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People start asking Tyler about Javi.
The first time it happens, Tyler expected it. Dani had posted to their socials about the El Reno tornado. A picture of them all, truck and all, in the field they found Kate. They were grinning and dirty, flashing exhausted smiles at Ben’s camera.
Boone is hanging onto Tyler’s neck so tight, and Lily and Dani were practically in each other’s laps. She captions it shortly ‘still alive’ and links the usual sites and donations for tornado survivors. She and Boone are already planning their fundraiser livestream for later in the week, and Tyler listen to them with exhaustion pulling him, his fingers still bruised where he’d gripped Lilly.
It's only later when they’ve been put through the EMT’s and he’s witness to Kate and Javi quiet fretting over each other’s bruises, that Tyler finally looks at the post.
The picture is good, if a little grainy. It’s not meant to be anything but an assurance they’re all still alive. But the comments are already distracted.
There’s plenty about Kate, he knew there would be. Boone’s caught her on the livestreams and Tyler isn’t ashamed to say he gushed a little about her ability to sniff out tornadoes on a live one evening. Most of the comments are excited to see her in the group photo, even more begin speculating if she’s joined them. Which, he’s not gonna lie to himself and say he hopes she doesn’t.
He does forget that Javi is also in the photo until he reads a comment asking about him.
Who is the guy in the white shirt? I don’t recognise him
He looks back at the photo. Javi is sat in the dirt, his shirt soaked through and hair plastered to his head in haphazard ringlets. One hand grips Kate’s tightly, the other is buried in his lap. He’s looking at the camera, smile awkward and Tyler remembers how it shook when they finally got to Kate collapsed in the field. Boone’s free hand is clamped on his shoulder. Dani is leaning up against him. He looks oddly like he belongs there, and it’s obvious to their followers that he wasn’t just a random guy.
Which is gonna be interesting to work with for the next few days.
Tyler shuts his phone off and let’s sleep take him whilst Boone parries the more invasive commenters.
At the hospital the nurses ask him if Javi is a friend. It’s conversational as they make sure the bruising on his leg is just that. Javi is hovering between his bed and Kate’s, waving off every nurse’s attempt to get a look at the bruising on his side.
Tyler can’t help but hesitate at the nurse’s question, unsure what exactly Javi is. Friend seems maybe too strong, but he doesn’t dislike him. And he wouldn’t really call him a rival, or even a fellow chaser.
He’s Javi. He’s Kate’s friend. He’s running around in Stormpar uniform but he didn’t hesitate to rush into El Reno alone to help.
He's by Tyler’s bedside getting messages from Dani updating him about the rescue efforts. He’s fielding a call from a frantic Cathy on speaker, and she’s calling him sweetheart whilst Kate smiles at him like she’s found something new in the way he paces the room.
In the end, the nurse takes his silence as confirmation, and tells him he’ll be alright, just sore for a long while. To take it easy on his leg. And then she’s turning to Javi, who shrinks away at her scrutinising look.
She takes him out the room, practically pushes him into getting a check up of his own whilst Kate laughs at him.
And then she turns to him, and they’re alone for the first time. She’s got stitches on her brow and her face is reddened from the wind but she’s smiling at him. She says his name, and Tyler forgets what exactly Javi is to him.
Dani asks next, a throw away question as they’re pulling things from the trucks in the late morning. They sorting through what’s still good from El Reno and what got damaged or broken. Kate is at Cathy’s, who had shooed Tyler away to be with his crew assuring him she’d still be here when he came back.
He’s not being grumpy about it. He’s just bored of folding shirts.
Dani’s got an armful of blankets and peers around them to watch him closely. He’s perched on the edge of the open seat of his truck, leg propped up against a pile of merch boxes. Lilly’s keeping an eye on him from a distance, and Dani is watching it happen all amused.
There’s a crease in her brow now though, and she saunters over to him, settling the dirty blankets on the roof. He blinks up at her.
‘You heard from Javi?’ She asks.
