by CP Smith
I puzzled over that. “You don’t think the fire was an accident, do you?” I pushed off him as my mind reeled with questions.
“I think—” he drew me back down on his chest “—that with Duke gone the fire wasn’t investigated thoroughly, so I’m making sure it happens, that’s all.”
I searched his face for the truth. I couldn’t read it. If he sat a hand of poker, like my father used to, he’d clear the table with how neutral his expression was. Which meant he was hiding something. I’d seen him in every mood imaginable in the past three days, and neutral wasn’t one of them. Something was always working behind his eyes, but they looked so bored at that moment, I’d think he wasn’t enjoying having me plastered against his chest.
“Are you hiding something from me?”
Logan rolled until I was pinned beneath him. Before I could draw breath into my lungs to question him more, he was kissing me so deeply my mind blanked. Then his hands roamed like a blind man. Not enough to be indecent with a crowded bar, but enough I knew I’d be worked up until the bar closed and I could have him all to myself.
When his phone rang, he broke reluctantly from my heated body and rose from the bed. I lay there as he answered, catching my breath. It took a full thirty seconds to realize he’d kissed me quiet for a reason. He hadn’t wanted me asking questions he wouldn’t or couldn’t answer. And the implications of that were staggering.
A million theories for his silence were rolling through my head when he signed off briskly from the call, turning to me. Instead of questioning him more, knowing it would do no good, I rolled off the bed and pulled my ponytail holder from the sheets to fix my hair. Logan was a tactile kisser. His hands roamed thoroughly, not missing much, including my hair. My ponytails didn’t stand a chance against him when he was in the mood.
“That was Greeley. He’ll be there in five.”
“How long do you think it will take?”
He glanced at his watch. “Depends on if we find anything. No matter what, I’ll be back to drive you home, so don’t leave the bar until I return.” He took a step closer and wrapped his hand around my neck, drawing me into his body. “In fact, from this moment on, I don’t want you unprotected until this is all settled.”
Hair rose on my arms. There was no humor in his tone. He was all business. A soldier in civilian clothing, but just as lethal. In that moment, I caught a glimpse of the man he’d been just a year before. A deadly sniper with ice water running through his veins.
“You’re scaring me,” I whispered.
He leaned his head down and rested it against my forehead, an act I’d come to treasure as much as the man. “I know. But better scared and by my side than the alternative.”
I swallowed hard, understanding him completely.
The alternative was ending up like Frank, Rip, and Duke.
Nineteen
By The Book
THE FIRE MARSHAL for Madison County seemed flustered as he melted the snow gathered inside the cremator. Logan stood to the side while he used an industrial-size heated blower to peel away the layers of snow and ice in order to preserve any evidence that might lay inside.
Greeley had been argumentative when Logan had called him. Said he was sure he’d checked the hollowed out shell of the cremator and that Logan was wasting his time investigating what had been ruled an accident. To the mayor’s credit, he’d intervened on Logan’s behalf and insisted Greeley head over immediately and assist the new chief of police. He may have interceded in an attempt to charm him into staying on the job once Duke’s disappearance was solved, but Logan didn’t care. He needed as many people as possible on his side, if his instincts were right. If Chance Bear, the county’s most powerful man, was involved in Duke’s or Rip Jackson’s deaths, it wouldn’t be easy to convince the local sheriff. Not with the amount of weight Bear threw around. He had to make an ironclad case against the man, or he would walk free.
Logan kept taking pictures as layers melted away inch by inch. Greeley glanced at Logan with contempt every time the flash went off. Questioning the man’s investigation had put Greeley’s hackles up. Logan was the newcomer to Ennis, so that made him an outsider. Outsiders didn’t question authority; they went along with the status quo. But Logan had more at stake than Greeley. Not only the safety of the town of Ennis, but Skylar and her brothers. He would question every step taken to determine the cause of the fire, so he didn’t fail Skylar like he’d failed his brothers a year before. If he was wrong, he’d gladly admit it and shake the man’s hand. Until then, he’d make sure anyone involved in the investigation did it by the book.
