Baby Mine: A Hudson Family Series- Book Two- Lucas and Sara

by Chontelle Brison

  “We have about five locations, two are on Mayor Donaldson’s ranch.”

  “I thought Reece was already there, and Travis was nowhere to be seen?” Matt asked ignoring the fact that Reece was pacing back and forth.

  Dalton followed Reece with his eyes as he brought Matt up to speed, “Yeah but Michael has a 300,000-acre ranch, two of the locations are clear to one side of it. One is an old cabin, Google earth shows that it’s pretty remote, but I can’t imagine Travis hiking through thick brush with a five-year-old and a pissed off woman. My bet he’s either at this building on the edge of Michael’s ranch, which is either an old barn or some warehouse, or he’s hiding out at the guest house on Amber’s property adjacent to the Michael’s.”

  Matt worked through the logical options in his head, “What’s the third option?” He asked.

  Lucas’s head snapped up from the map and his face was filled with pain, “The third option is that he has them all and headed out of state.” He curled his hands into tight fists as he pushed back from the table.

  He was tired of planning, he needed to do something, anything was better than sitting here waiting for bad news to come calling.

  “Fuck this, I’m going to find Synclair.” Reece suddenly shouted and strode for the door.

  “Stop,” Dalton ordered. Gone was the carefree, laid-back little brother that Lucas had tossed footballs to in the yard. Now stood a formidable man, bigger than Reece and himself, his face was hard and determined and in that moment he wondered if Dalton would physically yank back Reece.

  Reece turned and deadpanned his little brother, he was not in the mood to be calm and rational. He wanted his woman, his son and to rip that piece of shit Travis, apart inch by inch. Reece had never felt so savage, normally he would be the type of person to urge reason in times like this. Not so now, his rage was primal and his instincts to protect his family was running at an all-time high.

  “Lucas and Reece will take the barn and Matt, and I will check Amber’s guest house, we’ll meet you at the barn and then regroup from there.”

  Lucas didn’t need to be told twice, he grabbed the map that held the google earth print out of the old barn and Reece followed him out the door.

  “Come on Matt, we need to check that house and get over to the barn, cross your fingers that Travis is in that guest house.”

  “Why is that?” Matt asked as he helped Dalton gather up maps and other papers that had been spread across the small table.

  “Because if Reece and Lucas get a hold of Travis before we do, they’re going to kill him, and then we have a whole new level of fucked up to deal with,” Dalton told him his tone soft and dangerous.

  **********

  The stupidity of her decision was becoming more and more evident as Synclair woke up to Sara’s panic-stricken face hovering over her. Remembering what she had done, she attempted to sit up, but Sara pushed her back to the ground.

  “What the hell were you doing?” Sara hissed.

  Part of her wanted to hug her friend because Travis had been moments away from raping her in this filthy barn but the other part wanted to smack her silly for putting herself and her unborn child in danger. When Synclair’s car had crashed through the barn doors, Travis had jumped back screaming. It gave Sara the seconds she needed to scramble to her feet and out of his reach. Recognizing Synclair, Sara ran to the door and pulled it open, seeing her unconscious made Sara’s heart stop. Then Travis was there shoving her out of the way as he yanked her pregnant body out of the car and all but dropped her on a patch of hay.

  Sara was afraid he’d turn his anger on Synclair. However, he seemed more amused by the whole thing than anything. He actually backed Synclair’s car out of the barn and came strolling back in the like nothing had ever happened. She watched as he patched the doors back together and then realized what he was doing. He was barricading the doors from the inside. He pushed some farm equipment and bales of hay to block the doorway. It wouldn’t keep someone out forever, but it would slow them down.

  “Well, the plan was to save you,” Synclair replied, wincing as she let Sara help her sit up.

  “And your plan after you rammed the door?” She asked hoping Lucas, and the others were close behind.

  “Um, I was improvising, you were screaming, and there wasn’t time to think it through, don’t worry, I’ll wing it,” Synclair told her while trying to smile.

  “Wing it? The man is completely delusional, and you’re going to wing it?” Sara’s voice rose slightly.

