Gale shrank in his seat, cheeks taking on color as he hissed, “Olivia, don’t.”
“Explain,” Dennis said, staring at Gale.
“He has a degree in atmospheric science.”
Under the scrutiny of CineVision’s CEO, Gale couldn’t have looked more uncomfortable if he tried.
“Huh.” Dennis rubbed his chin, a wide grin spreading across his face. “Good to know.”
Returning his attention to the laptop, he found whatever he was looking for and clicked. A new page filled the screen. A list of names. A ranking system created by suit-wearing network bigwigs who thought they understood what it required to chase storms.
To my utter shock, Olivia’s name occupied the number one slot. My blood boiled. Although my name occupied the second slot, I burned at the audacity that these people thought that she was a step above me. Me! A dedicated chaser for six years. How the fuck was she better? Did it really come down to a pretty face?
Vern’s caustic shout filled the room, and only then did my fury clear enough that I scanned the rest of the list to see who Dennis and Charles’s proposed top five included outside Olivia and me.
Roe, Noah, and Elliott.
Vern and Lex had been shafted for Olivia and Roe? How was this fair? In what universe?
“This is already inaccurate,” Dennis started to say.
“Fucking right it is,” said Lex. “If you axe me, you don’t get Black Bug, and she’s the reason we can get as close to the storms as we do.”
Unfazed, Dennis continued. “Factoring in Gale’s education, I feel he should be included in this top five.” Then he proceeded to draw a line through Elliott’s name and penned Gale in the space beside it.
The room exploded into chaos.
“He’s never chased a storm in his life,” Lex yelled.
“You’re putting three Wind Riders onto your show? What happened to experience?” Vern shouted.
“We have a solid following. We aren’t newbs,” Roe retorted.
“What is wrong with my videography skills? Just because I didn’t study film doesn’t mean I’m incapable,” said Maggie.
“Why are you breaking us up?” demanded Olivia.
“Fuck this fucking bullshit,” said Jazz.
The only person not crying about the injustice was Olivia’s brother, who looked like he wanted to vomit or for the floor to open and swallow him alive. When he caught me staring, I thought he mouthed, “I don’t want to do this.”
I had as many protests as the rest of them, but it was clear that Dennis didn’t want to hear any of it.
What the fuck were we going to do?
Without a proper plan, without thinking it through, I pushed from the table and stood, raising my voice over the racket. “Everybody shut up. I have a counter proposal.”
The room fell silent.
I didn’t look at CineVision’s CEO, who seemed to have a hard-on for pretty Miss Windrow, or the producer, who was clearly partial to Twisted Fates and would have probably liked nothing more than to send the Wind Riders packing.
I looked at Olivia, who seemed confused to have attracted my attention. Endlessly watching her channel, I’d discovered something about her. She might appear like the innocent girl next door, but she was a firecracker, and I suspected she would fight for her Wind Riders with the same ferocity as I would for Twisted Fates.
“We don’t want our groups broken up, do we?” I had to trust she would take my side.
Olivia held my gaze a beat, working her jaw and narrowing her eyes before responding. “No. We don’t.”
I turned to Dennis and Charles. Their suggestion would not frighten us off. They didn’t want other chasers. They wanted us, but we would not cave to their demands. We would stand tall and fight for what we wanted.