Footsteps sounded behind Logan, so he glanced over his shoulder and found the mayor trudging through the snow toward them. Greeley’s back stiffened when he noticed they had a visitor, but he didn’t stop. Like an archaeologist digging for a hidden dinosaur, the man carefully placed large chunks of snow that had fallen off the interior on a sheet he’d laid on the ground and began melting them further with a handheld blow-dryer. He’d give Greeley this much credit, he knew what he was doing.
“How’s it going?” the mayor asked.
“We’ll be at it all night at this rate,” Greely complained. “This is a waste of man hours, if you ask me.”
“We’ve got a body missing,” Logan stated. “You wanna explain to Chance Bear we can’t find his father’s body?”
Greeley cleared his throat and went back to melting the snow.
“He may not be missing,” the mayor interjected. “We’ve been unable to contact Mr. Bear to determine if he’d already picked up his father’s ashes.”
Logan wouldn’t argue with that. It was possible that’s exactly what happened. But he wouldn’t take any chances where Skylar was concerned.
A large chunk of snow began to dislodge from inside the cremator, so Logan reached in and caught it, then moved it to the sheet. He repeated this action over and over until the inside of the cremator was clear of snow. When the last large piece of ice had been removed, Logan pulled out his phone and began recording as he directed even more light inside. The hair on the back of his neck began to rise when his flashlight drifted across what looked to be a tooth in the back corner along with bone fragments.
“This is Chief of Police Logan Storm, along with Fire Marshal Max Greeley and Mayor Jordan Blake at K & L Mortuaries. We’ve got something in the back corner of the cremator, Mr. Greeley. Looks like a tooth and bone fragments,” Logan announced, making sure all parties and the location were recorded for the official investigation.
Greeley moved quickly for an older man and shined his own flashlight inside. When he located the remains, he cursed under his breath then moved to a kit and pulled out gloves and an evidence bag. He went to work removing any fragments still inside, bagging each one individually for processing. Logan kept recording until all the remains had been bagged and tagged, then stopped recording, created a zip file, and sent the file to his email address so he could save it on Duke’s computer.
“Mayor, can you call the sheriff and let him know we’ve got evidence that needs to be processed through the county coroner? Ask him to send a deputy so we can transfer the remains through official channels.”
“Can’t you drive it over in the morning?” Greeley asked briskly. “It’s close to two in the morning.”
Logan shook his head. “I want chain of custody witnessed by both you and the mayor.”
The mayor frowned. “For what reason? The remains are clearly Justice Bear.”
“Until we know for sure, we’re not skipping steps. If that’s what’s left of Justice Bear, then there isn’t a problem. If it’s someone else, we have to be able to use the evidence to build a case.”
“For Christ’s sake, Storm,” Greeley exploded, “who else could it be? It’s not like Ennis has bodies piling up.” The instant the words left his mouth, Greeley paled and looked at the tooth and partial jaw, along with the small bone fragments he’d pulled from the cremator. “Jesus H. Christ. You t
hink this is Duke?”
_______________
Ty waited at the bar while Jamie and I wiped down the tables. The rest of the night had been uneventful, so we only had a few closing duties to perform before we could leave. Logan had texted twenty minutes ago stating he would be here in thirty, so I had just enough time to clear the empties and put them in to soak. Normally I would have washed all the glasses before leaving, but I was worn out from the last couple of days and in a hurry to get home to my brothers. Logan’s warning about not being alone until Duke’s disappearance was solved had left me on edge. Even though I knew Jake could handle just about anything, I wouldn’t feel easy until we were all under the same roof.
“Got a cell phone here,” Jamie called out.
“I’ll put it on my desk and deal with it tomorrow.”
“Tomorrow’s Sunday. You coming in?” Jamie asked, handing me the phone.
