Page 78 of One Kind Goal

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Morgan froze as fans, who moments ago had been walking in a steady stream around them, slowed their pace to observe the unfolding scene. Sawyer’s name flitted through the crowd and once Charlie helped Austin to his feet, the situation got worse.

“Oh my God!” a woman screeched. “That’s Austin Rayhill!”

“Austin Rayhill and Sawyer Lundin!” another woman yelled, causing more people to rush over.

Austin whipped his hat off the floor and slapped it on his head, but cell phones were already raised. Cameras flashed. He’d been made.

As had Sawyer. He picked up his hat too and put it back on. A thin trail of blood ran down his chin where that bastard had punched him. He swiped at it with his hand then faced the asshole again.

The asshole who shrank back now that an audience had formed and he realized who Sawyer and Austin were.

“Look man, I’m sorry. I . . . I didn’t know it was you . . . I . . .” He backpedaled some more.

Morgan took a step toward Sawyer, intent on tugging him away, but she had a more urgent matter to take care of.

Nia.

Sawyer had handed her the child when he’d gone to confront the jerk who had bumped into her and pushed Austin to the ground. Charlie stood in front of Morgan. There was a chance Morgan and Nia hadn’t been seen yet as the crowd was mainly focused on Austin and Sawyer now.

Morgan whipped around and took off past the restrooms. She dug out her cell phone and hit Charlie’s contact.

“Where are we going?” Nia asked, her voice a little panicked.

“We’re going to wait somewhere else,” Morgan said, trying to keep her tone light. “Your daddy is going to settle those people down and he’ll meet up with us in a few minutes.”

“Hey,” Charlie said upon answering the phone. “Where did you go?”

“I’m heading for the locker room to find Sawyer’s teammate, Brett. I wanted to get Nia . . . away.”

“Shit. Right. Okay, we’ll meet you at the locker room. Security has arrived so the crowd is breaking up,” Charlie said before hanging up.

After a pit stop in a restroom she found along the way, Morgan made it to the locker room. A bunch of guys turned their heads her way when she burst in, but many of them recognized her and Brett walked right over to her.

His smile quickly disappeared when he got a good look at her face then flicked his gaze to Nia in her arms. “What happened?”

“Umm . . . a little scuffle with some angry fans,” Morgan said. “They recognized Sawyer and my brother, and things got out of hand pretty quickly.”

“It was a brawl,” Nia said.

Brett’s eyebrows raised. “A brawl?”

“She’s not wrong.” Morgan shook her head as she set Nia down and the girl wandered over to some other players who had called her over. “I think I got her out of there before she got in any photos or videos.” She wrung her hands. “But I’m not sure.”

“With that black hair and green eyes, she can only be Sawyer’s kid,” Brett said.

“Yeah, she is. Her name is Nia. Her mother doesn’t want her in the media and we promised we’d keep her safe tonight, but then that jackass bumped into me, and my brother got involved, but he got pushed and his hat flew off, so everyone around saw who he was and—”

“Hold up.” Brett eased her to a seat on a bench nearby. “Who is your brother?”

“Austin Rayhill.”

“The action-adventure actor?” a guy on the other side of Brett asked.

“Yeah.” Morgan hooked her hair behind her ear. “Once he was recognized, people got camera happy, but then when Sawyer got punched and his hat came off too, the crowd grew.”

“Sawyer got punched?” another player asked. “Where is he?”