Golden Trail (31 page)

There you go. Rocky was behind this
activity.

“She’d know,” Layne muttered, his eyes
swinging to Rocky and catching her dimple before she turned back to
her vegetables.

He walked to the island beside her and
dumped his bags next to the vegetables. She had a bowl in front of
her already filled with salad leaves, sliced cucumbers, diced
tomatoes, strips of yellow bell pepper and she was working on a
carrot.

“Hey Dev,” Layne greeted.

“Boy,” Dev greeted back, his eyes slid to
Rocky, back to Layne and he smiled slowly.

Layne had no idea how long Rocky was there
but however long it was, she’d earned Dev’s approval. This didn’t
surprise Layne. Her Dad was a cop so was her brother and she knew
every uniform and plainclothesman in the county – Rocky was Dev’s
kind of people. Rocky was also a female of the beautiful variety
who wore tight skirts, high heels and soft sweaters – that was
Dev’s kind of people too.

Layne moved into Rocky’s back, put a hand to
the counter in front of her and discovered one good thing about her
wearing her hair up. It left her neck totally exposed. With this
opportunity afforded him, he placed a hand on her sweater at her
waist, slid it forward to her belly and touched his lips to the
skin behind her ear.

He absorbed the minor tremor that slid
through her body before it went stiff and he whispered in her ear,
“Hey baby.”

She kept cutting as she whispered back, “Hey
Layne.”

“You’re early,” he noted and she nodded, her
body still stiff, likely because his was pressed the length of her
back, from hips to shoulders and he not only hadn’t moved either
hand, he also had begun to slide his thumb back and forth across
the soft material of her sweater.

“I thought I’d help Jasper impress Keira
with his concern over her nutrition,” she replied and tossed some
of the carrots into the bowl. “Though, not too concerned. I also
bought an apple pie and vanilla bean ice cream for dessert.”

She hadn’t changed because, after work,
she’d gone to the store and she’d gone to the store to do something
for his boy.

Layne grinned and lifted his face from her
neck but didn’t move away when he asked, “Flowers?”

“Those’re from me. You don’t have dinner
with the ladies without buyin’ ‘em flowers,” Dev put in and Layne
smiled at him.

“Fair warning, sweetcheeks, Dev’s a ladies’
man,” Layne told Rocky.

“He’s already impressed that on me,” Rocky
returned and Layne chuckled.

Then he put his lips back to her ear and
invited softly, “You need to get outta those shoes, baby.”

“I would,” she replied, “if I wasn’t scared
of what my feet would encounter after doing it.”

Layne lifted his head again, still smiling,
and called to Tripp, “Finish polishing, Pal, then get that thing
that sweeps the floors.”

At his words, Rocky twisted her neck and
tilted her head back to look up at him. “It’s called a
broom
, Layne.”

He smiled down at her. “I told you this was
a testosterone zone, sweetcheeks. ‘Bout the only thing in the house
that has a connection to work that doesn’t have a plug or use
batteries is that polish Tripp’s wielding. We got a
thing
that sweeps the floors.”

Rocky kept staring up at him after he’d
finished speaking, the vacuum had gone off and Layne forced his
eyes from hers when he heard Jasper announce, “I’m on that, Dad.
Tripp’s gonna clean the downstairs bathroom after he finishes with
the furniture.”

Layne looked to Tripp. He had no idea how
his youngest bought that chore but him accepting it gave new
meaning to his adoration of Rocky.

“I think I got a gasmask and industrial
gloves in the garage, Pal. And after you do that, I’ll give you
five dollars.”

Tripp sauntered into the kitchen, Blondie at
his heels, muttering, “I think it’s worth more like fifty.”

Tripp was not wrong.

Both his boys, and the dog, hit the utility
room and Layne turned his attention back to the island. He took his
hand from Rocky’s stomach, nabbed a slice of the carrot she was
cutting and tossed it into his mouth.

He was chewing when he asked Dev, “How was
your day?”

Devin looked in his eyes and pointedly
didn’t look at Rocky. “Good.”

“How good?” Layne pressed.

“
Real
good.”

Layne swallowed, grinned and tagged another
carrot he threw in his mouth before he asked Dev, “Oxygen gettin’
thin?”

“I already hear someone chokin’,” Dev
replied.