I blinked. With all that had happened I’d lost track of the days. Sundays were my one day off to spend with my brothers. To take their pulse and make sure they were doing okay. It was pancakes and NFL football. A lazy day to regroup.
“Guess I’ll deal with it on Monday if they don’t come looking for it sooner.”
With the last table wiped down, I tossed the towel in the sink then headed to my office to grab my coat and purse. Logan’s duffle was sitting on the floor, so I grabbed it and headed to the front. After a long day, I figured he’d want to shower and would need clean clothes to change into.
When I rounded the corner to the front of the bar, I caught Ty watching Jamie sweep. He had a look on his face I’d seen before, but it had been on Logan as he’d stared back at me. Lust was the only word to describe it, and it stopped me in my tracks. Ducking back so Ty couldn’t see me, I watched him watch Jamie for a moment. He couldn’t peel his eyes off of her as she carried on about this customer or that order. When she laughed, his eyes softened turning the heat into adoration. And Jamie was oblivious to all of it. She carried on as if she were talking with me, to her best friend in the world.
Was she aware of how he felt?
Jamie turned to face Ty as she headed to dump the dustpan, and he quickly schooled his features. Laid-back Ty replaced the hyperalert man who had followed her every movement, but his focus never left Jamie until he caught me watching him watching her. I didn’t know what to think about any of it. I didn’t love Ty like a woman loves a man, but the thought of Jamie hooking up with Ty was unsettling. If they became involved and she wanted to discuss their sex life, it would be like hearing about one of my brothers.
When Jamie grabbed her coat and purse from the backbar, Ty broke eye contact with me and stood, helping her into her coat before watching her wordlessly as she hollered her goodbyes and disappeared through the door.
“Are you hiding for a reason?” Ty asked over his shoulder.
I stepped out of the hall, feeling guilty for some odd reason. “You better be sure about this. You’ve been friends your whole life,” I stated with a resigned sigh. I knew Ty better than anyone. If he decided to pursue Jamie, there would be no stopping him.
“You think I don’t know that?”
I made my way around the bar and stopped in front of him. “How long have you felt this way?”
“Too fucking long,” he rumbled, grabbing his neck and rubbing it.
“What’s stopping you then?”
He quickly glanced at me from the corner of his eye then closed them and took a deep breath.
“Me?”
“I couldn’t exactly protect you from randy ranch hands if they thought I had a thing for your best friend. And there’s the fact I haven’t got a clue how she’d feel about it.”
When Logan explained Ty had been acting jealous as a way to protect me, I’d been touched by his loyalty. But the enormity of what he’d actually given up, taking care of my brothers and me, hit me right in the gut. He’d given up two years of his own happiness because of loyalty to my father. Tears began to well in the uncomfortable silence that stood between us. Ty had always been unnerved by tears, so I tried to pull them back to save face. But finding out how long we’d truly been looked after by Ty and most of town, the past few days, burst the dam. For two years I’d thought I was on my own. That it was me against the world while I tried to keep us together. Knowing what I now know humbled me beyond reason.
I covered my face to hide my embarrassment, then turned my back to him while I tried to pull it together. Ty kept quiet, knowing me well enough to know I hated showing weakness in front of others, but after a minute of silent crying, he grumbled, “Shit,” and turned me around for a comforting hug.
“Quit acting like a girl,” he sighed in my hair.
“Shut up. It’s your own fault for being a good guy.” I sniffed loudly to keep my nose from running all over his shirt.
“Jesus. Are you using my shirt as a tissue?” he growled, poking me in the side in an attempt to make me laugh.
I jerked to the side in reaction and followed with a punch to his gut. After a childhood of roughhousing with the man, I knew exactly where to punch him. I must have caught Ty off guard though because he doubled over in reaction, grabbing my arm at the same time to avoid another shot. And that’s how Logan found us when he opened the door to the bar. Ty doubled over, holding my wrist tightly, and me with red eyes from crying, snot still seeping from my nose.
