Counting On It (Hearts for Ransom Book 1) (12 page)

“Bo, could you help me with this strap before it starts raining?” Logan needed to get the flaps on the tent down to keep the oncoming storm from blowing in, but one of the straps was in knots.

“Do it yourself,” There was ice in Bo’s voice.

What was up with that?

“Hey, Brody, can you help me?” Bo needed to get the cob out of his rear.

“Why don’t you just pose with it so I can get a good picture?” was Brody’s response.

What had happened? He lost any chance he might ever have had to be with Emily Scott so he could save the team. And now it appeared they were angry with him.

“Mason?” He had one sure friend.

“Sorry, bud.” His “friend” turned the other way and started talking to Spencer. Wonderful. Mason and Spencer were finally getting along.

“All right, you guys, I did it for us.” He had taken all he was going to take.

“How do you figure?” Colton asked.

Logan swallowed hard. “That photographer got some pictures of Emily and me in a…we need to have a team meeting.”

Pastor Rhinehart stepped forward. “Boys, come with us for a little while. We’ll go make sure the windows on the bus are closed.” The pastor, Fletch, and Paul led all of the boys away, with even Seth tagging along.

“Okay, Taylor. Let’s hear why you used one of the nicest women I’ve ever met for
us
,” Bo demanded.

“That photographer”—who had thankfully returned to town for the day, ostensibly to ‘run errands’—“took pictures of Emily and me in a compromising situation. It was a very private moment, and she took photographs of us.” It still made the gall rise in his throat when he thought about it.

“Haynes got hold of the pictures and had a fit. He destroyed all but the first one that the paper ran. Then he told me because the
Razor
wanted a side story about Em and me having a romance and giving up our time together for the sake of the kids, I was either going to have to go along with it, or he was dropping us. I had no choice.”

“Bullcrap!” Colton yelled. “She’s a person, Taylor! With flippin’ feelings! Didn’t you ever stop to think that she might think you really meant it?”

“That’s just it.” Logan took a deep breath and told the truth. “I did really mean it. But I played her. I knew we were being photographed and made sure to give that woman something to take a picture of. I told Haynes, though, if Em was recognizable in the pictures, the whole deal was off. That’s why you can’t see her face in any of them.”

“The whole deal should have been off from the start. I’d have rather lost the team than know we’re responsible for hurting Emily like that.” As usual, Bo spoke his mind.

“Me, too,” Colton agreed.

There was a chorus of agreement among his teammates.

“You bite, man,” Bo informed him.

Logan couldn’t believe what he was hearing. “So I gave up my one chance to be with somebody I really care about, to save a team nobody even wants anymore?”

“I’m sick of Haynes and his demands. This time he’s gone too far…and you let him.” It was Mason, of all people, talking.

“So why are you still hanging around with these kids? If you don’t want the team, you’re free to leave.”

“I’m not leaving Austin,” Jesse announced. “I’m just starting to make headway with him. He needs me.”

“And if you think I’m giving up my time with Seth, you’re sadly mistaken.” Bo looked at him, fire in his eyes.

“We’re here with these kids because we care about them.” Even calm-natured Matt was irate. “Maybe we didn’t want to do this at first, but now we all care. I thought you cared about Trevor, too.”

“I do. I’m even helping him once we’re back home.” That wasn’t about to change.

“I hope you don’t help him like you helped us—at the cost of hurting someone else,” Coop told him.

Jake weighed in. “Emily has always been nice to us, even when we didn’t deserve it. You used her, man. You should have asked us what we wanted before you decided it was okay to go along with that old fart.”

The truth hit Logan square in the face. He had taken it upon himself to go along with Haynes without a word to even one of his teammates. He’d just assumed the team would come first with them. And here
they
were—sticking up for the woman he had hurt—the woman
he
professed to care about.

“I’m stupid,” he candidly admitted.

“Yeah, you are,” Mason cheerfully agreed.

“I’m also sorry.”

“It’s not us you hurt. Abby says she’s never seen Emily like this, not even back when you were kids and you pulled your stunts with her.” Brody had evidently been discussing the situation with Abby. That’s how they had known what happened.

“I tried to explain it to her.” He didn’t know what else he could do.

“I’m sorry, Taylor, but I’m pretty sure that ship has sailed,” Bo bluntly announced. “You’re not gonna get her back.”

Logan wanted to deny it, to insist there was some way for him to win her back, but in his heart he knew Bo was right.

It was with a troubled heart he asked them, “Then I guess the question is, do we still want to play ball for Sloopy’s?”

“I’d rather sit out a season until we find another sponsor,” Colton said.

