Golden Trail (42 page)

Fuck, fuck,
fucking hell.

Vera Layne had come calling.

And, as suspected, Devin had answered the
door with his gun.

Blondie started barking.

Layne moved faster down the stairs, turned
the corner and saw Devin in wife beater and boxer shorts, carrying
his nine millimeter and standing three feet from the front door
just to the side, scowling. Layne’s mother was just in the doors
looking pissed. And Blondie was prancing between both of them
wondering who was going to let her out.

Vera’s eyes came to Layne, her face started
to gentle then her eyes went beyond Layne and her face went
instantly hard.

“
I knew it!
” she shrieked, her hand
shooting up and she pointed at Rocky. “Flo told me and I
knew
it!
” she went on, dropping her hand, stomping in four feet then
stopping and rocking back. “You’re not back home a few months and
there she is!” She exaggerated and threw her hands out to the sides
in apparent disgust.

Layne scratched Aunt Flo on the top of his
mental shit list before he started, “Ma–”

Vera’s eyes narrowed on Rocky. “Didn’t you
do enough damage the first time around?”

“Ma –”

“And aren’t you
married?
” she shouted
at Rocky.

“Ma,” Layne clipped. “Shut it.”

Her narrowed eyes went to Layne. “Do not
tell me to shut it, Tanner Preston Layne! Do
not!
”

“Maybe I should –” Rocky whispered from
behind him and Layne turned to see her edging back along his wood
floor in her bare feet; her hair down and mussed; her face free of
makeup; her body covered by his big, maroon t-shirt and he
remembered, not long ago, Rocky walking in his house for the first
time, hair perfect, makeup perfect, outfit perfect, her high heels
sounding on his floors.

Now she’d cooked in his kitchen; she’d
watched TV with him on his couch; she’d let out his dog; she’d
laughed with his sons; she’d toasted with the only man who was even
close to being a father to him; she’d slept in his bed; he’d gone
down on her, she’d returned the favor and he’d fucked her
twice.

All in this house. His house.

Rocky, his Rocky, was back and in his
house.

And she was not going to be made
uncomfortable there. Not even, as much as he loved her, by his
mother.

“Roc, come here,” he ordered and her eyes
flew to his.

“Layne, I think I should probably –”

He cut her off on a growl. “Sweetcheeks, get
over here.”

Her eyes held his and then, slowly, she
moved to him. When she entered his reach, he tagged her around the
waist and pulled her into his side, turning them both to his
mother.

“Maybe you’d like to try this again, Ma.”
His voice was still a growl. “This time, you might wanna start over
by welcoming Rocky back.”

“I will
not
welcome
that woman
back into
my son’s life
,” Vera announced.

Blondie barked.

Layne turned to Devin. “Do me a favor, Dev,
put your pants on, put down your gun and let the dog out. Not in
that order.”

“She escape from an asylum?” Dev asked
instead of doing what Layne requested and he asked it with a tilt
of his head to Layne’s mother.

Layne closed his eyes.

“Well!” Vera huffed. “Who are
you?
”

Layne opened his eyes.

“Devin Glover, friend of your boy’s, retired
PI and good judge of character,” Devin shot back then turned away
and started walking to the backdoor, making his point by saying on
a huge smile to Rocky, “Mornin’ darlin’, hope you slept okay.”

“I did, thanks Dev, hope you did too,” Rocky
replied quietly, her body as tight as a bow.

“Couch sucks,” Devin muttered as he kept
moving, Blondie crowding him. “Too soft.”

“Hello!” Vera called loudly, “I came all the
way from Florida to stop my son from making a grave mistake,
again.
Anyone?”

Layne’s eyes sliced to her. “Ma, seriously,
no more of that shit.”

“Are you kidding?” she returned then crossed
her arms on her chest and finished. “Seriously.”

Rocky started to pull away, murmuring,
“Layne, I really think I –”

“His name is
Tanner
,” Vera spat out
and Rocky stopped moving. “
Tanner.
It isn’t hard to say. It
isn’t hard to remember. I would
never
understand why you
always called him
Layne.
Before, I didn’t mind, because I
liked you. Now,
I
do not like you.
”

“She calls me Layne because you told me when
I was seven that my father named me Tanner,” Layne put in, Vera’s
back shot straight and her eyes shot to her son. “I don’t hate the
name, I don’t like it. But anytime someone says it, it reminds me
it was the only thing he gave me and it wasn’t worth much.”

