by CP Smith
“Jake, your mouth.”
He looked at me like I’d lost my mind. “We have thirty days to figure this shit out or we’re homeless.”
I swallowed down the fear threatening to overpower me. He was right, we had to figure this out and quick. “I’ll talk to Matt at the bank. We’ll get another loan.”
“He’ll just buy it again.” Josh said this with so much finality, it about killed me. He was too sharp for a fifteen-year-old. The smartest of the three of us, if truth be told. A little too guarded as well—and stealthy. He’d make a great CIA agent the way he stalked around in the shadows.
“Then I’ll go to Bozeman. He doesn’t have that much power. He may run Madison Valley, but he’s not the biggest shark in the ocean. I’ll find someone he can’t strongarm to give me a loan.”
At least I hoped I could. I wasn’t sure banks loaned money to twenty-three-year-olds without a ton of credit. Everything we had was in my father’s name, so I hadn’t built any. Thankfully, being a small, locally-owned bank, Madison Valley Bank had let us keep making payments on the existing loan without changing over the name. I wasn’t sure someone who didn’t know us would do the same.
“What about the CD?” Jake asked. “We could get student loans for school.”
I shook my head. “It isn’t enough.”
“How much do we still owe?”
It might as well have been a million dollars. “Two hundred thousand.”
“What? After twenty plus years?”
My stomach rolled with the anxiety attacking my system. I had no choice but to tell them. They needed to know everything so they could help me figure this out. “Dad put the land and house up as collateral when he bought the bar, so it’s not just the house we’ll lose if I can’t find the money.”
“Are you saying that dickweed holds the note to everything?” Josh asked. “That if we can’t pay, he’ll get the land, the house, and the bar?”
I rolled my lips to keep from screaming. I had to figure this out. I wouldn’t let my brothers down. We’d already lost too much. “Don’t worry about it, that’s my job. I’ll work it out somehow.”
“You can’t do everything, Skye,” Josh bit out. “Ask those fucking people who are supposed to be our grandparents. Where have they been when we needed them?”
In Florida, living off the money Justice Bear gave them to heal their son, is where they were. They hated my father and never looked back once my mother died.
“Don’t cuss,” I sighed, rubbing at my temple.
“Don’t tell me what to do,” he raged in a burst of anger, then punched the dash twice before Jake grabbed his hand.
“Chill, Little Bro,” Jake warned.
We were entering the town’s limits, so I slowed for the stop sign. Their school was five blocks from the bar, so they usually walked unless the weather was bad. With everything going on, I drove past the bar and kept going. I didn’t need them causing a scene. The town was already concerned I couldn’t handle raising my headstrong brothers. If they fought on the way to school, I’d never hear the end of it.
“I want to walk,” Josh hissed. “Stop the fucking truck.” I opened my mouth to argue, and he shouted “Now! Godda—”
Jake’s arm shot out, and he wrapped it around Josh’s neck and mouth, silencing him. “Do not fucking talk to her like that.” Jake’s voice dropped so low he sounded like our father.
I pulled into a parking space in the middle of the town and threw the truck into park so I could handle them without hitting someone. As expected with those two, fists began to fly and I started shouting at them in panic. People on the sidewalks turned to look at the commotion, their eyes bearing down on me as I dodged arms and legs.
Between their curious stares, the out of control fight, and our lives falling apart around us it triggered my flight or fight response. I’d been holding on to it by the skin of my teeth since our father died, but the dam burst. Adrenaline pumped through my system in waves, speeding my heart rate to a thundering pace, paralyzing me instantly with fear. This was my worst nightmare come alive. That in the end I’d fail everyone, and we’d be forced to split up.
I tried to force air into my lungs to gain control, but it felt like I was in a vacuum being sucked down a dark hole with no end in sight. I needed to move to burn off the excess adrenaline and felt my hand reaching for the driver’s door and escape.