There were murmurs of agreement.

“Are you guys okay with me calling Al, or does one of you want to?” Logan wasn’t going to assume anything about his friends ever again.

“You did a really stupid thing, but you’re still our captain,” Jake told him. “You make the call.”

Logan scanned the faces of his teammates, and what he saw made him feel worse than their anger had. Because now all he saw was sympathy. He’d have to deal with his feelings over losing Em later. He needed to take care of this business now.

“I’ll call Al, and then I’m calling Haynes myself. I want to personally tell him what he can do with his sponsorship.”

“Now that‘s the Logan I know.” Some of the anger had disappeared from Mason’s voice.

Logan had lost Emily, but maybe he hadn’t lost his friends after all.

He saw Pastor Rhinehart and Fletch leading the boys back to the tents and felt the first drops of rain. “I’m going to the Rec building to make my calls.” The boys didn’t need to hear what he had to say. “Will one of you make sure Trevor’s okay until I get back?”

“I’ve got him,” Bo volunteered. “Tell Haynes I think he bites.”

Logan chuckled in spite of himself. “I just might do that.”

He rushed to the Rec building as quickly as he could, intending to beat the rain. Since they had made their decision, he wanted to act on it. He’d already lost enough for the old man. But first he owed Al a call.

“I have some news for you,” he told Al once he had him on the phone.

“I’ve been following your stories—both of them. Got yourself a girl, huh?” Al chuckled.

“Not anymore.” That hurt to say. “I’m calling because we just had a team meeting.”

“Oh, no. What’s going on?” Logan could hear the trepidation in his voice.

“There’s been some stuff going on with Haynes that you don’t know about. It all boils down to…he’s been blackmailing us, Al, plain and simple, and we’re sick of it. We’ve decided to sit this season out rather than play for Sloopy’s.”

After a pregnant pause, Al answered him. “I can’t say as I blame you. I hope you’ll still let me coach you next year, no matter who your sponsor is.”

“We wouldn’t have anybody else.” Now, that was one thing Logan did know he could say for the whole team. They all admired and respected Al.

“I guess I’d better call Haynes.”

“No, thank you. I’m going to have the pleasure of doing that myself,” Logan told him. “I’ll talk to you later, Al. Take care.”

“You too, Logan.”

Logan disconnected the call, and then he dialed another number.

“Sloopy’s Bar and Grill,” a perky female voice answered.

“This is Logan Taylor. It’s very important that I speak with Sam Haynes.”

“Just a minute, please.”

Logan could hear the noise from the grill in the background. A few minutes later, he heard the voice he had grown to dread during the past couple of weeks.

“Taylor, I have to tell you I’m impressed by the pictures. The paper loves them, and the public is eating them up.”

“Well, I’m happy for you. It’s too bad there won’t be any more of them.”

Haynes didn’t say anything for a moment. “Now, Taylor, we had a deal.”

“I’m sick to death of your deals. We’re all sick to death of your deals. You can take them and your sponsorship and shove ‘em as high as they’ll go. You are no longer the Slammers’ sponsor.”

“You can’t do that.” He sounded indignant.

“Wanna bet?” Logan was through playing the old man’s games.

“Now, just a minute. I’ve put a lot of money into that juvenile delinquent camp. I can always pull my funding if you guys don’t stop this nonsense.”

“And won’t that give you great publicity? Believe me, you’ve got nine men here who will make absolutely certain the paper gets the whole story if you take one red cent away from these boys.”

For once, Sam Haynes seemed to be speechless.

“We’re done, Haynes.”

“Now, maybe I’ve been too hasty. Maybe you don’t need to worry about that love story anymore.” Talk about backpedaling.

“You’ve been ‘too’ a lot of things. I don’t have to worry about that love story anymore anyway, thanks to the stupid deal I made with you. And I don’t care what you say. We’ve made our decision. No more Sloopy’s.”

He started to disconnect, but then remembered. “Bo Daniels gave me a message for you.”

“Is he interested in starting a new team?” The old man actually thought Logan would be telling him that?

“Not exactly. He said to tell you that you bite.” With a smile on his face, Logan disconnected the call.

If only he’d have spoken to the guys before he agreed to the photo deal. He might have still had a shot with Emily.

He heard the rain start to come down and decided he’d better sit tight and wait for the worst of it to pass before he tried to make it back to the tent. He didn’t think it would be pleasant to have a soggy sleeping bag. If it weren’t blowing so hard, they could have all taken shelter under the roof of the pavilion and found ways to pass time, but they would be playing cards or board games in their tents instead.

