STICK TO ANNOYING YOUR HILLBILLY BOSSES.

SCOTT was so fucking annoyed, and it didn't help that every time he even slightly shifted, he felt the shallow scratches on his back, a reminder of what happened that had been eating at him all damn day. His day that started off shittily because he'd woken up in an empty bed, come to find out that was all Tyler Owens' fault somehow. Just like screwing up and not getting data from the tornado which led to a lecture from his uncle was Tyler's fault too.

And now, Scott was cursed by the presence of Himari — because StormPAR and the Tornado Wranglers were always in the same place at the same time. He'd never escape her.

It was so clear that she hated him now that she really knew who he was and what he did. And honestly, Scott couldn't blame her. He knew he had a shit personality and worked for a cruel man, constantly making excuses for Marshal Riggs because he'd raised Scott from a young age after his parents died.

In one day, all the happiness that Scott had accumulated from his night with Himari disappeared like smoke in the wind.

He sat on the edge of his motel bed, his head in his hands as he groaned in frustration. Only for there to be a knock at his door.

Deep down, a secret part of him was dying for it to be Himari on the other side of the door. But no, it was Javi, who had two beers in hand that he'd gotten from the convenience store down the street.

"I think you need this, man," Javi said, holding it out.

With a sigh, Scott nodded and let him into the room, taking the beer from Javi and twisting the top off. "I fucked up by fucking her."

"No, you fucked up by being an asshole after you fucked her," Javi pointed out, sitting on the edge of the bed with Scott. "I say if nothing is coming of it, just ignore her."

"Ignore her?" he asked with a frown. Just the thought of pretending Himari didn't exist sounded impossible to him when she'd been consuming his every thought all day — both the good and bad ones.

"Yeah, ignore her," he nodded. "Hate to say it, but she doesn't want anything to do with you."

"Well, I don't want anything to do with her either," Scott grumbled. "Should've known she was a dumb redneck like them when she came into the bar dressed like that."

Of course, Scott didn't really care how sloppily she'd been dressed the night before. In fact, he barely remembered what she wore except for the cowboy boots she'd still been wearing when he ate her out.

"We're just not gonna let her get in our way. Just like we try not to let Owens get in our way," Javi pointed out. "Don't let her under your skin. Sound like a plan?"

After a moment, Scott nodded before taking a short sip. "Should be easy."

☆︎

"Let's cross... these wires," Himari said, whispering with Lily as they hovered over a PAR. They'd unscrewed the backing and were peering inside while Boone held the flashlight and Tyler kept lookout.

"Nah, that'd probably fry the whole thing?" Lily said, shaking her head. They didn't want to completely ruin millions of dollar equipment. They just wanted to get under StormPAR's skin a bit. "Pull that one out. It should invert the image of the tornados on their receiving end."

"Nice," Himari chuckled while doing as she was told.

"Ooh, and I think I can fix it so that the numbers they collect on the wind speeds get sent to the wrong tablets," Lily said, just brainstorming little ideas to be annoying.

"You genius, you," she said, grinning now, watching as Lily worked. Then her eyebrows raised. "Or... you could send them to my phone?"

"Yeah," she nodded. "They'll be able to trace it though — piss 'em off a hell of a lot when they figure out this was us."

"I'll take the blame," Himari said gently. "I'm not an official Wrangler, so the brand won't be harmed. But I want them to know this wasn't some workplace screwup."

"You got it," Lily said, thinking Himari was pretty fearless. "One pissed off Javi and Scott, coming right up."

"Which is saying something, 'cause dad-gum," Boone said quietly. "That Scott fella really seems to hate you. But you did call him a pocket-protector wearing, gold-digging fascist trying to gentrify the state."

Himari chuckled, still quite proud of that even if it didn't hurt Scott's feelings — she figured he was heartless. "And even though I probably misused the word fascist, I shall not apologize. It was worth it to see that look on his face."

