Golden Trail

Chapter Twenty Good Girl

“Dave, I’m bein’ serious here, it takes much longer for him to contact me, it won’t be good,” Layne in his chair behind his desk, swiveled to look out the window toward Main as he growled in his phone.

“I hear what you’re sayin’, Tanner, and all I got for you is work it out with Roc,” Rocky’s father replied.

“Bullshit,” Layne hissed. “And that’s the same bullshit Merry fed me.”

“Are things not good?” Dave asked.

“They’re fuckin’ great,” Layne answered.

“So maybe you’ll explain to me what your fuckin’ problem is,” Dave suggested, losing patience, just like Layne.

“They were fuckin’ great before too,” Layne reminded him.

“She’s not a girl anymore, Tanner.”

“Yeah, Dave, I lived and aged those eighteen years right along with Rocky. And a week ago, I also held her in my arms in the dark while she was beggin’ me to let in the light and felt a fear so disturbing, swear to God, I still feel it on my skin.”

Dave was silent and this silence was loaded.

Layne filled the silence. “I need to know what that shit is.”

Dave didn’t reply.

“I also need to know why both your kids hooked up with people they instantly knew they wanted to spend the rest of their lives with and then dropped them, without a word, without a reason and didn’t look back,” Layne went on.

“Roc looked back, son, you’re together,” Dave argued.

“I think you catch my point,” Layne shot back.

“You need to work this out with Roc,” Dave repeated.

“Jesus Christ, what’s the big fuckin’ secret?” Layne exploded.

Dave changed the subject by shifting blame. “Last time, you let her get away.”

“Bullshit,” Layne clipped, with that incendiary comment, his anger, already primed, was about to detonate.

“You let her get away,” Dave reiterated.

“Wait, wasn’t that you who barred the door the fifty fuckin’ times I came over, wanting to talk to her?” Layne’s voice was sarcastic.

“Why are we talking about this? It’s water under the bridge, you both have moved on and found each other again,” Dave informed him, again shifting the point.

Layne brought it back. “Whatever that was that I felt comin’ from Roc was not history. It was real, it was now and it fuckin’ terrified her. She’s your daughter, man, does this not worry the fuck outta you?”

“No,” Dave stated instantly. “No, it doesn’t. Not anymore. Now that she’s got you.”

“God damn it, Dave,” Layne ground out.

“Can you explain to me why you won’t talk to her about this?” Dave asked.

“Are you serious?” Layne asked back.

“Deadly,” Dave snapped.

“All right, I lost her once and I do not get why, even though she explained it I’ll repeat, I do not get why. This time my boys are in the mix. They like her; they think she’s the shit. The longer they’re around her, the more they’re gonna like her. Then they’ll fall for her, like their old man, hook, line and sinker. The fact that I lost her once and the way you and Merry are actin’ tells me I gotta tread cautiously. You know the landmines you’re dodgin’, I have no fuckin’ clue and you’re not givin’ me shit. I’m walkin’ that minefield blindfolded and any second I can step on one of those mines. I’m stuck, Dave, I can’t move. I move; I could fuck this up. You think I’d do anything, anything, to fuck this up? To fuck this for me, for my boys, for Rocky?”

When Layne finished talking, he listened to silence.

So he prompted, “Dave…”

“Give me time,” Dave said quietly.

“What?” Layne asked.

“I need to think,” Dave stated.

“Jesus, about what?”

“About if this goes bad, I tell you and fuck it up with my daughter, how I’ll play that because, son, I don’t have eighteen years.”

Layne’s neck muscles got tight and he opened his mouth to speak but he heard Dave disconnect at the same he heard the beep that indicated someone walked through the door to the street.

Layne turned his head and looked at the monitor.

“Fuck me,” he whispered, flipping his phone shut and watching Astley’s girl toy, Marissa Gibbons walk up his steps.

He straightened from his chair and was two feet in the reception office when she opened the door and stopped, hand on the handle, staring at him.

Layne crossed his arms on his chest.

Marissa Gibbons swallowed then said, “Uh… hey.”

“Hey,” Layne replied with clipped courtesy.

“Uh… can we talk?” she asked.

“Talk,” he invited and didn’t move.

She stared at him, looked out in the hall, stepped into the office and closed the door. Then she turned back to him, her eyes skidding to the door to the inner office then back to his.

“Could we, uh… sit down?” she requested.

“No,” he denied.

She hesitated, glanced to the floor then back to him and asked, “Can I buy you a cup of coffee at Mimi’s?”

“No,” Layne repeated.

She stared at him and this lasted awhile.

Finally, she whispered, “You think I’m a slut.”

“Is that what you came to talk about?” Layne asked.

“Uh…” she began then faltered and stopped.

“Listen, Ms. Gibbons, I don’t think anything about you. You came here with somethin’ to say, say it. No disrespect, but I’m a busy man.”

“I had to do it,” she stated.

“Had to do what?” Layne asked, confused at her words, having started his day in Rocky’s bed and moved on to handing the photos of Stew over to Colt which meant Stew’s days of being a free man able to wear something other than a jumpsuit became severely limited. Then having this brilliant start diminish when he couldn’t find Merry anywhere and when he went back to The Brendel to see there were window cleaners and the gardeners raking leaves which meant he couldn’t stake out TJ Gaines’s apartment so he could find a safe time to break in. He was still pissed about his conversation with Dave and therefore he had zero patience left.

“The movies, I had to do them, I was –” she started to explain.

Layne cut her off. “Listen, I don’t give a shit about that. I been in this business a long time, people do shit, shit they gotta do. I get that. You didn’t have to fuck my woman’s husband though, not ever but especially not for the reasons you did it. That’s not cool.”

Her eyes brightened and she took three steps forward, saying, “But, I’ve heard about you and her, in the ‘burg people talk about it. If it wasn’t for me, you wouldn’t have had the chance –”

“Maybe you’re right,” he cut her off and the way he spoke, she stopped moving. “But you made her feel like garbage. You made her the chump. You caused her pain. I’m glad she’s rid of that asshole but I’m not down with that.”

“Then why?” Marissa asked. “I don’t get it.”

“Why what?” Layne asked back.

“Why didn’t you… why did you…?” She stopped and started again. “I got two hundred thousand dollars from him and he let me keep the ‘vette. Mr. Glover told me what to say, how to play it, he helped me get it.”

“Mr. Glover’s got a soft spot for people who’re tryin’ to turn their lives around,” Layne returned.

She stared at him and as she did it, her stare turned shrewd.

Then she whispered, “You do too.”

“Come again?”

“You have a soft spot too.”

Layne took a deep breath into his nose then exhaled. What he didn’t do was reply.

Marissa Gibbons took the hint, nodded, turned and walked to the door. She had it opened when she turned back and locked eyes with him.

“I didn’t tell Social Services, but he pimped me out too,” she announced and Layne felt his stomach turn and his chest squeeze but she couldn’t know that so she went on to say more shit he really did not want to hear. “Never, back then, when someone was pumping away at me and I didn’t know anything but that it hurt so bad, it hurt so bad that was all I could think about, never did I think I’d have soft sheets and a fancy car and beautiful clothes and live in a house right on a lake. I got that shot and you’re right, I didn’t think about her, I jumped at it. And you know what?” she finished on a question.

“What?” Layne prompted when she didn’t go on, why he did not know.