  Synclair gave her a ‘duh," look. “Listen, I have lots of experience with assholes like him, it’s all about power and rejecting responsibility, they like to act like they're the victims.”

  It certainly sounded like Travis. Still, Sara couldn’t help but wonder if Synclair was in over her head.

  “I just need to buy us time or push him until he makes a mistake Sara. He will make a mistake, they always do.” She tried to reassure Sara, but Sara’s brown eyes told her she wasn’t buying it.

  “No matter what happens, your first opportunity, you grab your son and crawl up the ladder back there and crawl out the window, there’s a shed you can jump to that should get you to the ground, there’s no cell service and Travis hid your car in the wheat fields, my phone should be in the front seat of my car if Travis left it unlocked, it may even have the keys inside you’ll have to leave and call the guys in Sara.”

  Sara sat back on her heels, stunned. Synclair had come alone. Her wonderful, crazy, stupid, friend had come alone to save her and Logan.

  “I’m not leaving you, Syn, don’t forget you have a child to protect too.”

  Synclair smiled at her, “My kid is a Hudson, nothing is gonna touch my baby, don’t let the maternity clothes fool you, I am as much of a street scrapper as I always have been even without my boots.” She winked and Sara rolled her eyes.

  Synclair looked around, “Where’s Logan?”

  Sara pointed to one of the old horse stalls, “Bastard drugged his drink with NyQuil, and he’s sleeping, I’m not sure how long he’ll be out, I don’t know what worries me more, him sleeping too long or him waking up with Travis on the loose.”

  Synclair nodded, “Good point, your dad is okay by the way, I showed up at your apartment, and the lady down the street was there, she’d already called an ambulance.”

  Sara felt her shoulders sag in relief. The widow her father had been seeing had gotten her message, and now she could cross her dad of her list of worries. Unfortunately, it was still a long list.

  “Aww is this a chick party or can anyone join?” Travis’s voice leered from behind Sara.

  Synclair stood, bringing Sara with her. Synclair took one look at Sara’s bruised cheek, and her shirt that had been ripped open and pushed her behind her own body.

  Travis smirked, “You’re gonna protect her, you’re pregnant.”

  Synclair rolled her eyes, “Gee thanks, Captain Obvious and here I thought I was just extremely bloated.” She needed to keep the guy guessing, she knew the guys would find them, she just needed to give them time.

  “The famous Synclair Patrick, my cousin, told me all about you, I think you broke her nose once.” He sounded almost impressed.

  Synclair snorted, “Nope, unfortunately, I just bruised it, not for lack of trying, though.” She told him as she sought to get the layout of their surroundings.

  There didn’t seem to be any way out other than digging through all the obstacles that Travis had set in front of the doors or the ladder that led to the second level. That was their best chance, she hoped Sara was prepared to use it.

  Travis walked up to Synclair until he was only a breath away. He was much taller than her so she tipped her head back to give him her best, ‘fuck you’ glare. She was doing the best she could, but it was hard to be intimidating when she was standing there in a pink t-shirt that said ‘Baby on Board,' in gold letters, stretch pants and her slip on Sketchers. If Amber told him all about you, then he’s expecting
a ‘thug,’ so give him one, then Sara can get Logan out, you can handle this twit until Reece shows up.

  “Nice Mustang you have baby, your boyfriend let you borrow his car?” He sneered.

  “Yeah, right after your momma was done sucking his dick, baby," She shot back crudely. She still hated to be called baby, it was her mother’s term of endearment for her when she wanted Synclair to give her drug money.

  Synclair expected the slap, she actually laughed as he pulled back his hand. “You hit like a girl.” His response was to smack her again.

  Sara tried to come in front of her, but she used her arm to push her back as she shot her an ‘I fucking have this look’.

  Shrugging Synclair met his gaze head on, “Okay you hit like an angry girl.” She braced for another slap but instead he began laughing.

  Synclair ignored her face that felt like it was on fire and backed up a step with Sara in perfect sync.

  “You are as wild as they said you were. I bet you're hot in bed.” He sneered looking at Synclair’s chest.