How had we gotten here? How had everything gone to hell in a moment’s time? It wasn’t bad enough we lost both our parents before we were ready to be on our own. Or our only living grandparents ignored us to fend for ourselves while I worked twelve-hour days to keep the lights on. Now we had to worry about losing everything. And with winter only days away, that meant no tourists. Our income was about to be cut in half for the next seven months. If I didn’t sort this out quickly, we’d have no home and no income. The boys would end up in foster care because I couldn’t provide for them. I was so scared, it felt like the darkness was winning, and for a brief second, I was ready to let it pull me under and not come up for days.
They said God doesn’t give us more than we can handle. What they don’t tell us is your absolute limit might be the rockiest of bottoms with the sharpest edges. And every one of them will seem insurmountable to climb.
Amongst the town’s concerned glances and the grunts of pain swirling through the cab, I curled my hands into fists and tried to gain control of my heart rate as panic crested and tried to drown me. I couldn’t let my brothers down. “Please . . .” I whispered the word so softly I wasn’t sure I’d said it. When the town’s florist started heading our direction, I felt like I was suffocating and forced out with everything I had, “Please, God. Please don’t forget about us.”
Neither Jake nor Josh heard my prayer, they were too busy attacking each other, their own fear for our future fueling their ire. When they shoved me into the door and I hit my head on the window, I snapped out of the vise-grip panic had over me and tried to break them apart before the town got involved. Reaching over Josh, I tried to pull his arm back from Jake’s neck, but he jerked, and I got an elbow to my jaw for my trouble. I cried out as stars burst behind my eyelids and grabbed my face just as my door was ripped open. An arm made of steel wrapped around my waist and pulled me out of the cab as I tried to clear my head. Before I could get my legs underneath me, Logan Storm set me behind him out of harm’s way, then reached in and hauled my baby brother out of the truck with little effort. Josh’s arms swung wildly, while his legs kicked out at Jake with little effect.
“Stand down,” Logan barked, when Josh tried to get back inside, blocking his way.
“Fuck you!” Josh shouted at Logan, his voice cracking with so much emotion it hurt to hear. “And fuck you, too!” He tossed Jake the finger.
Jake threw open his door in response, but instead of intervening I stood frozen in shock while the scene played out in front of me. Logan reacted quicker than I’d seen a man move, when Jake came barreling around the front of the truck like a linebacker, ready to take down an opponent. One moment he was between Josh and me and the next he had Jake pinned to the ground with a knee to his back like my brother weighed nothing at all.
And I watched all of it with quiet detachment.
Instead of being angry this mere stranger had manhandled my beloved brothers, I was relieved. I was too drained from being the glue that held us together to move. So damn exhausted with the constant worry I would screw things up, I began to shake with relief someone else had stepped in.
I watched Logan glare at Josh with intensity, while Jake struggled to get up, and I said nothing through it all. I couldn’t if I tried. My brain had shut down with overwhelming fear for our future.
“Both of you, take a good fucking look at Skylar.”
Josh stared in shock at Logan for a moment, almost in awe of how quickly he’d restrained his older brother, then slowly turned his attention to me and winced. It appeared I’d found the rockiest of bottoms and couldn’t s
hut off the tears. In the middle of Main Street, with dozens of people watching, I’d hit the jagged boulders that’d been threatening to destroy my control. They’d shredded me with their sharp edges and were slowly bleeding me dry.
Josh took a step toward me, but I shook my head, holding up my hand to ward him off. I would lose it completely, if not irrevocably, if my baby brother, the one I was supposed to protect and care for, comforted me. Failure was not an option. I’d promised my father I would keep us together, and I would not break my word to him. I just needed . . . I scanned the street looking for cover, a place I could let go so I could regroup. The bar was half a block away, so I turned on wooden legs and fled before I lost all control in front of my brothers. They needed me to be their rock, and I wouldn’t let them or my parents down.
Three
Storm Warning
“LET ME UP, Storm.”