“It was the same thing, some guy I didn’t like pumping away at me, just in soft sheets and it didn’t hurt so bad because I’ve long since discovered the wonders of lube.”

“Ms. Gibbons –” Layne started.

“One day,” Marissa said over him, “I was suckin’ cock while someone was filmin’ and thinkin’ about this social worker I had. She was young. She was pretty. She had a big, honkin’ engagement ring on her finger. And she was nice, she cared. She got me in a good foster home that I stayed in until they moved out of state and I got lost in the system again because that social worker got married and changed jobs and I was fucked… again. And I was suckin’ cock and thinkin’ I’d rather be sitting at a desk, wearin’ an engagement ring and makin’ sure girls like me didn’t end up suckin’ cock. I started to find the path then lost my way.” She held his eyes and finished, “Then you and Mr. Glover helped me find it again.”

“Marissa,” Layne murmured and she lifted a hand and flipped her hair over her shoulder.

“You know anyone that wants a nearly new ‘vette, I’m sellin’,” she declared, turned and walked out, closing the door behind her.

One second elapsed, Layne muttered, “Fuck,” then he dropped his arms and followed her.

When he was standing on the landing outside the door, he called, “Marissa.”

She was mostly down the stairs but on hearing her name, hand on the banister, she turned and looked up at him.

“Don’t lose your way again,” he warned and her face, which had filled with expectation, closed off.

“Right,” she muttered and started to turn away but stopped when Layne spoke.

“You start thinkin’ of goin’ that way, I’m not goin’ anywhere for awhile. You find me, I’ll buy you a Mimi’s and talk you out of it.”

And that’s when Layne witnessed it. What Astley saw in her. What he wanted. It wasn’t the hair, the similar features. It was her mouth getting soft, in doing so it changed everything about her. She didn’t speak with her eyes like Rocky did but it was close to what Rocky could give with just one look and it was nice.

“Soft spot,” she whispered, turned and part walked, part skipped down the rest of the steps and out the front door.

The door didn’t close all the way before a hand was on it, pulling it open and Layne saw Vera move into the doorframe, her head turned to watch Marissa walk away.

Layne looked to the ceiling and implored on a mutter, “Kill me.”

“Hi honey!” Vera called.

Layne looked down at his mother. “What are you doin’ here?”

“I’m so glad I caught you in the office,” she stated, walking up the stairs, carrying a white cup with brown cardboard wrapped around it, she stopped, looked at her cup and then looked up at him. “Do you want a coffee? I just stopped in to get one and then decided to try your office and –”

“Ma, what are you doin’ here?”

She started walking again, muttering, “Yeesh. Someone’s in a bad mood even after having a meeting with a pretty girl.”

Jesus. That shit was going to hit Rocky next.

“She’s an ex-porn movie bit player who just fleeced Jarrod Astley for two hundred K. She’s pretty but she’s not my type,” Layne informed her, his mother stopped two stairs down from him and her mouth was hanging open.

Then she whispered, “Porn?”

“Ex-porn. She’s straight now. So, now that we got that sorted, I’ll repeat, what the fuck are you doin’ here?”

“You say the f-word too much, Tanner Layne,” Vera snapped.

“Ma,” Layne growled.

She looked at the door then to him. “Can we go in your office?”

“Will that make you tell me what you’re doin’ here?” Layne countered.

“Yes,” she answered.

Layne sighed. Then he walked into his office and his mother followed. He went straight to the reception desk and sat on it. She went straight to the couch and settled in like they were going to shoot the shit for the next hour.

“Ma,” Layne prompted.

“I’ve had the best idea,” Vera announced.

Layne suspected he wouldn’t think it was the best.

“You gonna share?” he asked when she said no more.

“I’m going to sell my condo in Florida, come home and be your receptionist!” she declared with a little bounce on the couch. “Isn’t that great? You won’t have to pay me much and I’ll get to –”

Layne interrupted her. “That’s not gonna happen.”

Her face grew confused. “What? Why?”

“How many reasons do you want?” Layne asked.

“All of them,” she shot back.

“Okay, first, the shit I do, see, photograph and investigate, you do not wanna know, you do not wanna see. If you can’t handle the f-word, you can’t handle my job. Second, I’m done with your shit in regards to Rocky. I told you when you came home that you didn’t learn to hide your attitude, which you haven’t, I’d show you the door. I’ve been patient and I’m letting you know, now, straight out, I’m not gonna be patient anymore. You pull one more stunt with Rocky, I’m done, you’re out.”

“Tanner,” she whispered.

“I’m bein’ straight with you, no joke, do not push me on that, you won’t like the consequences and if you do it when I’m not around, but Jas and Tripp are, I’m tellin’ you straight about that too, you won’t like the consequences of that either.”

“They’re my grandsons!” she protested. “She’s known them all of a month.”

“Yeah, and they’re my sons. I fell in love with her in three weeks, twice. You do the math.”

She snapped her mouth shut, looked away and sucked back some coffee.

Then she told the wall, “She’s going to hurt you again.”

“Yes, she is,” Layne agreed and Vera’s eyes shot to him.

“What?” she whispered.

“She’s got somethin’ in her, Ma. Somethin’ not right and I gotta help her get it out but I don’t know what the fuck it is. I don’t even think Roc knows what it is. It made her leave me eighteen years ago and I know in my bones it’s gonna happen again, unless I sort that shit out, and all three of us are gonna lose her. Now, you can play your games and piss me off, piss off my boys, and cause a rift in this family because you’re bein’ stubborn or you can fuckin’ help me, ‘cause, Ma, she makes me happy, I love her, I don’t want to lose her again and I need all the help I can get.”

He watched his mother’s eyes change and she looked the way she looked when he was eleven and took that huge header on his bike, walked home with blood running from his knees, his forearms and his temple and she cleaned it up with a hot, soapy towel then wiped it with alcohol, blowing in between each stroke.

And the way she looked at him, just months ago, when he was in the hospital after getting shot.

“She’s got something in her?” Vera asked quietly.

“She’s shit scared of the dark unless I’m there,” Layne shared.

“Is this new?”

“No, I don’t think so, but it’s new to me. She wasn’t that way before but she said it was because I was there. And she isn’t that way now when I’m there. But if I’m not there, and it’s night, the curtains are open and she cannot handle them closed and when I say that, she seriously cannot handle them closed.”

“Did you ask what scares her?”

“Yeah, but she didn’t answer. She just started shakin’ and then I felt something comin’ from her and I won’t go into details, Ma, but I been in some serious situations and been in the presence of some serious people, and I’ve never, not in my life, felt anything as nasty as that.”

She put her hand to her mouth and took a breath before dropping it and asking, “Why do you think she didn’t answer?”

“I don’t know, she just wouldn’t go there.”

“What do Dave and Merry say?” Vera asked.

“They don’t, they won’t talk about it.”

“What?”

“They won’t talk about it, Ma. At all. They say if they do, she’ll cut them out like she cut me out.”

“My God,” Vera whispered. “What on earth –?”

Layne cut her off. “I don’t know. I know two things. She’s scared of the dark, really scared and she won’t go there to understand why. And I suspect one thing, whatever this is ties up with why she left me.”

“Did she explain that?” Vera asked softly.

“Yes and no,” Layne answered honestly.

Vera’s eyebrows shot up. “What?”

