Back to You: A Hudson Family Series- Book 1- Synclair and Reece (15 page)

“Hey, Guys we...” I was going to explain, really I was, but Reece cut me off with one raised hand.

“I know Synclair, Rachel told us all about it, even sent us a video of the burger part.” I looked at Rachel and did what any respectable adult would, I stuck my tongue out at her.

Reece’s large fingers grabbed my chin and forced my gaze back to him.

“Dammit Synclair, I let you out of the house for one day and this is what you do.” He shouted motioning over to a very, pissed off Amber, who was yelling something about calling a sheriff.

“Let me? You let me? Listen asshole you don’t control me, I don’t need you to take care of me or handle me- you got that Hudson?” I poked him in the chest for emphasis. I mean geez, not everything that happened was my fault.

“Sara, this isn’t like you, you have a business here and a son.” Lucas scolded.

I heard Sara gasp at his tone. I watched as all humor and laughter left her face replaced by white, hot anger. Shit, Sara had a temper and Lucas just stepped in really deep, cow doo doo. See I don’t curse all the time.

“Yes, Lucas, I do have a business to run and trust me, nothing in my world would ever make me forget I have a son. Everything I do and don’t do is for him. He is just fine, he’s spending the week fishing with my father. So don’t you dare talk to me like you know me.” She shouted, feet apart her stance matching Lucas.

“Um, hate to break up the love fest, but I’m pretty sure Amber called Sheriff James… sooo maybe we should get out of here.” Dalton suggested looking from Amber to his brothers.

Yeah, I was pissed. “I don’t care, let her call the Sherriff, it’s not like it would be the first time and if I have to spend a month here I doubt it will be the last, I’m not leaving Sara to deal with this mess or your
EX-WIFE
.” I dragged out the last part just to make my point. I stepped back from Reece and crossed my arms over my chest and glared. “So deal with it, Hudson.”

I watched Reece and Lucas have some unspoken conversation and I shared a smug shrug with Sara. She looked as angry as I was, I wasn’t going to leave her here, who knew what kind of story Amber would spin.

I should have known Reece wouldn’t let me have the last word. As I watched a smile cross his face, I noticed a slight smirk light up Lucas’s, once scowling mug, at the same time. Sara must have seen it too because we both stepped back from the two men just as they advanced forward.

Sara screamed when Lucas threw her over his shoulder and turned to Dalton. “Dalt, you and Rachel go clear everyone out, turn off the burners and lock up the diner, then meet us at home. She keeps the keys under the till in the register.” Lucas commanded.

Dalton, the schmuck, saluted his older brother grabbed a shocked Rachel and raced toward the diner. I noticed out of the corner of my eye that Amber was walking toward us, shaking her phone in the air.

“What the hell Lucas? Put me down.” Sara shouted pounding on Lucas’s back in anger. I watched open mouthed as he strode over to the dual cab Silverado, opened the passenger door and all but threw Sara in the seat.

“Stay.” I heard him growl as slammed the door and walked around to the driver’s side, flung open the door and shouted, “Reece you coming?”

Reece made to walk away from me and I released the breath I had been holding. I figured I would wait with Rachel until the Sherriff showed up. Just when Reece got about two steps from me, he suddenly whirled around and smacked his own forehead. “Damn sorry, I forgot.” He apologized. I didn’t like the look on his face. He looked like he was about to do something I wouldn’t like.

“Forgot what?” I asked ready to bolt for Rachel’s car and lock myself inside.

Damn he was always faster, before I could blink I was thrown over his shoulder and he was stalking back to the truck. “You sweetheart.” He announced, smacking my behind with his large hand.

A burning pain radiated from where his hand hit my ass. I punched his back, I dragged my nails under his shirt where I could reach skin, but nothing stopped him. In seconds, he threw open the rear door to the truck, chucked me inside on the bench seat, hopped in and slammed the door.

“No you don’t hon.” He chuckled as I tried to scramble out the opposite door. I was about to grab the handle when Lucas floored the accelerator and tore out of the parking lot, causing me to bounce back against Reece. He laid on the bench seat, his legs stretched out and held me with his arms around my body and then trapped my legs with his. I struggled and cursed. I was almost as loud as Sara, who was shouting at Lucas while he drove like a madman back to the ranch.

By the time we pulled up in front of the house, I was exhausted from fighting Reece’s hold. I was also pissed that my body liked being held so tightly to his.

******************************

If I wasn’t so furious at the woman in my arms right now, I would drag her to my room and fuck her until she couldn’t walk. No one had ever pissed me off and turned me on at the same time like Synclair did. When Rachel texted me about what was going down at Sara’s diner, I bolted for my truck. I hadn’t expected Lucas to join me. We were halfway there when Rachel sent us the video of Synclair slamming a burger onto Amber’s chest. Okay, I thought it was funny and a part of me loved that she stood up for Sara.

