Golden Trail (35 page)

Rocky’s eyes stayed glued to the TV as he
rounded the bed and got in, shoving up the pillows, he settled with
his back to them on the headboard, his body on top of the covers,
legs stretched out in front of him and ankles crossed.

Even after he was in, Rocky didn’t tear her
eyes from the TV.

“Can you mute that, sweetcheeks?” he
requested

It took her a second to comply and when she
did, her head turned to him but her body stayed facing the TV
across the room from the foot of the bed.

She lifted her brows.

Layne smiled at her.

“Well?” she prompted.

“I need your help with something,” he told
her.

“What?”

He slid down, rolled to his side toward her
and put his head in his hand, his elbow into the pillows. Her body
tensed as he did this and didn’t relax until he stopped moving.

“It’s about Gabby,” Layne told her and
Rocky’s eyes got wide then, almost immediately, they blanked.

“What about Gabby?”

That’s when Layne told her about Stew and
about Gabby, most everything about Stew and also a lot about Gabby.
He didn’t leave much out including the fact that Gabrielle was
living blind and acting desperate to keep hold of a shitheel of a
man.

When he was done talking, she’d shifted so
she had her body turned toward him, the remote in the bed beside
her and her hands held loosely together in her lap. Her face had
also grown soft and her eyes had grown warm.

“Poor Gabby,” she whispered.

“Yeah,” Layne whispered back.

“So what do you need my help with?” she
asked.

“I gotta know how to play this,” Layne
answered and her head tilted to the side in confusion.

“How to play it? Layne, you do what that
Ryker guy said and make him pay through the nose and then get him
behind bars.”

“I’m not Gabby’s favorite person, baby, she
isn’t gonna thank me for getting involved.”

“She’ll understand especially when she
understands.
She’s a good Mom, Layne, she’ll want to make
sure her boys are safe from that.”

“She might eventually understand, Roc, but
we got Jas and Tripp in the middle of this, and, like I said, I’m
not her favorite person and she’s gonna be pissed in order to hide
the hurt and humiliation and she’s gonna take it out on me. When
she gets pissed at me, sweetcheeks, she doesn’t do it privately.
Jas and Tripp are gonna hear it, see it and they’re not gonna like
it. They’ll feel it, they’ll feel for her, Jas already knows I’m
steppin’ up for his Mom, he’s glad I’m doin’ it. Tripp’ll feel the
same so they’ll get caught in the middle and it’s my job to try to
cushion them from that shit.”

Layne watched as she took in a deep breath
and, while letting it out, she fell to her side, stretched out and
settled with her head in her hand, elbow in the pillow, facing
Layne.

“You think you can keep your part in this
whole thing quiet?” she asked.

“I can try but Gabby’s got a way of finding
shit out. Tripp’s not in the know about me workin’ this but he’s
also not dumb, not to mention, he’s learnin’ cool but he’s got a
ways to go so he can run his mouth. He loves his Mom, he loves his
old man, he’ll be happy I’m lookin’ out for her and he won’t get it
that she won’t be happy. Shit happens and I gotta plan
accordingly.”

She studied him a moment before she said
softly, “Then you’re going to have to suck it up, Layne.”

Layne’s brows knitted. “Come again?”

“Earlier tonight, you told me you fucked up
with your boys. Now, Gabrielle has done it. Everyone knows Stew’s a
jerk, she knows it too, deep down. She knows she’s fucked up,
bringing Stew into her sons’ life not to mention bringing him into
hers.
I don’t want to sound like a bitch, but all this boils
down to her and the decisions she’s made. She’s the kind of person
who has to take that out on someone, even if it’s unreasonable
because that someone was only trying to look out for her and their
kids, then that someone, namely
you,
is going to have to
suck it up.”

He grinned at her. “Not sure you got much of
a flair for reassurance, sweetcheeks.”

Rocky grinned back. “Sorry, did I miss that
part of my job description?”

“Skipped right by it, baby.”

“I’ll take time tomorrow to review it,” she
told him.

“That’d be appreciated.”

