Golden Trail (3 page)

“Finish getting ready, Pal. I’ll get him,”
Layne told his son and walked to Jasper’s room.

Jasper had gotten up, Layne knew, but he’d
gone back to bed. Layne knew this because the overhead light was
out.

He walked to Jasper’s dresser and tagged his
son’s car keys. When he’d turned sixteen the year before, Layne had
given him a 2007 Dodge Charger, red, with a black racing stripe and
spoiler. It was a sweet ride. It had bought Layne forty-eight hours
of Jasper liking him.

“Jasper, you’re up and in the shower in two
minutes or I call school, say you’re sick, then call Coach and say
you feel so shit, you can’t play Friday’s game.” Then he left the
room and made certain he jiggled the keys as he walked out.

Layne went to his own room, tossed the keys
on his dresser, opened a drawer and grabbed a gray t-shirt. He
pulled it on and down over his blue with burgundy stripes pajama
bottoms. Melody had bought those for him last Christmas, along with
three other pairs. Said, since his sons were living with him, he
needed to sleep in something other than nothing, which was how he
usually slept.

Melody.

He hadn’t thought of her in weeks.

Now, he thought of her. He thought of giving
her a call. If Layne gave her a call, she’d take vacation and come
to town. Melody was in town, Layne wouldn’t have sex dreams about
Rocky. Melody might not be as good as Rocky had been, or as good as
Rocky was in those dreams, but she was far from bad.

He grabbed Jasper’s car keys and was
relieved to hear the shower going as he went back downstairs. When
he got to the kitchen, Blondie’s face was in her bowl and Rocky was
leaning against a counter, one arm wrapped around her middle, the
elbow of the other arm resting on her wrist, a coffee cup held
up.

He stopped dead and stared at her.

“You should keep your mugs over the
coffeepot,” she informed him. “Makes more sense not to have to walk
across the kitchen to get a mug.”

He felt his eyes narrow.

He was about to ask if she was shitting him,
coming to his house first thing in the morning, asking him and his
sons to dinner, feeding his dog, helping herself to coffee and
telling him where to keep his mugs but he didn’t get the chance.
Her arms moved, she twisted to grab a mug and then she twisted back
to hand it to him.

“Still black with two sugars?” she asked but
her eyes didn’t meet his.

He ignored the coffee she held out.

“What the fuck are you doin’ here, Raquel?”
he asked, voice low and angry.

Her eyes finally met his.

“Dad wants you to come to dinner,” she
answered.

“Dave can call me himself,” Layne pointed
out.

“I told him I’d pop by on the way to work,”
she replied.

“On the way to work?” Layne bit out.

He lived in a middle class development on
the west edges of the ‘burg. She lived in a six bedroom
mini-mansion by a manmade lake in a development that included a
nine hole golf course with driving range and putting green, a
clubhouse with restaurant, bar and party rooms as well as a full
gym and indoor/outdoor swimming pool in a definitely upper class
development on the north edge of town. She was a teacher at Jasper
and Tripp’s school, which was
in
town. Layne’s house was
not
on her way to work.

“Yes,” she answered.

Layne opened his mouth to tell her to get
the fuck out and maybe to shove that leg of lamb straight up her
ass when Tripp spoke.

“Mrs. Astley?”

She tore her eyes from his face, leaned
forward and looked around Layne.

Then she smiled.

Another shot to the gut.

“Hey Tripp,” she greeted.

“What are you doin’ here?” Tripp asked and
Layne turned to look at his son.

If Tripp didn’t have Layne’s body – long
legs and torso, wide shoulders, the power not developed in either
due to his being fourteen – Layne would have asked Gabby for a DNA
test. Tripp had sandy blond hair (now darkened because he filled it
with gunk to style it and make it spike out all over his head,
which apparently was his ‘do for the day) and blue eyes. Gabby
didn’t have blonde hair and blue eyes and neither did anyone in her
or Layne’s family, that he knew. Tripp had a bit of Gabby in the
face but the rest of him, Layne had no fucking clue where it came
from. Layne wouldn’t doubt Gabby would step out on him but, as
Tripp grew older, there was no denying Layne gave Tripp his
body.