Vera’s eyes had grown wide and her voice
grew soft when she said, “You never told me that.”

“I never told anyone except Rocky,” Layne
replied. “She used to call me Tanner until I told her that. After I
told her, she never said it again. I didn’t ask her to call me
Layne, she just did.”

Vera’s eyes moved to Rocky for a beat then
came back to Layne and Layne kept talking.

“Now, Ma, I’m happy to see you. The boys’ll
love it that you’re here. It’s even cool why you’re here, comin’
home to look after your boy. But you don’t know what’s going on,
you don’t know what
went
on and you’re not gonna know. All
you gotta know is, what you see is the way it is. You don’t like
it, I don’t care, you’ll have to learn to hide it. You can’t learn
to hide it and keep actin’ like that, I hate to say it because I
love you but I’ll show you the door. Is that clear?”

Vera’s hand went to her throat and Rocky
went solid beside him.

“Layne,” Rocky whispered.

“You’re choosin’ her over me?” Vera asked on
a breath.

“No, you’re choosin’ to hold onto something
that isn’t there over Rocky. You never had a daughter, you told me
when I hooked up with her you were glad I gave you a good one. Look
close Ma, she’s back.”

“She –” Vera started.

“I know, Ma, it happened
to me.
It’s
over. We’re movin’ on. That’s all you’re gonna get because that’s
all you need,” Layne stated.

Vera’s eyes moved back to Rocky then to
Layne.

“I just –” Vera began.

Layne cut her off. “I know, now you can just
cool it.”

Vera stayed silent. Rocky remained unmoving
against his side.

Devin closed the sliding glass door and
called, “Anyone gonna go get donuts?”

“I’ll go get donuts,” Rocky said
instantly.

“No,
I’ll
go get donuts,” Vera
returned.

“Fuck me,” Layne muttered.

“Jesus,
I’ll
go get donuts,” Devin
stated and Layne heard a belt buckle clink.

“Then I’ll go get dressed,” Rocky
whispered.

“Excellent idea,” Vera retorted.

“Ma,” Layne said warningly and then looked
down at Rocky. “Make coffee, yeah?”

She looked back at him and replied, “Sure,
but I’ll get dressed first.”

“It’s Saturday and there’s a law that on
Saturday, you don’t get dressed until at least noon,” Layne told
her.

She bit her lip, let it go and said, “Layne
–”

“Make coffee.”

“Layne –”

His arm gave her a squeeze. “Sweetcheeks.
Make.
Coffee
.”

“Someone make coffee, I’ll be back in ten
with donuts,” Devin declared and, without looking at a soul, he
walked through the bodies around the front door and out of it.
While the door was opened, Layne saw he’d parked at the curb.

Fucking Devin.

“
I’ll
make coffee,” Vera declared,
stomped into the house and rounded the corner into the kitchen.

Rocky watched her, going so far as to twist
her neck to look over her shoulder.

“Baby,” Layne called gently and Rocky’s eyes
snapped to his.

“I need to go home,” she whispered and he
turned her full frontal into him and wrapped both arms around
her.

“You don’t need to go home,” he replied.

“I need to go home,” she repeated.

“Okay, well, you’re not
goin’
home
and you can’t get home anyway, you don’t have a car.”

“I’ll walk,” she returned, Layne grinned and
dropped his face close to hers.

“You think, after last night, I’m letting
you out of my sight until you have to leave Monday morning to go to
school, think again, sweetcheeks,” he murmured, pink came into her
cheeks and her body shifted into his even as her hands came up to
his biceps and gripped.

“You said we’d talk,” she told him and his
grin turned into a smile.

“Well, that’s not gonna happen with Ma here,
Devin here and donuts comin’.”

Her fingers gripped harder even as her body
pressed closer. “Layne, we need to talk.”

He dipped his face closer, veered to the
side and whispered in her ear, “I’ll talk and I’ll use my mouth but
what I say won’t be words and how I use my mouth, baby, I know
you’re gonna like.”

“Layne,” she breathed and his cock
twitched.

Christ, he liked it when she breathed his
name like that. That was new, that was this Rocky in his arms. She
didn’t do that before. She might moan his name but that sweet,
breathy hunger he’d never heard. And, fuck, but he liked it.