“She explained it but she says even she doesn’t know why she did it. She just knows it hurt, she wanted that connection back, she fought against it and missed me for eighteen years. Me gettin’ shot broke through.”

“That doesn’t make sense,” Vera observed.

“No shit?” Layne asked.

Vera’s back got straight. “Do you want me to talk to her?”

Oh Christ.

Layne shook his head and stated firmly, “Fuck no.”

“What?” Vera snapped. “Why not?”

“Ma, seriously?” And his mother had the grace to look as guilty as she was.

“Okay,” she said. “So I won’t meet her after school and invite her to manicures and confessions of the soul. I’ll um… win her back and then… um…”

“How about you work Dave, I’ll work Merry and one or the other of us maybe will figure out what the fuck is goin’ on and find a way to get passed it,” Layne suggested.

“Dave isn’t my best friend,” his mother reminded him.

“Yeah, you did that too. But you go over there, wavin’ the white flag while carryin’ one of your pistachio bunt cakes with that kickass icing that he always liked so much and maybe he won’t shoot you.”

Vera grinned then her grin wavered and her eyes got bright with wet.

“One big happy family,” she whispered.

“One big happy family,” Layne whispered back.

“Again,” she finished now trying to force her smile.

“You missed her,” Layne said softly.

“She made you happy,” Vera bullshitted.

“Bullshit,” Layne called her on it. “You missed her.”

She took in a deep breath then she spoke.

“You know, Tanner, I was once head over heels in love,” she told him. “Blind with it. Blind. Then he walked out on me just like she walked out on you.”

Fuck. Jesus. Fuck!

Layne hadn’t thought of it like that.

“Ma –”

“Then I had to watch it happen to you and feel it again because yes, I loved her and when she left, I missed her. But she wasn’t gone, like your father, and every time I saw her, it hurt even more.”

Layne stared at his mother.

Then he ordered, “Come here, Ma.”

She shook her head. “No. If I do, you’re gonna be my sweet boy and make me cry and I don’t have waterproof mascara on.”

“Come here, Ma,” Layne repeated.

“Tanner.”

“Get over here.”

She sighed, set her cup on the arm of the couch, got up and walked to him. When she got close, Layne jumped from the desk and folded his mother in his arms.

He knew she was crying even with her voice muffled by his chest when he heard her say, “You know, you haven’t hugged me since I got home.”

Layne bent and kissed the top of her head and then said there, “I’m a shit son.”

Her head tilted back and her wet eyes hit him, mascara running down, before she whispered, “No, not that, never that, honey. Never.”

“Love you, Ma,” he whispered back, she grinned and lifted her hand, patting him on the side of the neck twice before her fingers curled around.

Then her smile got bigger and she stated, “I’m glad we got this sorted out. Being mean is exhausting. Especially when, at the same time, you’re over the moon that your eldest grandchild has finally sorted out his head and your son is with a woman who cheers on the Colts, helps his boy with his homework and falls asleep on his chest and not one that screeches her nonsense at the top of her lungs at every available opportunity. So, I’ll warn you now, if you ever think of reuniting with Gabrielle, I will not offer to be your receptionist. I’ll have you committed.”

Layne smiled down at her. “Not thinkin’ that’s in the cards, Ma.”

“Thank God,” she breathed, still smiling, she took her hand away and smeared her mascara across her face.

“Maybe you need a mirror,” he suggested and she jumped from his arms.

“I knew it!” she cried, whirled and rushed into the bathroom.

Layne looked at the closed bathroom door while counting them down. That was two problems covered, his Ma and Astley. Then he walked back into his office thinking, his mother wanted to help out, he’d let her. She could do the books. He had checks to cash, invoices to send and bills to be paid. He was going to spend Monday doing it. Now, Vera could spend Friday doing it.

He didn’t make it to his desk when he heard the beep, looked to the monitor and saw Ryker walking up the stairs.

“What the fuck?” he whispered to himself, quickly rounded the desk, pulled his nine millimeter out of a drawer and shoved it in the waistband of his jeans at his hip.

He was back in the outer office by the time Ryker came through the door.

“Yo, bro,” Ryker greeted.

“Ryker,” Layne returned, hoping his mother was adding a whole new layer of makeup.

Ryker looked around the office then back at Layne. “Dig the digs,” he commented.

“Thrilled you approve,” Layne replied.

Ryker’s eyes dropped to Layne’s gun then went back to his and he smiled his big, ugly smile. “Nine millimeter? Take that as a compliment, bro.”

Layne cut to the chase. “You here for a reason?”

Without delay, Ryker walked in, skirted Layne and went into his office. Layne stood where he was, eyes on the bathroom door, counting to ten.

He found this didn’t work and he followed Ryker into his office to see him lounging in one of the two chairs in front of Layne’s desk.

Layne rounded the desk, pulled out his gun and set it on the desktop, close, as he sat down.

“Well?” he prompted.

“Thought we could go out, get a beer, play some pool,” Ryker replied and Layne stared.

Then he asked, “Come again?”

“Pool. Beer. Women. We both got hot babes but that don’t mean we can’t look.”

“Not sure what keeps you in motorcycle boots and leather jackets but it’s four o’clock in the afternoon and I got two growin’ boys so I gotta work for a living,” Layne replied.

Ryker smiled his big, ugly smile again and stated, “Yeah, been askin’ ‘round about you. You’re like King Dick. The top of the Private Dick Heap. What you charge, bro, you could work three hours a day and still feed those two powerhouses.”

“I worked three hours a day, Ryker, wouldn’t have clients to pay those fees,” Layne returned.

Ryker shrugged, “Suit yourself.” Then he leaned forward and asked, “So what we workin’?”

Oh shit.

“We?” Layne asked back.

“Yeah,” Ryker lounged back in his seat, “we.”

“I think I told you already I work alone.”

“Now you work with me.”

“I skipped a part,” Layne informed him. “How’d that happen?”

“Baranski’s out of your old old lady’s house. That happened because of me. You think I do somethin’ for nothin’?”

Fuck.

“And payback is we partner up?” Layne asked.

Ryker shrugged again. “Sure, when I’m bored and I’m bored,” he answered. “So what we workin’?”

Layne heard the bathroom door open and Ryker shot out of his chair, his hand going behind his back, he pulled out his .45.

Fuck!

“Honey?” Vera called.

“In here, Ma,” Layne called back and then said low to Ryker, “Stand down.”

Ryker relaxed and shoved his gun back right before Vera hit the door. She looked up at Ryker and her mouth dropped open.

“My,” she breathed, “you’re a big boy.”

“Ma, this is Ryker. Ryker, Vera Layne,” Layne introduced.

Ryker grinned his ugly grin and stuck out a meaty hand. “Ma’am.”

Vera took it and shook it, placing her other hand on top, saying, “Ryker. Is that your first name or your last?”

“Both,” Ryker replied and her eyebrows shot up.

“Both? You’re a one name man?” she asked and Ryker let go of her hand.

“Yep,” Ryker answered and Vera’s eyes shot to Layne.

“How neat!” she exclaimed. “I’ve never met a one name person before!”

Ryker turned his ugly smile to Layne.

Layne sighed.

Then he suggested, “Ma, how ‘bout you get your coffee, get your ass to the grocery store and buy a beef tenderloin for dinner.”

Vera stared at him and then stated firmly, “Beef tenderloin is for special occasions, Tanner, you know that.”

