The Final Play

by Rhonda Laurel

  “I’m getting a restraining order against him.”

  “Wow. That’s a courageous move.”

  “It was either that or Robert and Jared said they would handle it in their own way.”

  “Good decision.” The last thing she needed was to see her brothers on television tussling with Lamont, especially since one of them was a cop. She feared someone taped that incident at the party.

  “I can’t believe they care enough to want to do him bodily harm.” Charisma sniffed.

  “I don’t know why you think no one in the family cares about you.”

  “Maybe because I know I haven’t done a whole lot to earn their loyalty and protection.” Charisma wrapped her arms around her stomach. “I know I don’t ever deserve to be your cousin, but I’ll never forget what you did for me last night.”

  “The important thing is that you’re away from that idiot Lamont. The next step is yours.”

  “Thanks Morgan.” Charisma rushed over and hugged her tight.

  “You’re welcome Charisma.”

  CHAPTER FOUR

  Seth expected a crowd of reporters in front of the Ashcroft when they returned home from the hospital, but the building security had been vigilant about keeping prying eyes and media away. Michelle and Tyler had picked up the boys from their grandparents’ house that morning and were going about their normal Sunday activities. When they got to the house they were getting homework done and watching one of their favorite cartoons.

  Michelle gave Morgan and Seth a hug. “I didn’t turn to the news this morning, so the boys don’t know anything.”

  “Thanks, Michelle. How’s Tyler doing?” He looked over at his younger brother, who was sitting at the dining room table helping Colby with an art project. Uncle and nephew had a pretty strong bond. Colby was left handed and Tyler was too. Tyler helped with him penmanship and holding a fork to eat. His son had so many traits like his uncle.

  “He’s been pacing and swearing all night. I had to jump in front of the door twice to stop him from going to Lamont’s house. He even programmed the address into his GPS.”

  “How does he know where Lamont lives?” Morgan asked.

  “He called Sam and got the information from her.” Michelle took Seth’s hand gingerly and gave him a no-nonsense look. “What’s the prognosis?”

  “His index finger is sprained,” Morgan blurted out. “We better get some ice on that.”

  Seth held her still when she tried to go toward the kitchen. “The team doctor came by this morning and reviewed the X-ray. It’s nothing I haven’t seen before. I have to see him when I go to practice tomorrow, but I may be sitting out the next game.”

  Tyler joined them. “Does that douche bag Lamont know he could have cost the team the season if your entire hand had been sprained? I want a piece of that a-hole.” Seth put his arm around Morgan. “It’s been a long night. I think we all need to relax for the rest of the day.”

  “Tyler and I will be right downstairs if you need us.” Michelle tried to smile as she gave Morgan another hug. “Come on, Mr. Blake, you have a ten o’clock call with your pit crew.”

  Tyler hugged Morgan and put his hand on her belly. He looked at Seth. “Let me know if you want to pay Brayer a visit.”

  “I’ll let you know if I need you.” Seth gave him a hug too.

  “Don’t forget I’m fixing dinner tonight. It was Connor’s choice so we’re having meatloaf and mac and cheese,” Michelle added.

  The newlyweds went downstairs to their apartment. The boys were a little disappointed when Morgan told them they weren’t going to the library for story time. Seth kissed Morgan and headed to the kitchen to get her something to eat and an ice pack for his finger. He gathered some fruit and orange juice and went back to the living room. The hardest part would be explaining to the boys why he’d lost his temper and got into a fight. But it was necessary. People would be talking about it, and unfortunately the boys would get wind of it anyway. His cell phone pinged again. He’d answer the calls after he talked to the boys.

  “Guys, we’re going to have a family meeting.”

  The boys took a seat on the couch. Seth winced when Morgan gingerly sat down too.

  “I’m fine.” She smiled.

  “Boys, there are some things that happened at the party last night that I want to explain to you.” Seth paced. “Last night, your dad lost his temper and got into a fight.”