I loved Sara once I thought her and Lucas would get married. When Lucas messed up that relationship, I was the first one to tell him he was an idiot. But he had never talked about it and would shut down whenever I brought it up. So, imagine my surprise when he flipped the sassy woman over his shoulder and threw her into my truck. I guess Sara had the same effect on Lucas that Synclair had on me.
Mainly making me batshit crazy!
I was going to have to talk to Lucas later and find out what his plan was because clearly he was nowhere near finished with Sara Wilmington.

Lucas careened my truck around a sharp corner, bringing me back to present. He drove like a man possessed, he didn’t even acknowledge the pissed off woman next to him that was hurling curses. Not that I noticed all that much since I was working to keep my hellcat from jumping out of a moving vehicle. If she whacked me one more time in the nose, I swear it would break. By the time we pulled up Sara was sitting in her seat quietly fuming and Synclair had relaxed against me, breathing hard she was apparently tired of struggling to break my ribs with her elbows.

Lucas turned off the truck and walked around to Sara’s door and opened it. For a moment she just glared at him. Then she exhaled and slowly got out of the vehicle. I watched as Lucas threw me a smug expression as he took Sara’s elbow and escorted to the front door.

Sure, I thought, make it look easy, your woman isn’t going to tie your nuts in a bow.
Knowing there was not easy way to do it, I released my grip on Synclair and reached behind me and opened the door. I expected her to jump up and bolt, or turn around and clock me. She did neither, she spun around and her hazel eyes scowled at me as she followed me out of the vehicle. When I reached behind her to shut the truck door I glimpsed her face. What I saw almost made me grab her in my arms again. Her hair was wild and fell around her face, damp curls stuck to her forehead from when she was fighting me a like a banshee. But her eyes looked sad, for a moment she wasn’t the ball buster I had always seen her as. She was my Synclair. The Synclair who let me hold her, and kiss her, the Synclair who trusted me, before I blew it all away.

“I said I would stay Reece. I’m here, I’m staying, you won remember?” She muttered pushing past me to follow Lucas into the house.

Watching her square her shoulders and tip her head back like she was facing the electric chair, I shuddered. Had I really won? I didn’t feel like a winner, I felt like an overbearing caveman.

******************************

Reece was a freaking, overbearing caveman!

I felt sick to my stomach. I followed Lucas and Sara in the house and leaned on the counter as he pulled out a chair for her at the table. I began to feel the beginnings of a dull ache in my temple and for a moment I felt like I couldn’t catch my breath. I was so tired. I missed my life, my bar, my town. I didn’t know what to do with all these feelings. Part of me wanted to crawl in Reece’s lap and the other wanted slam my fist into his nose. Only a day and I was already beginning to wonder if my dream was worth any of this heartache.

These Hudsons were everywhere, funny, charming and irritating. They could be mischievous one minute and then total alpha, cavemen the next. I did notice how they stuck together. Wherever one was, the others were sure to follow. It was exactly what I had dreamed of in a family.
Pull it together, this month is a means to an end. You’re getting sucked into this bunch.

“We never did eat,” I said to no one in particular. In all the mess, I had never gotten to eat.

“I got you covered sis,” Matt announced looking right at me. I slowly turned my head and looked over my right shoulder and then my left. Nope, I didn’t see Rachel anywhere. I turned back to him, my expression filled with confusion.

“Yeah, I mean you.” Matt pointed at me. “I mean, you will be once Reece marries you.” He tossed out as he began placing things on the table.

Once Reece- what? Whoa? Don’t panic, don’t panic.
I took deep breaths. My distress must have shown on my face because Reece came up and grabbed my hand.

“Geez, Matt give the woman some time to get used to us first, there’s no rush planning the wedding,” Reece said matter of factly. He squeezed my hand and gave me a reassuring smile.

I needed to distract myself. I could feel the panic building again and I refused to pass out in front of these guys again. Looking around, I saw something on the table that filled me with such horror I almost screamed. “What is that?” I asked Matt, a horrified expression on my face.

“Dinner.” He said, pride filling his features. I watched as Matt placed a Hungry Man, microwave dinner in front of each person seated, now including Dalton and Rachel who had just arrived. He placed a napkin and fork for each person and sat back and marveled at his own self.

“This is what you eat?” I asked in disbelief. Hey, I like the occasional pizza pocket as much as the next midnight muncher. But microwave meals for dinner? Ugh.

Matt smiled again, with his soft cotton shirt, sweats and flip flops he looked so unlike the uptight man in the suit I had met in the bar in Vegas. “Sometimes it’s spaghetti, or it’s whatever we happen to throw together, that’s if we all happen to be here at the same time. Why? Think you can do better?” He challenged. I searched his smiling face, he didn’t seem upset. Nope, he thought because I ran a bar I couldn’t cook. Well, I was about to school Mr. Matt Hudson.

