Sara sighed, and Reece put one hand on Synclair’s shoulder to keep her seated.
“I’m not concerned about her threats to me, but if she actually is sleeping with Coach Finn, she can make trouble for Logan,” Sara told Reece.
Reece looked at Lucas and then grinned at her. “I have it covered. Logan will be okay, trust me Coach Finn doesn’t want his wife finding out about his extracurricular activities.” Reece winked and then gave Synclair a parting kiss as he dashed down the bleachers.
Already exhausted and drained Sara and Lucas flopped down on the hard bench and settled in to watch the game. She vaguely heard the others mumble as they flanked Synclair, Matt on her left and Dalton on her right. She was about to ask where Rachel was when she saw her climbing the steps with a tray of lemonade.
“Are you okay?” Lucas asked as he bumped his bare knee to hers. Sara felt a jolt shoot down her thigh to her core. Damn, the man never wears shorts, now I know why; those legs should be outlawed for hotness!
Fighting for calm, she shrugged, “Amber’s been threatening me like that for years, I’m okay until she brings Logan into it, then I want to pull out all bleached hair.”
Lucas laughed, he loved her protective side, “I won’t let Travis or anyone hurt you or Logan, you can trust that.” He told her somberly.
One look at his dark green eyes and stubborn set of his chin and she realized he was telling the truth. Without thinking, she leaned into him and snuggled deeper when he put one arm around her.
“I know we have a lot to work out sweetheart, but you're not alone. Not anymore.” Lucas whispered. It sounded more like a vow than a statement.
Shit, Sara could feel her defenses lowering the more time she spent with Lucas and all the Hudsons. A part her begin to have hope that what Lucas said was true maybe she wasn’t alone anymore.
**********
Lucas loved the fact that Sara seemed to be accepting their relationship. In the past hour, she had let him hold her hand, buy her snacks from the concession stand and had agreed to come over after the game for dinner. At first, when she told him she had to stop by the Diner and check in with the manager for the day, he worried she was making an excuse not to see him.
However, when she agreed to let Logan come home with him and told him she would follow later, he realized was making headway. Speaking of Logan, the kid had a good throwing arm. Funny, you had a good throwing arm in little league too, a part of him reminded himself.
Pushing the similarities away, he focused on Logan. The boy stood on the pitcher’s mound, his face full of determination and managed to strike out three batters. Lucas couldn’t help but feel pride for the little guy and Sara. At four going on five, he was shaping up to be an incredible young man.
He couldn’t help but imagine throwing balls to him in the yard or teaching him about football. It was enough to make him want to throw Sara over his shoulder and drive to Vegas to elope.
Sara started to get up, and Lucas jumped up with her. She smiled patting his chest. “Easy there big guy, I’m just going to the bathroom.”
As she started past Lucas, Synclair, who had been screaming Logan’s name and thrusting her foam finger in the air jumped up too, “Ohh, me too, my bladder is gonna explode.” However when Synclair went to push past Dalton, he rose up and blocked her.
“Come on ladies I’ll walk you to the restroom,” Dalton said in a mollifying manner.
Rachel snorted from the other side of Matt, Matt looked lost, and Synclair bobbed her head around Dalton’s massive frame and gave Sara’s stunned face a “what the fuck?” look.
“Dalton we’re just going to the bathroom, I don’t think we’ll need a bodyguard,” Sara suggested, she had to pee so bad she was about to do the pee-pee dance right here and now.
Dalton gave Synclair a knowing stare. Synclair pretended not to notice and continued to move past him. “Ten minutes, sis, and then I’m coming to get you.”
In a show of maturity, Synclair stuck her tongue out at Dalton, who looked drained. She giggled as she linked her arm through Sara’s and they continued down the bleachers.
Once they arrived at the bottom, Sara glanced up and acknowledged all the Hudsons were still watching, “Just nod and smile Sara.” Synclair said chuckling.
“You do keep them on their toes,” Sara told her as they zigzagged through the crowd.
“They’re just over protective, I’m just not a sit and knit kind of woman, I guess it bothers them that I always outsmart them.” She told Sara giggling.