He lifted his head and his hands, gathering
her hair in both palms, he held it loosely behind her head, resting
his forearms gently on her shoulders and went on. “Live this with
me, just live it, whatever happens, however it happens, live it
with me for two days. It doesn’t go the way you like, we’ll talk
Monday night. It goes the way you like, we live it real and ride it
out. Will you give me that, honey?”

Her brows drew together. “Live it with
you?”

“Live it with me, Roc, live it here, with
me, make it real, as real as it can get for two days.”

“Make it real,” she whispered.

Layne nodded. “For two days.”

She stared up at him and he knew he had her
when her fingers uncurled on his biceps and her hands moved to his
chest.

She confirmed it by saying, “Okay. Two
days.”

“Promise,” he pushed and she hesitated so he
tugged gently at her hair and repeated, “Promise.”

She gazed into his eyes and then whispered,
“Promise.”

He dropped his forehead to hers, ran her
hair between his hands, his hands travelled down her back then he
wrapped his arms tight around her and trapped her close.

“Thanks baby,” he whispered.

“Coffee’s brewing!” Vera shouted.

Rocky jumped.

Layne grinned.

Then he heard the garage door go up, his
forehead left hers, he turned his head and listened.

Only he and Jasper had a garage door opener.
Devin had the key to the front door. And Jasper had no reason to be
there.

Shit.

“Is that –?” Rocky started and Vera appeared
around the corner, she’d lost her antagonism, her face was
beaming.

“I think the boys are here!” Vera
shouted.

“Now I definitely need to get dressed,”
Rocky murmured and it sucked but she was right. At this juncture,
Rocky wandering around his house on a Saturday morning in his tee
was not cool when both his sons were getting used to a new woman in
his life as well as the fact that they both went to her school.
It’d take awhile before it was cool.

He decided he’d give it a month.

They heard the backdoor open and Rocky shot
out of his arms, her bare feet sounding on the floors as she dashed
to the stairs, turned and disappeared while Vera threw both her
arms up and yelled, “My babies!”

“Grandma!” Tripp shouted and Layne saw his
son connect with his grandmother, his tenuous hold on cool
slipping, he threw himself in her arms and gave her a big hug.

Layne moved toward the kitchen and saw
Jasper hanging back, his eyes on his grandmother, a smile on his
face.

“Come here, handsome,” Vera ordered and
Jasper moved forward, his hold on cool firm and strong, he
muttered, “Hey Gram,” and kissed her cheek while she still had hold
of Tripp.

“What’re you doin’ here?” Tripp asked,
stepping back and looking down at Vera.

“You’ve grown, like, seventeen inches since
the Fourth of July,” Vera noted, giving Tripp a head-to-toe,
skipping past the visit she’d made two months ago when Layne was
shot and not answering his question.

“What’re you doin’ here, Gram?” Jas repeated
Tripp’s question, Vera looked up at her older grandson and Layne
could see she was searching for a lie.

She found it and it was lame.

“Surprise!” she shouted.

“Cool!” Tripp didn’t think it was lame.

“Surprise?” Jasper saw right through it.

“Surprise,” Vera repeated. “Can’t a Mama and
Grandma surprise her boys?”

“Totally! Anytime!” Tripp replied
enthusiastically but Jasper’s eyes cut to his old man.

Layne gave his son a “Later,” shake of his
head and Jasper gave him a chin lift.

Vera cupped Tripp’s cheek, smiled big at him
then walked into the kitchen and went to the cupboard over the
coffeemaker, saying, “That Devin man is going to get donuts. I hope
he’s smart enough to get them at Hilligoss and not a grocery store.
The grocery store donuts are okay but nothing beats Hilligoss.” She
opened the cupboard, looked in it, appeared confused for a second
then shut it, moving across the kitchen, muttering, “I forgot. You
keep your mugs across the kitchen. Crazy. Mugs should be close to
the coffeemaker.”

Layne tipped his head back and looked at the
ceiling not knowing whether to laugh or shout.

He righted his head and looked at Jasper.
“Family reunion over, boys, what’re
you
doin’ here?”

Tripp looked at Layne then at Jasper then he
ducked his head and moved to the door. “Gotta let Blondie in.”