“Like you makin’ up for bein’ a bitch to Roc for the last week, an occasion like that?” Layne replied. “It’s her favorite, or, when you used to make it, it was.”

Vera was silent before she whispered, “Oh, right.”

Layne smiled at her to take the bite out of his earlier words. “Don’t forget the horseradish sauce and you can come in tomorrow and do my books.”

He watched his mother’s face light up. “Really?”

Jesus, only his mother, the nutcase CPA, would be excited about doing books.

“Yeah,” Layne said.

“Fantastic!” she cried then turned to Ryker and announced, “It was a pleasure to meet you,” she leaned in, grinned and said like she and Ryker shared an in-joke, “Ryker.”

Then she disappeared.

Layne looked to the monitors to watch his mother walk down the stairs as Ryker resumed his seat.

“Your Ma was a bitch to your babe?” Ryker asked and Layne’s eyes cut to him.

“Long story,” Layne mumbled.

“Bro,” Ryker grinned.

You understand my vision of justice, Ryker had said.

Layne stared at him but he didn’t spend much time doing it before he made a decision.

“You know TJ Gaines?” Layne asked.

“Who?” Ryker asked back.

“Youth Minister at the Christian Church,” Layne answered and the grin faded from Ryker’s face and Layne watched it go scary.

“Don’t know what that is,” Ryker said quietly, his voice lethal. “Just know that shit ain’t right.”

“Have you heard something?” Layne asked.

“Everyone in the ‘burg is whisperin’ about it,” Ryker responded. “No one likes it but no one’s got a handle on it.”

“Well, I’m lookin’ into it and now you are too.”

Ryker’s grin came back. “What you got?” he asked.

“Nothin’. Just an apartment at The Brendel. Don’t know if he lives there or if he visits someone there. Unit K. Apartment three. I need to know when I can get in so I need someone watching it. You need to get me intel on who the occupants are, how many there are, when they come, when they go and when I can get in to do a clean sweep. I don’t wanna toss the place. I need time to do it right but I gotta know when that time’ll be.”

“Brendel’s the ‘burg’s Fort Knox. Even pads on The Heritage don’t have that kind of security. And even if I manage to hang out and take notes which, bro, I don’t know if you noticed but I’m not exactly the kinda guy who fades into the woodwork, especially at a place like The Brendel, ain’t no way you’d get in.”

“They sensor the windows not the doors,” Layne replied.

“Hunh?”

“If they fucked the security at Gaines’s place like they fucked the security at Roc’s place, they sensored the windows on his balcony, not the doors.”

“Roc?”

“My woman.”

“Her name is Roc?” Ryker shook his head. “Bro, I got a good look at her and she don’t look like no rock to me. Nothin’ hard on her, all curves and soft.”

“Her name’s Raquel and, just a head’s up, maybe after I have a few beers and a game of pool, I might be okay with you talkin’ about my woman like that but…” Layne hesitated and gave him a look. “Wait, no, I’ll never be okay with you talkin’ about my woman like that,” Layne warned.

Ryker grinned again.

Layne lost patience.

“Are you in?” he demanded.

“Never done a stakeout.”

“Today’s your day,” Layne told him and his cell phone on the desk rang as Ryker replied, “I’m on it.”

Layne looked at the display to see it said, “Tripp calling”.

His brows drew together. Tripp should be at football practice.

He gave Ryker a one-minute finger, flipped the phone open and put it to his ear.

“Hey Pal, what’s up?”

“Dad,” Tripp whispered and Layne’s back went straight at his tone.

“Tripp, what’s up?”

“I told Coach Fullerton I had to use the john,” Tripp told him.

“You’re callin’ me to tell me –”

Tripp cut him off. “It’s Rocky, Dad.”

Layne stood instantly and walked to the monitor to switch it off, asking, “What’s Rocky?”

“She’d be mad,” Tripp said. “I didn’t know if I should tell you but I reckon I should tell you and this is the first chance I had to call.”

“Tripp,” Layne bit out.

Tripp started talking in a hurry. “I think she’s gonna do somethin’. I went to her classroom after school, you know, just to say ‘hi’ and ‘see you tonight’ but I didn’t go in because I heard her talkin’ to Mrs. Judd.”

Shit. His woman was a nut. This could be leading anywhere and with Raquel it was a crapshoot as the various degrees of bad it could be leading.

“What was she saying?” Layne asked, his eyes slicing through Ryker who was sitting, watching him, reading Layne’s tone and body language and therefore on alert. Layne walked to his desk, dumped the nine millimeter in the drawer, locked the desk and grabbed his jacket from the chair.

“I don’t know for sure,” Tripp answered. “But it sounded like they were makin’ plans to break into the management office at The Brendel for some reason.”

Shit! Where it was leading was bad considering it was felonious.

Layne cocked his head to hold his phone between ear and shoulder and swung his coat over an arm.

“You did good tellin’ me, Pal,” he told his son.

“You won’t tell Roc I snitched?” Tripp asked.

“No, Tripp, our secret. I’ll take care of it. See you tonight,” Layne answered, taking his phone out of his shoulder and shrugging on the other side of his coat.

“Okay, cool. Later, Dad.”

“Later, Pal.”

Layne flipped his phone shut and Ryker barked, “What?”

Layne headed to the door saying, “Gotta go, brother, just got word my woman is plannin’ on committing a felony.”

Ryker immediately unfolded his big body from the chair and followed Layne. “Shit, things aren’t borin’ for you.”

“I’d pay for boring,” Layne informed him of the God’s honest truth.

“Trust me, bro, you wouldn’t,” Ryker replied as Layne opened the outer door and Ryker strode through.

Layne punched in the code to the alarm thinking that Ryker was way wrong.

On his Harley, Ryker trailed Layne through the gates of The Brendel and then through the grounds as Layne followed the signs to the management office.

When they made it there, Layne’s jaw got tight as he saw the operation was already in full swing. Josie Judd was standing outside with two young, attractive women wearing expensive suits. One was the blonde who showed Rocky her apartment. Josie was gesturing wildly with her arms toward a Jeep that was parked in front of the offices and she looked in full snit.

Layne parked outside the management office three spaces down from the Jeep that Josie and the women were standing on the sidewalk in front of, Ryker pulling up on Layne’s side.

Layne got out and heard Josie shout, “Who’s gonna pay for that? Hunh? I got that nail in my tire here! Innocently visiting my friend and the next thing I know I have a flat! I have kids to take to school! I have errands to run! I have bills to pay that don’t include a patch job I should not have to get on my tire!”

Josie, apparently, was providing distraction.

Layne’s eyes sliced to Ryker. “You shut that shit down in there.” He jerked his head to the management office where Roc, no doubt, was breaking into file cabinets. “I’ll deal with this.” And he jerked his thumb toward Josie.

“Shouldn’t that be the other way around?” Ryker asked and Layne gave him a look that Ryker read. If he went inside and caught his woman doing whatever she was doing, hell would be paid. It was going to be paid anyway, it just wouldn’t be as bad if he had to go inside and drag her ass out.

Therefore Ryker grinned, muttered, “Gotcha,” and loped off.

Layne rounded the hood of his car and approached Josie and the women and neither of the women looked his way because they were both staring at Josie who was still shouting. She did this until her eyes came to him and she didn’t let on that she knew from one look at him that her best friend had just bought herself a world of pain. Instead, she approached him.

