Golden Trail (60 page)

“They sensor the windows not the doors,”
Layne replied.

“Hunh?”

“If they fucked the security at Gaines’s
place like they fucked the security at Roc’s place, they sensored
the windows on his balcony, not the doors.”

“Roc?”

“My woman.”

“Her name is Roc?” Ryker shook his head.
“Bro, I got a good look at her and she don’t look like no rock to
me. Nothin’ hard on her, all curves and soft.”

“Her name’s Raquel and, just a head’s up,
maybe after I have a few beers and a game of pool, I might be okay
with you talkin’ about my woman like that but…” Layne hesitated and
gave him a look. “Wait, no, I’ll
never
be okay with you
talkin’ about my woman like that,” Layne warned.

Ryker grinned again.

Layne lost patience.

“Are you in?” he demanded.

“Never done a stakeout.”

“Today’s your day,” Layne told him and his
cell phone on the desk rang as Ryker replied, “I’m on it.”

Layne looked at the display to see it said,
“Tripp calling”.

His brows drew together. Tripp should be at
football practice.

He gave Ryker a one-minute finger, flipped
the phone open and put it to his ear.

“Hey Pal, what’s up?”

“Dad,” Tripp whispered and Layne’s back went
straight at his tone.

“Tripp, what’s up?”

“I told Coach Fullerton I had to use the
john,” Tripp told him.

“You’re callin’ me to tell me –”

Tripp cut him off. “It’s Rocky, Dad.”

Layne stood instantly and walked to the
monitor to switch it off, asking, “What’s Rocky?”

“She’d be mad,” Tripp said. “I didn’t know
if I should tell you but I reckon I should tell you and this is the
first chance I had to call.”

“Tripp,” Layne bit out.

Tripp started talking in a hurry. “I think
she’s gonna do somethin’. I went to her classroom after school, you
know, just to say ‘hi’ and ‘see you tonight’ but I didn’t go in
because I heard her talkin’ to Mrs. Judd.”

Shit. His woman was a nut. This could be
leading anywhere and with Raquel it was a crapshoot as the various
degrees of bad it could be leading.

“What was she saying?” Layne asked, his eyes
slicing through Ryker who was sitting, watching him, reading
Layne’s tone and body language and therefore on alert. Layne walked
to his desk, dumped the nine millimeter in the drawer, locked the
desk and grabbed his jacket from the chair.

“I don’t know for sure,” Tripp answered.
“But it sounded like they were makin’ plans to break into the
management office at The Brendel for some reason.”

Shit!
Where it was leading was bad
considering it was felonious.

Layne cocked his head to hold his phone
between ear and shoulder and swung his coat over an arm.

“You did good tellin’ me, Pal,” he told his
son.

“You won’t tell Roc I snitched?” Tripp
asked.

“No, Tripp, our secret. I’ll take care of
it. See you tonight,” Layne answered, taking his phone out of his
shoulder and shrugging on the other side of his coat.

“Okay, cool. Later, Dad.”

“Later, Pal.”

Layne flipped his phone shut and Ryker
barked, “What?”

Layne headed to the door saying, “Gotta go,
brother, just got word my woman is plannin’ on committing a
felony.”

Ryker immediately unfolded his big body from
the chair and followed Layne. “Shit, things aren’t borin’ for
you.
”

“I’d pay for boring,” Layne informed him of
the God’s honest truth.

“Trust me, bro, you wouldn’t,” Ryker replied
as Layne opened the outer door and Ryker strode through.

Layne punched in the code to the alarm
thinking that Ryker was
way
wrong.

* * * * *

On his Harley, Ryker trailed Layne through
the gates of The Brendel and then through the grounds as Layne
followed the signs to the management office.

When they made it there, Layne’s jaw got
tight as he saw the operation was already in full swing. Josie Judd
was standing outside with two young, attractive women wearing
expensive suits. One was the blonde who showed Rocky her apartment.
Josie was gesturing wildly with her arms toward a Jeep that was
parked in front of the offices and she looked in full snit.

Layne parked outside the management office
three spaces down from the Jeep that Josie and the women were
standing on the sidewalk in front of, Ryker pulling up on Layne’s
side.