  The boys’ eyes widened but remained silent so he continued.

  “Someone pushed mommy and she stumbled but she didn’t get hurt and neither did your baby sister. But we did go to the hospital to make sure they were both OK.” Seth let out a deep breath.

  “Is that why Uncle Tyler told Aunt Michelle he wanted to beat the snot out of Lamont?” Jake said.

  “Uh, probably.” Morgan locked eyes with Seth.

  “You may hear some things about it at school or on television. If an adult asks you anything, you tell them to talk to me or mom.”

  “So we don’t talk about it?” Colby scratched at his nose.

  “Right, Colby. You can talk to the family about it but not to anybody else.” He hated having to school his kids about the ins and outs of public relations.

  “Not even our teacher?” Connor asked.

  “No.” Seth shook his head. “No one at school should be asking you about this. OK?”

  “OK.” The boys said in unison.

  “So what’s going to happen to Lamont?” Jake said. “Is he getting a time out?”

  “I wish,” Morgan mumbled under her breath.

  “Lamont and I will deal with what happened when we get to practice.”

  Seth looked at the faces of the boys, who all looked like they had the wind knocked out of them.

  “How about we camp out in the living room until Uncle Tyler and Aunt Michelle come up for dinner? Go get your blankets and pillows and we’ll build a fort. I’ll get the fireplace going and we’ll make s’mores.”

  The boys clapped and scooted off the couch, ready to enjoy the rest of the day camping indoors. Connor and Colby stopped in their tracks when Jake drew up short and went over to Seth.

  “Dad, were you fighting because you were protecting mom?”

  He promised he’d always tell them the truth. “Yes, I was.”

  Jake grabbed at his kneecaps and gave his dad a hug and Connor and Colby did the same.

  “I’m glad mom had you to look after her.” Jake looked up at him.

  “I always will.” He smiled and looked over at Morgan who was dabbing at her eyes with a tissue. “Now let’s enjoy the afternoon.”

  “I’m going to take a quick shower and get into something comfortable.” Morgan scooted off the coach.

  “Are you sure you’re fine? Does anything hurt?” He caressed her arms.

  “Physically I’m fine. I hate that your party didn’t turn out the way we expected. We were having a good time until all the hoopla started. I didn’t get to say my speech.”

  He raised an eyebrow. “You had a speech prepared?”

  “Yes, I was going to gush about what a wonderful husband, father, and football player you were and how the sport of football would be taking a huge loss when you retired.”

  Seth laughed. “I remember a time when you would toss your cookies at thought of speaking in public.”

  “Being married to you has changed me in so many ways.” She grinned.

  “Hopefully for the better.”

  “Always.” She hugged him tighter. “I just want you to know that you’re always my hero.”

  “Is that right?”

  “That’s right.” Morgan kissed him. “You want to join me in the shower?”

  “I’d love to, but I want to make a few calls. I told Daniel I’d touch base with him when I got home. I should give Luke a call too so everyone’s in the loop. After that I will hunker down under that fort with you and the boys until dinner time.”

  She sighed. “Seth, whatever happens, we’ll wea
ther the storm together.”

  “OK.”

  Seth watched as Morgan did her cute waddle down the hallway. She was all right, he repeated to himself. He rolled up his shirtsleeves and went over to the bar and poured himself a scotch, knowing it was too early in the day to drink but needing something to calm the rage inside him. He glanced at his phone. There were a few text messages from teammates saying Lamont was running his mouth on social media about the events of last night. Patton, who had little interest in diplomacy, posted an eyewitness statement of his own condemning Lamont’s actions. Some of the other players in attendance had said some things as well, to rebut the irate tirade Lamont went on right after he’d gotten stitched up in an emergency room at another hospital.