He shakes his head. Cause honestly, he’d forgotten about Javi since the chaos had settled. He’d gone with them to Cathy’s, but had taken off all too soon after dinner. Since then Kate’s barely mentioned him, though her gaze keeps sliding to the empty notifications on her phone. ‘Not really. I don’t have his number anyway.’
‘Boone does,’ because Boone has everyone’s number, ‘he say anything about him? Kate?’
He shakes his head again. ‘Why the interest?’
‘No reason really.’ She shrugs, bundling her blankets back into her arms. ‘Just worried I guess. I thought he was a goner in that fire twister, guess I just wanted to check in. See if he’s dealing alright.’
Tyler’s not entirely sure Javi knows how to deal with things anywhere close to alright from the little he’s seen between him and Kate, but that’s none of his business.
Dani rolls her shoulders, one of the blanket trailing along on the concrete behind her. ‘I better get these to the laundry then, want me to take Lilly?’
‘Please.’ Tyler says, all too quickly. Her medical concern is getting stifling. ‘Wanna take the seat covers too?’
‘Boone’s got a plan for them.’ And she hoists her blankets high and waves down Lilly.
Leaving Tyler and his merch boxes, his own cartoonish face staring up at him. The red on the sleeves is vivid and overwhelming, and he thinks for the first time about the horrors of being in that overturned truck on the road beside the factory.
Wonders how alright Javi is.
The next time someone asks him about Javi, it’s on the fundraising live.
It’s a couple of days later, and they’re set up in a small circle in the parking lot of a motel just a couple miles out from El Reno. Kate’s second plane left that morning and Tyler’s not been moping about it all afternoon, despite what Dani says. They’ve set up a small live this time, just talking and playing games around the tin barbecue in the middle of their camp chairs. There’s a couple other chasers out, but they’re all tucked into their own groups, and the Tyler’s already promised them it’ll be a quiet event.
He's been banished to his chair, his leg still aching and bruised from the water tower. Dexter and Dani are on food duty whilst Lilly divvies up a set of playing cards.
Boone has custody of the camera, swinging it every way. They’ve promised a Q and A if they can raise five thousand, and every now and then he ooes at a donation and thanks them out loud.
It’s halfway through a game of rummy that a car peels into the parking lot and comes to a stop in a space a couple feet away. The running commentary comes to an abrupt halt as the headlights flick off and no one leaves.
It takes Tyler a moment to realise it’s Javi’s. The Lion is still dirty, mud splashed up the back windows, one of which is cracked from slamming into the road.
It’s not until Boone apologises to the stream for going quiet that he realises they’ve all been staring at the dark interior.
‘No worries, guys! Just some maniac in a truck.’ Boone laughs, picking up another card and groaning. ‘Lilly, this is rigged.’
‘Just cause you ain’t good at it.’
Tyler watches a shadow shift in the car. Javi hadn’t joined them to storm chase after Kate’s delayed plane, drowning in meetings for Stormpar. He hadn’t been able to see Kate off the second time either, so Tyler hasn’t seen him in a few days. There’s been an odd flip of concern in his stomach about it, but Javi and him have barely exchanged more than a couple words to each other alone.
Besides, he’s still not sure of the guy’s morals, even if Kate assures him he’s sound.
Still, when five minutes go by, then ten, then half an hour, and still Javi hasn’t gotten out of his truck he makes a decision. Setting his cards down next to his half eaten hotdog, he eases out his chair quiet as he can.
‘Oi!’ Lilly snaps, hand on his arm right away, ‘sit back down.’
‘I’m just gonna—’
‘—you ain’t doing shit on that leg,’ Lilly cuts off, ‘sit down Tyler.’
Tyler already knows the camera has swung around to capture the two of them mid stand-off. But something about Javi being alone in the dark of his truck for so long is unnerving him, and really it’s just a couple steps away. He’ll be fine.
Dex comes to his rescue, eyes on Javi’s dark truck too. ‘Go on Lilly, he ain’t going far.’
Lilly purses her lips. ‘Why’d you care bout him?’ And it’s not unkind, if a little curious even. They all are, Tyler knows. Because Javi came in out of nowhere, without his partner, and weathered the tornado with them. There’s more than a little curiosity about the guy, but she’s right. He’s made no move to talk to them outside of Kate.