Layne grabbed another slice of carrot and
Rocky said, “As fascinating as you and Devin talking in code is,
Layne, you take another carrot, you’ll find your hand stuck to the
counter with my knife.”

Devin chuckled and Layne tossed the carrot
into his mouth before he put that hand back to her belly, her body,
which had relaxed, went stiff again and his mouth went back to her
ear. “Baby, I’ve had four cups of coffee and a breaded tenderloin
sandwich today. Aren’t you concerned for
my
nutrition?”

Her head turned, his came up and she looked
him in the eyes. “I’m thinking you’re healthy enough.”

He dipped his face close to hers and
whispered, “You have no idea, but, you want, later I can show
you.”

The fire died out of her eyes, the intensity
went into them, she stared up at him, totally off-balance and he
knew this because she swallowed.

He fought the urge to kiss her as the boys,
with dog, re-entered the room carrying new weapons to attack their
filthy house and Layne decided to give Raquel a break, moved away
from her and toward the bags.

“Tripp, do a good job but do it fast. We
gotta have a conversation before Keira gets here,” he announced as
he emptied the bottles from the bags and he felt all eyes turn to
him.

“Jesus, boy, you havin’ a teenager over for
dinner or you hostin’ a rave?” Devin asked as the bottles were
unveiled.

“Rocky likes red wine,” Layne replied and he
felt Rocky’s body, already on alert, jerk to solid beside him.

“Yeah, I’m seein’ that and then some,” Dev
muttered.

“What do we have to talk about, Dad?” Tripp
called Layne’s attention to him.

“Finish in the bathroom, Pal then we’ll
talk.”

Tripp and Jasper both eyed him then Tripp
disappeared and Jasper plugged in the thing that electronically
sucked shit up from tile and wood floors.

While his boys did this, Dev caught Rocky’s
attention and they started chatting as Layne put away the bottles
of booze and opened one of the reds. He poured her a glass, got
himself a beer and then walked back to her to set her glass beside
her workspace on the island, workspace she was clearing now that
the gargantuan salad was done.

When her eyes went to the glass then lifted
to him, he muttered, “Sorry, sweetcheeks, we don’t have any fancy
glasses in the house.”

“That’s okay, they drink it like that in
Italy,” she replied, reaching out to grab the small glass, she
turned to Dev. “I’ve never been to Italy, of course, but that’s the
way they drink it in movies set in Italy and I always thought that
was cool.” She lifted her glass and reached toward Dev, finishing,
“Welcome to the ‘burg, Devin.”

He clinked his bottle of beer against her
glass, sucked back a pull and, after swallowing, said, “Dev,
darlin’. Pretty girls get to call me Dev.”

She smiled at him. “Dev, then.”

“You got time tomorrow, you can give me a
tour of the ‘burg,” Dev invited as if he already hadn’t scouted out
the lay of the land.

“I’d love that but I’ve got to work,” Rocky
replied. “But I’ll tell you that it’ll be worth your while to get
up early, go to Hilligoss Bakery and get yourself a donut. I’ve
never been to Italy, or anywhere else really, but I’d put down
money on any donut from Hilligoss going up against anything in the
world and winning.”

“I haven’t been to Italy either but I’ve
been around and Roc isn’t lyin’,” Layne added.

“Your treat tomorrow then, boy,” Dev told
him.

“Done in the bathroom!” Trip shouted,
rounding the corner and running toward the utility room at the same
time juggling an armload of bathroom cleaning stuff.

Layne looked to Jas to see he was also done
and winding the cord up. He turned to the back counter, saw Rocky’s
purse sitting by the coffeemaker, walked to it and dug through it
until he found her keys.

Then he turned to Jasper as he heard Rocky
start to say, “What are you –?”

“Jas,” he called over her, Jasper’s head
came up and Layne tossed his son the keys which Jasper nabbed
one-handed. “You pull the Charger out then pull Rocky’s Merc in the
garage.”

“Layne –” Rocky began.

Layne talked over her. “Get Dev’s keys too,
pull the Calais into the drive behind the Merc.”

“But –” Rocky tried again.

“You get Keira, you park behind the
Suburban. Drop the door after you pull in the Merc,” Layne
finished.

“Right Dad,” Jasper said, carried the
sweeper to the utility room and disappeared as Tripp
reappeared.

“Layne, you can’t –” Rocky started and Layne
looked at her.

“HOA isn’t big on cars parked on the street
overnight.”

