Golden Trail (39 page)

“Locker room,” Colt repeated Layne’s words
and the referee and Cosgrove’s eyes went to Colt. “Hand off to
Fullerton and get your ass off the field.” Cosgrove opened his
mouth to speak and Colt leaned in and warned, “You got one second,
man, before you’re in cuffs.”

Cosgrove took that second to save face and
glare at Colt before he yelled, “Fullerton!” tore his whistle from
around his neck and tossed it to one of the Assistant Coaches. Then
without further hesitation, head down, he started to jog off the
field.

When he did, both sets of bleachers burst
out in a loud standing ovation that rocked the field but Layne went
to Seth who was still down on a knee, his face pale, his eyes on
his departing father.

Layne reached a hand to him and called,
“Seth.”

Seth’s eyes sliced to him then down to
Layne’s hand, he put his gloved hand in Layne’s and Layne hauled
him up.

“Head back in the game, man, but, after, you
need a place to crash, you got one,” Layne said quietly, wrapped
his fingers around Seth’s neck, gave him a squeeze with a tug then
turned, gave Jasper a head jerk indicating Seth, Jas jerked his
chin up in return, moved toward Seth and Layne jogged back to the
fence. He put his hands to it and cleared it.

Rocky was there within seconds, her hands at
his abs, she moved in close.

“Sweetheart?” she whispered and his eyes
tipped to hers.

“It’s okay,” Layne told her, curling the
fingers of both his hands around her neck.

“Seth?” she asked.

“It’s okay, Roc, he’ll be okay.”

“Jasper?”

“It’s all good, baby,” Layne whispered.

Her eyes searched his then she leaned into
him and put her forehead to his chest. One of his hands moved to
the back of her neck and gave her a squeeze as his eyes went to
find both his sons on the field.

They moved the ball fifteen yards and play
resumed.

Even with the penalty, the opposing team
didn’t manage to translate their turnover to points on the board by
half-time.

The second half Layne watched with Rocky at
his side, snuggled into him with both arms around his middle, her
head most of the time resting on his shoulder. With Fullerton
calling the plays, Jasper seeing the ball and Tripp taking turns
with Seth, the ‘dogs won twenty-one to three.

* * * * *

With a variety of other parents, fans, Colt,
Cal, Keira, Heather, Dave, Spike, Ernie and Rocky, Layne waited
after the game to watch the boys load up in the bus.

When they filed out, Cosgrove was not among
them.

When his boys came into view, Layne saw this
time Tripp was crowding Jasper and Jasper was crowding Seth. His
sons were supposed to go to their mother’s that night after pizza
on the town, it was the beginning of her week. But Jasper had heard
Layne’s invitation and he’d talk to Seth about taking Layne up on
it if he got the vibe that Seth wouldn’t be safe at home.
Therefore, Layne wondered where he’d put another body in his house.
He should have bought one of the four bedroom floorplans.

When Tripp saw him, he waved, though he was
clearly learning cool, his wave was a flick of a hand. Jasper
noticed his brother and his eyes came to Layne and, king of cool,
he jerked up his chin but no more except another chin jerk to Keira
before they hustled into the bus.

“Is he going to be okay, Mr. Layne?” He
heard Keira ask and his eyes dropped to see she was staring at the
bus looking worried.

“Yeah, Keira, he’ll be fine,” Layne
answered, she looked up at him and she didn’t seem any less
worried.

So she turned to Cal. “Joe, if Jasper isn’t
up to pizza, can he come over to our house and watch a movie?”

Proving Layne’s earlier theory correct, Cal
didn’t hesitate to reply, “Sure, honey.”

Keira leaned into him and whispered,
“Thanks,” as her eyes went back to the bus, Cal’s arm curled around
her shoulders and he pulled her closer.

“You good?” Cal asked him and Layne
nodded.

He was good because Rocky was leaned into
him the same way and had been since they took their places outside
the locker rooms. This meant he could deal even though his sons had
survived another game time drama and Gabby was standing alone
twenty feet away, no Stew, and when she wasn’t craning her neck to
look for her boys, she was staring at Layne and Rocky. Layne felt
this was progress considering she was staring and not glaring.

Layne forced his mind off Gabrielle and his
eyes went to Colt. “Roc’s gonna see what she can do for
Meghan.”