Layne got out and heard Josie shout, “Who’s
gonna pay for that? Hunh? I got that nail in my tire
here!
Innocently visiting my friend and the next thing I know I have a
flat! I have kids to take to school! I have errands to run! I have
bills to pay that
don’t
include a patch job I should
not
have to get on my tire!”

Josie, apparently, was providing
distraction.

Layne’s eyes sliced to Ryker. “You shut that
shit down in there.” He jerked his head to the management office
where Roc, no doubt, was breaking into file cabinets. “I’ll deal
with this.” And he jerked his thumb toward Josie.

“Shouldn’t that be the other way around?”
Ryker asked and Layne gave him a look that Ryker read. If he went
inside and caught his woman doing whatever she was doing, hell
would be paid. It was going to be paid anyway, it just wouldn’t be
as bad if he had to go inside and drag her ass out.

Therefore Ryker grinned, muttered, “Gotcha,”
and loped off.

Layne rounded the hood of his car and
approached Josie and the women and neither of the women looked his
way because they were both staring at Josie who was still shouting.
She did this until her eyes came to him and she didn’t let on that
she knew from one look at him that her best friend had just bought
herself a world of pain. Instead, she approached him.

“Tanner! I’m so glad you’re here!” she
exclaimed, wrapping her fingers around his bicep and giving it a
squeeze. “These
women
,” she flung an arm out toward the
women, “say there’s no construction on The Brendel but
I
had
no nail in my tire when I visited Rocky last night and
I
had
one in my tire this mornin’
and
it was flat! I saw it my
damn self when they showed me the tire so I know it wasn’t an
imaginary nail!”

She was good. He knew Josie didn’t visit
Rocky last night and he knew she had no nail in her tire but even
he was half-convinced she did the first and had the second.

“Josie,” Layne said but got no more out.
Josie let his arm go and turned back to the women.

“The rent here is outlandish. With that kind
of dough, you can
at least
sweep the streets.
At
least!
” she shouted.

“I’m sorry, ma’am, but The Brendel can’t
take responsibility for your vehicle. We have no construction on
site and you can’t prove you picked up that nail on the premises.
You could have picked it up anywhere,” one of the women put in.

“But I didn’t pick it up
anywhere
, I
picked it up
here,
” Josie lied and she did it loudly.

“We’re sorry for your troubles but we really
can’t do anything to help,” the woman who showed Rocky her
apartment stated.

“This is outrageous!” Josie shouted.

“Josie, let’s go,” Layne said and grabbed
her arm, pulling her to her car.

She looked up at him giving him a swift,
short shake of her head indicating she felt Rocky needed more time.
Layne looked down at her, giving her a swift, short nod of his head
indicting Rocky’s time was definitely up. Her eyes got big and
Layne’s narrowed. Then she gave in.

“You haven’t heard the last of this!” Josie
threatened as she stomped to her car, Layne’s hand still on her
arm.

“I’ll meet you at Roc’s,” he murmured after
he let her go and she yanked open her car door with apparent
fury.

“She’s –” Josie started to whisper but Layne
interrupted her.

“I’ll meet you at Roc’s,” he repeated.

Her eyes went beyond him, they got wide
again and her lips parted. Layne turned to see both the women still
standing on the sidewalk outside the office watching them and
rounding the building was Rocky with Ryker. Ryker’s arm was draped
casually around Rocky’s shoulders. Rocky was wearing a face like
thunder.

When Ryker and Rocky got close to the women,
they both started and stared as his woman and his… whatever, walked
passed them.

“Yo,” Ryker said to them as they stared up
at him.

“Uh…” one mumbled and, in the face of all
that was Ryker, the blonde who showed Rocky’s apartment didn’t have
it together enough to speak.

Ryker’s eyes cut to Layne. “She on the back
of my bike or in your truck?”

“I’ll go with Josie,” Rocky snapped.

“Truck,” Layne clipped.

Rocky glared.

Ryker led her firmly to the passenger side
of Layne’s truck. Layne bleeped the locks and looked back at Josie
who was folding herself in her car. She bit her lip and looked up
at him before she closed her door. Layne turned, nodded to the
women who were looking back and forth between the four of them
appearing both confused and slightly freaked out but Layne ignored
that and walked to his SUV. Ryker was “helping” Rocky into her seat
while she now glared at him. When she cleared the door, Ryker shut
it, turned his head to Layne and grinned his ugly grin.

