Golden Trail (43 page)

Layne’s eyes sliced to Jasper and Jasper
jerked his head indicating upstairs. Layne nodded and Tripp slid
open the door. Blondie bounded in then ran back and forth between
Tripp and Jasper, jumping up on both of them but not giving either
of them time to greet her before she pushed off and headed back to
the other one. All this company and all her boys home equaled
heaven in the form of a house in sea of similar houses in a small
town in Indiana and she didn’t know what to do with herself.

“Hey, where’s Rocky?” Tripp asked, sliding
the door shut, crouching and capturing Blondie with both hands to
give her a rubdown.

Vera’s eyes shot to Layne and her face set
straight to disapproval.

Layne ignored his mother and answered his
son. “Upstairs, gettin’ dressed.” He moved to the stairs and
ordered, “Feed Blondie, Pal, okay? Jas and I gotta have a
chat.”

“Sure Dad,” Tripp replied, straightening and
heading to the kitchen.

Layne ignored Vera now giving him an
assessing stare as he turned and headed upstairs and to Jasper’s
room.

Jasper followed, closed the door behind him
and Layne surveyed the room and tried not to breathe too deeply
before he turned to his son.

“Do me a favor, Bud, take some time and pick
up in here, change your sheets, vacuum and open a window to air
this shit out. It smells like a fuckin’ locker room in here,” Layne
said to his boy.

“Smells okay to me,” Jasper returned.

“Yeah, well, you eventually wanna study with
Keira in here, it won’t smell okay to her,” Layne replied, Jasper
held his eyes then he nodded and Layne realized Keira being Jas’s
girl was going to make life a little easier on Jasper’s old man.
“Now, tell me what you two are doin’ here,” Layne ordered.

Jasper pulled in breath before he said,
“Mom’s workin’. She wasn’t supposed to but someone called in sick.”
Layne nodded and Jasper went on. “Stew’s home and I didn’t want to
be around Stew today and didn’t want Tripp around him.”

The muscles in Layne’s neck contracted as he
asked sharply, “Why?”

Jasper didn’t delay in answering. “Stew got
home late last night. He does that a lot. Sometimes Mom is cool
with it, sometimes they fight. Last night they fought. It wasn’t
good. It’s never good but last night it
really
wasn’t good.
I think he’s steppin’ out on her.”

He’d be right.

“So you’re here to hang rather than bein’
there and hangin’,” Layne stated.

“No, we gotta go to the school and swim with
the team and then we gotta go to Youth Group. There’s another
reason why we’re here,” Jasper replied, Layne was silent and Jasper
went on. “When they were shoutin’ last night, in the middle of it,
Mom freaked. Said somethin’ about blood on Stew’s clothes.”

Layne took in a deep breath and let it
out.

He wasn’t surprised that there was blood on
Stew’s clothes. He’d beat the shit out of someone and then shot him
at close range. The blood splatter was bound to hit him.

Gabby was cottoning on. Layne didn’t have
much time.

“You say Stew is home?” Layne asked, Jasper
nodded and Layne continued. “And your Mom is out?” Jasper nodded
again. “How long’s Stew stay home on a Saturday?”

Jasper shrugged. “Stew doesn’t have a
schedule but he got home late and they fought, like,
for-freakin’-ever. I reckon he’ll sleep in.”

Layne nodded. “Good call, comin’ here, Bud.
It’s showtime. I’ll do my thing today.”

“What do I do?” Jasper asked.

“Keep your phone close. Once I’m done, I’ll
give you a brief.”

Jasper nodded as he said, “You got it,
Dad.”

Layne looked at his son and made a
decision.

Therefore, he shared, “You remember I told
you Rocky didn’t know it wasn’t fake anymore?”

Layne watched his son’s eyes grow intense
before Jas said, “Yeah.”

“Well, she knows it isn’t fake anymore,”
Layne finished and Jasper grinned instantly, his grin huge.

“Cool,” he murmured.

“Your Grandma isn’t here as a surprise.
She’s here because she heard about Rocky bein’ back in my life. She
and Rocky used to be tight, she loved her like a daughter. She was
not happy when Rocky took off, mostly because of what it did to me
but also because she missed her. So that means she’s not happy that
Rocky’s back. I need your help with that,” Layne told him.

“How?” Jasper asked.