Logan barely heard the teen as he followed Skylar’s retreat. The steel he’d seen in the truck had vanished, replaced with a sense of frailty so acute it killed him to let her walk away. His instincts told him to follow, but he fought against them to deal with her brothers. She needed time alone to regroup, that was clear. Logan understood that better than anyone.
He pulled his attention away from Skylar’s retreat, noting she had headed to the Big Sky Saloon, and looked down at the teen in his grip. He had a bloodied lip and the beginning of a shiner. He may have been the older of the two, but the younger one was no slouch.
“You keep hold of your temper, and I’ll let you up. If not, I’ll restrain you again.”
He nodded, so Logan released him. He stood slowly, then spun in a circle searching for something. “Where’d Josh go?”
Logan turned to look where the kid had been a moment before. He was gone. Disappeared like a ghost. “I’m assuming he’s your brother, and Skylar—” he jerked his head in the direction she’d gone “—is your sister?”
“Skylar . . . fuck.” The words held so much pain; you could almost taste it on the air.
The kid started to move the direction his sister went, but Logan stopped him with a hand to his arm. “I think she needs time,” he mumbled low. “You wanna tell me what’s going on?”
“Nothing. Just more shit to add to our fucked-up lives,” he growled, jerking his arm from Logan’s grip, then headed for their truck and leaned inside, pulling out two backpacks.
“I never caught your name.”
The kid slammed the door and shouldered the packs. “Jake,” he finally replied after a long moment. “You need to stay away from my sister, Storm. She’s got enough trouble without some stranger just passing through messing with her head.”
Logan grinned slowly. The kid hadn’t missed his reaction to Skylar. “You don’t need to worry about your sister.”
“Keep it that way. The last thing any of us need is another problem.”
With that parting comment, Jake turned and headed down the street. Logan watched him for a block before scanning the road for Josh once more. The kid had vanished like smoke.
He looked in the direction of the bar and took a step toward it, the need to check on Skylar overriding his need for food, but Max barked from inside his truck, reminding him he had other responsibilities, so he walked over and let Max out. The dog started sniffing the street, following the trail of an unknown scent like he had for Logan’s unit, then promptly relieved himself on the tire of an old truck.
Logan stared at the bar, trying to decide how much time to give Skylar. He was about to head that direction, the burning need to check on her outweighing his better judgment, when a young woman with dark curly hair bolted from a car and ran inside the bar. It looked like the cavalry had arrived, so he let it go for now. He would check on her once she’d had time to calm down and rehash what happened with her friend.
“Breakfast,” Logan called out, and Max came to a Heel at his side instantly. He walked the short distance to the Bear Trap Grill and put Max in a Down before he went inside. He obeyed immediately, lowering his body to the ground. Max was used to being left outside while Logan ate. He’d brought the war dog home with him from Afghanistan when he left. Max was one of their four-legged team members who provided sentry when they were in the thick of it. When he’d lost half his unit in a surprise attack, including Max’s handler, Logan had taken control of the war dog until they could both be deployed home. When he discharged from Delta Force six months ago, he’d requested Max be as well. After four years as a sniper in the elite unit, Logan had the respect of most on Capitol Hill, so they’d honored his request.
When he opened the door to the café, everyone turned to look at him with speculation. He was used to being sized up. At six foot four and two hundred and forty pounds, he knew he was intimidating. But today, it wasn’t his size that kept their attention. He knew they were wondering about the altercation outside. Small towns loved gossip, and this one looked to be no different.
A young waitress, who looked to be about Skylar’s age, approached him with a menu in one hand and questions in her eyes. Short and blonde like Skylar, she also had an all-American look about her. But unlike Skylar, this different version of the girl next door didn’t make his blood burn with want. There was no spark like there had been with Skylar. If his brothers were still alive, they wouldn’t have believed him if he called and told them he’d found the motherload of American beauty in a single small town.
“Just you?”