As he idly looked out the window, he saw movement in front of Emily’s camper. Paul Findley was walking her to the door. He had his arm around her and she was leaning against him. When they got to the door, Emily turned and said something to Paul, and then they kissed. Right there and then. They kissed.

He wanted to hit something. She had sure gotten over Logan quickly. Maybe he didn’t really know her.

But he did. She was still too good for him. Paul Findley was a doctor—a dermatologist. Em was a nurse. The two of them were more socially compatible than she and Logan ever could be. He remembered the way Paul had greeted Emily when he first arrived. The man had obviously been waiting for a chance to swoop in and rescue her from Logan, and he had served her up to the doctor on a silver platter.

Logan was only getting what he deserved. He stood and waited for the rain to ease up so he could make it back to Trevor. At least he’d done one thing right.

Emily had been gathering the folding lawn chairs they’d left out, trying to beat the rain when she managed to slide on the one small patch of wet grass already out there. As soon as she fell, she felt it. Her ankle was sprained. She sat on the ground and began to cry, partially from the pain, but mostly because of her heartbreak.

“Emily!” Paul Findley was kneeling beside her. “I saw you fall. Did you hurt yourself?”

She looked past him and saw Pastor Rhinehart and Fletcher leading the boys away from the parking lot toward the campsites. “Where are the Slammers?” she asked through her tears.

“They were having some sort of disagreement and needed to have a team meeting. The three of us brought the boys out here to give the guys some privacy.” He looked at her ankle, which had started to swell. “You sprained your ankle, didn’t you?”

Emily nodded, wiping the tears from her face. “I felt it when I fell.” She managed a weak smile. “I managed to find the only place out here that was already wet. Graceful, huh?”

“May I?” He gestured toward her ankle. “Just to make sure it isn’t broken.”

“I’m pretty sure it’s just a sprain, but since there’s a doctor on hand, I won’t turn down a free examination.” His hazel eyes twinkled as he smiled at her half-hearted attempt at a witty response.

Paul gently held her ankle and had her move it. She nearly screamed when she pivoted her foot up and down. After checking her ankle carefully, his gaze returned to her face.

“I think you nurses are smarter than doctors sometimes.” He stood up. “As far as I can tell, you’ve got a pretty nasty sprain there. I’ll wrap it for you. Where are the first aid supplies?” Her suspicions had just been confirmed. A dermatologist—at least
this
dermatologist would have been perfectly able to serve as the medical personnel required for their program. Unless his being a “big brother” precluded it.

He was looking at her strangely, probably wondering if she was hurt worse than he thought. What had he asked her? Oh, yeah. First aid supplies.

“Most of them are in the Rec building, but I have a basic first aid kit in my motor home. If I can make it there, I can take care of it myself.”

“Let me help you.” He pulled her shoulders and helped support the weight on her right side as she stood. “Like you said, there’s a doctor on hand. Let’s get you back to the camper, and I’ll wrap it for you. You’ll want to get some ice on it, too.”

Emily just didn’t have it in her to protest. She simply couldn’t put much weight on her right ankle without pain great enough to make her feel light-headed. With one of his arms around her waist and her arm around his shoulders, they managed to slowly make their way to her motor home.

She groaned when she saw the stairs. There were only two, but with her ankle throbbing, there may as well have been twenty.

Paul, seeing her distress, chuckled. He released her, but then put both of his arms on her waist before lifting her up, turning her around, and depositing her on the top step. They nearly cracked heads as she lost her balance and leaned precariously forward.

Embarrassed by his close proximity, Emily felt her face grow warm.

“Really, Paul. Abby’s inside. Between the two of us, I can take care of my ankle. Thank you for getting me here, though.”

The door swung open.

“Hey, what’s going on out here?” Abby’s eyes were clouded with concern.

Emily turned to her friend. “I fell and sprained my ankle. Paul was nice enough to help me get here.” She gave Abby a pointed look, hoping her friend understood. “I was just telling him that you would help me get inside and take care of it.”

Abby immediately grasped Emily’s right arm and shoulder. “Thank you for rescuing her, Paul. We’ve got it from here.”

His smile dimmed. “If you’re sure.”

“You’d better hurry or you’re not going to make it back to your tent before the rain sets in,” Abby advised him. It was already turning into more than a sprinkle.

“Right.” He turned, then stopped and turned back around. “Take care of that and let me know if I can help—with anything.” He took off at a trot.

He would help her with anything—the way he’d said that and the look in his eyes... “Abby, he knows about Logan and what he did to me.” They had managed to maneuver her onto the recliner, where she leaned back and pulled the lever on the side of the chair to elevate her feet.