“Where do we meet?” Ryker muttered when
Layne got close.

“Rocky lives here, unit E, apartment
three.”

Ryker nodded, rounded the back of the
Suburban and headed to his bike. Layne rounded the hood and got in
the driver’s side.

“How’d you know?” Rocky snapped the minute
he cleared the frame and he knew she was pissed.

He slammed his door and turned to her,
resting his forearm on the wheel and locking eyes with her.

Yep, definitely pissed.

“Sweetcheeks, advice,” he stated. “Take the
two minutes you got while we drive back to your place to shut down
that attitude. Yeah?”

She leaned in and hissed, “Layne! You can’t
just –”

“Shut it down,” Layne repeated.

“I don’t believe you!” she shot back and his
hand snaked out, hooked her around the back of the neck and he
pulled her to him as he leaned in.

“Shut it down,” he growled. “You do not know
what you’re doin’. I do this shit for a living, I know what I’m
doin’. I do not need you runnin’ wild, actin’ like a nut, gettin’
yourself into trouble. You let me handle this.”

“I was trying to help,” she bit out.

“If there’s a time you can help,
I’ll
tell you when that time is
and
what you’ll be doin’. You do
not go off on your own draggin’ your best friend into this shit.
You got caught, she got caught, you’d both be arrested.”

“My brother’s a cop, Layne,” she reminded
him.

“Yeah, sweetcheeks, but just because your
brother’s a cop doesn’t mean you have comprehensive immunity to do
any fuckin’ thing you want. You do the crime, he can’t do shit for
you and, by the way, breaking and entering is a crime.”

“I didn’t
break
, I just
jimmied
and entered,” she returned.

Layne let her go, looked to the gearshift
and took in a deep breath.

“Layne –”

His head shot up, he pierced her with a look
and she clamped her mouth shut.

Then Layne asked, “How much does Josie
know?”

Rocky’s eyes slid to the dashboard but her
face stayed turned to him.

“Roc,” he prompted and her eyes slid
back.

“I let her in on the whole operation,” she
whispered.

“Fuck,” he clipped low.

“
She
was the one who talked to
me
about it!” Rocky defended herself hotly. “She’s heard
things about TJ Gaines too. She saw us at church on Sunday and she
figured we were up to something and she’s been calling, like, every
day to find out what’s going on. She guessed and offered to help. I
couldn’t say no.”

“Yeah,” Layne replied quietly. “Yeah, you
could say no.”

“She’s my best friend!” Rocky cried.

“Well, that’s good. Least she’d be there to
have your back when some rough chick in lockdown made the move to
make you her bitch and you’d be able to return the favor.”

Rocky rolled her eyes. “That would hardly
–”

“Sweetcheeks,” Layne growled, she shut up
and glared at him but didn’t say more.

The silence lengthened as they went into
stare down.

Layne didn’t have time for it so he broke it
by saying softly, “You earned a spanking with this shit, baby.” He
watched her lids lower and her mouth get soft and he liked it but
he was too pissed to let it penetrate so he went on. “No, Roc,
seriously, this shit means I’m gonna tan your ass.”

Her soft look disappeared and she whispered,
“You do that, Layne, we have problems.”

“Sweetcheeks, we
already
have
problems,” he pointed out the obvious, turned to the wheel, slid in
his key and started the truck.

Rocky was silent as he backed out of his
spot and drove to her apartment. Josie’s Jeep was in one of Rocky’s
slots, Roc’s Merc in another and Layne pulled in between them.
Ryker’s Harley was not in sight which likely meant that, since he’d
breached The Brendel’s outer fortress, he was scouting the lay of
the land.

Rocky was out of the SUV before he switched
it off and she was hoofing it across the street toward the stairs.
Josie was standing at the top, waiting for them. Layne took his
time following his woman and he did this in an effort at gathering
patience. Rocky and Josie were both in the apartment by the time he
entered.

“Do you want a drink?” He heard Rocky asking
Josie.

“Love one, hon, but you know Chip’s a
dinner-on-the-table-at-five-thirty-sharp type of guy. I gotta get
home and start cookin’,” Josie answered then asked, “You find
anything?”