He nodded then followed her to a table for two in the corner of the room. He sat with his back to the wall out of habit. Years of training wouldn’t allow him to leave it vulnerable, even in a civilian establishment. Once seated, she handed him a menu and put rolled up utensils on the table. Then she waited for him to look at the menu with her pencil in hand, an order pad poised at the ready.
Logan looked up and raised a brow. “Coffee, first. Please.”
“Do you know Skylar and her brothers? Because I’ve never seen you around here.”
Every fork in the place stopped moving at her question. He could’ve heard a pin drop while the mostly full café waited for his answer. The direct approach seemed to be the town’s tactical move, but he wasn’t going to play along.
“No.”
She cocked her head and studied him. “But Jake called you, Storm. Said it twice like he knew you. Is that your last name?”
Logan scanned the diner. These people didn’t bother to hide the fact they were listening. Every head was twisted his way. Some had turned their chairs so they could watch him.
He looked back at the waitress. She had a name tag pinned to her blouse. “Jordan, is it?”
Her eyes grew a little until she looked down at the tag and grinned. “That’s me. Jordan Reay.”
“Nice to meet you, Jordan. Can I get a cup of joe?”
“You can once you tell me how you know the James family.”
“Who?”
“Skylar James and her brothers. You just wrestled Jake to the ground for goodness sake, and he called you Storm. Is that your last name or first?”
Jesus. She was the town gossip.
“Last. About that coffee . . .”
“They’re basically orphans, you know. The whole town keeps an eye on them to make sure they’re okay. So how do you know them?”
His brow furrowed. “Orphans?”
“Yep. They’re all alone in this world, except for that asshole half brother of theirs. Their mother died giving birth to Josh, and their father was diagnosed while Skylar was away at college. He died two years back, so she’s raising the boys until they’re ready to be out on their own.”
The haunted look on Josh’s face rolled through his memory. There was guilt mixed in with the pain. Whatever was happening with Skylar and her brothers, the kid felt responsible for it in some way.
“So are you here visiting them? Are you a friend or something? An old boyfriend of Skylar’s from college?”
“Or something,” Logan said with a smile, hoping th
at would be enough. “I’ll have coffee and blueberry pancakes.”
Jordan didn’t seem appeased by his answer. She studied him a moment longer then looked at her pad and wrote down his order. Before turning to leave, she hesitated, then leaned down until she was close enough to whisper, and said softly, “Those boys need a firm hand. They don’t have a father to guide them, if you get my drift. No one wants to see them split up, but rumor has it Chance Bear is gunning for them.”
Hackles rose on the back of his neck at the implied threat to Skylar and her brothers. “Who’s Chance Bear?”
Jordan looked over her shoulder, and Logan followed the direction her eyes traveled. A stunning woman with raven-black hair was sitting alone on the other side of the room. Her bone structure and skin color said she was part Native American. She was dressed to kill in a skintight dress and mile-high heels, and she was watching Logan with a hungry look he couldn’t mistake.
“He’s their older half brother and the richest man in the county,” Jordan said when she turned back to him. “He hates them because he thinks Sarah, their mother, left him behind. Well, that’s what most of the town thinks, but I think he’s just mean and rotten like his old man is. Or was, that is. Chance’s father died in the middle of the night, and the whole town is talking about it.”
The memory of Skylar and her brothers sitting on the side of the road, staring into nothing as if their world had just ended, rose to the surface. “You said he was gunning for them?”
Jordan nodded then leaned in a little closer. “Rumor has it he bought their loan at the bank. He now holds their whole world in the palm of his hand. Their land. Their house. Even the bar. If they don’t pay him off in thirty days, they’ll lose everything.”
The expression on Skylar’s face when he walked up to their truck slammed into his head and anger bubbled to the surface on swift wings. He gritted his teeth and flexed his hands to hold his reaction close to his vest. “And they can’t pay, is what you’re telling me?”
She shook her head in rapid-fire jerks. “They do well to make it through the winter. There’s no way they can pay back two hundred thousand four hundred and fifty-six dollars and thirty-three cents, with interest compounded daily, in thirty days.”