  He called Daniel, who informed him he was trending on several social media sites and media outlets were beginning to pick up on the story. Everyone, from fans to other sports stars, were weighing in with their opinions on what they thought transpired. The feud he’d been trying to play down in the press had just reached catastrophic proportions. Daniel promised he would do as much spin control as possible and some of Lamont’s bizarre statements had already been removed from his accounts. After a few more calls to family and a brief conversation with Jimmy, who wanted to see him after practice on Tuesday, Seth joined his family and tuned out the rest of the world. Later that night, it was no surprise the boys wanted to sleep with them in their bed. As they all cuddled together, he felt like his family was safe again.

  * * *

  Morgan walked into the administrative office of the boys’ school with a defiant look on her face. Sure, she was there to drop off the goodies for the bake sale, but she contemplated throwing a cupcake at the first person who had enough nerve to ask her what happened the night of the party. Things were getting back to normal after a few days and she was thankful for that. They’d received so many get-well baskets and flowers, there was hardly any room to move around in the house. She would have liked to continue to hide in that fort with Seth and the kids all week, but she knew that wouldn’t solve anything. It was necessary to show the world that life went on for the Blakes, even if she didn’t feel that way.

  After getting a consultation from the best sports medicine doctor on the east coast, Seth had gone back to practice today, and she knew what he regretted the most was that all the hard work he’d put in to make the team cohesive would go down the drain because of this off field distraction. Lamont had always hated that the team loved Seth and that he could rally them and coax a good performance out of them.

  The secretary thanked her for the contribution. The rest of the school staff just smiled and waved like they normally did when they saw her. Food fight avoided, she climbed back into the Range Rover and pulled off, headed for the bookstore. She and Michelle had to plan for the holiday season. Their dynamo employee Avery was away at school and wouldn’t be able to work until the week of Christmas. Avery had told her she was enjoying school and making new friends, but she was perplexed by the one-eighty Wyatt had done since the wedding. He watched over her and gave her rides to the ranch on the weekend but the flirting had stopped. Avery didn’t know that Wyatt got the talking to of a lifetime about pursuing the young Ms. Reed, and Morgan wasn’t prepared to tell her that the overprotective Blake men were the reason why. Her niece thought she’d escaped that overbearing behavior when she left Philadelphia.

  The sound of the phone ringing brought Morgan out of Avery and Wyatt’s young love dilemma. She looked at the display on the dashboard. It was Michelle.

  “Morgan, where are you?”

  “I know, I’m running late. I had to drop off the cupcakes at the boys’ school for the bake sale tomorrow.”

  “Never mind that. You may want to take a detour today. There are some camera crews outside the bookstore. I already tossed one reporter hussy and her cameraman out. I called Sam and asked her what to do, she’s sending someone from Regency’s Philadelphia office over here.”

  “No worries. I’m almost at the store. I can handle it.” Morgan parked the SUV a few blocks away and stamped down the street toward the mob. It was nippy outside, but she left her coat open so she could set the stage for her shot on camera. If being with Seth all these years had taught her anything, it was that the first image that appeared on screen often told the story, not the dialogue that followed it. The picture of a pregnant woman being hassled was sure to make a statement.

  A reporter rushed up the street to meet her and thrust a microphone in her face. “Morgan Blake, do you care to comment on the fight between your husband and Lamont Brayer?”

  “Don’t you have something better to do than harass pregnant women trying to get to work?” Morgan intentionally stopped and rubbed her hand over her belly for the camera.

  “There have been rumors that a pretty nasty fight occurred at your party Saturday night.”

  “Well, if you heard it, then it must be true, right?” Morgan grumbled and kept moving toward the door.

  “Do you think Seth’s image as a golden boy has been ruined with his recent thuggish behavior?”