“You think so?” Abby sounded guilty. She walked into the bedroom and returned with the large first aid kit Emily’s parents always kept in the closet.

Emily looked at the expression on Abby’s face and her heart filled with dread. “Abby, what did you do?”

Guilt was replaced by defiance. “He was such a jerk. Brody knew something was wrong so I…I told him what Logan did.”

Humiliation washed over Emily. “He probably thinks I’m the most stupid person in the world.”

Abby vehemently shook her head. “He’s mad at Logan. They’re all mad at him for using you. I bet they let him have it, too.”

They
all
knew and they were on
her
side? “Paul said they were having a disagreement about something and had to call a team meeting.” She should feel vindicated, but all she felt was dismay. “I don’t want them to be mad at Logan for me. The Slammers mean too much to him. Look at how far he went to keep them going.” A lone tear slid down her cheek. “He pretended to care about me.”

“He’s an idiot. Nothing could justify using another human being.” Abby held out the elastic bandage. “Now, let’s forget the walking lint ball and get your ankle wrapped. Tell me when I have it right. You know I always get it too tight at first.”

They had nursed each other through many scrapes, bruises, and sprains as kids. Abby’s parents worked full-time year round so they had allowed her to spend most of every summer at Boone’s with Emily and her parents. Then, at the end of August when Mike and Barb Scott returned to their teaching positions, the girls were at school together, still inseparable. Emily couldn’t imagine her life without Abby in it.

“We need to call Aaron,” Abby told her. “You’re going to be out of commission for a couple of days.”

Emily started to protest, but then she thought about what she would tell a patient. She would need to keep her ankle elevated as much as possible until the swelling stayed down. Abby was right.

“There are a few sets of crutches in the Rec building. Will you please get me some?” She hurried on when Abby started to protest. “I’ll do what I’m supposed to, but I don’t want to be completely immobile.”

“Okay,” Abby agreed. “When you call Aaron, tell him I can handle this by myself until you’re up and around. You can straw-boss me.” Abby grinned at Emily as she fastened off the elastic bandage. “Too tight?”

“Nope. It feels just right.” Emily could see the swelling through the bandage. “Will you get an ice pack out of the freezer? I should ice it down.”

Abby hopped up and walked to the refrigerator. Her face soon peaked around the freezer door. “Emily, there isn’t an ice pack in here.”

“Shoot.” Emily would have kicked herself if it were physically possible. “The one we kept here busted, and I forgot to replace it. Can you make one with ice cubes and a plastic freezer bag?”

Abby looked from the refrigerator to the sink. “I could if one of us had remembered to fill the ice cube trays and put them back in the freezer. They’re all in the sink.”

Emily listened. She could still hear the rain pounding on the roof. “We’ll just have to wait. At least it’s elevated.”

After Abby had made herself comfortable on the sofa, she smiled brightly at Emily. “I have something that might cheer you up a little.”

“Please tell me, then,” Emily pleaded. “I sure could use some cheering up.”

“I talked to my friend in protective services. Seth’s father is letting him live with his aunt. He didn’t like the scrutiny he was under, and Seth’s maternal aunt agreed to take him. Vanessa says she’s a very nice person who wants a family. Van is now his caseworker, and she’s checked everything out and says it’s great. I can’t wait to tell Bo.” Abby’s smile was like the sunshine after the rain.

Emily had one concern, though. “Does Seth know his aunt? I mean, when he gets back from camp, I assume he’ll be going to his new home.”

“Did he really know you?” Abby asked. “Bo told me that you were the one who finally broke through to him. If you did, there’s no reason to think his aunt won’t be able to as well.”

“You’d have to check with Bo first, but do you think it would be possible for him to be with Seth when he meets his aunt?” Seth practically clung to Bo now. “He’ll know he’s safe then.”

Abby appeared to mull Emily’s suggestion over. “I like that idea. I’ll talk to Van and see what she says before I even mention it to Bo, though. He’s really attached to that kid.”

“Yeah,” Emily agreed. “He’d be disappointed.” She thought of the last time she’d seen them together. Seth had been walking beside Bo, trying very hard to walk like his “big brother”. She would have never thought the gruff man would have turned out to be the very positive influence for his charge that he was.

“The rain’s let up. I’ll go get you an ice pack and crutches, and then I’m going to check and make sure none of our tent dwellers was carried away by the flood.” Abby giggled.

“Thank you, Abby. I couldn’t…I don’t know what I would do without you—especially now.”

Abby’s gaze softened. “Are you talking about your ankle or Logan?”

Emily felt her tears well again. “Both.”