Anyway, it didn’t matter because he loved
the kid. This was because Tripp was lovable. He’d always been a
good kid. Once or twice a week, always, Tripp called, from the time
the kid could pick up the phone and dial, the whole time Layne
lived away. They’d talk, or Tripp would. The kid could talk for
ten. Whenever Layne came home for a visit, from when he was little,
to when he got older, the minute Tripp saw Layne he’d dash to him,
throw his arms around him and give him a tight hug. When he got
older, he tried to make the dash cooler but there was no mistaking
he was happy to see his Dad.

He felt pressure and heat at his abs and
looked down to see Raquel was pressing the coffee mug there.
Automatically he took it and looked to her. She was close, close
enough for him to smell her perfume.

“Inviting you to dinner,” she answered
Tripp’s question. “Dad has a leg of lamb.”

Layne looked to Tripp. Tripp was staring at
Rocky like she was a movie star, pink in his cheeks, eyes
dazzled.

Layne looked back at Raquel then at Tripp
who still hadn’t torn his eyes away from her.

Fuck. She was an English Lit teacher at his
school and he had the hots for her.

He would, she was fucking gorgeous. She wore
those skirts, those shirts and those heels to school every day,
probably every boy went home and jacked off, thinking about
her.

Even his son.

Fuck.

“Tripp, breakfast,” Layne ordered.

Tripp blinked, looked at his Dad, then he
moved forward and toward the pantry.

“A leg of lamb?” Tripp asked as he
moved.

Rocky headed back to the island, her heels
clicking on the tiles as she went and, to put distance between
them, Layne headed to the sink.

“A leg of lamb,” she replied.

“I’ve never had a leg of lamb,” Tripp could
be heard from the pantry, although not seen.

“You’re in for a treat. Greek night.
Homemade pita. Homemade tzatziki sauce. You’ll love it.”

Tripp came out of the pantry with a box of
cereal.

“Cool,” he said, smiling at Rocky. “Uncle
Dave a good cook?” he asked when he made it to the cupboard to pull
down a bowl.

“I’m cooking,” Rocky informed him.

He was still smiling at her when he put the
bowl and cereal down at the island and headed to the fridge.

“
You
a good cook?” he asked.

“I’ve had no complaints,” she answered,
smiling back at him.

She wouldn’t. She had been a fucking great
cook. Eighteen years of practice, especially not cooking on a
budget, she was probably a master chef.

Layne felt his jaw get tight again as he saw
Raquel’s eyes fall to the box of sugary cereal and her smile faded
into a frown.

“Tripp, you should have oatmeal or
something,” she advised as Tripp hit the island with the milk.
“Sustained energy. That cereal will burn out halfway through first
period.”

“That’s okay, I always get a candy bar from
the vending machines between first and second period,” he told her
and her eyes shot to Layne, communicating, clearly, that he should
do something about his son’s lack of nutrition.

That’s when he’d had enough.

That was also when he was interrupted yet
again in doing something about it.

“Hey Mrs. Astley,” Jasper said and he saw
Rocky start to turn then his eyes went to Jasper.

Now Jasper was undoubtedly his son. Dark
hair, dark eyes, olive skin that looked tan even in the dead of
winter. He had Layne’s body too, but at seventeen, and dedicated to
football, as well as being a stud and therefore at Layne’s weight
equipment more than Layne was, he was ripped. He was nearly Layne’s
height at 6’2” whereas Tripp was still growing and he hadn’t broken
six foot yet, but he would.

Jasper was slowly pulling down a t-shirt as
he stood at the edge of the kitchen counter. This was so Rocky
could get a good look at his chest and six pack.

Layne’s eyes rolled to the ceiling.

His first born son was also cocky. Further,
he was already sexually active. Layne knew it and supplied condoms
because his efforts at discussing sex with Jasper had been
unsuccessful and eventually volatile. So he bought condoms and put
them in Jasper’s nightstand as well as slid packets in his wallet.
He knew Jasper was active because the boxes were opened with
condoms missing and his wallet was almost always empty of stash.
Jasper had no girlfriend, a serial dater, working his way through
his school and the rest of the schools in the county.

Jasper knew he was a good-looking kid with a
sculpted, teenage boy body and he wanted his thirty-eight year old
English Lit teacher to know it too.

