I chuckled. Okay, it was a forced chuckle, but it was all I had at the moment. I needed to get control of the situation. I needed to keep him busy.
“You have information that I require, and in exchange, I will give you something you want,” He replied smoothly. He reached out and ran hard fingers down my arm. Forcing myself not to reach out and break his fingers I did the next best thing.
I brought my palm up and slapped his smug face. I realized my mistake as quickly as my hand connected with his face. So much for keeping my temper in check. His goons flanked me, each grasping one of my arms. Stepping on the foot of the thug on my right, I elbowed the goon on the left and then brought that same hand into a fist and right into his nose. Shoving one then the other away from me, I grabbed the bat from behind my desk. It always paid to have a bat stashed someplace.
I watched Luis’s face go from sheer anger to grudging amusement. Not certain what that meant for me, other than I was going to get my ass kicked as quickly as his goons recovered. I raised the bat and backed up a step and got in a swinging stance.
Luis grinned. With a wave of his palm, he stopped his two thugs from coming at me. Great, he was freaking amused, I thought sardonically, now I was cornered by an insane, amused thug.
“You are feisty Synclair Patrick.” I detested the way he said my full name, it made my skin crawl.
Rubbing the cheek I had just smacked he smirked.
“If by feisty you mean I don’t like to be touched by thugs in expensive suits, then yeah, I’m a feisty girl,” I responded back.
That took the grin off his face. “I want my wife.”
Not dropping my bat I gave him my most innocent expression. “Your wife? Where did you lose her? I hear Bellagio has a lost and found, did you try there?” I knew I was pissing him off, but I just couldn’t help it. All I could see was Constance’s swollen eyes and that damn shoe print on her ribs. This guy was used to getting what he wanted, and he wasn’t used to people, specifically women, talking back to him.
“My wife is confused, I just need to talk with her and then she and my boy will come home with me,” He announced walking right into my personal space. His goons stayed by the door.
Okay, I was done playing cat and mouse. I heard the distant sirens and knew Metro was only minutes away. He must have heard it too because he seized my arms so fast and hard that I dropped the bat.
“I want my wife, now!” He demanded.
“No one gets everything they want Luis, my suggestion would be to move on and find a new one, maybe one that is less confused about being beaten by a bully of a man who stomps his feet like a child.” I hissed back at him, my Irish temper getting the best of me.
The grip on my arm was crushing, so much so I could feel the circulation getting cut off. “My wife never deserved the life I gave her,” He growled.
“Well, there is where you and I agree asshole,” I told him, knowing we were speaking about two extremely different viewpoints.
“You took what I love Synclair, I will take what you love too.” He pushed me backward against the wall letting go of my arms at the same time.
“I didn’t take her Luis,” I yelled. “She ran, screaming from you to me.” I should have shut up, but I was so pissed I could spit nails. Where the hell was Metro? They had a code to the building, a freaking code that was going to have to be changed since someone sold it to Luis, it was the only way he could have gotten in here.
He laughed, and it was so deep and evil sounding, I actually got goosebumps. Luis and his goons walked to the door, at the last moment he turned. He smiled, and it chilled me to the bone. “Give my regards to your uncle.”
Before I could even pull myself off the wall, he was through the door. Panicked I grabbed the key to the cabinet and unlocked the drawer, grabbed my purse and got out my phone. I was dialing UJ when Metro’s finest came through the door. After the fact, I thought bitterly as I placed the phone to my ear, cops were constantly arriving after the fact.
As Metro deputies filled the office, I hung up and called UJ again. Again, it went to voicemail. I hastily snatched the loudspeaker microphone and announced the all clear, to the volunteers so they could unlock all the doors and begin the task of soothing the women and children. I was about to call UJ again when an officer, not much older than me, with familiar brown eyes, approached me.
“You okay Syn?” Josh had the same eyes as his father, Officer Donny. Only, he had become a detective instead of staying on the street vice like his Dad. Josh had turned into a nice guy, had a nice family, and was constantly looking out for me.
