Golden Trail (44 page)

He felt Rocky’s presence glide away as she
moved down the stairs. He pulled out the data stick and slipped in
another one. One was for his safe, insurance. One was for Colt,
retribution. He’d make another one and give it to Devin, more
insurance.

He did his work, ate his cinnamon roll,
called good-bye to his sons when they went swimming and hoped to
God Devin could play peacemaker downstairs between Rocky and his
mother.

Then he shut down his computer, locked two
of the data sticks in his cupboard, put the photos in a folder,
went to his room and pulled on socks and boots, went back to his
chair and tagged his leather jacket and walked down the stairs.

He gave the data stick to Devin.

He gave his mother a kiss on the cheek.

He gave Rocky a touch of the lips.

Then he went out the door, swung into his
truck and drove to his ex-wife’s house.

Real

Stew handed Layne the envelope and, just by
the feel of it, Layne knew it wasn’t light.

Even so, he counted every bill and took his
time doing it. Ten thousand dollars. He’d come up with the cash in
less than an hour, which was the amount of time Layne had given him
to do it.

Their earlier conversation hadn’t gone well,
mostly because Stew was an asshole. But even if he was an asshole,
apparently Stew wasn’t as stupid as Layne thought because after he
treated Layne to a fuckload of bullshit bluster, he agreed to meet
Layne in the alley behind J&J’s Saloon which also happened to
be behind his office.

Layne tucked the flap in the envelope,
shoved it into the inside pocket of his leather jacket and looked
at Stew.

“Good,” Layne muttered. “Now get to Gabby’s
and get your shit. You’re out before she gets home from work.”

Stew glared at him then grunted, “No skin
off my nose. Bitch is a pain in the ass.”

“Excellent, then I won’t have to worry about
you cryin’ while eatin’ chocolate and watchin’ soap operas.”

Stew’s eyes narrowed right before he got
stupid and he hissed, “Fuck you, motherfucker.” Then he got more
stupid, leaned in and threatened, “You’ll regret this.”

Layne moved instantly and he moved fast. He
pulled up a forearm and caught Stew under the chin with it,
knocking his teeth together and jerking his head back. Then Layne
went for Stew’s exposed throat, wrapping his fingers around it
tight, he shoved Stew hard into his Suburban, pushed him back and
bent over him to get in his face.

“You even fuckin’
breathe
in my
direction, Jasper’s, Tripp’s, Gabby’s or Rocky’s, I swear to God,
you’re dead. Swear to
God.
” He squeezed tighter and Stew’s
feet scuffled against the pavement as his hand pushed against
Layne’s wrist and he forced his arm between their bodies and shoved
up but Layne didn’t move, using only his hand on Stew’s throat to
bend him further backward until a gurgling noise came from Stew’s
throat. “You think to get smart, your ass is in jail and those
photos are all over the internet so, when you get out, everyone in
the ‘burg will know why you’re such an asshole considering you like
it so much.”

“Fuck you!” Stew hissed, spittle coming out
of his mouth, his face turning purple.

“I need to know you get me,” Layne pushed,
squeezing harder.

“Get off me!” Stew choked.

“I
need,
” Layne squeezed harder,
laying all his weight into his hand, “to
know
you
get
me.
”

“I get you, get the fuck off!” Stew
wheezed.

Layne pushed off, took a step back and Stew
righted himself from the car, bending over, he put his hand to his
throat.

“Gabby’s,” Layne ordered and turned to his
SUV, swung in and still choking Stew had to jump out of the way as
Layne drove out of the alley.

Then he headed to Gabrielle’s grocery store
to do something that he was looking forward to only slightly more
than dealing with Stew Baranski. But she’d find out eventually and
Rocky was right, Layne had to suck it up and he might as well take
the shit she was going to lay on him now rather than enduring a
surprise attack when she found out.

He found her at the customer service desk
and her eyes came to him when he was five feet away.

“You’re takin’ a break,” he informed her
when he made it to the desk. He ignored the customers in line and
finished, “Now.”

Gabby stared at him a second, turned to
someone with her and said, “Give me a minute.” Then she moved from
behind the desk and Layne followed as she led him to the back,
through a door, down a hall and into the break room.