The grin changed to the point he got the
dimple and Layne gave himself a moment to enjoy lying in bed facing
Rocky and her dimple before he said softly, “I watch Letterman,
baby, you gonna be able to sleep through that?”

The dimple faded and her face changed,
showing him a hint of fear before she got her shields up and nodded
and, if she hadn’t changed, she wasn’t lying. She went to bed at
ten but Layne didn’t so it was more accurate to say she went to
sleep
at ten because most of the time she was stretched out
on the couch with Layne watching TV and she fell asleep while he
kept watching it. If she was really out, he’d carry her to bed but
most of the time, when he moved, she woke up enough to stumble to
their room, pull off her clothes, tug on one of his tees, collapse
into bed and fall straight back to sleep.

“Pass me the remote,” Layne ordered and she
rolled, coming back to him, she handed him the remote.

Then she stayed where she was, head in hand
but her eyes directed down her body toward the TV. Layne rolled to
his back and sat up, lifting his legs, whipping the covers out from
under him and settling back against the headboard.

Layne changed the channel finding a crime
drama. He watched it then watched the News then watched
Letterman.

Jas was home five minutes into the
drama.

Tripp hit his bedroom fifteen minutes into
it, Jasper following him half an hour later.

Rocky was asleep after ten minutes of the
drama.

Layne fell asleep after trying to find it
for half an hour after Letterman.

* * * * *

Now he was awake to find Rocky had moved
during the night and she’d pinned him to the bed.

They’d both set a record. It took him one
night to get used to it and it took her one night to break out of
sleeping in her tight, guarded ball and sprawl.

He turned his head to the side to look at
the clock and he saw that his dream Rocky had given him plenty of
time.

So Layne turned into his real Rocky,
wrapping his arms around her, he pulled her up his body. She
released a sleepy mew and Layne lifted his head then buried his
face in her neck.

He could smell a hint of her perfume.

He kissed her neck and then touched it with
his tongue, sliding it up to right under her ear, liking the taste
of her.

Her body started to come alert in his arms
so he touched his tongue to her earlobe then moved his lips along
her jaw then up, to her mouth.

Her head tipped back and her voice was
drowsy when she whispered, “Layne?”

That was when Layne slanted his head and
kissed her. He started soft until he felt her hands light on the
skin of his chest. Then he touched his tongue to her lips and her
hands slid up to curl on his shoulders. He touched his tongue to
her lips again, her mouth opened, Layne slid his tongue inside and
the tips of her fingers dug into his shoulders as she made another
mew, this one not sleepy.

At the sound of it, the feel of it against
his tongue, what it meant and what it was doing to his body, he
rolled her to her back and then he
kissed
her.

Rocky tied herself up with him instantly,
tangling her legs with his, winding her arms around his shoulders,
one hand sifting in his hair, the other one drifting down his back
and she let him kiss her, her back arching, her mouth unbelievably
generous.

His hands moved, up her t-shirt and in, skin
on skin, her body warm from his and being cocooned in his bed, her
skin soft, she pressed up into him and moved one arm down, shoving
it under his so she could reach more of his back and she did, her
fingers trailing. Layne’s hand went down to her ass, cupping her
and pulling her into his hard cock and her fingers trailing the
skin of his back became nails dragging against it.

Hot.

He stopped kissing her to mutter, “Yeah,
baby,” against her mouth and her reply was simply a breathy,
“Layne.”

For some reason, hearing her say his name
like that, in that voice, her body soft and warm under him, Layne
suddenly lost control. His hands in her shirt pulled it up and he
didn’t even notice her arms were already lifted by the time he got
it over her head. He tossed it aside and went back to her, kissing
her, harder, taking more and he got it, she gave it to him and he
knew Rocky had lost control too. He knew this because her hands
were urgent on his skin, both of them, moving, pressing in,
fingers, nails, then down, sliding inside the waistband of his
pajamas then across, then up, down, then inside and the fingers of
both her hands curled into the muscles of his ass as her hips
pushed up, her back arching, her soft tits pressing into his
chest.