I offered him a tight smile. “You know me, I’m always fine.” I lied. I was freaking out, I had a shelter full of upset women, and an office full of cops and UJ was not answering his damn phone.
“Really? I think those bruises on your arms say otherwise. I think we should have you checked out.” Josh looked so much like his dad. I knew that ordinarily a detective wouldn’t respond to a silent alarm call. I glanced down at my arms. My simple green t-shirt and jeans ensemble probably looked pretty messy because of the blood running down my arms. I guess I hadn’t even noticed Luis’s nails cutting into my arms when he grabbed me. Damn.
“Kind of below your pay grade, isn’t it detective? I mean silent alarms are generally for the street cops.”
His honest face cracked into a smirk and he reminded me of a youthful version of his father, Donny. “Yeah, well the call came in and I was in the car and I recognized the address. Dad would kill me if I didn’t check it out.” I grinned back as he pulled out a cleansing wipe and handed it to me.
As I started to wash up the blood, I looked up at him. “I need a favor Josh, that guy that was here was the ex of one of the women I placed, he’s pissed, he’s a dealer and I can’t reach Uncle Jack.” I finished wiping off the blood from my now throbbing arms and looked at him soberly.
He nodded that he understood and promptly started barking orders into his radio. I didn’t have many friends, and over the years I still wasn’t certain we were more than acquaintances, but like his father, Josh didn’t disappoint me and in my life that was rare.
Twenty minutes later I had just finished changing the entry code on the door and was about to pick up my phone to call UJ again when I felt a tap on my shoulder. I turned and when I saw the expression on Josh’s face, I practically fainted.
“What?” I questioned, struggling to keep the panic out of my tone.
“It’s Jack, they found him, and he’s on his way to the emergency room.” His voice was filled with concern. Shaking off his hand I clutched my bag and keys. Without a word, he seized my keys from my shaking hands.
I narrowed my eyes on him. I needed to go, I needed to get to UJ, and I wasn’t in the mood for more questions.
“Before you deck a police detective and start a whole new series of complications, know that you are not driving yourself. I am driving you and officer Metcalf will follow in your car. You may not give a crap about your life Syn, but my dad does and you’ve always been like that annoying step sister I never even knew I wanted.” Smirking he threw my keys to another officer and grasped my elbow.
I didn’t even want to try to decipher what he was expressing. I didn’t even fight him. I just let him lead me to his unmarked blue police car and didn’t even blink when he buckled my seatbelt. UJ was injured, hurt because of me, but how bad? How bad?
“Do you know his condition?” I had to know, broken bones, gunshot, what?
I watched him pull his sunglasses off the dash and put them on to ward off the blazing, afternoon Las Vegas sun. Turning to me he sighed. “Smoke inhalation, they pulled him out in time.”
My mind was having trouble getting what he was saying, “Smoke?” I inquired, thinking aloud. “Why smoke?” My mind was racing, they didn’t shoot him?
“Synclair,” Josh replied, waiting until I turned my head to catch his gaze. It was sad, and I knew I wasn’t going to like what he had to tell me.
“The bar is gone, they think it was a gas leak, but you know and I know it wasn’t, the firefighters have it under control but there’s nothing left. Your uncle was lucky enough to get out alive.” He watched to see what I would do. I just stared at him mouth agape, in shock.
Fuck… Fuck… Fuck... UJ’s dream, hell my dream. Gone, vanished, up in smoke. Homeless, I was homeless again. I shook my head. Don’t concentrate on that, I urged myself. You can focus on that devastation later, all that counts is UJ. “Fuck the bar, I need to see my uncle, Josh.”
Giving me a weak smile, he nodded, and we hurried in silence to the very hospital that I hadn’t been to since my mother died there of a drug overdose fifteen years ago. Damn, life could be a bitch.