Colt nodded and he looked at Rocky. “Cool,
Rocky, thanks. Sean will appreciate that.”

She smiled up at him but didn’t reply and it
was then that Layne realized that the game was over, the latest
drama was over, his kids were likely gone for the night, Rocky was
likely done with her period and therefore it was time to go
home.

“We’re outta here,” Layne mumbled and led
Rocky away.

They got a variety of good-byes and Layne a
clap on the shoulder from Dave as they stopped at him so Rocky
could give her Dad’s cheek a kiss and then they walked away.

They were nearing the Suburban when Layne
heard the pipes. His head turned and he saw Ryker sitting a Harley,
bald head open to the elements, leather biker jacket undoubtedly
covering another tank top. When Layne’s eyes hit him, the pipes
roared for a second which Layne decided was Ryker’s way of telling
him he wanted a chat.

Layne stopped Rocky and dug into his pocket
for the keys.

He handed them to her and ordered, “Open it
up and climb in, honey. You’re cold, turn her on. Yeah? I’ll be
right back.” Her eyes shot up to him and she opened her mouth to
speak but he got there before she did. “Not now, sweetcheeks.
That’s Ryker on the bike. Just get in the truck.”

She looked over her shoulder at Ryker, back
at him, nodded and then again got on her toes to give him a mouth
touch before she swiftly walked to the SUV.

Layne walked to the bike.

He stopped at Ryker’s side noticing Ryker’s
eyes had followed Rocky and not Layne.

“Eyes on me,” Layne demanded, keeping his
voice as low as he could and still be heard over the pipes and
Ryker looked at him.

“That your woman?” he asked.

“Yep,” Layne answered.

“Jesus, sport, traded up, didn’t you?” His
eyes slid back to Layne’s truck before they came again to Layne.
“
Way
up.”

Layne didn’t have time for this. Rocky was
feeling affectionate and her guard was down. He had other, better
things to do.

“You got somethin’ for me?” Layne
prompted.

“Jumped the fence,” Ryker stated, talking at
the same time studying Layne. “Didn’t hesitate, he clipped his boy
and you were over the fence. Saw your face as you sprinted up to
that mess, thought you were gonna lay that motherfucker out.” He
gave Layne a head-to-toe to head again and went on. “That look on
your face, sport, figure I underestimated you.”

“Did you call me over to flatter me, Ryker?
‘Cause, as you can see, I got another date and she’s prettier than
you,” Layne told him and Ryker grinned.

“In a hurry?” Ryker asked, Layne didn’t
respond so Ryker’s grin got bigger and uglier. “
I’d
be in a
hurry, that piece was in my truck waitin’ on me to take her
home.”

Layne turned to leave, muttering, “A waste
of my fuckin’ time.”

“Sport,” Ryker called, Layne looked at him
and Ryker went on. “Action. Stew. Tonight.”

Fuck. That was what Layne was worried he’d
say.

“When?”

“Meet me at the bar at eleven o’clock.”

Shit. That would give him just enough time
to drop Rocky off, grab his camera and get to the bar and he’d
still be late.

“Just tell me when and where. I’ll take care
of it.”

“Comin’ with,” Ryker stated.

“No, you aren’t. I work alone.”

“This ain’t a one man deal.”

“Since when?”

“Since Stew’s workin’ with a crew tonight,
bro, and, you get tagged, you’ll need backup. Colt can’t back you
on this without makin’ a lotta arrests and where’s that gonna get
your ex?”

Fuck!
This was not getting any
better.

“I can take care of myself,” Layne told
Ryker.

“’Spect you can, but I know this crew, the
smarter move would be to go in with backup.” Layne knew he was
right, in any uncertain situation it was smarter to go in with
backup. That didn’t mean he wanted Ryker to
be
that backup.
“You got a permit to carry concealed or you don’t, don’t give a
fuck, you come carryin’, yeah?” Ryker continued.

“I can see you’re eager to pop someone’s
cherry, Ryker, so I hate to tell you this isn’t my first time.”

Ryker grinned again. “Bummed bro.”

“Can you explain why you’re all of a sudden
my BFF?” Layne asked, not about to walk into the bar he met Ryker
in at eleven o’clock at night to meet Ryker, a guy he did not know,
he did not trust and he wasn’t sure he liked.

