryn finally made it to Shelby’s house in Hughes Heights—the one she’d inherited from Logan Lanning—Daryn was exhausted. Mike limped at her side.

He was going to need a week or two of rest and crutches, but he’d be ok. He’d suffered minor damage. That had exacerbated when he’d been climbing over rubble, searching for the injured.

They’d both be ok. They’d ridden out the storm and come away with bruises. While others had lost everything. She would never forget that. It was nearly two a.m. when they finally made it up Shelby’s winding driveway to the mansion far too big for one woman to live in alone. There were lights on in the windows. All the windows.

Shelby probably always would be afraid of the dark. Daryn wasn’t any better.

She knocked on the door with an open palm. Her other hand carried the pain pills Mike had been prescribed at the hospital and filled at the pharmacy in that same hospital.

Darrell was the one who opened it.

He’d showered and was dressed in trousers and a FCGH polo that she knew definitely was not his.

Logan Lanning had been a world renowned surgeon. A very wealthy one. He’d left almost all of it to Shelby. The rest had been split between Shelby’s brother and a charity for kids with a particular heart condition.

No one fully knewwhy.If Shelby did, she wasn’t saying.

“Shel’s sleeping. I don’t know about having Mike here. It’s just going to upset her.” Darrell crossed his arms over his chest like he was going to block Mike from entering. Of course he would. Darrell had always been protective of the women he cared about.

“He can’t get home tonight, Darrell. He’s staying with me.”

That was something she was going to insist on. She’d make it right with Shelby if she had to. But she wasn’t about to turn Mike out into the night.

Just… not tonight. Not after the hell they’d all been through.

“I won’t cause her any trouble,” Mike said quietly. He was pale. In pain. They were at their last limits. Daryn knew that with every fiber of her being. She just wanted a soft bed—after a shower.

“It’s ok, Darrell. Mike can stay,” a quiet voice said from behind her. “I haven’t been to sleep yet.”

“You need to rest,” Darrell said, gently. “Before it hits you. Because then you won’t sleep again for days. All of you. All of us. It’s going to stay with us for a long, long time.”

Daryn nodded. She knew. Her brother had told her about the emotional toll of disasters before.

Tomorrow it would be time to rebuild. To heal.

But never forget. Tonight… would be the nightmares.

Darrell left a few minutes later. He was goingbackto the TSP building to help. They’d lost people tonight—including twowomen she’d worked with for months. That hurt too much to think about tonight.

Shelby told Mike he could take one of the guest rooms, but she didn’t know what was in each room. Shelby had only had possession of the house for a little while. And she’d not stayed there before since taking possession. Today would be the first.

The TSP had kept it as material evidence. Banning Shelby from the property. Just making things difficult for Shelby. Until their friend Zoey, a sheriff with the TSP, had threatened to get her brother-in-law involved.

Her brother-in-law, the governor. The cousin of Elliot Marshall, the police chief. One of the very men Shelby had saved tonight. Zoey had known exactly how to play the leverage she possessed. Zoey would move mountains for Daryn or Shelby. No matter what she had to do.

“Thanks, Shelby. I owe you for this,” Daryn said as her friend found her something of Logan’s for her to sleep in. And some toiletries in one of the guest baths. Daryn desperately needed a shower. Mike, too.

Shelby had clothing for him, too. From Logan Lanning’s closet.

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