*************************************
Leaning my head against the cold, white wall, I closed my eyes. In the last 48 hours I hadn’t left this seriously, uncomfortable chair, except to get food and use the bathroom. When I had first arrived at the emergency room, no one could tell me much of anything. They did tell me that they had called his daughter since they couldn’t reach me. I thought that was pretty fast since everything had taken place a little over four hours ago and I had zero messages from nurse grumpy pants. I had called Cami and told her what had happened. We had talked a lot over the years and she had come and stayed with UJ a few times. It was a polite, yet sometimes awkward relationship they had, it seemed she and I shared the same dynamic. Although I told her the physicians said he would be fine, his only injury was the smoke inhalation thank god, she insisted she was hopping a flight over to the states.
Oh joy, I thought irritably. Just what I needed, an Irish firecracker coming to inform me what a terrible person I was. One job, I had one job, keep UJ safe, and make sure he was always okay. Somehow I felt like as soon as that woman stepped off the airplane she was going to fire me from that position and I certainly couldn’t blame her. Her father could have died, awkward relationship or not, dead was dead.
I knew what it felt like, even with my mom as messed up as she was, I wouldn’t wish that on anyone, least of all family.
I looked down at my cell. If my guess was right, my cousin would be touching down in the next hour and would make a beeline for the hospital. UJ had woken up about six hours after I had arrived the first day. The first thing he had asked about was the bar, the simple shake of my head told him everything. I hadn’t been there yet, hadn’t called anyone, not even the employees. Even after UJ tried to send me off to sleep, I refused to leave. Where would I go? My home was in ashes, UJ was my family, he was my home. Instead, I read to him from the newspaper, watched Jerry Springer with him and observed him sleep. For some reason I found solace in watching the easy rise of his chest as he slept, I knew as long as his chest did that, he was okay.
Let’s face it, part of me didn’t want to look at the bar smoldering in ashes. I went from moments of utter devastation to blinding rage. Part of me needed to track down Luis and gut him and his goons while another part of me wished to whisk UJ away to some small wilderness cabin and let him live out his days in peace. He had spoken about it before. He had told me that when he retired, he was going to return to Ireland and buy some land with a river going through it.
He wanted to fish and reconnect with Cami. He talked about me living there too, but we both knew I wasn’t the country type of gal. Had I not spent so much of my savings setting Constance and her son up for a new life, I was going to ask UJ to let me buy him out, I estimated with my savings and a bank loan I could swing it so that when the moment arrived he could retire and I would own the bar. Unfortunately, now my savings was all but gone and now the bar was gone. I was back at square one.
I could feel the beginning of a headache forming and I pinched my eyes closed against it. I was ignoring the feeling of panic that was trying to claw its way up. I should be calling the insurance company, searching for a new place to live, dealing with employees and all the other responsible things one does when they have to start their life over again. I didn’t feel like being responsible, I felt like finding a bottle of Patron and a nice comfy Bellagio suite, then pull the drapes closed, put out the ‘do not disturb’ sign and drink until I didn’t feel panicked, alone and scared. I wanted to hide until I could make myself believe everything was going to be okay, all the while knowing that it wouldn’t be, at least not until I got off my ass and made it that way.
“Syn. Darn it d-doll, I told you to go get some sleeeeep,” UJ told me, the meds were making him slur his words slightly. He looked so small and pale. His eyes were not twinkling with laughter like they normally did and there were bruises on his hand where the IV line went in.
I didn’t even open my eyes. “I will UJ, I have a room all set up at Bellagio with a big king size bed.” I lied, I had nothing set up. “As soon as Cami gets here, I’ll take off for a while and give you two some time alone.” Okay, that part was true. One, I didn’t want to deal with Cami’s justifiable anger toward me and two, I needed to talk to the employees and the insurance company. I knew UJ would be inquiring about that before long and I didn’t want him to feel like I dropped the ball because I was too busy being absorbed in my feelings. It would be totally true, but I still didn’t want to be called out on it.
“Da-oh my lord, what has this town done to ya.” Came the annoying Irish tone of one Camelia “Cami” McDougall. It would have been Patrick but her mother let the husband adopt Cami when she was younger. I didn’t know the whole story about the name thing but I’m confident it irked UJ on some level.