“Roll with it and make whatever plays you
feel you need to make. I trust you to make the right ones. But
Rocky’s ridin’ the edge of this reconciliation. It’s good, she
knows it but somethin’ isn’t right. Until I know what that is and
sort her head out, we all gotta tread cautiously. She gets an
excuse, she’s gonna make a break for it, from me, from you and
Tripp, and when Roc breaks, she breaks hard.”

“It’s her Dad,” Jasper stated and Layne
stared at him.

“Come again?” he asked.

“Everyone knows her story. Everyone at
school. Everyone thinks she’s cool because she’s cool. Everyone
thinks she’s cooler now because she’s with you. But everyone likes
her because she’s how she is even though she went through what she
went through. She’s hot, she dresses nice, she smells good, she
smiles a lot, she takes care of the kids and not just the ones in
her classroom. She knows everyone. She talks to ‘em. Gives a shit.
She’s totally got it together. Lotta people who went through what
she went through wouldn’t be like that. But that’s what she shows
the kids. I see the way she looks at you, it’s the way Mom always
looks at you when you don’t know she’s lookin’, but it’s more. She
likes you but you’re like her Dad, like Merry. Doctors don’t get
shot at, Dad.”

Layne stared at his son for a beat before he
said quietly, “I ever tell you you’re sharp?”

Jasper stared at his old man for a beat
before he replied quietly, “No.”

“As a tack, Bud,” Layne whispered.

Jasper swallowed but his son, being his son
but also being all Jasper, didn’t look away.

And because he didn’t, Layne walked up to
him and put both hands to his son’s neck, giving it a firm squeeze,
he looked him in the eyes and whispered, “Fucked up with you, know
it, but you’re a fuckin’ good kid despite that and, even though I
didn’t have much to do with it, I’m proud of you.” He gave his
son’s neck a gentle jerk and finished. “Love you, Bud.”

Jasper swallowed again but didn’t take his
eyes from his Dad.

He also didn’t pull away or slide into his
asshole teenaged kid attitude.

Layne let that golden trail sweep through
him before he went on.

“You got time before swimmin’, clean up this
room, yeah?”

“Yeah,” Jasper whispered.

“I’m gonna be doin’ somethin’ at the
computer in a minute. You keep Tripp downstairs. Got me?”

Jasper nodded.

Layne gave him another squeeze and walked
out of the room. He went to his room and found the bed made and
Rocky at his sink, her ass in her gray cords tipped back, her torso
bent over the counter, a makeup brush in her hand, bristles at her
cheek, she was wearing her cords and a deep purple bra. This bra
was satin and lace, mostly lace. There was a wet towel on the rack.
He’d heard it and knew she’d taken a quick shower. He lived any
other life, he’d be in that shower with her and they’d probably
still be in it.

Another time and he was looking forward to
that time.

She hadn’t washed her hair and it was up in
a messy knot secured by a band at the top of her head. Seeing it,
he determined, when her clothes hung in his closet and her shit was
in the drawers under that counter, when she was at work, he was
going to take scissors to every one of those fuckin’ bands, melt
down her pins and snap her clips.

Now, he took advantage of it.

She stayed bent over the basin but her eyes
came to him as he approached. He moved in behind her, ran his hand
across her ribs just under her tits and pulled her up.

“Layne,” she whispered as his head went down
and his lips went to the skin on her neck. “Layne,” she breathed
and when she did his other arm wrapped around her belly and he
pulled her deeper into his body as he ran his tongue up her neck to
behind her ear. “Baby,” she whispered and his head came up and he
looked at her in the mirror.

Eyes half-mast, mouth soft, beautiful.

“Like this bra,” he murmured in her ear and
his thumb slid along the satin at the underside of the curve of her
breast.

“Thanks,” she murmured as his thumb slid
back and he felt a tremor glide through her body.

“Hate to say this, sweetcheeks, but the boys
bein’ home means my mornin’ just got more complicated,” he told
her.

She held his gaze in the mirror but she lost
that look as she did it and the instant it was gone, he missed
it.

“Seth?” she guessed.

“Stew,” he replied and she bit her lip but
nodded. “Need to give this my attention, have some work to do here
then I gotta go but I’ll be back as soon as I can. I’ll talk to
Devin, ask him to take you home so you can pack up some shit,
enough for the weekend and to get to work on Monday. That cool with
you?”

She nodded.