Two employees were sitting there. One a
zit-faced kid who really needed an appointment with a
dermatologist, the other a blonde who really needed to lay off the
eyeliner or learn how to put it on better.

“We need privacy,” Layne announced when he
and Gabby walked in, he watched them both start then freeze so he
ordered, “Now.”

They moved then and shot to the door.

The minute it closed behind them, Gabrielle
turned to him. “Jas –?” she started.

Layne shook his head and cut her off. “Boys
are good.” He reached into his pocket, pulled out the envelope and
handed it to her.

She took it, bent her head to it, opened the
flap and, even with her head bent, Layne saw her mouth drop
open.

Then her head shot back, her eyes bright and
hopeful. “What?”

Fuck. She thought he was bailing her
out.

“That’s not from me,” Layne told her, the
hope died and she looked confused and wary. “It’s from Stew. He’s
gone. You go home tonight, he’s left a pair of tighty whiteys, I
wanna know.”

Her face started getting red before she
snapped, “What’d you do?”

He gave it to her straight and didn’t waste
time.

“Stew’s an enforcer for a guy called
Carlito. He doesn’t owe him shit, he works for him and gets paid
big. He’s been playin’ you, Gabby, but he’s not playin’ you
anymore.”

Her torso jerked back.

“That’s… that’s impossible,” she stated but
he knew by the look on her face, her anger dying, understanding
dawning, she knew that was a lie.

“Well then, I watched his twin beat the shit
outta some guy last night while I was takin’ pictures. Then I
watched him celebrate with a chick he keeps at the trailer park on
the southwest of town.”

Layne watched the blood drain out of her
face and she was a bitch and he didn’t much like her but she was
the mother of his sons and he fucking hated doing this to her. But
he had to; she’d given him no choice.

“He’s bad news, Gabby,” Layne went on. “We
don’t need our boys around that and I don’t need my boys’ Mom
around that. You deserve better. So I made it so he did right by
you with that money,” he tipped his head to the envelope, “and now
he’s gone.”

She stared at him and then her hand clenched
the envelope. “Tanner –”

He shook his head and interrupted her again.
“We don’t need to process this. It’s done. The boys stay with me
this week and you go stay with Brandy. The whole week. You put two
K of that in your account and you use that, your pay and what I pay
you to take care of your bills. When you buy groceries or anything
else that takes cash, you use that money. You put no more than two
K of that in your account, Gabrielle. The rest of that money stays
under the radar. Are you clear on all that?”

“Yes,” she whispered.

“I’ll keep an eye on your house and get a
quiet word out to the boys to do the same. Jas will be checkin’ in
with you regular. You got problems, you say, ‘I’m fine, honey,
everything is
just
fine,’ and he’ll know it’s not and he’ll
know to get in touch with me.” At these words, her face went
completely white but Layne kept on. “You wanna say you’re okay, you
use other words, not those. Can you remember that?”

“Are the boys in danger?” she asked.

“No,” Layne answered.

“Am I?”

“No,” Layne repeated. “That doesn’t mean we
aren’t gonna move forward smart.”

Some color came back into her face and her
eyes started to get squinty. “Did you bring Jasper into this?”

“Yeah, I did. He’s seventeen, he’s fuckin’
smart and he doesn’t like his Mom gettin’ walked on. I didn’t take
care of this shit, there would come a time when he’d feel the need
to step in. I stepped in before that time came. And if you think
Tripp doesn’t know somethin’s goin’ down, you’re wrong. He’s as
smart as Jasper and just as worried about his Mom.”

She pressed her lips together and couldn’t
hold his eyes so hers went to the floor.

“I need to know you’re clear on all this
before I go, Gabrielle,” Layne prompted and she forced her eyes to
his before she nodded.

“Good, you go home tonight, check things out
then get your ass to Brandy’s. And find time next week to change
the locks,” Layne finished and turned to leave.

“Tanner,” she called, Layne turned back,
bracing because he knew she was going to hit him with it and he
froze when he saw standing across the room a Gabrielle Weil Layne
had never seen before in his life.

