Total pages in book: 66
Estimated words: 59659 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 298(@200wpm)___ 239(@250wpm)___ 199(@300wpm)
Estimated words: 59659 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 298(@200wpm)___ 239(@250wpm)___ 199(@300wpm)
There wasn’t a lot of bad in staring at Victor as he stood and looked for his clothes.
I just hoped the store was still standing. I didn’t know how I would handle it if it wasn’t. It would feel like one more piece of my life had been changed and destroyed, and I wasn’t exactly sure how I would respond. I just knew it wouldn’t be good.
19
VICTOR
The storm had finally seemed to stop, and the radio said that the tornado had dissipated. I could still hear the occasional sound above us, but I couldn’t tell if it was the sound of hail still falling or rain or if more debris was crashing down still.
I was worried about Melanie.
She seemed to have taken the prospect of the damage to the store really well, keeping an optimistic, almost silly attitude about it. I tried to join her in that, hoping that if I matched her energy, then we could take things as they came to us and not fall apart when we got up there. I wasn’t sure it was real.
Falling into bed with her was something I absolutely did not regret. The heat between us had been off the charts, and I was certain that we would have ended up in that situation sooner or later, regardless of if we’d gotten stuck together in a shelter, hiding from the storm.
The intensity of it, the danger and fear made everything more urgent, charged with passion and excitement. It built up so much pressure that we didn’t have much of an option when the powder keg exploded between us. It was organic and honestly, the best sex of my life.
However, I worried that she might have regrets if the store wasn’t in decent shape. Unfortunately, I had no reason to believe it would be. It sounded like the tornado had passed directly above us and hit the store pretty hard. I was going to be happily surprised if our cars were even still in the same zip code, much less the parking lot. If Melanie went up there and saw everything that she had ever worked for was destroyed, that the store her family built was obliterated, I wasn’t positive how she would respond.
She was sitting on the couch and smiling at me as I pulled my jeans back up. I smiled back and caught her eyes trailing from my zipper up my body to my face. I didn’t mind her looking. I’d done my share of that while she was getting dressed. But part of me worried that she would compartmentalize everything that happened in the bunker and that she would think it had been a mistake. That falling into each other’s arms was something we’d only done out of fear.
As soon as I finished dressing, I crossed the room over to her. I offered my hand, and she took it, standing up beside me. I could see her face drop a little as she did. We were going to leave the confines of our little cave. It was sad and scary, but it had to be done. I led her to the stairs, and we began making our ascent.
Once I unbolted the door and tried to open it, I realized something was blocking the way. I gave it a shove, but nothing budged, and I stepped down a step to give myself better leverage. Whatever it was, it was heavy but finally seemed to be moving. On the last shot, I shoved hard enough for the door to fling open, and we caught our first glimpse of the sky above us.
The roof was gone.
Or at least it was mostly gone. Bits of it, torn and jagged, still hovered up there, missing whole chunks. Other pieces were hanging lower, into the building itself and dripping wet. I glanced around for any downed live wires that might electrify the water on the floor, but I didn’t see any. Tentatively, I put my foot down, and when I stood, I could see most of the damage through the window of the backroom door.
A whole chunk of the east wall was missing. As I went through the door into the store proper, it took my breath away to see how thoroughly the tornado had ravaged the building. It looked like a bomb had gone off. Displays and racks were scattered throughout the store, almost none of them even close to where they had been. Doors were torn off freezers and lay on the floor, racks of clothes were strewn all over, and toys and knickknacks were scattered all along the aisles. I became fixated for a moment on a pair of jeans hanging from a beltloop along a steel beam in the ceiling, looking like someone had been raptured right out of their pants.
A cash register was near the door leading to the back, the monitor, till box, and everything. It inspired awe at the power of nature.