Cami’s blue eyes narrowed when she saw me sitting in the armchair near her father. I assumed she was going to deck me and I’m not sure I would stop her. She stomped toward me, her cute ballet slippers slapping against the tile. I had to admit she had grown up to be a very well put together woman. Her long brown hair was glossy and held back in a simple headband, her makeup was flawless and her black sweater and leggings just made her hourglass figure more pronounced. Well, I could see where the looks went in the family. I was kind of embarrassed with my lack of makeup, torn blue jeans and green t-shirt, I’m positive the purple bruises on my arms just sealed the couture aspect of my outfit.
I stood up ready to apologize for her father being injured when she grabbed me and hugged me so hard that she lifted me off the ground. For a 5ft nothing chick, she had some strength in those Irish arms. Patting her back, because I honestly had no inkling what to do, she finally released me.
This time, her blue eyes were filled with tears, “I’m so sorry this happened to ya Synclair.” Yep, another person who refused to call me Syn. “That nice detective told me what happened to ya at the shelter when he called me, someone should kill the arse that did that to ya, and hurt me Da.” I recognize this was the part when I smiled or said something like thanks. But I had no experience with this, nothing had prepared me for this girl. I was related to her but didn’t actually know her and here she was facing at me like I actually mattered.
“Um...Yeah, I think we’ll leave Luis to the cops. I’m more anxious about UJ.” I turned to look at UJ, damn the man was grinning from ear to ear. Okay, I was starting to get uncomfortable with the love fest going on here. “On that note, Cami, I’m going to bounce for a bit, give you guys some time to catch up.” I took a step toward the door, but she was quicker.
Grabbing my hand she shook her head. “Don’t feel like ya got to make yer self-scarce.” Again with the Irish accent. “I already told Da, as soon as he is discharged he’s coming home with me. As fer the insurance company, I’ve already spoken to them, I put them in contact with that nice detective and he guaranteed me he would make certain they get the report. Since Da said the bar was covered against fire, I’m positive they will get you all sorted soon so you can rebuild.” She practically beamed at me.
She was actually proud that she had totally circumvented me. Looking at her I could see there was only sincerity on her face. Christ, she thought she had done a good thing.
I was torn between patting her on the head like a child and smacking the crap out of her. When had she spoke to UJ? Why was Josh bending over backward to help her? How the hell had he gotten her number? Where the hell was I when Mr. Meddling Detective was doing it? Why the hell was she speaking to the insurance company about a bar she had only been to a half a dozen times over the years?
Dammit, I knew I should be glad she was trying to help, glad Donny and his son were looking out for me, glad these people seemed to care, glad someone gave a damn. But I wasn’t that mature of a person. Nope, I felt like a child put in the corner with the Playdoh because I couldn’t be trusted with the big complicated toys like Legos.
Shit, I didn’t want to be mad at her. She looked so damn hopeful. But still, there were lines. That bar was my baby, Josh may be a cop, that I sort of got along with on occasion, but he was my cop, and UJ may be her father but I had taken care of him since he came into my life fifteen years ago, actually we had taken care of each other.
I was about to lay into miss sunshine when I saw UJ’s face. It glowed, no...It beamed. I had never seen the man look so happy. Even in the ugly, gray hospital gown, he seemed more colorful. Crap, he was happy. I realized that those shiny blue eyes were filled with joy because his daughter came to care for him, to take him home, and she was asking me to come along. FUUUUCK… that took all the fun out of yelling at her and I really needed to yell at someone.
Sucking it up I took a massive breath and attempted to pull up my big girl thong. “Thanks, Cami.” I choked. UJ’s smile faltered a bit, so I smiled as brightly as I could, “UJ could use the time in Ireland to mend and relax. The insurance stuff will take awhile, but I’m going to stay stateside.” Cami’s face fell. “But I honestly appreciate the offer, I just don’t do well in the country,” I quickly added. Yeesh, I was bad at this nice stuff.
Her face lifted again, and she considered me with thoughtfully. Cocking her head to once side, her blue eyes focused in on me with laser precision. Just when I was going to clear my throat she spoke.
Back to You: A Hudson Family Series- Book 1- Synclair and Reece Page 5