“Come on, let’s pee, this kid is sitting on my bladder.” She complained as they stepped into the ladies room.
As soon as they were finished, they walked out of the restroom and Sara’s phone buzzed. “Crap it's Lynn from the Diner, I need to take it,” Sara told Synclair.
“Problem?”
“No, I don’t think so, she’s been handling the preparation to close the Diner, cutting hours on the staff and using up what we have in inventory,” Sara replied as she swiped her finger to answer the call.
“Lynn?” Sara asked.
“I’m just gonna grab some cotton candy,” Synclair told her as she moved off toward the concession stand.
Sara gave her a thumbs up and went back to her call.
“I’ve got the staff hours down so that we can close the doors next week.” Sara’s restaurant manager told her.
“You’re at Logan’s game today right?”
“Yeah, is there something wrong?” Sara inquired, Lynn was fantastic, but she heard the hesitation in her tone.
“Well, Coach Finn’s wife was in here this morning, she got some text message and flew out of here without even paying for her breakfast. Should I write it off, or do you want to mention it to Coach Finn?”
Sara frowned, Coach Finn’s wife was very responsible, there was only one person could upset her that much, Amber. Damn, the woman must have found out about Amber and her husband.
“No, write it off, don’t mention it if she comes back in, I’m sure she has hands full with whatever is going on.”
“Okay chief, you got it. Oh, also everyone knows that the Diner will be closed for a while, and so far they have all agreed to stay.”
Sara grinned, delighted that Lynn was always efficient. “Now you know Synclair, and I are paying everyone’s wages while the Diner is renovated, did you make certain they all understood that?” Sara asked referring to her cooks, waitpersons, and other staff.
She had good employees, and she didn’t want to lose any or for them to be without a job. It was a tremendous expense to keep wages going while the restaurant was being built, but she and Synclair had agreed it was the right thing to do.
When Sara had completed her call, she went over to the concession stand to search for Synclair. When she wasn’t there, Sara scanned the surrounding area to see if they had somehow missed each other. After a few moments, she wandered over to the dugout where Reece was passing out Gatorade to the young children.
Reece smiled at her when she approached, and she smiled back. “Hey there, Assistant Coach, how goes the battle?” She asked watching Logan giggle with his companions as they gulped their Gatorade.
Reece laughed, “Well we’ve had two base hits with both runners forgetting where second was and one batter that got upset and demanded his mommy after he struck out.” He snickered.
“All in all, they’re all having fun, I assumed it was a very good time for a snack break since we don’t have much time left on the clock and it’s getting kind of warm,” Reece explained as he handed her a Gatorade and bag of apple wedges.
“Thanks, Reece, and I don’t mean for the snack.” She told him.
Reece’s eyes softened, and he pulled Sara into a hug. Even with the fence dividing them, Sara was able to wrap her arms around the man who had always been a brother to her.
“You're as much a sister to me as Rachel is, you always have been, you just didn’t let us close to you after Travis.” He pulled back and
then chucked Sara lightly on the chin. “This time, you don’t have a choice.” He winked as Sara slapped him softly on the arm.
He glanced beyond Sara, examined the bleachers, and suddenly grimaced.
“Where’s Synclair?” He asked.
Sara turned to glance at where everyone was settled. She had assumed that Synclair had gone back to the bleachers after the concession stand. She and Reece locked gazes as it dawn on them both where Synclair might be.
Before they could even move, a deafening shriek came from the parking lot. Sara recognized that screech, it was Amber. For the second time, that day Reece vaulted over the fence and rushed into the parking lot, his brothers and Rachel not far behind.
Sara told Coach that Reece would be right back and rushed off. Nothing could have prepared her for what she saw when she pushed through the gathered crowd to stand next to Lucas.
An elegant, white convertible Lexus, with a license plate that said Queen A, had the front windshield busted in. As she peered closer, Sara noticed a bat lying in the front seat, and small sticks that looked like stakes were dispersed on and around the expensive automobile. Sara groaned. She looked around for Synclair but thankfully, she was nowhere to be found.