“Over –” she began again, this time in a
whisper.

“HOA?” Dev cut in, sounding disgusted.
“Tanner Layne, the boy I proudly watched dodge bullets to enter a
house filled with hostiles in order to grab a hostage, a rescue
during which he took two boys out with only a half-filled clip in
his gun, and he ran out without a nick on him carrying that
hostage, is
livin’
in a
place
with a
home owners
association?
”

Layne heard Rocky suck in breath at the same
time he heard Tripp shout, “You did that Dad?”

“Damn straight he did it, boy,” Devin
growled at Tripp then his eyes cut to Layne. “A dog, an HOA and
domestication, three things I did not think I’d ever see attached
to
you.
”

“Things change, Dev,” Layne replied, acutely
aware that, for some reason, Rocky was staring at him and she was
not
doing it the same way Tripp was.

“That sounds cool!” Tripp yelled. “Devin,
who were the hostiles, where was this, when…?”

Layne looked to Rocky while Tripp fired out
his questions and the minute he did, her eyes dropped, she turned
so he had her profile and her hand lifted so she could take a sip
of wine. But she couldn’t hide the fact that her face had paled or
her hand was trembling.

“It wasn’t as dangerous as Dev makes it
sound,” Layne lied to Tripp in an effort to reassure a visibly
shaken Rocky.

It was. It was extremely dangerous and it
was a hotshot, bullshit maneuver he pulled. He could have been
killed and it could have got the hostage killed. The problem was,
the hostage was an eight year old, dark-headed boy whose picture
reminded him of Jasper. He’d been kidnapped and held hostage for
three weeks and Dev had been hired to manage an extraction the Feds
had botched – which meant two parts of the boy had been delivered
to his parents, a finger and a toe – and Dev had taken Layne along
as backup. It was a part miracle that Layne hadn’t been filled with
bullets, part excellent cover from Devin. What Dev wasn’t sharing
was that he
didn’t
watch proudly as Layne did this. What he
did was lay into Layne approximately two seconds after Dev took
down the last “hostile” and they secured the boy.

“We should wait until Jas gets back so he
can hear the story too,” Tripp suggested and Layne tore his eyes
from Rocky, who, at this point, had turned her back to him and he
looked at his son while walking to Rocky, fitting his front again
against her back and leaning both of their bodies into his palm at
the edge of the counter.

“Jasper’s gotta cook and you gotta grab a
pop and take a load off after all your cleaning activity. Rocky and
me got somethin’ important to talk to you about,” Layne said.

Tripp’s eyes grew both bright and wary as
they looked between Layne and Rocky and he asked, “Really?”

“Really,” Layne answered. “Get your pop,
Pal.”

Tripp nodded, he got his pop and sat his ass
down as Devin appeared to sip his beer casually but Layne knew he’d
been alerted by Layne’s serious tone. Through this, Rocky stood
noticeably silent in front of him.

Jasper walked in and Layne stayed close to
Rocky even as he turned to Jas.

“You can do the Calais before you go to pick
up Keira, Bud, I want you to hear this and you need to get your
pasta bake show on the road. You wait to cook that shit until after
she gets here, she’ll miss her curfew, Cal will lose his mind and
I’ll have to make sure my gun is loaded.”

Jasper grinned and walked into the room
asking, “Hear what?” then he put Rocky’s keys on the counter by her
hand.

When he did, Rocky quietly said, “Thanks
Jasper,” and Jasper turned his grin to her.

Layne kept her body pinned in just as his
son had pinned in her car as he said to Jas, “Just listen, yeah?”
and then he turned to Tripp and started to lay it out.

“Got a head’s up from a friend on the Force
and a little while later Rocky shared her concerns about stuff
she’s hearin’ at school. She’s got a bad vibe and I’ve got a bad
vibe and, Tripp, I need you to help us to do something about
it.”

Tripp’s eyes were glued to him and he didn’t
hesitate in nodding.

“What’s the bad vibe?” Jasper asked from
behind them.

“It’s about the Youth Group at the Christian
Church,” Layne answered which he saw made Tripp nod even more
enthusiastically.

“Oh yeah, I can see that,” Tripp said and
Layne felt Rocky’s body stiffen against him as his did the
same.

“Me too,” Jasper added.

“What can you see?” Layne asked.

“Cult city,” Jasper noted. “It’s freakin’
creepy.”