Jordan returned with his plate of pancakes. She laid them down in front of him, then leaned against the wall next to his chair, and crossed her arms like she was settling in.
“Don’t you have a grill to clean?” Kenzie snipped.
Jordan raised her hand to stop Kenzie from talking further. “I’ll get back to work just as soon as I find out if Storm here is gonna help Skylar.”
Some would say he had no business getting involved because of his own fucked-up head, but he didn’t care. From the moment he walked up to Skylar’s truck, something had changed. The thread of his thoughts had morphed. Instead of being absorbed with pain and guilt, he was focused on someone else. On their problems instead of his own. Focused on light green eyes that made his cock strain inside his jeans in a way it never had before. He wanted Skylar, that much he knew, but he’d also been trained to serve and protect. He’d failed his unit, his brothers, that night over a year ago, maybe he could help save the James family and find some peace along the way.
“You want Storm to help?” Kenzie laughed the words out in amusement.
“Someone has to, and he’s got the shoulders to take on anything that comes his way.”
“Is that why you’re here, Storm?” Logan didn’t confirm or deny her question. The less anyone knew, the better. Kenzie’s eyes grew wide at his silence. “Don’t tell me you have a thing for little Miss James.” Her laughter quieted the room quicker than a gunshot. “Chance will crush you if you get in his way, so do yourself a favor, honey, and listen to me. Spend the day at my house then hit the road for greener pastures. Skylar doesn’t need you to protect her. Not when she’s got Ty Austen watching her back.”
Logan blinked. Jordan had made it clear that Skylar and her brothers were on their own, so the knowledge another man might have some claim to her hit his gut in a flash of anger. In the same place reserved for his guilt. “Who the fuck is Ty Austen?” Logan growled before he could think better of it.
Kenzie smiled in triumph. “A big burly jock, much like yourself. He’s the local grease monkey, and Skylar dated him in high school. They’re very close.”
“Dated. As in past tense,” Jordan jumped in quickly, looking at Logan. “She dumped him before she left for college to make a clean break, but that doesn’t stop him from hanging around the bar and terrorizing any man who looks at her. He’s so convinced she belongs to him; it wouldn’t surprise me if he tried to take advantage of this situation once he finds out what’s happened. And with Skylar in an emotional state, it could work.”
The tightness in his chest seemed to expand the more Jordan spoke, and he recognized it for what it was. It was the first time since Afghanistan; he felt something other than pain and guilt. Jealousy drowned out the echoes of his brothers’ ghosts and settled in his stomach like a hot piece of lead. Hearing about Ty made him wonder if Jake’s comment about Skylar having enough to worry about included her ex. She was tiny; stood no more than five foot three if his guess was correct, so the thought of some man steamrolling over her made his hands curl into fists.
Both women seemed to be waiting for him to answer some unknown question. He looked between them and went with his gut. It had kept him alive all these years, so he wouldn’t ignore it now. His instinct was telling him to stay in Ennis, Montana. That finding Skylar on the side of the road was no coincidence. He wanted her plain and simple.
“I’m here for Skylar.”
Jordan’s face softened with relief at his announcement, while Kenzie scoffed and stood to leave. “Call me if you get bored with little Miss James.”
“Aren’t you bored already?” Logan asked, as she turned to leave. When she looked back at him, he raised a brow in challenge. “Seems like helping Skylar and her brothers would be a way of sticking it to your ex. You wouldn’t be bored then.”
Kenzie chuckled at first, then considered what he’d said. Her lips pulled slowly into an evil grin before strutting out of the diner with a swing in her hips. He watched her through