“Tanner! I’m so glad you’re here!” she exclaimed, wrapping her fingers around his bicep and giving it a squeeze. “These women,” she flung an arm out toward the women, “say there’s no construction on The Brendel but I had no nail in my tire when I visited Rocky last night and I had one in my tire this mornin’ and it was flat! I saw it my damn self when they showed me the tire so I know it wasn’t an imaginary nail!”

She was good. He knew Josie didn’t visit Rocky last night and he knew she had no nail in her tire but even he was half-convinced she did the first and had the second.

“Josie,” Layne said but got no more out. Josie let his arm go and turned back to the women.

“The rent here is outlandish. With that kind of dough, you can at least sweep the streets. At least!” she shouted.

“I’m sorry, ma’am, but The Brendel can’t take responsibility for your vehicle. We have no construction on site and you can’t prove you picked up that nail on the premises. You could have picked it up anywhere,” one of the women put in.

“But I didn’t pick it up anywhere, I picked it up here,” Josie lied and she did it loudly.

“We’re sorry for your troubles but we really can’t do anything to help,” the woman who showed Rocky her apartment stated.

“This is outrageous!” Josie shouted.

“Josie, let’s go,” Layne said and grabbed her arm, pulling her to her car.

She looked up at him giving him a swift, short shake of her head indicating she felt Rocky needed more time. Layne looked down at her, giving her a swift, short nod of his head indicting Rocky’s time was definitely up. Her eyes got big and Layne’s narrowed. Then she gave in.

“You haven’t heard the last of this!” Josie threatened as she stomped to her car, Layne’s hand still on her arm.

“I’ll meet you at Roc’s,” he murmured after he let her go and she yanked open her car door with apparent fury.

“She’s –” Josie started to whisper but Layne interrupted her.

“I’ll meet you at Roc’s,” he repeated.

Her eyes went beyond him, they got wide again and her lips parted. Layne turned to see both the women still standing on the sidewalk outside the office watching them and rounding the building was Rocky with Ryker. Ryker’s arm was draped casually around Rocky’s shoulders. Rocky was wearing a face like thunder.

When Ryker and Rocky got close to the women, they both started and stared as his woman and his… whatever, walked passed them.

“Yo,” Ryker said to them as they stared up at him.

“Uh…” one mumbled and, in the face of all that was Ryker, the blonde who showed Rocky’s apartment didn’t have it together enough to speak.

Ryker’s eyes cut to Layne. “She on the back of my bike or in your truck?”

“I’ll go with Josie,” Rocky snapped.

“Truck,” Layne clipped.

Rocky glared.

Ryker led her firmly to the passenger side of Layne’s truck. Layne bleeped the locks and looked back at Josie who was folding herself in her car. She bit her lip and looked up at him before she closed her door. Layne turned, nodded to the women who were looking back and forth between the four of them appearing both confused and slightly freaked out but Layne ignored that and walked to his SUV. Ryker was “helping” Rocky into her seat while she now glared at him. When she cleared the door, Ryker shut it, turned his head to Layne and grinned his ugly grin.

“Where do we meet?” Ryker muttered when Layne got close.

“Rocky lives here, unit E, apartment three.”

Ryker nodded, rounded the back of the Suburban and headed to his bike. Layne rounded the hood and got in the driver’s side.

“How’d you know?” Rocky snapped the minute he cleared the frame and he knew she was pissed.

He slammed his door and turned to her, resting his forearm on the wheel and locking eyes with her.

Yep, definitely pissed.

“Sweetcheeks, advice,” he stated. “Take the two minutes you got while we drive back to your place to shut down that attitude. Yeah?”

She leaned in and hissed, “Layne! You can’t just –”

“Shut it down,” Layne repeated.

“I don’t believe you!” she shot back and his hand snaked out, hooked her around the back of the neck and he pulled her to him as he leaned in.

“Shut it down,” he growled. “You do not know what you’re doin’. I do this shit for a living, I know what I’m doin’. I do not need you runnin’ wild, actin’ like a nut, gettin’ yourself into trouble. You let me handle this.”

“I was trying to help,” she bit out.

“If there’s a time you can help, I’ll tell you when that time is and what you’ll be doin’. You do not go off on your own draggin’ your best friend into this shit. You got caught, she got caught, you’d both be arrested.”

“My brother’s a cop, Layne,” she reminded him.

“Yeah, sweetcheeks, but just because your brother’s a cop doesn’t mean you have comprehensive immunity to do any fuckin’ thing you want. You do the crime, he can’t do shit for you and, by the way, breaking and entering is a crime.”

“I didn’t break, I just jimmied and entered,” she returned.

Layne let her go, looked to the gearshift and took in a deep breath.

“Layne –”

His head shot up, he pierced her with a look and she clamped her mouth shut.

Then Layne asked, “How much does Josie know?”

Rocky’s eyes slid to the dashboard but her face stayed turned to him.

“Roc,” he prompted and her eyes slid back.

“I let her in on the whole operation,” she whispered.

“Fuck,” he clipped low.

“She was the one who talked to me about it!” Rocky defended herself hotly. “She’s heard things about TJ Gaines too. She saw us at church on Sunday and she figured we were up to something and she’s been calling, like, every day to find out what’s going on. She guessed and offered to help. I couldn’t say no.”

“Yeah,” Layne replied quietly. “Yeah, you could say no.”

“She’s my best friend!” Rocky cried.

“Well, that’s good. Least she’d be there to have your back when some rough chick in lockdown made the move to make you her bitch and you’d be able to return the favor.”

Rocky rolled her eyes. “That would hardly –”

“Sweetcheeks,” Layne growled, she shut up and glared at him but didn’t say more.

The silence lengthened as they went into stare down.

Layne didn’t have time for it so he broke it by saying softly, “You earned a spanking with this shit, baby.” He watched her lids lower and her mouth get soft and he liked it but he was too pissed to let it penetrate so he went on. “No, Roc, seriously, this shit means I’m gonna tan your ass.”

Her soft look disappeared and she whispered, “You do that, Layne, we have problems.”

“Sweetcheeks, we already have problems,” he pointed out the obvious, turned to the wheel, slid in his key and started the truck.

Rocky was silent as he backed out of his spot and drove to her apartment. Josie’s Jeep was in one of Rocky’s slots, Roc’s Merc in another and Layne pulled in between them. Ryker’s Harley was not in sight which likely meant that, since he’d breached The Brendel’s outer fortress, he was scouting the lay of the land.

Rocky was out of the SUV before he switched it off and she was hoofing it across the street toward the stairs. Josie was standing at the top, waiting for them. Layne took his time following his woman and he did this in an effort at gathering patience. Rocky and Josie were both in the apartment by the time he entered.

“Do you want a drink?” He heard Rocky asking Josie.

“Love one, hon, but you know Chip’s a dinner-on-the-table-at-five-thirty-sharp type of guy. I gotta get home and start cookin’,” Josie answered then asked, “You find anything?”

During this exchange, Layne took off his jacket and threw it on the armchair. By the time he turned, Josie was finished speaking and Rocky was standing in the kitchen.

Her eyes flashed to him as she answered her friend, “No, I was interrupted.”

“So all that was for nothing?” Josie asked and while she did, she turned to pin him with an angry woman glare too.

Layne crossed his arms on his chest. “Tell me, Cagney and Lacey, what were you looking for?”

“Rental agreements,” Rocky returned instantly.