“Thought you were gonna lay that
motherfucker out,” was Ryker’s explanation.

Layne didn’t feel that was enough of an
explanation so he prompted, “And?”

“And that motherfucker thought you were
gonna lay him out too.”

Layne crossed his arms on his chest and
repeated, “And?”

Ryker watched him a full five beats then
leaned in. “And I know, by that look on your face, you didn’t have
two bleachers full of people, kids on two football teams, coaches,
refs and your woman lookin’ on, you woulda laid that motherfucker
out, no hesitation, no holdin’ back. That guy would be breathin’
through a tube just about now. Am I right?”

He was right.

Layne stayed silent.

“Not even your kid this time,” Ryker went
on.

Layne remained silent.

“You got control and you understand my
vision of justice,” he leaned back and smiled his ugly smile, “my
kind of partner.”

“Great,” Layne muttered and Ryker added an
ugly laugh to his ugly smile.

Then he said, “Eleven,” and shot off on his
bike.

Layne watched him go before he whispered,
“Fuck.”

Scared of the Dark

Layne let Rocky into the house and Blondie
assaulted them both at the same time.

Rocky took control and forced the dog into
the kitchen with her hands and legs, giving Blondie scratches
behind the ears as she did it.

Layne saw a note on the island and didn’t
pick it up to read it seeing as the big black scrawl could be read
from across a room.

“Out,” was all Devin had written.

Layne smiled at the note as he moved to the
sliding glass door, disarmed the alarm which was always set for
doors and windows since the dog would trip it if they used the
sensors in the house. He pulled out the steel rod at the door and
slid it open. Blondie immediately lost interest in Rocky and raced
out the door.

“Tell me again why, when you’re working, I
shouldn’t just sleep at home?” Layne heard Rocky ask, Layne slid
the door to and turned to her.

They’d had this conversation in the car. He
thought he’d convinced her. Clearly, Rocky remained
unconvinced.

“Because enough people in town saw what went
down tonight which means that most the rest of the town will hear
about it before sun up tomorrow. After that shit went down with me
and Jasper involved, they’d expect my woman to show her support,
not sleep in her own bed,” Layne reiterated the point he’d made on
the way home.

Again, he knew this was lame.

And again, she appeared to be buying it, if
hesitantly.

She bit her lip, let it go then remarked,
“But my car is at my house, they won’t know.”

Layne thought about Natalie and then he
thought about Natalie’s big mouth.

“They’ll know,” he replied.

She visibly got nervous and cried, “Layne!
They aren’t watching that closely!”

He shook his head. “You’re wrong, baby.”

She stared at him. He held her stare.

Then he said softly, “Get ready for bed,
Roc.”

“Layne –”

“Bed, sweetcheeks, I’ve got to go.”

She stared at him some more. Then she bought
it and Layne knew this because she sighed, loudly and heavily, and
strutted to the stairs and up them.

Layne watched until she rounded the top and
disappeared then he followed.

By the time he got up the stairs, Rocky had
vanished into his room. Layne turned on the light over his desk and
grabbed a digital camera from a drawer. He checked the battery and
memory card then grabbed an extra one of both. He opened the drawer
with the key to one of the cabinets in the unit taped to the
bottom, yanked it off, unlocked the cabinet and took off his
leather jacket, swinging it around the back of the chair. He pulled
the shoulder holster with the .22 out, checked its load and hooked
it around his shoulders. Then he pulled the holster with the .38
out and clipped it to his belt. Devin had taught him you could
never be too careful and one part of careful equaled firepower.
Since Devin taught him that, Layne had learned that Devin was right
and life had proved that Layne was lucky to have learned it prior
to learning it the hard way.

Layne locked the cabinet, replaced the key,
shrugged his coat on, dropped the battery and memory card in his
pocket and walked into the bedroom.

Rocky was moving out of the bathroom wearing
his tee.

Layne didn’t hesitate. It was preview time.
She was getting her guard back up and his job was to tear it right
down.

He got in her space, wrapped an arm around
her waist and pulled her to his body.

She tipped her head back and put her hands
on his chest. “Layne.”

His other hand went into her ponytail, he
tagged the holder, slid it out and tossed it across the room toward
his dresser where it skidded across the top and over the back to
disappear, probably forever, or until he moved.