  Sara thought she might gag. She wanted to shove Syn away from Travis’s lecherous gaze, but she knew Syn wasn’t about to be budged.

  “I bet your not.” She shot back taking another step back.

  “Trust me, my women leave my bed satisfied,” Travis told her with a smug grin.

  Synclair shook her head, “From what I hear they leave your bed with no recollection of you putting your nasty hands all over them.”

  The grin left Travis’s face, and his eyes narrowed. This was what Synclair had been waiting for. She needed to push him, she needed him to lunge at her so she could use her kickboxing skills to crack him in the head with her foot. The only problem was, she hadn’t been practicing since she got pregnant and wasn’t sure how her body would respond. If she kicked out and missed she risked being vulnerable to a counter from him, damn.

  Travis reached behind him and pulled a gun from his waistband and pointed it at Synclair. Sara screeched and pulled Synclair back by her arm.

  It wasn’t the first time Synclair had a gun pointed at her, it was the first time that it wasn’t just her life in danger, now she had her son to think about and that just pissed her off more.

  The sound of a large crow making its signature cawing noise in the upper levels of the barn grabbed Travis’s attention. He began shooting wildly at the high windows of the barn. Sara screamed and ran to the stall where Logan was sleeping and covered him with her body. Synclair smiled.

  “What are you smiling about, bitch?” Travis was shaking, and his eyes darted wildly from place to place.

  Calm came over Synclair, it was all going to be okay, she, Sara and Logan were safe, and this asshole had no idea what level of fuck he had just walked into.

  “Crows, I love crows.” She answered as she looked around the barn, her happy smile stood out against the handprint on her cheek.

  “Are we even on the right road this time?” Frustration laced Reece’s voice. They should have arrived at the barn by now but with nothing but gravel roads and very little in the way of markers, they had had gone down at least two wrong routes.

  “This has to be it, Dalton says he used to play here when we were kids, he said turn left at the tree that looks like a fork,” Lucas replied pointing to a dead tree that indeed look like a three-pronged fork.

  “Call Dalton and ask him if they found anything,” Reece commanded.

  Lucas tried to cut his brother some slack, he knew Reece was as worried about Synclair as Lucas was about Sara and Logan. That and the fact that homicides were messy was the only thing keeping him from pounding his younger brother into the ground.

  “No cell signal.” He replied holding up his phone.

  “That may explain why the girls haven’t called us.” Reece offered.

  “I hope that’s the only reason,” Lucas grumbled.

  “Wait, is that it up ahead?” Reece asked squinting against the sunlight that was coming straight at him.

  Lucas lowered the visor and checked out the building up ahead. It definitely fit the description that Dalton had given them. Big, old, and abandoned, yep, a perfect psychopath’s lair.

  “Who’s car do think this is?” Reece asked, referring to the late model sedan with Washington plates.

  “I’m not sure, but they parked, so that they weren’t easy to spot, I think that’s a good plan,” Lucas added as he got a good look at the large barn.

  No sooner had they pulled up then Reece saw Dalton barreling down the gravel road behind them. Apparently Dalton had no issues with directions.

  “Nothing at Amber’s, we checked the guest house and the rest of the buildings,” Dalton said as soon as he exited the truck.

  “Anyone know who’s car that is?” Matt asked taking a picture of the plate with his phone.

  Reece shook his head. He was done waiting, either Dalton was going to spit out a plan, or he was taking this barn apart.

  “You have to see this,” Matt whispered while he waved his brother to follow him to the front of the barn.

  “It’s Synclair’s Mustang.” Reece choked out. His legs almost buckled when he saw the damaged front end and deployed airbag in the driver’s seat.

  “That’s why I couldn’t find it with the GPS, we’re in a dead zone.” Dalton ran his hand along the body of the car, grimacing when he saw droplets of blood by the driver’s window.

  “If her car is here, then where is she?” Lucas asked aloud.

  It didn’t take a brain surgeon to put the pieces together. They were at the right spot, they had found Travis and the girls but were they too late?