“On what?” Layne shot back.

“On an apartment, Layne,” Rocky retorted with deep sarcasm.

“What apartment?” Layne asked and Rocky’s head jerked slightly.

“Sorry?”

“What apartment, sweetcheeks? I didn’t tell you which unit he was in and I already told you he’s got nothin’ in the name of TJ Gaines in this ‘burg, so how, exactly, were you gonna find an agreement when you didn’t know what fuckin’ agreement you were lookin’ for?” He watched her glare turn even angrier as he pointed out her incompetence, he ignored it and continued. “There’s fifteen units in this complex, forty-five apartments, not counting the twenty townhomes. Every unit occupied. Were you gonna copy them all?”

“I would have thought of something,” she replied sharply. “Except I barely got through the window before Scary Biker Bob interrupted the proceedings.”

“Count yourself lucky Ryker was with me, Roc, he thinks this is amusing. I do not.”

Rocky gave him a long, last glare then turned to Josie. “You know how I was telling you the other day that getting back together with Layne was like someone had answered my prayers?” she asked conversationally and Layne’s chest froze.

“Unh-hunh,” Josie answered on a mumble, her eyes darting back and forth between Rocky and Layne.

“Well, I take that back,” Rocky snapped.

Layne looked at his boots as Josie asked, “Do I need to take Rocky into protective custody?”

Layne looked at Josie. “It’d be smart but I’m not gonna let you do it.”

Josie studied Layne awhile then she grinned. “I expect punishment won’t be too harsh.”

She probably wasn’t wrong about that. Probably.

“Anyhoots!” Josie suddenly cried, “I gotta go.” She hitched her purse more firmly on her shoulder. “Even though the operation was a bust, it was fun anyway since The Brendel didn’t hire Chip to do their security and brought in a firm outside the ‘burg which is way uncool and meant I couldn’t have that trip to Hawaii I was planning after he put in his bid.” She started to the door but she did it with her torso twisted to Rocky. “See you at the game tomorrow?”

“Maybe,” Rocky replied. “I’ll want to see Tripp and Jas play but I won’t want to be anywhere near their father so I’m undecided as to my plans tomorrow night.”

Layne’s neck got tight but Josie smiled like she was trying not to laugh and replied, “Okay, see you at the game then.”

At any other time, Layne would have laughed. At that time, Layne didn’t laugh.

Josie had the door opened and was standing in it when she delivered her parting shot and she did it to Layne.

“She’s worried,” Josie stated quietly. “They’re young girls and she’s worried. Yeah?”

She finished on a question but didn’t wait for his answer; she knew she’d driven her point home. She just stepped through the door and closed it behind her.

Layne’s eyes cut to Rocky who was moving around the kitchen but she wasn’t ignoring him. He knew this when she spoke.

“I have things to do tonight. Go to the grocery store, grade papers, make some calls about the bachelor auction, stuff like that.” She pulled the coffeepot out of the coffeemaker and went to the sink to rinse it. “I’ll give your house a miss again.”

“Roc,” he called and she picked up some plastic thing filled with yellow dish liquid and swirled its sponge around the pot. What she didn’t do was respond.

“Roc,” he called again and she rinsed the soap out of the pot and upended it in the dish drainer.

Layne walked to the bar separating the kitchen from the living room.

“Sweetcheeks, eyes to me,” he ordered quietly.

She turned off the sink, leaned to the side, grabbed a dish towel and turned, drying her hands with the towel. Her eyes hit him and her brows went up.

Layne spoke. “Cosgrove got word from three colleges they wanted to talk to Jasper. He didn’t pass on those messages.”

Her brows lowered, her lips parted and she started to look concerned as she tossed the towel on the counter behind her.

Layne continued. “It’s time I started focusing on Rutledge again but I don’t have that time because I gotta work to pay my bills. I also gotta keep an eye on Stew and Gabby’s house. It’s likely that fuckwad is gone and Colt’s lookin’ into shit but she goes home tomorrow and my boys go back to her tomorrow so I can’t lose track of what’s goin’ on there. I gotta keep sharp about Cosgrove because he’s thrown down, fucked with Jas and he’s the kinda man who won’t see his shortcomings and understand he brought all this shit on himself, he’ll make someone pay. I reckon that’ll be Paige and Seth, Jasper or you. And I got nothin’ on Gaines except I know what he drives, I know where he went last night and I know he’s gotta be shut down. Both my boys are out there on this and somehow, Rutledge, a dirty cop who’s makin’ the Department look bad enough that pretty soon the Chief’s gonna get his head outta his ass and figure out what’s goin’ on, he’s gonna step in and he’s gonna fuck it all up because he got to be Chief not by bein’ a good cop but by bein’ good at playin’ politics. But my boys and my woman come first. You want Gaines and Tripp and Jas are seriously tied up in all this shit and I gotta have their backs.”

She stared at him and he knew she was no longer pissed but she wasn’t ready to let it go either.

So Layne went on, his voice soft. “I love you, baby, and part of why I love you is because you’re worried and you’d do something about it. Any other time this shit you pulled would be cute. Now it isn’t because I don’t have time to have your back and my boys’ and get the shit I need done, done. I was gonna run Gaines’s plates this afternoon but I couldn’t because I’m here.” Her face had changed completely, eyes half-mast, mouth soft and Layne knew he’d gotten to her. “So, help me out in a way that actually helps me out. Be there for me and be smart. Those are the only two things you gotta do, easy enough for you but they’d mean a lot to me.”

The instant he was done talking, Rocky spoke. “You love me?”

Layne’s head moved to the side. “What?”

“You said you love me,” she told him.

Layne stared at her and replied, “Well… yeah.”

“You love me,” she whispered, her eyes still hooded but they were intense and Layne felt his chest freeze again.

“Baby, what do you think we’re doin’ here?” he whispered back.

She shook her head.

“You ever fall out of love with me?” he asked softly.

“No,” she whispered and it sounded like she struggled to get that one word out but Layne didn’t care, that one word meant everything to him.

“That feeling is definitely mutual, honey.”

She held his gaze one beat, two, three then she sucked in breath, her eyes filled with tears and she looked down and to the side.

Layne moved around the bar, walked to her and pulled her into his arms. Rocky didn’t resist and slid her arms around his waist and held on, twisting her neck and pressing her cheek in his chest.

He dipped his chin and put his lips to her hair. “This,” he said there, “this right now answered more than just your prayers, Rocky.”

He heard her breath hitch as her body jolted with a fresh wave of tears and she held on tighter with her arms and pressed her body deep into his.

He lifted a hand and pulled her ponytail holder out of her hair then ran his fingers through its length and he kept doing it as he listened to her cry.

When her tears quieted, he whispered, “Ma’s making beef tenderloin tonight.”

Her head jerked back and his lifted up as she looked at him with wet eyes that apparently were ringed with lashes coated with waterproof mascara. They were spiky with wet but her cheeks weren’t streaming with black.

“Beef tenderloin?” she asked quietly, knowing exactly what that meant. Layne liked Vera’s beef tenderloin but Rocky loved it. She knew Vera wouldn’t make it if things weren’t good.

“We had a chat,” Layne answered, she melted even deeper into him, dropped her chin and rested her forehead against his chest.

“I like Vera’s tenderloin,” she whispered there.

“I’m bringin’ home cones and ice cream.”

Rocky’s head jerked back again, she looked startled a second then she let out a little giggle.

