Storm Damage - C.P. Smith Page 0,35

looked almost wild as he searched the bar for someone who wasn’t me.

Chance had always been an enigma to me. Native Americans valued family and tradition to the exclusion of almost everything else. They protected Mother Earth and her resources while trying to preserve their dying way of life. They’d never been savages, no matter what the history books told you. They’d been protecting their land against European intruders, just as the white man had protected his when he thought they were being threatened, yet Native Americans were deemed savage for doing the exact same thing: protecting their families and way of life. Family and tradition were the most important things to all First Nations tribes, yet here he stood, ready to take from his only living relatives because his father had poisoned him against their mother.

As if my threat mattered little to Chance, he ignored my outburst and kept scanning the bar. His searching stopped and his eyes grew even wilder in the low light of the bar. Then he tipped his head back and thundered, “Kenzie!” followed by an ancient native battle cry that sent chills running down my spine.

Logan moved in front of Chance when he took a step forward, stopping Chance in his tracks. Then Ty moved in next to Logan and crossed his arms in the universal man speak for ‘not a step farther.’ One by one, the rest of the bar patrons formed a semi-circle behind them both, pushing me farther back with each step until I was standing next to Kenzie and Jordan, with Max at my side.

Chance scanned the crowd in front of him and sneered. You could tell he thought everyone in front of him was beneath his notice.

“I guess Chance found out about our fundraiser,” Kenzie said blandly. “Good. Maybe he’ll choke to death on his anger.”

Jordan snorted her agreement.

“Let me through,” Chance ordered the crowd in front of him, glowering as if his spoken word was law.

“You’ve got a hell of a nerve coming here,” a voice rang out.

“Not on our watch,” another joined in.

“Think you own everything,” a woman shouted, “but not us!”

I noticed Duke was leaning against the bar with a beer in hand, looking bored. When Chance tried to push through Ty and Logan, and they forced him back with the bulk of their bodies, I expected Duke to get involved. Instead he turned his back and took a deep pull from his beer.

“So that kiss?” Jordan asked with a chuckle.

I ignored her. I was too concerned with the state of play in my bar to give her question any thought. Besides, I hadn’t had time to process it yet.

“I knew when he walked inside the diner this morning, he’d be a man who took charge. If you get tired of him, Skylar, throw him my way. I’d love to take him for a test drive.”

My attention was fixed on Chance—and all the ways I could fillet him like the shark he was—but her implication made its way through my rage.

“Wait, I thought you’d already slept with Logan?”

Her mouth pulled into a smirk. “I work fast, but not that fast. Besides, he turned me down two minutes after we met. All he wanted to talk about was you.”

I blinked, caught off guard by her answer, but I didn’t have time to process that bit of information because Chance suddenly threw a punch at Logan—which he blocked like the trained soldier he was—and received an uppercut for his trouble from Ty in the process. Then all hell broke loose as every man and woman seemed to descend on Chance at the same time. I lost sight of Logan when the bar emptied before my eyes and the fight spilled out onto the street, leaving Kenzie, Jordan, Duke, and myself alone.

Duke glanced my way and smiled, then toasted me with his beer.

“Shouldn’t you break that up?”

“Break what up? I had my back to the room and didn’t see anything.”

I looked at the women standing beside me and grinned. “Works for me.”

“Sooo, about that kiss?” Jordan asked again.

I glanced at Kenzie. If I was going to process the kiss, I needed to be absolutely certain about Logan and her. “Breakfast was at the diner, not at your house?”

She nodded. “He came in while I was there, right after Josh and Jake fought.”

“And all he did was talk about me?”

“It was twenty questions about you and your brothers. Jordan can fill you in. She was there.”

Jordan nodded in agreement. “The