And still, something don’t feel right about leaving him alone.
‘Just a minute.’ He says, begs almost. ‘Lilly, promise I won’t do nothing weird.’
‘You’d better not!’ Boone cheers, far more energetic than he has a right to be at nine at night. ‘And be back soon, we just hit four thousand, and questions have started building up!’
Tyler grins, before pulling himself fully out of his chair, and Lilly’s death grip. His whole body still aches, but a short shake of his leg deems it safe to walk on.
Except he only makes it a couple steps before another Stormpar truck pulls into the lot. Behind him the Wranglers go quiet again. It pulls in right in front of the Lion, looking comically like a western stand off. The door is shoved open with the engine still running, and Scott Miller gets out, a face like thunder. He slams the door shut, and the truck backs up and leaves.
Tyler watches in shock as Scott marches up to the driver’s window of the Lion and knocks.
‘Javi!’ He snaps, too loud to be friendly. ‘Javi, open the door.’
There’s a pause, then the quiet click of the lock and the door opens abruptly. Scott stumbles back, practically frothing at the mouth.
Javi unfolds himself from the front seat. He’s dressed in shorts and a t-shirt, pulling a jacket out with him and shrugging it on in the cool air. In the shoddy neon light of the motel sign, he looks tired. Hair frizzes out like he hasn’t washed it in a while, and there’s a tiredness to the way he slouches against the open-door frame. He says nothing, just stares at Scott blankly.
‘So that’s it.’ Scott says finally, voice carrying in the quiet night. ‘All of this work and you pull out for—for what?’
Javi sighs. ‘What we were doing, the funding? It’s unethical Scott. You have to see that right? I never wanted to profit from people’s lives being torn apart.’
Scott scoffs, reaching to shove the door shut. Javi holds steady.
‘Didn’t stop you when you signed the contract.’ Scott snaps at him, and Tyler sees the guilt practically bleed out of Javi at the words.
‘I’m gonna be real with you Scott, I barely felt anything when we started Stormpar. I barely read anything, which is on me and I never should have put that much trust in the guy. We should never have trusted him the way I did for so long.’ He runs a hand down his face, shutting his door softly and coming up to Scott slowly. ‘I just wanted to help, that’s what we wanted right?’
‘We were helping.’ Scott says stiffly.
‘Not in the right way. Not in the long term.’
‘So what now, we just don’t help at all? Is this what you and your morals want?’
Behind him, Javi hears the other chasers in the parking lot quieten. He’s not sure if Javi and Scott have even noticed the rest of them watching them like their own personal drama. Scott seems wholly focused on getting answers out of his partner, whilst Javi barely looks aware enough to have the argument.
He’s staring at Scott now though, something unsure taking on his features. ‘It’s not a bad thing to have morals, Scott.’
Scott stays quiet, his chest puffed. Eventually, he says, ‘I need the truck back.’
Javi blinks. ‘What?’
‘Lion. I’m taking it back.’
‘It’s my truck. I bought it.’
‘It’s company branded.’
‘It’s my truck.’ Javi repeats, irritation creeping in. ‘In my name.’
Scott laughs, like they are sharing a joke. It’s bitter and angry and puts Tyler on edge. He takes another step forward, wondering if now is a good time to intervene. A hand around his forearm stops him, and he turns to see Lilly shaking her head at him.
Scott takes a step towards Javi, who stubbornly holds his ground. ‘Should have thought about that before quitting.’
‘You don’t get my truck just cause I quit,’ Javi says lowly. The air seems to change, go hot and stifling despite the gentle breeze. Tyler hadn’t known Javi had quit; he’d assumed he was trying to find new sponsors the past few days.
A newfound respect blooms in his chest, an interest in this new version of Javi he hadn’t seen yet. A version he suspects Kate is much more familiar with.
Scott on the other hand, rumbles with anger, prodding a finger into Javi’s chest. ‘You left me in the middle of the road during a tornado to die. I get whatever I want from you.’