“Okay, put the offending plastic plate down, quietly step away from the table and no one gets hurt.” I instructed. If I was going to live here for a month then I was not eating that crap. How these men stayed in such top shape and still ate that crap, I had no idea.

“Okay, everyone out except Matt, I need 25 minutes and dinner will be ready.” I told the shocked faces around the room.

“I’ll stay Synclair.” Reece offered. I shook my head, I needed to calm down. He was talking marriage, that meant staying here, that meant opening my heart to him, I couldn’t think about that right now. I needed to stop the pounding of my heart in my chest, cooking was the only thing other than sex or kicking someone’s ass that could calm me down, and right now those two things were not on the menu.

I watched Reece reluctantly follow the others. I did notice when Lucas tried to reach for Sara’s hand and she pulled back. Yep, Sara was probably about to have her own panic attack, judging from the look on her face. I would have liked to help her, but I was too busy trying to stop myself from throwing up.

“How can I help boss?” Matt asked smirking.

I pushed past him and opened the fridge, there was mostly crap, lots of sandwich meat, pickles, leftover pizza and takeout. I searched until I found unopened smoked sausage, bell peppers, onions, which still seemed fresh and cooked cubed chicken that was still in an unopened package. After pulling together, a pint of half n half cream, salt, pepper and some uncooked linguine noodles I went to work.

I instructed Matt on how to dice the onions and peppers and went to work locating a skillet and oil. I would have preferred olive oil but I could make do with vegetable oil instead. I looked up and found Matt staring at me.

“What?” I asked setting the large skillet on the stove and adjusting the heat.

“Why didn’t you out me about Vegas?” He asked.

I knew the question was coming, I wasn’t too sure of the answer myself. “Are you really an accountant?”

“Yes, I have been since I was 19.” He answered.

“Do you rip off people like your buddy Ridge?” My eyes narrowed as I waited for his answer.

A dark look crossed his handsome face, and he shook his head. His eyes were deadly serious. “Never, I enjoy women, all kinds of women, I would never do that. Ridge and I are rivals, not friends, I just happened to be meeting a client, and he had just got stood up.”

I had kind of already figured out that Matt wasn’t the type to hurt someone, but he was a Hudson, so I needed to check.

“Great, then your secret is safe with me. It’s your life, Matt, I knew both women and men who were escorts. It can be classy and lucrative, as long as you’re safe and there is no danger. I give you my word I won’t nark you out.” I promised. I meant it too. He had the right to live his own life and my word was solid.

For the next twenty minutes we pulled dinner together, it was a simple sausage and chicken dish with a Fettuccini Alfredo sauce and peppers. Matt even found frozen garlic bread that we heated in the oven. By twenty-six minutes we were plating the food and calling everyone back into the kitchen.

Sitting down last, I passed the bread to Reece, who made sure he had sat next to me. Starving, I dug in. Damn it was good, the peppers and onions added a great kick to the chicken and smoked sausage, and of course, the pasta was perfect. A few seconds into my meal I realized everyone had stopped eating and was staring at me.

Sara spoke first since she seemed to be willingly sitting next to Lucas, I assumed they had called a truce. “This is amazing, like truly amazing,” She told me, a look of disbelief on her face.

Without thinking I babbled, “It’s just a simple cream based pasta dish, I used the peppers and the smoke sausage to cut through some of the richness of the sauce.” Crap, now they were all staring at me like I was an alien.

“Synclair always makes the best food, whenever her and Uncle Jack fight or she has a bad day, she’ll be in her apartment whipping up some of the most awesome edibles.” Rachel announced to the room.

“So you like to cook.” Lucas supplied, once again reaching for Sara’s hand, she, once again, pulled away. He frowned at Sara for a moment before plastering a smile on and turning back to me.
Okay, so maybe not a truce.

“Well, Synclair still has panic attacks so when she gets stressed she cooks or goes to her kickboxing class or...” Rachel trailed off.

If looks could kill, the young girl opposite me would be dead. I couldn’t believe she just put that all out there. I knew her and UJ talked but I had no idea how much he told her. Was there no freaking loyalty anymore?

“Or she does what?” Matt wanted to know taking a huge bite of pasta.

“Or she has one and dones.” Rachel answered looking guilty.

Matt choked and Reece growled. “Um, so where did you learn to cook?” Dalton asked, obviously seeing me ready to leap across the table and choke the life out of his sister.

I sighed, I didn’t want to share parts of my past to these people but it seemed like every time I turned around it was happening more and more.

“When I was about fifteen, my mother got us thrown out of a hotel. We went to the women’s shelter, the one I was volunteering at before I came here, I wondered around the Las Vegas strip a lot, since I couldn’t stand being in that place all day. Chef Maxwell Rodman turned out of an alley and actually hit me with his car.” The table gasped. Chef Rodman was a world renowned chef with restaurants worldwide, including Vegas.