The minute his son pulled his shirt down,
Layne put his teeth to his lip, his tongue to his teeth and gave a
sharp, low whistle. Jasper’s head swung to him and Layne tossed his
car keys to him. With quick reflexes, Jasper caught them.

“Breakfast, Jas,” Layne ordered.

“We’re going to Uncle Dave’s tonight,” Tripp
announced, shoveling cereal into his mouth. “Mrs. Astley is
cooking.”

Jasper tossed his keys by the coffeepot and
went to the cupboard to get a bowl.

“Awesome,” Jasper replied, turning to the
island with his bowl. “Merry going to be there?”

“Yes, Jasper, a family affair,” Rocky
answered and Jasper gave her a grin so she grinned back.

A family affair.

A fucking family affair.

Fuck
her.

Layne was done and he moved.

“Eat,” he growled as he strode behind his
sons at the counter with Rocky.

He made it to her, grabbed her bicep in his
hand, yanked her coffee cup out of her other hand and slammed it on
the island. Then he pulled her toward the door.

“Layne,” she said softly.

“Shut the fuck up,” he snarled, but
quietly.

She tried to twist her bicep out of his hand
and he let her but only to run his hand down her arm until it
caught hers. He dragged her through his front door, the storm door,
down the walk and straight to her car in the drive.

She drove a sporty, black, Mercedes coupe
that probably cost a quarter of what he paid for his house.

Jesus Christ.

He walked to the driver’s side of the car
and yanked it opened, using her hand to maneuver her around and in,
her back between the door and the car and he moved in, pinning her
there.

She tipped her head back.

“Layne,” she whispered.

“He don’t do it for you?” Layne asked
low.

She blinked then asked back, “What?”

“Jarrod,” he snarled her husband’s name,
watched her wince and thought that was telling. “He don’t do it for
you? Don’t make you burn? Don’t make you come so hard you stop
breathing? Think to go slumming, find a way to get off?”

“Layne!” she hissed, her entire body getting
visibly tight.

“We were good, baby, you remember. So good,
I’m surprised it took you a year to make that play.” He jerked his
head to the house.

“I’m not making a play!” She was angry, he
could tell by the fire in her eyes, the line of her body and the
way she spoke and he didn’t give a fuck.

He ignored her. “But I’m not interested. You
want, I can shop around for you. Bet a lot of boys in this ‘burg
would jump at a shot at you.”

“I was just asking you to dinner!” she
snapped.

“Bullshit,” he clipped back.

“I don’t believe you.”

“I’m not twenty-four, Roc. Not a man to be
led around by his dick anymore. Had eighteen years to learn how to
be the one who does the fucking, not the one who gets fucked.”

Her body jerked then locked but not before
he saw pain carve a path through her features before they
blanked.

She took a breath in through her nose, so
big, it expanded her chest.

Then she asked, “What can I tell Dad?”

Rocky, he couldn’t tolerate. Dave and Merry
were another story. This meant he was wrong, she’d fucked him.

Again.

“We’ll be there. Six thirty,” he
growled.

“Brilliant,” she snapped and then whirled so
fast in the small space he’d given her, her shoulder brushed
roughly against his chest and her ponytail slid across his neck but
she didn’t stop moving. She folded herself into the car and didn’t
hesitate to reach out to the door handle. He moved out of the way
just in time to miss getting hit when she slammed the door. She hit
the ignition and backed out too fast, yanking the steering wheel at
the end of the drive, then her expensive, high performance vehicle
shot forward and he lost sight of her in seconds.

He stared after her for longer than their
entire conversation in the drive lasted. Then he sucked in breath
to calm his frayed temper and walked into the house.

“What was that?” Jasper asked the minute he
hit the kitchen.

“Nothin’,” Layne answered.

“That wasn’t nothin’, you were pissed…” he
hesitated, his eyes sharp on his Dad, “at
Mrs. Astley.
”

His last two words were said disbelievingly,
like wealthy, polished, sexy, high school English Lit teacher, wife
of the Chief of Surgery at a big hospital in Indianapolis,
charity-working, pillar of the community Raquel Merrick Astley was
a step away from the ‘burg’s own Princess Diana.

He stared at his son and noted Tripp was
also watching him.

Then he made a decision.

“A long time ago, before your Mom, we were
together. We lived together. It was good. Then it went bad. Very
bad. I’m not a big fan of Mrs. Astley.”