“Ignore Ma,” Layne went on. Rocky bit her
lip again and Layne’s arms gave her a squeeze. “Ignore her, Roc.
She spends time with you, she’ll come around.”

“Okay,” she whispered but he could tell she
wasn’t buying it.

“Stay strong for me, two days, you
promised,” he reminded her.

She held his gaze again then she nodded and
said, “I promised.”

“Good,” he muttered, bent his head and
kissed her neck before he let her go and said, “I gotta get
dressed.”

He saw her eyes follow him then she bent
over the basin again and went back to her makeup.

Layne went out to the weight room and turned
on his computer and printer at his desk. Then he went back to his
room and Rocky had her face so close to the mirror she could kiss
it as she applied mascara. Her ass was tipped way back, her neck
bent, her back arched and, seeing her like that, Layne loved his
boys, he loved his Ma and he loved Devin but he wished they were
all on another planet.

He shook off his thoughts, pulled on
clothes, crowded Rocky as he brushed his teeth and then walked to
his desk. He was sitting down and transferring the images from the
memory card to the hard drive when Rocky walked out of his room
wearing her turtleneck, her hair still in a bunch at the top of her
head, her arms full of dirty towels.

Layne looked at the towels then at her.

“You seriously need to do laundry,” she
announced and didn’t wait for his reply, she walked down the
stairs.

Layne turned and grinned at his
computer.

Playing this real meant, for Rocky, having
free reign to do his laundry.

Bonus. Big time.

He was printing images on photo paper and
saving them to a data stick he would put in his safe at the office
when he heard her come back. He was busy and didn’t turn to her
until he saw a mug of coffee slide onto his desktop, scrunched next
to it was a Hilligoss cinnamon roll wrapped in a paper napkin, his
favorite. He bent his neck back to look up at her and saw her hands
wrapped around a mug, her eyes were on the computer screen and her
face was perfectly blank.

He looked to the screen and it displayed a
picture of Stew landing a kick on his mark and seeing it, and
knowing Rocky saw it, Layne had to make a decision. Protect her
from his work or let her in and help her to understand and
cope.

So he made his decision.

He wrapped an arm around her hips, swiveling
his chair toward her, and guided her carefully into his lap. She
didn’t resist and settled in as he bent forward and grabbed his
mug.

“Wasn’t pretty, baby,” he muttered against
the rim before taking a sip.

She slid her mug on the desk and reached out
to grab the photos from the printer tray. He watched her bend her
neck to look down at them and fought the urge to take them from her
hands and protect her from what she’d see as she shuffled through
them.

“Stew’s an asshole,” she whispered, her eyes
scanning the photos.

“Yep,” Layne agreed, watching her face and,
unfortunately, not paying attention to the photos so when she
sucked in breath and her body got tight, he wasn’t sure why.

He assumed it was a shot of Stew drilling a
round into the man’s thigh.

It wasn’t. It was a shot of Stew drilling
something else.

Layne put his mug down and tugged the photos
out of her hands. He turned them face down, dropped them to his
desk and looked up at Rocky to see her eyes wide, her face pale and
her lips parted.

Then she whispered a hilariously disgusted,
“Gross.”

She was okay. Thank God.

Layne smiled and remarked, “That about sums
it up, sweetcheeks.”

Her eyes caught his. “That wasn’t
Gabrielle,” she informed him of something he already knew.

“Nope,” he agreed.

“Women put up with a lot of shit,” she
noted.

“Yep,” Layne agreed again.

“Not many would put up with that,” she went
on.

“You’re gettin’ it, baby.”

Her eyes slid to the pictures and then back
to him.

Then she said, “I bet that wasn’t fun.”

“You’d win that bet.”

She held his gaze for a moment then her hand
came to his jaw and she dipped her head and touched her mouth to
his.

She moved away an inch and said softly, “She
won’t agree but she’s lucky you’re looking out for her Layne. This
isn’t fun but it’s the right thing to do.”

Yes, she was all right. More than all right.
Thank fuck.

“Thanks, baby,” he said softly back, giving
her waist a squeeze.

“I’ll leave you to it,” she muttered,
turning away to nab her coffee mug and then moving out of his
lap.

He didn’t want her to leave him but if she
did, he could get this done and then it’d be over so he could
concentrate on the other thousand things happening in his life so
he had to let her leave him to it.