“You’re impossible.” She was still whispering and he grinned.

“Promise me you’re done with this shit, I’ll take watchin’ you eat a cone and then, later, watchin’ you wrap your hand around my cock and lickin’ it as payback for savin’ your ass instead of tannin’ it.” The softness went out of her face and she started to pull back but his hand went out of her hair and both his arms got tight around her. “Promise me, Rocky.”

She tried to go into stare down but he knew she didn’t have it in her when she muttered, “Oh, all right.”

“Is that a promise?” Layne pushed.

“Yes,” she snapped.

“All of it?”

Her head tipped to the side. “What?”

“No more stupid shit.”

She pulled her arms from around him and put her hands on his chest but she replied, “No more stupid shit.”

“And you eat dessert tonight,” he pressed.

“Fine,” she snapped.

“Then you eat me later.”

“Fine!” she repeated, still snapping and still not meaning it and he smiled.

“Don’t pretend you don’t like it as much as me, sweetcheeks.”

“Um, I think you like it more than me, Layne.”

She wasn’t wrong about that.

He didn’t confirm, he ordered, “Now kiss me good-bye, I gotta get back to the office and run those plates and you need to get your ass to my house so Ma can get a head start on makin’ amends.”

“You missed one more thing you need to do and that’s quit bossing me around.”

He kept smiling. “Baby, what in all that isn’t good for you?”

“The part where you boss me around, that’s the part not good for me.”

Layne still kept smiling. “Quit bitchin’ and kiss me.”

“Layne –”

“Sweetcheeks, kiss me.”

“If you’re so busy, maybe you should –”

Layne shut her up by kissing her.

Rocky was nursing a snit but still… she kissed him back.

Layne’s shoulders were to the headboard, his legs were spread, knees bent to the ceiling, his hands were in Rocky’s hair and his eyes were glued to her mouth working his cock.

Damn, but he liked her mouth.

But he didn’t want to come in her mouth, he wanted to come in her pussy.

“Baby, get up here,” he growled and her eyes went to him but her mouth stayed where it was, her fingers wrapped tight around him and he watched her swirl the tip with her tongue.

Fuck. Beautiful. Everything about it. Her hand, her tongue, her hair framing her face and all over his lap and her eyes telling him exactly how turned on she was.

“Get up here,” he repeated and she bent to him, taking him deep one last time and sucking hard as she slid back up.

Jesus. Fucking beautiful.

Layne closed his eyes and gritted his teeth.

Rocky’s mouth released his cock, he opened his eyes and watched as she crawled up his body to straddling him and pressed her tits to his chest, her face to his neck and he felt her tongue there.

“Climb on, baby,” he grunted, needing to be inside her and she didn’t hesitate.

She reached between them, wrapped him again with her fist and guided him inside, sitting up and filling herself, her head dropping back, her back arching, her nails dragging his chest and she moaned.

Heaven.

One of his hands went to her hip, the other one cupped her breast as he ordered in a thick voice, “Ride me.”

She needed no coaxing, she moved, not slow – fast, hard. She was primed, so fucking hot, so wet, taking him deep as he rolled her nipple between his fingers and watched his woman drive herself down on his cock over and over.

When he was close and she was closer, he sat up, both his arms going around her and he demanded, “Mouth on mine, baby.”

She tipped her head down and did as she was told, moving on him and breathing into his mouth, “Layne, baby, you feel so good.”

“Faster, Rocky,” he urged and she did as he asked, the noises coming from her throat telling him where she was at.

One of his arms slid up her back and his fingers tangled in her hair, fisting, he held her mouth to his as his other arm moved and then he smacked her, hard, on the ass.

Her body jerked and her head jolted against his hold but he kept it stationary.

“You gonna be my good girl?” he whispered.

“Layne,” she breathed and he liked that, fuck, he liked that, it went straight to his cock.

He smacked her ass again, her body jerked again and then she started riding him harder. She liked this, his Rocky.

“You gonna be my good girl?” he repeated and smacked her ass again.

Rocky moaned into his mouth, her hand slid to his neck, fingers digging in, her other arm around his back and she started fucking him hot and hard and really fucking fast.

He smacked her ass again. “Rocky –”

“Yes,” she breathed into his mouth. “Yes, Layne, I’ll be your good girl.”

Then she slammed down on his cock, ground into him and her head shot back so fiercely it took his hand with it and she moaned deep as her pussy convulsed around him.

He whipped her to her back and drove into her, his mouth on hers, taking her moans and whimpers while she absorbed his grunts, riding her until his world exploded and he poured himself into Rocky.

After he came down, he stayed rooted inside her and ran his nose, his lips and his tongue along her neck, ear and jaw and she held him safe, wrapped tight in all four of her limbs.

When he had his face in her neck, she turned her head and in his ear, whispered, “Love you, Layne.”

Layne stayed where he was, still and unmoving as he let the golden trail of her words glide through him then he lifted his head and looked at Raquel, her hair spread out on his bed, her face gentle, her pussy still hot and wet, her body soft under his and he whispered back, “Love you too, baby.”

He dipped his head and kissed her, not hard, but long, his tongue sliding in her mouth, tasting her, so sweet, and she gave, even sweeter until he broke off the kiss, sliding his nose alongside hers.

“I gotta go clean up,” she whispered.

“I’ll be here,” he replied, pulled out and rolled off her.

He watched her move gracefully from the bed, find his tee and she tugged it on as she moved to the bathroom.

Layne got under the covers and rested against the headboard, listening to Rocky in his bathroom and he was thinking they could move the entirety of her living room furniture in his room when she walked out and wandered to his bed, her strut fluid and lazy and he liked it more knowing the laziness came from the orgasm he just gave her.

She pulled back the covers and climbed in, scooting over until she settled with her cheek to his chest, her arm around him, she tangled a leg with his. He pushed his arm under her, pulled up her tee and cupped her bared ass with his hand.

That was new too. If he fucked her, she slept without underwear. She didn’t used to do that.

He liked it.

He moved and turned out the lamp on the nightstand, plunging the room into blackness but she didn’t make a noise.

He settled back and ran his hand over the cheek of her ass. “Did I hit you too hard?” he murmured.

She shook her head slightly against his chest, her arm getting tight a second and she mumbled, “Unh-unh.”

He grinned in the dark. “You liked it.”

It was a statement.

She didn’t respond except to curl deeper into him which was her response. She liked it.

“I dream of you,” he told her and that caused a response. Her head came up and she looked at him through the dark.

“What?” she asked.

“After you came to visit me in the hospital, I started dreaming of you. Every night. Even when I was in the hospital, I dreamed of you. I still do.”

“Really?” she whispered.

“Yep,” he replied.

“Wow,” she breathed and his hand moved to find her face, cupping her jaw he pulled her up as his neck bent. Then he touched his lips to hers.

After, he said softly, “Yeah, wow. More than wow, sweetcheeks, in my dreams, we’re almost always fucking.”

Her head moved back an inch and her hand slid up his chest to curl her fingers where his shoulder met his neck.

“Really?” she repeated.

“Oh yeah,” he whispered.

“Is it good?” she asked.

“Yeah, it’s good. As good as what we just did, not by a long shot but it’s good. I haven’t dreamed of us having sex since you came back but I still dream of you. You talk to me.”

Her body got tight and she asked, “Talk to you?”

“Yeah.”

