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 that 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