“I’m sorry,” she whispered and, fuck him, he
knew she was about to cry.

Shit.

He’d never seen her cry except tears of
being extremely pissed off.

He turned to face her but didn’t walk back
into the room.

“You fucked up,” he said gently. “I fucked
up so I know it doesn’t feel good when you figure out you did it.
But it’s done, it’s over. Now you move on.”

She blinked her eyes rapidly and he knew she
was struggling against the tears.

Fucking shit.

“Gabby,” he called and she blinked again but
kept her eyes open and nodded. “We didn’t have a lot of good times
but when you forgot to be pissed off at me and the world, you could
be funny. You’ve never been sweet, but, fuck, woman, you could be
funny. When you took care of yourself, there was a lot to look at
and all of it was good.” He watched her mouth slowly open and she
stared at him. “You look around you and see you got a good job, a
nice home and two great boys, all of which you worked hard at and
created all on your own, you might realize that you’ve got a better
than average life and you built that all by yourself. You learn to
be funny again and spend time takin’ care of yourself rather than
takin’ care of some asshole who doesn’t deserve your time, you
don’t wanna be lonely, you won’t be and you’ll be spendin’ your
time with someone who’s worth havin’ it.” She kept staring at him
and Layne finished, “And, Gabby, when you forget to be pissed off
and act like a bitch, your time is worth havin’.”

With that, he left her staring after him and
walked out of the room, through the store and to his truck. He
folded in and drove to her house, idling in the alley out back and
waiting until he saw Stew come out with a box full of shit.

Then he pulled out his cell and called
Jasper.

He watched Stew walk back into the house and
got Jasper’s voicemail. “Minute you get this, Bud, you call me.
It’s all good but we gotta brief.”

He flipped his phone shut, sat in his truck
and waited until he saw Stew come out with an overstuffed, beat up
workout bag that had to be his. Gabby might not be rolling in it or
working out herself but she kitted the boys out better than that.
Then, when Stew re-entered the back gate, Layne put the Suburban
into first and drove down the alley. Then he drove home.

He rolled down his street to see both the
Mercedes and the Calais at the curb in front of his house along
with his mother’s rental car.

He was sitting waiting for the garage door
to slide up when he saw the door to the utility room open and Rocky
stood there. Seeing her, he had added evidence she’d been to her
apartment because now she was wearing jeans and a long-sleeved,
green tee that had a high neckline that was wide and showed some
skin at her shoulders. She also had her hair in what he knew was a
clip because a spray of it could be seen at the top of her head. He
also knew she was seriously pissed about something. He knew this
because her arms were crossed on her chest, her hip was hitched,
one foot was out, she was tapping her toe and she was wearing a
face like thunder.

Fuck.

He pulled in and she watched him until he
switched off the ignition. She was standing at his door when he
cleared the car.

He’d barely slammed it when she announced,
“I’m going to
kill
Adrian Cosgrove.”

Oh shit. That was not what he was expecting
to hear.

It was worse.

“Why?” Layne asked.

“You’ll see,” she shot back, turned on her
bare foot and stomped into the house.

Layne followed, looking at his boots and
contemplating vacation spots.

He hit the kitchen, took one look at Paige
Cosgrove sitting at a stool at his island, her left eye blue and
nearly swollen shut, her lower left lip split and he froze, keeping
his body still in an effort to control the burning rage that
suddenly engulfed his system.

Then he barked, “Where’s your boy?”

She started and he knew he should have
gentled his tone but he didn’t have it in him.

Paige pulled in a breath and whispered,
“Swimming with the team.”

“Cosgrove?” Layne asked.

She shook her head. “Don’t know, he… after…”
Her eyes went to the island and she whispered, “He took off.”

“Seth look like you?” Layne demanded to
know.

“No, I… he’d already planned to spend the
night at his friend Jamie’s.”

Layne yanked his phone out of back pocket,
tossed it to Dev who was standing beside the island next to Vera,
who was sitting close to Paige, and he ordered, “Call Jas. Tell him
to get his, Tripp’s and Seth’s asses home immediately.” Then he
looked at Rocky and growled, “Upstairs.”