‘I didn’t leave you to die.’ Javi snaps back, something dangerous flashing in his eyes. ‘I called the others, the storm was heading the other way. You would not have died.’
Scott pokes him again, bulldozing his argument. ‘Wouldn’t be the first time you got your crew killed, would it?’
Tyler heard those words before, albeit paraphrased out of Javi’s own mouth. Tinged with terror and anger and bitterness that only years of grief can handle. He’d seen them directed at Kate, going too far too fast and he’d watched as something broke between them.
He’d watched days later as it snapped back together with averted gazes and stilted apologies. He didn’t know the kind of grief Javi and Kate shared, or what parts of them opposed each other but he knew no part of Javi felt good holding it over her.
Maybe that’s why he can’t bring himself to dislike the guy.
Here though, Scott’s blunt tone, the way he’d reached for the kill when intimidation didn’t work. Tyler knows there will be no apologies exchanged here.
He doesn’t know much about the circumstances of Kate’s old crew’s deaths. Beyond the fact that it was out of her control, that it was horrific and it weighed on her even now as she enjoyed the chase. He had stubbornly refused to search up anything related to her old crew online. It dawns on him now, he has no idea what Javi’s role in it had been.
Speaking off, the chaser’s face went a grim shade of grey at the comment. He seemed to have stopped breathing, still in the shadowed from the neon signs as Scott’s words settled over the parking lot. He looked like a statue, a blank far off look in his eyes.
Tyler was seconds away from marching over and intervening when Javi jerked back to life.
His limbs moved frantically, pulling open the door of Lion harsher than necessary and pulling from the foothold a beat-up duffel and laptop bag. He slams the door, startling Scott a few steps back, and practically throws the keys at Scott. ‘Take the fucking car then.’
‘You’re fired.’ Scott says evenly.
‘I already quit, Scott.’ Javi spits back, loud enough for the whole parking lot to hear, arms spread wide as shoves past Scott and heads towards to front desk. It’s news to the rest of them too, if the quiet murmuring behind him says anything. ‘I fucking quit.’
‘You’re making a mistake. What are you going to do without Stormpar. Who’ll take you after this.’
‘I know what a mistake is. I’ve been making mistakes for years now. This? This ain’t shit.’
And he’s gone. Duffel and laptop bag in tow he practically stomps up to the motel desk and the slamming door echoes out in the empty lot.
Scott is still stood there, keys in hand looking up at the Lion with a face like a slapped arse.
Tyler can’t help himself, whistling low ‘Ey, think he told you to leave.’
Scott turns to him slowly, the flickering motel sign lights up the stress creased into his brow. His usual sunglasses are clipped neatly to his shirt pocket, but even without them his face is frustratingly impassive. ‘Get out of my business.’
‘Hell of a public way to deal with your business. What? Can’t handle Javi there having more balls ‘an you?’
Scott scoffs, but the shifting of his weight gives him away. The beeping of the Lion unlocking announces his departure. Tyler stares him down as he folds into the front seat, watches him pull out the parking space and all the way back down the road until his shadow is gone along the horizon.
Behind him, Boone whistles. ‘You looking for a fight or something Tye?’
He wasn’t, but the thought of punching Scott’s impassive smirk off his face is an appealing thought. He’d given Javi the benefit of doubt when they’d met, shamelessly because of Kate he will admit, but Scott had been an instant dislike. Mutual probably. The moment he’d seen him saunter up to Riggs and start hassling a family still searching for their eldest son in the rubble, Tyler had declared war on him.
The rest of the Wranglers had all come together in that same dislike in that moment, and the fact that Javi even made it through the initial wave of distaste for Stormpar as a company really did say something about his character at least.
The motel door swings open again, much quieter this time, and Javi practically runs up the stairs to the balcony levels. He makes it to the door at the very end and disappears inside.
The whispers start up again.
A weight swings over his shoulders, frizzy hair tickling his jaw. Boone rocks into his peripheral, a plate filled with hotdogs, burgers and a single overfilled smore balanced in his other hand. ‘So, we gonna go crash a pity party or…’
‘Yeah.’ Tyler grins back, unsurprised to find Boone already cheering. ‘Yeah, come on.’
