Total pages in book: 109
Estimated words: 101501 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 508(@200wpm)___ 406(@250wpm)___ 338(@300wpm)
Estimated words: 101501 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 508(@200wpm)___ 406(@250wpm)___ 338(@300wpm)
“Go easy so you don’t throw up.”
I wiped my mouth with the back of my hand and looked anywhere but at him. Now that I was on firmer footing, I could feel my cheeks begin to heat with embarrassment.
“I’m sorry.” I wasn’t sure what I was apologizing for. Weakness maybe? That I’d managed to fail my brothers and my parents at the same time?
“Nothing to apologize for, Skye,” Jamie muttered, taking the bottle away. “I don’t know anyone who could have handled what you’ve been through any better. I certainly couldn’t have. You’ve been holding everything together for two years and doing a damn fine job of it, too. If it weren’t for that asshole, there wouldn’t be a problem. So, cut yourself some slack.”
The bar’s door slammed open again, and I jerked at the noise. Jamie turned to look at whoever had burst inside and sighed. “What do you want?”
“Where is she?” my ex-boyfriend, Ty Austen, growled.
I dropped my head into Max’s fur to hide my groan. The last thing I needed right then was Ty starting in. We’d dated in high school, but I ended things with him after graduation. I’d moved on, but he hadn’t. He spent most nights I worked at the bar with his seat on a stool, keeping guard over me.
“Who’s asking?” Logan demanded, his tone deep and threatening.
My eyes popped open at his question to find he’d stood while I’d been hiding in Max’s fur. He’d moved like a thief in the night. I hadn’t even felt a disturbance in the air around me.
There was a long pause before Ty asked, very carefully, “Who the fuck are you?”
“Name’s Logan Storm. I’m the new bouncer at Big Sky.”
My mouth dropped open at his lie, and Jamie covered her reaction with a cough.
“I don’t think so,” Ty grumbled. I could hear him take a step or two closer, and Logan moved to block me from his view. Then his hand dropped, and it made a series of motions like you’d see a soldier do to alert his team to coming trouble. Max jumped from my lap instantly and circled around the bar front, growling low in his throat.
“You need to leave,” Logan ordered. “Now.”
Max’s growl became more profound, more threatening as I could only imagine a standoff of sorts began. Ty was a big guy, well over six feet, but not as big as Logan.
“If that’s your dog, you need to leash him,” Ty rumbled in warning.
Neither man seemed like the type to back down. I knew this would get out of hand quickly, so I bounded from the floor and rounded the bar in an attempt to ease everyone’s temper.
“He’s my dog. This is Max, my new guard dog.”
And why did I just say that?
Jamie coughed again, but Logan moved from around the bar and stood to my right and just in front of me. Ty noticed Logan’s positioning and narrowed his eyes.
“She doesn’t need protecting from me.”
Logan shrugged. “I don’t know you, and it’s my job to protect her.”
Ty waved him off with a flick of his wrist and looked past Logan to me. His face softened immediately, which sucked because when he wasn’t being jealous of every guy who looked my direction, he could be sweet and kind. I knew he was here because he was worried about me, but it didn’t change the fact I didn’t love him the way he loved me.
“I heard about what happened, Skylar. Can we go to your office and talk?”
I started to say no, but Logan sidestepped farther in front of me, cutting me off. “Skylar is busy right now.”
Ty didn’t take his eyes off of me when he responded, but everyone knew who he was talking to. “You need to step away or this won’t end well.”
I didn’t know why Logan was pretending to be my bodyguard, but I wasn’t going to look a gift horse in the mouth. Ty drove me crazy most of the time with his possessiveness, and that was the last thing I needed to deal with on top of everything else. I was, however, gonna stand on my own two feet from this moment forward. Two meltdowns in an hour were two too many. If I wanted to keep my family together, it was high time I started acting like the head of it, instead of some sniveling idiot.
I quickly moved in front of Logan to let both men know I’d had enough. “Stand down, Logan. Max, stop growling. Ty . . . we’ll talk later.”
Max didn’t listen any better than the men did. Instead of obeying, he moved closer to Ty. I glanced at Logan and raised a brow. He studied my expression for a moment and his lip twitched before he quickly communicated with Max using a hand signal again. Max didn’t even balk at the command. He came and sat by my side without a word spoken from Logan. If the room didn’t feel like a ticking time bomb was about to go off, I would have told Logan how cool it was his dog obeyed him so well.