  *******

  “What? Why are you smiling, what? You called the cops didn’t you?” Travis waved the gun in Synclair's face.

  Sara hid in the stall with Logan nestled against her chest. She didn’t want to leave Syn, she wasn’t even sure she could get up the tall ladder while carrying Logan. She kissed her precious baby on his forehead. She couldn't believe this was happening,

  “You going back to prison Travis, I hope you drop the soap..a lot,” Synclair smiled trying to play on his paranoia.

  She knew no policemen were coming to save her, she hadn't called any, but she was not going to let crazy pants know that.

  “Fuck that, I’m no one's shower bitch!” He yelled spit flying everywhere. Synclair never took her eyes off the gun, he was holding it against his right leg but with his sporadic movements, she didn’t trust him not to swing it out at her.

  “Come on, prison goes one of two ways, either you make someone your bitch, or you are somebody’s bitch, guess which way I think it swung for you!” She dared him to make a move.

  Travis took a few steps toward her, she noted that his legs seemed shaky, and his pupils were dilated. Shit, he’s high, okay this should be easy.

  “Pretty tough aren’t you baby, still hoping your Prince will come save you?”

  “The names Synclair, not Cinderella, I don’t need Prince Charming to come to my rescue, I can fuck you up and still get home in time to watch my Friends re-runs.”

  He came within reaching distance, and Synclair didn’t hesitate. She shouted at Sara to go and swung her body around praying her foot connected with its target. As soon she felt her body make contact with Travis’s face, she knew she was good.

  “And don’t call me baby, asshole.” She ground out as she panted for breath, pregnant kickboxing was definitely a workout.

  While Travis was sprawled on the floor groaning, Synclair heard shouting outside. She knew those voices, oh they sounded pissed.

  “Reece, Lucas, Dalton, Matt, we’re in here.” She shouted relieved that this whole thing would be over soon.

  She made the mistake of looking to see if Sara was climbing the ladder yet and took her eyes off of Travis.

  Suddenly an arm went around her neck causing her to gasp for air. Synclair screeched as Travis’s sharp teeth bit into her soft neck drawing blood.

  “Reece will love that, now
I’ve marked two Hudson women.”

  “Ow Shit.” Travis cried as Sara hit him in the back of the head with a rock she had found.

  She knew she had screwed up the plan, but she just couldn’t leave Syn, so she had put her sleeping angel back on the mattress and crept up behind Travis, who was so far gone, he hadn’t heard her approach.

  “Damn, why are you still here?” Synclair asked taking gulps of air.

  Sara went to answer, but Synclair waved her off, “Doesn’t matter, the guys are here.”

  “Sara! Synclair!” Sara heard Lucas shout, her heart dropping at the panic in his voice.

  “We’re here Lucas, the door is barred.” She yelled running up to get as close to the door as she could.

  Sara turned to yell something to Synclair when she saw Travis angling the gun at Syn from his spot on the ground. Synclair caught her panicked face and immediately whirled to find Travis with his finger on the trigger.

  As Travis jumped to his feet, Synclair took several steps backward.

  “Jesus you’re like a cockroach that won’t die,” Synclair shouted in frustration.

  Travis started to answer when a loud noise sounded, and all eyes went to the barn doors. Or what used to be the barn doors. Sara dove out of the way as both doors flew back outward away from the barn being dragged by two Hudson trucks. Then Dalton and Matt were there climbing over bales of hay and dusty farm equipment. Moments later Sara saw Reece and Lucas practically vault over the obstacles as they made their way inside.

  Lucas was so relieved to see Sara he wanted to cry, but first, he had to deal with Travis. Lucas pulled his own gun out of his waistband and pointed it directly at Travis’s head.

  “Well Lucas, I wondered how long it would be before you showed up, I must admit I was hoping it would be longer, Sara and I have only just started to get reacquainted.”

  Lucas swung his head toward Sara, she was covered in dirt, and her shirt was ripped exposing her creamy white bra. She shook her head to let him know that she hadn’t been raped. He nodded back and turned his attention to the asshole with the gun.