Storm Damage - C.P. Smith Page 0,60
with a shove. He threw Logan a look filled with menace before righting his jacket and looking back at Skylar. “Tell my sister I’ll see her soon.”
Logic and control disappeared at the threat to Skylar and Logan started to advance. Kenzie appeared out of nowhere and shot between them both, one hand on each of their chests. “Take your grief and leave before Chace sees you acting like a fool.”
Chance seemed surprised by Kenzie’s interference then narrowed his eyes. “You would protect this man over the father of your son?”
“I protect family. Something you should have done for Chace and me.”
His lips drew into a lethal grin. “This man is not family.”
“Logan belongs to Skylar,” Kenzie argued, “so Logan is family. You should remember that the next time you go after her. Family’s the most important thing, Chance. No matter what your father taught you.”
Bear’s face blanked at the mention of his father, and before Logan could move he raised his hand and struck Kenzie across the face. A blur of black hair and green football jersey shot past Logan, as he pulled Kenzie out of harm’s way, taking Skylar’s brother to the ground. Kenzie cried out, “Chace, no!” but the teen, who was the spitting image of Chance, didn’t listen. His fists hammered into Chance’s face in quick succession before his friends crowded around to pull him off his father.
Thirteen
Spiraling
HIS HAND SHOOK as he wiped blood from his nose. Rage overshadowed all other emotions while he stared at the football field in his rearview mirror, fueling his hatred to new heights. His wife and son were surrounded by the townspeople. They were coddling them, protecting them. The same people who’d turned a blind eye in his youth when his father had disciplined him, beaten him with a heavy hand, were now surrounding his family to protect them from him. Where had their concern been all those years ago?
A haze of red clouded his sight as he watched until a harsh voice echoed in his head, it’s anger and disappointment drowned out all other noise.
“You’re weak, just like your mother.”
Chance ducked, but his father’s hand still connected with his head. “Sorry, Papa.”
“You’re lucky I kept you, boy. She never wanted you. Left you behind without looking back.”
His heart sank like it always did when his father reminded him, he’d been unwanted. His mother had only wanted his father’s money so she could run off with another man, and when she’d stolen enough, she’d left him behind. Forgotten about him then married her lover and had a daughter who looked just like her.
Chance threw off the memory and looked at his reflection in the mirror. “All lies.”
Lies confirmed by his father the day he took his last breath.
Resting his head against his seat, Chance let the last memory he had of his father crowd the others out.
A single light burned in the downstairs bedroom his father had taken over when his ALS had taken his ability to walk. Chance sat at his bedside reading Moby Dick out loud. The night nurse was in the kitchen eating her dinner while Chance watched over his ailing father. As he turned a page, he caught a flicker of movement. Looking over at his father, he noticed Justice was using his tablet. Typing slowly with a single finger that still moved. Chance waited as time ticked slowly, curious what his father wished to say.
Five minutes later, his father tapped a button on the tablet, and it spoke for him. “Mother,” it said, “All lies.”
“I don’t understand?”
His father tapped the tablet again, his eyes heating from within.
Chance looked at the tablet and thought about the words he’d typed.
“My mother?”
Justice’s finger slowly moved across the tablet to tap the YES function and the mechanical voice rang out.
Chance felt a coldness begin to settle inside, bitter like the long winters in Montana. What was his father about? Was this a last attempt to control and humiliate him? “What were lies?”
Justice tapped the tablet.
The cold running through his veins raised the hair on his arms as the only explanation became crystal clear in his mind.
Chance growled his next question. “Are you saying that everything you told me about her was a lie?”
Justice stared back at his son with no emotion, then fumbled to tap the YES function again. When Chance raised his attention back to his father’s face, he saw joy staring back at him.
“She didn’t leave me behind?” His voice cracked.
His father’s eyes danced with satisfaction as he