‘We’ll meet you up there!’ Lily yells as they leave. She Dani and Dexter are gathered around the mess of cards they’ve left on the little tin table. She turns back to the other two who are already arguing quietly, a stack of cards each wielded like guns between them.
It’s a long time until any of them realise the stream is still going.
Javi’s room is on the second floor, his door is scuffed around the lock and there’s a slither of light below that tells them he hasn’t passed out on the bed at least. Tyler knocks, Boone bobbing on his heels behind him.
Javi doesn’t answer.
Tyler knocks again. ‘It’s Tyler.’
‘And Boone!’
There’s a pause and then the door clicks open and Javi peers up at him through half lidded eyes. ‘Can I help you?’
‘Nah.’ Boone says, hoisting plate of food high above his head. ‘Can we come in?’
‘Oh.’ Javi blinks, looking a little more awake. He hasn’t looked at Tyler yet, focus on the plate Boone is offering. ‘Sure? Lemme just—yeah come in.’
Boone grins, all teeth and sweat and Tyler realises they probably stink after a long day of vehicle maintenance and sitting in the smoke from the barbecue. His friend marches into the room like he paid for it and already sets up on the tiny coffee table by the radio.
Tyler is left blinking at Javi, who blinks slowly back. His eyes are red, wet at the corners but otherwise he looks fine. Tired. His jacket and shirt have come off, leaving him in a thin vest and jeans. There are towels on the end of the bed and his wash bag is out.
‘Didn’t mean to interrupt.’ Tyler apologises as he too ducks into the room. ‘We just thought you might want some company, after all that.’
‘All that.’ Javi repeats sullenly. ‘You saw that.’
Tyler feels for the guy. ‘Kinda hard not to, you two weren’t exactly quiet.’
‘Yeah.’ Javi agrees absently. ‘Sorry.’
Boone tuts, practically jumping on Javi, hands on his shoulders and angling a blinding grin down at him. ‘Nah, that was badass.’
Javi frowns. ‘Losing my truck?’
‘Quitting.’ Boone corrects helpfully. ‘Cool shit.’
‘Thanks.’ Javi lingers by the open door, peering out. ‘Umm, are you all coming up?’
‘That alright?’ Tyler asks, knowing it’ll happen anyway.
‘Sure.’ Javi says, in that same confused blankness. ‘Do you guys mind if I just, if I shower real quick. I just—’ he flounders, eyes darting around the room before coming to rest on a spot behind Tyler’s head with a sigh, ‘—it’s been a long day.’
Tyler nods, and Boone gives a cheery thumbs up from where he’s perched on the unclaimed twin bed nearest the tv. Javi mumbles a thanks and escapes into the bathroom. A minute later the water switches on, and Dani ducks into the room.
Tyler sees the bad news written on her face. ‘What happened?’
She grimaces, ‘We left the stream on,’ She explains quietly, gaze flicking to the bathroom, ‘they couldn’t hear the fight but—’
‘—they saw it.’ Tyler finishes for her. ‘Damn.’
‘The chat was blowing up.’ She holds the door open as Dexter and Lilly shuffle in, cards and the rest of the food in hand. Lilly’s holding the tablet they’d been using with an apologetic look.
‘Some guys recognised him from the group shot. Someone else recognised the Stormpar truck. It’s a whole thing.’
Tyler hums. It’s not the first time a livestream caught something it wasn’t meant to. They don’t exactly have a studio set up on the road, so there’s always a risk of something going wrong in an uncontrolled environment. It'll blow over, but he's not going to kid himself into thinking it'll be smooth.
The worst part about this though, is that it’s their own fault. Getting so caught up in the exchange they’d forgotten to shut it off, or even just turn it away apparently. He sinks down onto the end of Javi’s bed, the mattress too thin beneath him. ‘Do we tell him?’
‘We can’t not.’ Boone argues, peering over Dexter’s shoulder as he lays the cards back out, this time in six piles. ‘He’ll figure it out when people start harassing him online.’