“Fuck,” he muttered against her mouth then
moved down her chest, not taking his time, his hands slid up her
sides and he palmed one of her breasts then cupped it, lifted it,
his mouth fastened around it, he took a second to swirl his tongue
around her rock hard nipple before he sucked it deep.

Her back left the bed and she fed herself
deeper into his mouth as he heard a low, deep moan glide up her
throat.

Fucking hell. Beautiful.

His other hand cupped her other breast,
thumb sliding across the nipple then tweaking, rolling as he pulled
hard with his mouth on the other and Rocky’s hands roamed on him,
searching, clearly desperate, one moved around the front and curled
tight around his cock.

That felt so good, Layne groaned against her
nipple and her back arched again, her hand tightening, she stroked
him and pulled him closer at the same time, telling him she wanted
more.

He let her go and pulled himself up her
body, one arm wrapping around her hips, the other hand trailing
down her belly, she stroked his cock and his mouth hit hers.

“You ready?” he asked and she arched her
neck. “Baby?” he called, his fingertips sliding into the top of her
panties, happy to find out for himself when her body locked, her
hand left his cock and shot to his wrist, wrapping around.

“No,” she whispered, she tucked her chin
down and pulled his hand up her belly. “I’m sorry.”

He tugged his wrist from her fingers and
slid it along her waist, rolling her with him to take them to their
sides.

“That’s okay, honey.”

She tucked her face into his throat and
nestled into his body, repeating on a whisper, “Shit, I’m so
sorry.”

“Rocky, baby, that’s okay.”

Both her hands were on his chest and he felt
her fingers curl in so they were held in light fists against his
skin.

He kept one arm wrapped tight around her,
her body close, and his other hand slid into her hair, the ponytail
holder still in it, he gently yanked it out, tossed it to the bed
and started to run his fingers through her hair.

When her fists didn’t loosen, he asked
gently, “You all right?”

“I’m sorry, Layne,” she repeated.

“Baby, I said it’s okay.”

She pressed her face into his throat and
then said so softly he barely heard her, “I’m on my period.”

His hand cupped her head, his arm gave her a
squeeze and he understood.

She grew up with two men and no Mom at one
of those times when a girl
really
needed her Mom. She had
therefore guarded that fact of nature from the men in her house
like it was a State secret. She did the same when she’d first moved
in with Layne. Clearly, she’d not moved beyond this which, he had
to admit, caused him some uneasiness because she was now
thirty-eight years old, she’d spent ten years living with a medical
doctor and it was a goddamned fact of nature.

On the other hand, he was fucking thrilled
she’d stopped the proceedings because she was on her period and not
because she didn’t want them to continue. Not to mention the fact
that she’d cuddled into him afterward instead of throwing a
conniption fit, bolting from bed, getting dressed and stomping from
the house.

Layne didn’t respond and started sifting his
fingers through her hair again. He did this until her fists
uncurled and her hands rested flat against his chest.

Finally, he whispered, “You gotta get up,
Rocky.”

“Yeah,” she whispered back.

“Jas bought you a toothbrush. I’ll bring it
up.”

For some reason, her body locked and her
hands moved quickly to his shoulders, fingers pressing in as her
head tipped back, taking her face out of his throat.

“Jasper bought me a toothbrush?” she
asked.

“Yeah,” Layne answered.

Her voice had changed, a lot, when she said,
“Layne.”

He grinned in the dark and replied, “I’ll go
get it.”

Her fingers curled deeper and she repeated,
“Layne.”

“Rocky, you need to get a move on.”

He started to roll away from her but she
rolled with him, coming up on an elbow in the bed, she planted the
other hand firm in his chest and he saw her shadow looming over at
him.

“You asked your
son
to buy me a
toothbrush?
” she snapped, sounding hilariously
disgusted.

“He was out so… yeah,” Layne answered.

She lifted her hand and smacked his shoulder
with it, saying on a quiet shout, “Layne!”

He knifed up to sitting and his arms went
around her, he twisted and took her down to her back, his torso
pinning her to the bed.

When he got her in position, he informed
her, “Sweetcheeks, everyone needs a toothbrush.”

“I can’t believe you,” she hissed.