  Morgan stopped and whipped her head around. “My husband has had an exemplary career as a football player and no alleged skirmish with a teammate is going to change his legacy. He’s a consummate professional who works hard every time he steps onto the field and has been a shining example of what the sport embodies. But why focus on that when you can gossip about him? I think people who have always been trying to debunk this golden boy image are reveling in this incident as a way to discredit him somehow. I don’t see anybody asking if Lamont’s legacy will be tainted after allegedly getting his ass kicked after menacing a woman who was clearly trying to get away from him. Anyone who wants to take pot shots at Seth Blake, feel free to do so, he can take it. It’s all petty jealousy and they can go take a flying leap—”

  Michelle came bolting out of the bookstore and tugged on Morgan’s arm, leading her into the store. When the reporter and camera crew tried to follow, Michelle glared and held up a metal canister with a leather case. “I will use my pepper spray.”

  A truck with the Regency symbol on it pulled up and began creating a perimeter around the door.

  “I wasn’t finished,” Morgan huffed as Michelle guided her through the store and into the office.

  “Oh, yes you were. I had a premonition about the conclusion of that passionate speech and it was going to end with several colorful expletives.” Michelle took her coat off for her and hung it up on the coat rack.

  “Well, yes it was.”

  “It’s my turn to talk you off the ledge. You did it for me when that racing groupie told that gossip rag that she and Tyler were together the night before our wedding.”

  “I’m rethinking maturity. We should have found that skank and beat her down.”

  “But you reminded me that I knew the truth, and Tyler went on the record and they uncovered her lie. We both know that Lamont has pushed every button he could to bait Seth. And Seth being Seth, a great husband and human being, reacted when he believed his wife was in danger. Some people want to make a big deal out of it.”

  “I don’t want one of the highlights of his career to be this crap with Lamont.”

  Michelle smiled. “Well, all the women I know are swooning even harder over him because he defended his woman. So he hasn’t lost any female fans.”

  Morgan’s cell phone rang. She checked the display, it was Sydney. “Hi Sydney, what’s up? Are you kidding me? I’ll be right there.”

  “What’s wrong?” Michelle asked.

  “My family has Sydney cornered at my grandma’s house and want details about the fight. I haven’t been answering their calls. I have to go over there and put a stop to this. I’m sorry to duck out on you and I just got here.” Morgan put her coat back on.

  “Go. Put out as many fires as you can.”

  “You know, I think I’d rather talk to that television crew again than face a room full of Reed women.”

&nb
sp; “Try not to use any expletives in front of your grandma,” Michelle advised.

  Morgan laughed. “She’d probably send me to my room.”

  * * *

  The last thing she wanted to do was dash over to her grandma’s house to calm down her family. News of the incident with Lamont was going around like lightning. No one had the entire story, but the family agreed that Morgan being in the middle of it and almost miscarrying was all Charisma’s fault. By now the story had grown to gargantuan proportions. Morgan had now been pushed through a plate glass window and almost delivered on the spot and Seth had beat Lamont within an inch of his life. The latter was kind of true, but that didn’t mean people had to go around repeating it.

  Although Charisma was the last person she wanted to defend to the rest of the family, the public lynch mob that was gathering for her was wrong too. She got out of the Range Rover as gracefully as she could and walked up the steps to her grandmother’s house. Sydney came out and greeted her on the porch.

  Morgan kissed her. “How’s the weather in there?”

  “Cloudy with a high chance of snark.”

  Morgan laughed. “That explains why you look like you want to want to smoke a cigarette.”

  “I can only take so much of a room full of women who are determined to make up their minds about something they know nothing about. They haven’t even heard the full story.”

  “Let’s go in and set the record straight.” Morgan linked arms with Sydney.

  When Morgan stepped into her grandmother’s living room, she saw the family had set up a command central with their laptops and cell phones out, talking about the various reports of the incident. Grandma Reed was sitting on the couch sipping on tea. It was way past her nap time, but she looked like she was enjoying having the house full of relatives. As she listened to the different conversations flowing around the room, she shook her head. If they ever put that much fervor into planning the family reunion, maybe they could have it somewhere other than grandma’s backyard.