Tyler grimaces, knowing just how far people will go to find Javi online, any trace of him. He’ll still be on the Stormpar website likely, and he doesn’t know about his socials, but he can’t be too hard to find.
Briefly he hopes they don’t connect him back to Kate, and connect the both of them back to news articles five years old.
‘So we tell him. Then what.’
‘His decision.’ Dani shrugs, taking her plate from Lilly and settling cross legged on the rug. ‘He’ll probably take off, as long as we warn him he’ll be able to avoid it best he can.’
‘Yeah,’ Tyler says slowly, ‘‘cept he don’t have a car.’
That stumps them. Dexter winces, pulling his card piles back and reshuffling them when no one makes a move to play.
The water turns off and Tyler listens as the shower curtain shrieks on the railings. Lilly and Boone huddle together, the tablet blinking notifications up at them.
Tyler holds his breath as the bathroom door clicks, and swings open to reveal Javi with sweatpant on, an ugly yellow t-shirt ruffling his hair. He stares at them, mouth thin. ‘The walls are thin.’ He offers as explanation, flat.
‘We’re so sorry Javi.’ Tyler offers, leaning forward as Javi shuffles up to the bedside and pulls another shirt out of his duffle.
Javi shrugs. ‘Not the worst thing to happen to me today. Sides, not like they can fire me.’
‘Still.’
‘It’s fine. I mean, maybe. I don’t know. Can’t do anything about it now.’
Boone sits up, eyeing Javi like they’ve never met before. ‘You’re surprisingly chill about this.’
Javi pauses, dropping his hair t-shirt on the sheets. He looks even more tired up close, worse than Tyler remembers him looking at the airport. The past few days seem to have shaved off the openness he’d had immediately post tornado and Tyler is surprised to find himself missing it already.
‘I—umm.’ Javi’s shoulder come up about his ears, and the grip on his t-shirt goes white. ‘I dealt with some of the media when…after the EF5 with my old crew. It’s not really the same, but it can’t be much worse than the shit they tried to ask about back then. Really, it’s fine.’
None of them have anything to add to that, and Boone swiftly moves them on by offering Javi the plate of food and swiftly distracting him with their dropped game of rummy.
Still, Tyler can’t help but watch him. The way he starts of reserved, sat against his headboard with his plate. The way he leans in every time Boone says his name, every time someone asks him to join in. He’s fascinated by this Javi, quiet as he is cracking a hesitant joke.
He feels himself drifting off where he’s sat. at some point he and Javi swapped places at Lilly’s order, his leg supported on the mattress. Javi slid down to the floor, leaning against the bed with his head back on the mattress. The lights have been dimmed, and the laughter has gotten soft. Dexter is snoring away in the one chair in the room, and Dani keeps balancing cards on his knee.
Eventually, Tyler’s eyes slide shut, and he hears Boone broach the topic of Javi’s lost truck. ‘What’s your plan now?’
Javi hesitates, Tyler can hear the resignation in his voice as he says, ‘Not sure. Go home I guess. Find a job. Find a car. I’ll figure it out’
It all sounds painfully simple. And painfully boring. He doesn’t know Javi half as well as he’s gotten to know Kate, but he saw the matching glints in their eyes as the raced for the twisters. ‘Where’d you live?’
Javi presses his lips together.
‘Javi,’ Dani says, ever so slowly, ‘you have somewhere to live right?’
‘Yeah.’ Javi says, non-committedly.
Silence follows, and Javi sniffs awkwardly. ‘It’s fine. Like I said, I’ll figure it out.’
There’s shifting, sheets russeling where Boone was sat. Feet padding across the sticky carpet, then Boone says quietly, ‘Why don’t you come with us?’
‘What?’
‘Yeah!’ Lilly echoes, coming closer too. It takes all his instincts not to smile at the enthusiasm. ‘We can make room. You ain’t half bad Javi, you’d be welcome.’
‘I’ve got nothing to offer.’ Javi protests frantically. ‘Really, I’ll be fine. I don’t wanna intrude.’
