“It was.” His heart clenched. Time could never heal the hole his mom’s death had left in his life. He missed hersomuch.
“You hungry?” Madisonasked.
“Does a bear shit in the woods?” hequipped.
Both women laughed. Madison grabbed a plate from the cupboard and piled eggs, bacon, and toast onto it. As she handed it to him, the aroma of the freshly cooked food made his mouthwater.
“Thanks for the grub,” he called over his shoulder as he walked toward thediningroom.
He found the table empty except for his brother Brady, and Brady and Rachel’s son, Jimmy. He slid into the chair next to Jimmy. “How’s it goinglittleman?”
“Uncle Logan, I made an airplane!” Jimmyshrieked.
“Youdid?”
As Jimmy swooped a paper airplane around the table, Logan noted the boy’s rosy complexion and clear brown eyes. The little tyke had been through hell with leukemia but was recovering quickly thanks to a bone marrow transplant fromhisdad.
“How’s Kate doing?” Bradyasked.
“She’d be fine if she’d let me help her fix up the place. But she’s stubbornashell.”
“Not the same timid mouse she was in highschool?”
“Far from it. But hey, if she wants to do everything on her own, then it’s up to her. I can’t make her want my help,”Logansaid.
“You can’t make a woman want anything she doesn’t want,” Brady said withagrin.
“Truethat.”
“Give her a few days with a hammer and nails. Maybe she’ll changehermind.”
“You never know,”Logansaid.
He doubted she’d change her mind. She seemed hell-bent on getting the hell out of West Yellowstone. He just hoped he could keep himself occupied until she was gone. The temptation to look in on her appealed to his bear. The beast had decided she’d make a nice little sex snack. He couldn’t argue with that. His bear had impeccable taste in women. He stuffed three strips of bacon in his mouth, hoping it was enough to satisfyhisbear.
Chapter3
Kate climbeda ladder to get to the barn’s second level. A bevvy of cobwebs clung to her like a veil. Apparently her father hadn’t been up in the hay loft in a while. He’d always done the bare minimum to get by, so why would this be anydifferent?
She’d spent the better part of each summer hiding amongst the hay bales, especially during his drinking rages. He’d kept extra panes of glass, wood, and tools in unsorted piles in and aroundthebarn.
Once, when she’d tried to organize the mess, he’d yelled at her for hiding his favorite hammer. Before he could find it, she’d run into the forest and had hid until well after dark. When she’d finally returned, he’d been passed out on the couch with an empty bottle of beer in one hand and the hammer in the other. She had no doubt that he would have killed her that night. After her mother had died, he’d spent more time drunk thansober.
Just thinking about the hell she’d been through as a child brought her bear out of its slumber. A rush of anger clawed at her ribcage. Her bear never tried to get escape unless she was raging. If she didn’t find a way to channel her anger, she’d end upshifting.
She couldn’t take that risk, so she returned her attention to the current pile of broken tools and wooden planks. Just below a rotten board, she found a hammer. It wasn’tthehammer. She’d made sure to hide it in the woods that night after her father had passed out. In her sixteen-year-old mind, if he didn’t have access to things to hit her with, he wouldn’t hit her anymore. She’d been wrong. But at the time she’d been grasping for any way to stop anotherbeating.
As she climbed down the stairs, her foot landed on a rotten rung. It snapped, throwing her off-balance and catapulting her the last ten feet through the air. She landed on her back with a thud. Air whooshed from her lungs. For a moment, she couldn’t take another breath, and then she gasped as oxygen rushed in to fillthevoid.
This was all her father’s fault. She wouldn’t be lying on her back in the middle of the barn if he’d taken care of the ranch. But he’d been too busy drinking away his bitterness when he wasn’t blaming her for ruininghislife.
He’d hated her from the moment she’d been born. He’d wanted a son more than anything in the world, but after her birth, the doctor had warned them that it was too dangerous for her mother to carry another child. Her father had blamed Kate for ruining his dream of having a huge family. He’d never get a chance to haveason.
Fury propelled her to her feet. Screw him for taking his rage out on her. She stalked through the damp barn into the blinding sunlight. Her gaze fixated on the windows at the front of the barn. Her bear growled and huffed, wanting to be released. But she refused to shift. Instead, she lifted the hammer and smashed it against thewindow.
The resounding shatter coursed through her veins. Her bear loved destruction, but so had her father’s bear. Maybe it was in her blood. Maybe wrecking things was a genetic necessity. Maybe she should just tear up the whole fuckingplace.
She ran through the snow to the next window. The reflection in the glass wasn’t hers; it was her father’s. She smashed the glass, fracturing her image. With each window she destroyed, the fury in her belly intensified until she screamed, “Fuck you, Daddy. I hope you’re burning in hell for being amonster.”