“What do I say?”

“You wake me up. Tell me you need to get to work. The two times I was at your place, you told me to get home to my boys.”

“That’s it?”

“Yep.”

She relaxed then asked, “Why?”

“What?”

“Why?” Rocky repeated. “Why are you dreaming of me?”

“No clue,” Layne answered. “But I like havin’ you here and there.” He pulled her face to his until their lips were touching. “Best of both worlds.”

He felt her smile then he kissed her lightly, released her jaw and she moved down to rest against his chest again.

“So, you going to tell me what you learned with your search?” she prompted.

After he’d kissed her at her place, he’d rendez voused with Ryker who was waiting by Layne’s truck. Ryker had told Layne he’d scoped out unit K, apartment three and assured him he was “on the job” then took off on his Harley. Layne went to the office, ran his searches, ran more because of the results and got home in time for his mother to lecture him on punctuality and courtesy and since dinner was ready, Keira was there again and Devin was home and visibly salivating to tuck into beef tenderloin, Layne hadn’t had a chance to brief Rocky.

He did get the chance to watch her eat an ice cream cone and therefore they went to bed early.

“Both cars are registered to a woman,” Layne told her. “Victoria Aubry.”

“Victoria Aubry,” Rocky whispered.

“You heard that name?” Layne asked and she shook her head against his chest so he went on. “She rents the apartment too. She’s also married to a man named Baxter Aubry.”

Her head came up and he felt her eyes on him through the dark. “Who’s that?”

“Driver’s license picture in the system shows he’s TJ Gaines.”

“Oh my,” she breathed.

“Yep,” he replied.

“What else?” she prompted.

“Nothin’,” Layne said and Rocky was silent.

Then she said, “Nothing?”

“Not one fuckin’ thing. Both of them came into existence about nine months ago. I’ve run every check there is, couldn’t find anything. They got credit cards, bank accounts, own their cars outright, pay their insurance, rent, utilities on time, except they do it with cash. Only thing they pay with check is the credit cards which, even though they live high, are cleared every month.”

“What does this tell you?” she asked.

“Well, seein’ as I dug deeper and found Victoria Aubry died of a stroke at age eight-two six years ago and her husband Baxter Aubry died a year and a half later of emphysema, it tells me the least those two are guilty of is identity theft.”

“Shit,” she whispered.

“Other than that, not much else,” Layne finished.

“What’s next?”

“What’s next is, we need a fuckin’ print. For both of ‘em.”

“Right,” she said softly.

“Baby,” he called and her arm squeezed him in response. “Goes without sayin’ it won’t be you gettin’ those prints.”

Rocky’s body tensed and her voice was terse when she said, “Of course.”

Layne slid down into the bed, taking her with him and rolling them both to their sides so they were face to face but his hand didn’t leave her ass and he gripped it when he murmured, “Just makin’ sure you stay my good girl.”

He felt her body give a small jerk before she relaxed into him and kissed his throat.

“I’m still your good girl,” she whispered there.

“Good,” he whispered back.

Her face came out of his throat and her head settled on the pillow. “Isn’t that enough?” she asked. “Identity theft is bad, even if people are dead. Can’t you hand it over to Merry now, get him away from those girls?”

“Yep,” Layne answered.

“Are you going to do that?”

“Yep, Merry or Colt or Sully or Mike, whoever I get to first.”

“Excellent,” she replied quietly.

“One problem with that, sweetcheeks,” Layne told her.

“What?”

“There’s somethin’ bigger here, somethin’ we don’t know. They got a shitload of money in the bank, they live high, she’s got a nice car, his is less than a year old, middle of the road but top of the line of its model. She’s either into somethin’ or they’re bankrolled.”

“So?”

“So, a weed grows, you don’t pull off its leaves, you yank out the root. My gut tells me there’s a big man pullin’ their strings and that man’s gotta go down so this stops, not only here but everywhere.”

“But the girls –”

“I’ll take care of the girls,” Layne assured her.

“How?”

“People like this, they got one allegiance, it isn’t to the head honcho, it isn’t even to money, it’s to themselves. If they know they’re fucked, they’ll play.”

“Sorry?”

“We turn ‘em.”

“Layne, I’m not getting –”

“We get to them, get them to make a deal. In exchange for reduced jail time, they give us the big man and, in the meantime, stop whatever shit they’re doin’ with the girls.”

She was silent a second then she said, “Oh.” Then she shared her news. “Rumor in the halls is, Seth is taking Alexis McGraw out for pizza after the game tomorrow.”

Layne grinned.

Rocky continued, “And, word today was, Youth Group attendance spiked last night. It’s become the hot, in thing to go and see what the Layne boys are up to. Apparently, Jasper, Seth and their friend Mitch didn’t disappoint and TJ-slash-Baxter had his hands full attempting to explain how there could be dinosaurs and Adam and Eve. Not to mention, since half the football team was there, it’s becoming the hot spot to see and be seen, pick up chicks and socialize. It sounded to me like Wednesday’s Youth Group meeting was half Single’s Club and half philosophical debate on religion, both of which TJ-slash-Baxter didn’t have the tools to deal with.”

Layne’s grin turned into a smile. He’d seen himself the number of kids who’d walked out and it wasn’t sixty, it was more like eighty or higher. Jasper had been at work which was good. Part of Gaines’s advantage was that there were concerns voiced in whispers but no action. The more attention Youth Group had, the more parents would start waking up and asking questions and not in whispers, especially when Christian Youth Group became a Single’s Club for teenagers and an opportunity to jack around. It would be hard to recruit young girls for whatever he needed them for when they were more interested in the football team and when your attention was diverted by questions about creationism to which you probably didn’t have the answers and with angry parents breathing down your neck.

“Ryker’s surveilling the apartment,” Layne told Rocky. “We’ll see what he gets and if he can find a time when I can get in there. I’ll get prints, get someone at the Station to run them and have a sit down with the boys.” He gave her a squeeze and murmured, “This’ll be over soon, baby.”

Rocky burrowed into him and murmured back, “I hope so, Layne.”

“It will. Swear,” he promised.

She didn’t respond and Layne was about to roll to his back so she could pin him to the bed when she called softly, “Layne?”

“Yeah, sweetcheeks.”

He heard her hair move on the pillow.

“In your dreams…” she started then trailed off.

“Yeah?” he prompted.

“You said it’s good?”

Layne knew where this was going and he grinned.

“Yeah, it’s good.”

“What…” she paused, “what do we do?”

Layne didn’t hesitate. He rolled into her so he was on top of her.

“Layne?”

He found her mouth with his. “Show you,” he muttered, his hands sliding up her sides, taking the tee with it, she lifted her arms, he pulled it off and tossed it away. Then his mouth went back to hers. “Hold onto the slats in the headboard and don’t let go.”

“What?” she breathed.

“Hold onto the slats in the headboard and don’t let go, no matter what.”

“No matter what?”

“No matter what. Promise.”

“Layne.”

Breathy. Beautiful. Jesus, he just came and his cock was already starting to get hard.

“Hands to the slats, baby, keep them there, no matter what.” She hesitated only a moment before she moved, her arms lifting, she grabbed onto the headboard. “That’s my good girl,” he muttered against her mouth. “Promise to hold on.”

“I promise,” she whispered and he kissed her.

Then Layne experienced the best of both worlds at the same time.

And it was unbelievably sweet.