“I’ve eaten at his restaurants before, his food is amazing,” Matt told everyone while biting into the warm garlic bread.

Unsure of how much to tell I went on, “Basically I convinced him I was fine, he asked why I was wondering around the strip so young and obviously ditching school. Because I had such a chip on my shoulder I told him. He asked if I was hungry and I said no. But my stomach growled so loud he could hear it. So he basically dragged me into the restaurant after he made sure I wasn’t hurt. He had been barely moving when the car bumped me. So he told me, I could go there after school every day, as long as I went to school and as long as I did my homework there, I could stay in the kitchen, eat and even learn. So I did when I graduated high school his staff threw me a party at the restaurant. I moved on to UNLV and he told me I could come work for him anytime.” I finished trying not to drag out the stories with details.

Details like how much I loved that kitchen, how he spent hours teaching me sauces and presentation, how being in a kitchen made me feel calm and happy and how he was the only person that showed up at my high school graduation.

“You have a great talent, Synclair, I’m open to having a partner at the diner, and your culinary skills bring a lot to the table.” Sara looked at me, her gaze was sincere. Reece squeezed my hand, and I almost felt guilty when I saw his eyes filled with hope.

I looked around the table at everyone. “I had actually planned on adding a restaurant portion to the bar when my uncle retired. Um, I am actually not going to be staying in Carson City.” I told her carefully. I felt Reece tighten his grip on my hand.
Damn, why should I feel guilty, it’s true, I can’t stay here. Not that her diner wasn’t in a perfect location and I had hit it off with Sara right away, but my life was in Vegas, wasn’t it?

Sara seemed fine with my answer, she nodded saying, “let me know if things change, I would like to discuss options with you.”

I nodded back and shoved a fork full of food in my mouth. Anything to avoid the intense stare Reece was giving me.

“Hey since everyone is here, how about we watch a movie? I got the new ‘Sinister’ DVD.” I looked at Rachel and blinked.

Before I could answer her, Lucas chimed in, “Yeah, come on Sara, you love a good scare movie.” I didn’t think Sara looked convinced. Honestly, she looked ready to bolt. I couldn’t blame her, I was so confused and emotionally drained I just wanted to run to my room and crash for the next 29 days.

“I’m in, I love me a good scare movie,” Dalton added.

“Since I have clients to meet tomorrow I’ll clean up dinner, you guys go ahead,” Matt replied getting up to grab dishes.

“I’ll help.” I almost shouted. I wanted to put some distance between Reece and me. Only he didn’t let go of my hand. So when I stood up and tried to turn away, I found myself stuck.

“Matt’s got this.” Reece looked quickly at his brother. “Don’t you bro?”

“Yep, I’m good, you kids go have fun.” He laughed shooing everyone out of the kitchen.

I looked at Sara, who looked at me as if to ask, ‘
what the hell is happening here?’

Before I could answer her confused look, Reece was tugging me behind him as we followed Rachel to the living room.

“Um, it’s getting late and I have to get up early, I should probably get going. Uh, Rachel can give me a ride to the diner.” Sara tried to edge toward the door. I could tell Lucas was not happy. The closer Sara got to the door the more brooding Lucas became.

“Can’t even be in the same room with me now Sara?” It sounded like Lucas was teasing but his face said something altogether different.

I watched Sara pull back her shoulders and lift her chin. “I guess the roles are reversed because a few years ago, you all but ran from any room I was in.” She replied the bitterness and pain evident in her voice.

I watched as poor Lucas looked crestfallen, like someone had just physically slapped him. Recovering quickly he told her, “That was then, and this is now.” He walked to her slowly as if approaching a wild animal that was ready to run.

He grabbed the hands she was wringing in front of her, “Stay.” He almost whispered.

I was so involved in what was happening in front of me, I paid no attention when Reece pulled me onto his lap on the sofa. I didn’t even protest when his arms wrapped around me.

“Why now?” Sara asked. She pulled her hands from Lucas and placed them on her hips. You could tell her anger was building again.

Lucas jerked his head at where I sat perched on Reece’s lap on the sofa. “Because it seems miracle, second chances are a Hudson specialty and I want mine.” His voice was deep with determination, he crowded Sara against the wall and placed both hands on either side of her confused face.
Oh my, these Hudson men don’t play.

Looking from Lucas to Reece I realized where I was. I attempted to push off his lap but his hands tightened. “We made a deal Hudson.” I gritted out in a whisper so I didn’t interrupt what was happening with Lucas and Sara. “You’ve already invaded my space multiple times today and your caveman antics are getting old.” Instead of arguing, he relaxed his arms, I shot up off the sofa and went to sit in the recliner.