“No, I wasn’t put in charge.” I turned to Vern. “Who guides us during our chases? Who gets us results?”
Vern ground his teeth but didn’t speak.
“How many times have I been wrong?” I glanced between Lex and Noah.
“You’re not perfect,” Lex piped in. “You’ve made plenty of mistakes.”
“You busted expensive gear tonight,” Noah added. “If you were going to fuck off on your own, the least you could have done was record it.Didyou record it?”
Was my entire team against me? I glanced at Elliott, but he didn’t look any more pleased than the rest of them.
“You know what? Fuck all of you. I’m here to chase tornadoes, and the only people who saw any action tonight was us.” I thumbed at Gale.
“I bet.” Jazz’s nose wrinkled as he scanned us up and down.
Momentarily confused, I stared at the fucker. When my comment and its alternate meaning sank in, I launched at Jazz, tackling him to the ground. We crashed hard, and I landed one decent punch before two people pulled me off, wrenching me upright by the arms.
“Stop, for fuck’s sake,” Lex yelled.
Jazz came at me, but Roe stepped between us, blocking his path. “Enough.”
“You mouthy motherfucker.” I yanked against my restraints. “I’m so sick of your shit. You’d better watch your fucking back. I’m going to kick your ass.”
“Why are you so mad, Devereaux?” Jazz shouted around Roe. “You’re making it more true. It ain’t no secret Gale’s a little—”
“Shut up. Both of you,” Noah yelled.
Blood roared in my ears. I glanced at my captors. Lex and Vern.
“Are you finished?” Lex asked.
“Let go of me.” I gnashed my teeth.
“Not until you chill,” Vern said.
I glared daggers at Jazz, issuing a warning without words. This wasn’t over.
Only when I visibly calmed and stopped pulling did Vern and Lex release my arms.
Olivia took charge. “Charles is meeting us here in the morning, no thanks to you. He’s pissed. Told me to let you know to meet him at the diner at eight.”
“Fine.”
“Everybody get some sleep.”
Olivia held my gaze as the group dispersed. I earned more dirty looks as they scattered to their rooms. The camera crew remained—God forbid they miss a moment of drama—but they must have seen something on Olivia’s face and backed down, retreating to the command center.
Olivia was the last one to walk away, but not before checking in with her brother.
“Gale?”
“Go. I’m fine.”
Only when Olivia vanished into her room did I turn to Gale. He wore a look of distress and stared into the distance at the command center.
“They’ll get over it, and I’ll smooth things out with Charles tomorrow.”
The camera crew had filmed the argument and my attack on Jazz. It would give him the drama he was looking for and hopefully mitigate his animosity.