There was no doubt everyone would think Synclair had done this, given her affection for bats and the comment she had made about Amber being a vampire gave you had a lot of circumstantial evidence.
Amber was wailing and sobbing when she wasn’t doing that she was wailing at the top of her lungs. As soon as she looked at Sara, she began to march towards her. The closer she got, the more Sara had to resist the impulse to back up. Lucas gave a protecting hand on Sara’s lower back. Smiling up at his handsome face, he winked as she squared she shoulders and prepared for the S.S. Amber to hit the beach.
“You!” She screamed hysterically pointing her finger in Sara’s face. Sara wasn’t certain if she should seize it or bite it off; the second option seemed more appealing by the minute.
“You did this! You and that whore.” She shouted at Sara. Sara sighed.
“Amber I would be more likely to believe you If you weren’t such a bitch, you know as easily as I do, that you have more enemies in this town than friends,” Sara replied as if she was admonishing a first grader.
Amber balled up her fists and made to swing. Sara was ready for her; she had practiced this self-defense move with Synclair at the rec center. She grabbed the fist that Amber threw in her palm and twisted.
“Do not raise your hand to me again or I will take that bat and beat you with it.” She spat. Amber’s face contorted in painful shock.
Sara threw her hand aside and turned to Lucas, a lopsided grin spread across his face.
Not in the mood to hear him scold her on how much she had changed, she moved passed him and stomped back to the field. Besides, she couldn’t mess with Lucas right now; she needed to find Synclair before the Sherriff arrived.
“That was kind of hot Rocky,” Lucas whispered in her ear once he had caught up with her.
She stopped mid stride. The Lucas of old would have told her how childish she had been, however, this Lucas was looking at her as if he wanted to lick her from head to toe. Yes, please, oh yes.
Reece broke her trance. “She’s not by the cars.” He announced breathlessly as fell into stride with Lucas and Sara
Lucas glanced around but didn’t know where she could have gone.
“She’s not in the bathroom,” Rachel replied catching up.
“Definitely not at the concession stand.” Matt chimed in as they rounded the walkway to the bleachers.
“Not in the man’s bathroom,” Dalton told them, bringing them all to a complete halt. He blushed when they all turned and gawked at him.
“What? You never know, the woman has no boundaries.”
Lucas agreed there was nothing that Synclair would consider out of bounds if she felt threatened. He grabbed Sara’s hand and was about to follow Reece back up to the bleachers when Reece suddenly stopped short, causing a domino effect of Hudsons ramming into one another and Sara.
“Woman,” Reece shouted as he bounded up the steps to where Synclair sat eating cotton candy and observing the game.
Synclair smiled at waved at them all as she whooped for Logan when he got a base run. Everyone took a moment yelled, cheered, and then swung back to the woman with milk duds sitting next to her as if she had no idea why they were all staring at her.
“Too far Synclair, you went too far, we are going home now before Amber has you jailed.”
Lucas watched as an agitated Reece grabbed Synclair’s hand and dragged her to a standing position causing her to drop her cotton candy and knock her Milk duds off the bleachers.
Lucas realized that Reece was terrified out of his mind, but if he didn’t settle down, Synclair would castrate him before they even got to the truck.
“The game is virtually over, why don’t you go down and get ready to grab Logan and I’ll meet you at home,” Lucas whispered.
All Sara could do was nod as she watched Lucas follow an angry Reece, who was nearly carrying a cursing Synclair down the bleachers, as she threw dollar bills at Matt and Dalton, Rachel trailed behind with her handbag.
Yet that wasn’t what rooted Sara to her spot. Lucas had told her to meet him at home, she wasn’t even certain he was conscious of what he had said.
Surely, it was just an off-the-cuff statement, and she shouldn’t read too much into it. Which would be great if her heart didn’t soar at the thought that Lucas considered his house their home? Did it include Logan, she wondered.
Putting off those thoughts until later, she walked back down the steps to the dugout to wait for Logan.
**********
Lucas struggled to usher Reece and Synclair through the crowd to Reece’s truck before Amber caught site of them.