‘Pfft, ain’t intruding if people invite you.’ Boone dismisses in that easy way of his. Boone never was one for self consciousness. ‘’sides, you got plenty to add. Never enough science nerds on this crew.’
Still, Javi doesn’t sound convinced. ‘Wouldn’t that, I don’t know, put you guys down or something. People are gonna figure out I worked for Stormpar. Hell I helped start it.’
‘Eyy, no no.’ Boone laughs, ‘if anything they’ll love it. Who doesn’t love a bad guy switcheroo. We’ve already hard launched you in the livestream, which sorry by the way.
‘Come on Javi, you don’t even gotta be in videos.’ Dani adds, and Tyler can imagine the scene, three of his Wrangler’s descending on a vulnerable Javi. ‘Let us help you get on your feet at least.’
Tyler can almost hear the wrinkle of Javi’s nose. ‘You’re sure about this? I’m not exactly in the best place to help much right now.’
The echoing agreement is all the answer he needs. ‘S’long as you can drive you’re plenty of help.’ Lilly tells him firmly. ‘Cause Tyler doesn’t know it yet, but I’m taking him out of rotation for a few days since he got all caught up chasing with Kate.’
‘You are not.’ Tyler protests, eyes flying open only to find the others blinking at him innocently. The room has dimmed even more, and there’s a sitcom running through laugh tracks quietly on the tv. ‘I’m fine to drive.’
‘A water tower fell on your leg.’ Lilly protests bluntly. ‘I beg to differ.’
‘I drove to the airport!’
‘Only cause you snuck off with the truck.’
Javi coughs loudly, and when Tyler turns to him he finds an intense gaze settled on him. He sits up, folding his good leg under himself to meet Javi head on.
‘Tyler,’ Javi starts, sounding like he’s holding his breath as he does, ‘Are you okay with this?’
‘Why not.’ He grins, ‘you’ve got nowhere to go, we’re offering you one. You don’t have to stay, but just letting you know Boone gets attached.’
‘I’m already attached.’ Boone corrects, poking his head over the top of Javi’s and settling into the damp curls. Javi winces, but makes no move to bat him away, instead just staring at Tyler as if he’s keeping secrets.
Which is fair, considering their history even before Kate. Tyler’s never made his dislike of Stormpar’s sponsor quiet, and Javi’s never exactly shied away from giving good as he got. But even then he’d never considered it hate. Difference of opinion would be the polite thing to call it, and still Javi had bought him and Dani burgers once stranded in a diner parking lot together.
Still, Javi doesn’t look sure. Despite the room being crowded and Boone making a nest on his head, there’s a dull circle of space around him that speaks to them all his discomfort. He’s eaten the food but keeps picking at the plate, distracted thwiping sounds as it flicks against his nails.
Tyler sighs, casting a glance at the shitty little clock on the side table. It read well past eleven in bright numbers. He pulls his trump card, laying his phone on the bed with the contact facing up.
‘I’ll tell Kate.’
Javi actually stops breathing. ‘Don’t.’
‘There’s nothing stopping me,’ Tyler reasons, inching his finger towards the call button. Javi watches it like it might blow up. ‘If you don’t wanna come with us you gotta explain to Kate where exactly you are staying and how you plan on getting there.’
‘Are you threatening me?’ Javi gapes, disbelief colouring his frown. ‘Are you using Kate to threaten me?’
‘I’m not above it.’
‘He just wants a reason to call her.’ Boone bemoans into Javi’s hair.
Javi ignores him, just staring at where Kate’s profile is displayed on the screen, a picture of her grinning from the top of Tyler’s truck.
For one second, Tyler thinks he’s overstepped and panics at the thought he’s unravelled the other’s luring success.
But then Javi sighs, and turns away, batting Boone off. ‘Okay.’ He says, resigned. ‘Okay.’
They get a noise complaint from the neighbouring room after that, and Tyler can’t help but stare at the flush on Javi’s cheeks as Boone and Dani dog pile him, Lilly whooping loud enough to wake Dex.
Yeah, he thinks, I’m still telling Kate.