"Well, remind me not to piss you off," Tyler added, eyes on the motel still.

"Please, I wouldn't insult you," Himari said, rolling her eyes. "I'd just quit and leave you high and dry."

☆︎

Scott didn't understand as his eyes bore into the tablet. They'd just managed to get two of the PARs set up behind a tornado, and yet the image being rendered was a jumbled and inverted mess that was impossible to get readings from. Not to mention that half the necessary data never came into the program.

They were all parked and waiting for more storms at a huge truck stop in Oklahoma. Both the Wranglers and StormPAR were there, only a few yards separating the crews. And as Scott marched over to a PAR to check on it, Himari subtly watched from behind her sunglasses, sipping on a bottle of Coke as she did so.

"He looks mighty annoyed," Dani noted, coming to stand next to her. "Y'all really end up messing with it?"

Dexter hadn't wanted anything to do with the prank, and while Dani was interested, she opted to instead return to her room and call her girlfriend on her drive back from work instead, meaning she missed out.

"Lily is a genius when it comes to mechanical things," was all Himari said at first. She just kept watching Scott who was discovering the nightmare of wires that was left behind for him.

He began shouting at his coworkers, none of whose had answers for him. Then Javi joined him, trying to help solve the problem as he pulled up information on the tablet.

Finally, they found that some of the coding had been changed, displaying a phone number that the data had all been sent to. Scott frowned as Javi claimed to not know the number.

Scott moved slowly because he was angrily already suspecting the truth. He pulled out his wallet and removed the folded up note that had been on his nightstand the previous morning. And to his annoyance, the phone number matched exactly.

His head shot around, narrowed eyes on a smirking Himari. Dani whistled lowly and slid to the side as Scott stomped toward them, not wanting to be yelled at by the man.

"Howdy, Scott," Himari greeted cheerfully.

"What the fuck did you do to the PAR?" he asked angrily, his voice deep as he glared at her.

"You know, you should make that thing password protected or anyone could connect to the receiver inside it," she said coyly. Of course, she didn't really understand most of the nonsense Lily spouted off last night, but the way Himari understood it, it was like a public WiFi network — anyone could access it with their device.

Scott's jaw was basically wired shut with how hard he was clenching it. "Do you have any idea how much that equipment costs?"

"Well I bet your uncle can afford to fix it — not that it's broken."

It wasn't broken, Scott knew. He'd just have to fix the wires and re-enter the original code, which was saved on a backup drive. It'd take twenty minutes tops. But it meant their whole morning of chasing was wasted.

"Stay away from our shit," he ordered. "Stick to annoying your hillbilly bosses."

"Awe, but they don't get that cute angry look on their faces," she teased, grinning widely as she leaned in. "Besides, given the nature of your job, I thought you'd want a sample."

He peered at her in confusion. "Sample of what?"

"Of what it feels like to have your life ruined," she said coldly.

Scott huffed and crossed his arms, hating how he felt the scratches on his back. "Goddamn it, Himari, this is my job!"

"Yeah, I'm well aware of what your job entails," she said snidely. "It was nice talking to you, lowlife, but I've got actual important work to do."

"Oh yeah," he scoffed. "Flogging t-shirts and bandanas to losers without lives. I bet your professors are real proud of how you're putting those degrees to work."

God, a line of bandanas was actually a genius idea.

"As long as I can sleep at night," she shrugged while walking backward, heading toward the caravan where the others were gathered as Lily worked on the drone. "See you around, Scotty."

All of her crew gazed at her as she got closer, leaving Scott trembling in anger, him glaring at her back. When she got to them, Dexter was the one to clear his throat and break the silence.

"He looks like he's trying to melt you with heat vision," he noted. "It doesn't appear to be working."

"Yeah, I should hope it's not fucking working, Dex."

[ hehehe talented beautiful gorgeous smart sexy -illyrian made me a gif and I love it sm ]