Logan took in the scene for about a half a second before his face morphed into deadly rage. Ty let go of my wrist when he got a good look at Logan’s face, but neither of us were quick enough to avoid what happened next. Before I could explain, Logan charged like a bull. Ty hit the floor harder than he ever had before, and I winced when the air punched from his lungs and gushed out on a moan.
When Logan grabbed a handful of Ty’s shirt and jerked his prone body up, drawing back his arm, ready to pound the life out of Ty, I shouted, “Logan, stop!” grabbing for his arm. “Ty wasn’t hurting me. We were just goofing around.” His icy gaze snapped to mine, and he halted his blow moments before his fist connected with Ty’s nose.
“Fuck me,” Ty coughed. “You knocked the wind out of me.”
Some of the ice thawed behind Logan’s eyes as he looked between Ty and me. “Explain why she’s crying. Explain why you laid your hands on her.”
“Fuck if I know. She’s a woman. They don’t need much of an excuse. And she’s got a mean right hook if you piss her off. I was trying to protect myself.”
“She weighs a hundred pounds wet,” Logan growled.
I looked down at my body and rolled my lips to keep from laughing. If he thought I was that tiny, who was I to correct him.
“Piss her off and you’ll find out. She learned how to punch from her brothers.”
“So you admit you pissed her off?”
“She’s easy to rile and it’s better than listening to her blubber.”
I held my breath while I waited for Logan to either stand up or drive a punch into my friend.
“Can I get up now?”
Logan glanced at me, so I smiled innocently. He searched my face, then dropped Ty and stood abruptly, putting out his hand for Ty to grab. “Call me the next time she’s blubbering, and I’ll protect you from her right hook.”
I rolled my eyes and turned for my stuff. “You should have stopped while you were ahead when I was blubbering. For future reference, hugging me is enough to calm me down. Tickle me again and I’ll do more than punch you in the gut.”
Ty hissed, “Fuck,” for some strange reason, so I turned at his expletive just in time to watch him hit the floor again.
“Oh, my God. Why did you punch him?”
“He knows why,” Logan bit out.
Ty shook his head, trying to clear the cobwebs away. “I know why,” he grumbled, rolling to his haunches before standing. “Do me a favor, Skye, stop trying to help me out.”
I blinked. “Are you saying this is my fault?”
He worked his jaw back and forth, then
spit blood on the floor. “It’s a guy thing,” he answered. “Just leave it at that.”
My attention darted between both men. “A guy thing. That’s your answer?” They both nodded. I waited to see if they would elaborate more but they both stayed silent, so I threw up my arms and grabbed my coat, purse, and Logan’s duffle. “Fine. Keep your bro code to yourself. I’m leaving.”
Logan grabbed my hand as I passed and led the way. Once we were all outside, Ty waved us off without another word and headed to his truck. Men were strange creatures. One punch and all was right in their world.
“Are you gonna explain what all that was about? I get you misunderstood when you first came in, but why did you punch him for no reason?”
His response was to jerk me into his body until we fit together like puzzle pieces. “I can feel your soft tits when we’re like this. The heat from your body. I get rock-hard the moment we embrace just thinking about what lies beneath your clothes.”
“Are you trying to turn me on? If so, it’s working.”
He shook his head then laid his brow against mine, palming the back of my head. “Any man who hugs you will feel the same thing.” His hand drifted to my ass and squeezed, jerking my hips into his. “Feel what’s mine against his cock. Understand now?”
“Understand what?”
“I don’t want what’s mine pressed against another man’s body. Feeling what’s mine. Ty knows that because he’s the type of man who wouldn’t want his woman held by another man. He crossed a line and he knew it. That’s why he didn’t fight back.”
“But he doesn’t feel that way about me. We’re just friends now.”
“Doesn’t matter. If he’s got a dick, I don’t want you in his arms.”
I pulled back and searched his face in the dim moonlight. “You’re serious?”
“Told you before I didn’t want him touching you.”