Reece was now carrying Synclair, who was squawking at him to put her down.
“Put me down Hudson, what the hell is going on?” She barked.
Reece to his credit had chosen to swing her up in arms instead of over his shoulder that way his baby would be secure. However, Lucas could see he was struggling to carry his struggling fiancé. They were just about to Reece’s truck when Amber spotted them. She glanced up from the Sheriff she was speaking with and her brother, Mayor Donaldson, and made a beeline right for Reece.
“Shit,” Lucas said catching Reece’s attention. Reece practically sprinted to his truck, threw open the door, dumped his squirming wife to be and pivoted to face Amber, Sherriff Jones, and Mayor Michael Donaldson, not only Amber’s brother, but he was also owner of a working ranch that had been around as long as Lucas’s, and Reece was his cattle’s vet.
“See he’s trying to get her out of here because even they know she did this.” Amber screeched.
Synclair attempted to open the door, but Reece pushed it shut. “She’s five months pregnant Amber, she couldn’t have done it, besides she was with my family in the bleachers,” Reece told his annoying ex-wife.
“Was she with you the whole time Reece?” Sheriff Jones asked. Reece sighed. The sheriff was a good man, always honest and fair and he was sure the last thing he wanted to do was deal with Amber and her theatrics.
“She was with my family the whole time,” Reece explained running a frustrated hand through his hair.
“Yep, she sat right next to Sara and me,” Lucas told Sheriff Jones. The rest of the siblings echoed Lucas, and everyone tried to ignore a very pissed off Synclair, who was banging on the door trying to get out of Reece’s truck.
“Is it possible that someone else could have done this, can you get any fingerprints off the bat or something?” The mayor inquired.
“I called in a unit, and they’ll be here shortly, and then we’ll dust for prints, but so far, no one saw anything.”
“Nobody?” Matt asked in surprise. “There are people everywhere and no one saw anything?”
“If they did they’re not saying Matt, I would like to ta
lk to the woman in question Reece.” Sherriff Jones replied.
Reece’s face was flushed bright red and Lucas wasn’t sure who his brother wanted to throttle more, his ex-witch or his fiancé.
“Not without a lawyer,” Reece told him, his jaw set firmly.
The Sheriff sighed and scratched the back of his head. “I’m gonna have to take her to the station Reece, she’s the prime suspect, everyone heard the argument she and Amber had on the bleachers.” Lucas could tell the Sheriff didn’t want to do anything of the sort, but his hands were tied. If he didn’t do things by the book Amber’s family would likely have him ran out of town.
“No. One. Is. Taking. My Pregnant Fiancé. AnyWhere.” Reece told the crowd. He took a defensive stance in front of the truck door, Matt and Dalton took up positions on either side of Reece and looked ready for battle. Lucas knew in a pinch that they could push the crowd back and get Synclair out of there, hell, Dalton, and Matt had spent a year as a Navy SEALS, and could disarm the Sheriff six ways from Sunday if they wanted too. This was getting way out of control.
Lucas was about to try to defuse the situation when Mayor Donaldson stepped in front of Reece, turned and faced Sheriff Jones.
“Listen the prints will answer any questions, there are no witnesses, and no one wants to see a pregnant woman, the future wife of our respected town Veterinarian, who also belongs to one of the most prominent families in Carson City, dragged off to jail. I’m sure if you ask Reece to bring her into the station tomorrow to speak to you he will.” The Mayor told Sheriff Jones while avoiding his sister’s eyes, which were throwing daggers at him.
“Reece would you be willing to do that, I can see Synclair’s upset and that can’t be good for her condition.”
Lucas had a newfound respect for Michael Donaldson; they had all been friends in high school as he was only about a year older than Lucas was. How the man could be related to a viper like Amber, he would never know. They seemed to be opposites in every way. Where Amber was blonde and blued eyes, Michael was red headed with hazel eyes. Amber was tall, and Michael was stalky, almost like he would imagine an Irish boxer would look like.
Baby Mine: A Hudson Family Series- Book Two- Lucas and Sara Page 9
