Golden Trail (65 page)

“We’ll get in your truck,” she
suggested.

“Woman, your ass is not in my truck,” Layne
returned, “ever.”

Her head tilted to the side and she smiled
at him. Flirting. Fuck.

It didn’t take much to make her want to
wander off her chosen path.

“Why?” she asked.

“Do not play with me,” he whispered his
warning. “I am not a man who likes to be played. Get… them… to…
go.
”

She stared at him, she read him then she
nodded and turned to her girls, “See you guys later!” she
shouted.

The women went from curious to confused as
Marissa didn’t get in his truck, didn’t touch Layne, Layne didn’t
touch her and she hinted that they should take off. All of them
were used to a lot more attention, the kind they wanted and getting
it exactly when they wanted it. This confusion turned to concern
and they didn’t move.

“Marissa,” Layne growled.

“It’s cool!” she shouted instantly. “This is
my cousin’s boyfriend. I’m watching his dog while they go on
vacation!”

The women looked at him then at each other
then one shouted, “Right, Riss! See you!”

“See you!” Marissa shouted back, there were
some waves, more yells and the women headed to their cars.

When the last one slammed her door, Layne
turned to Marissa and he didn’t fuck around.

“I need information from your former life,”
he announced and he watched her body get tight so he continued. “I
would not ask you if it wasn’t important.”

Her face had changed. Today’s flirty gone.
Yesterday’s attempt at friendly a memory. She was pissed.

“I see. You find out I sucked dick for the
cameras, you got that on me, now I got no choice but to be your
rat,” she snapped.

“That’s not the way it is,” Layne told
her.

“Looks it to me, asshole,” she shot
back.

Layne kept his position, back to the truck
and kept his eyes locked to hers. “You read me yesterday, you read
me right. Listen to your gut, woman. Like I said, this is
important.”

“Yeah, and in a couple weeks, it’ll be
important again and then a month later it’ll be important again and
I’ll live that shit over and over because you bought yourself a
sneak. Well, I’m not a rat and that isn’t my life anymore so you
can go fuck yourself.”

She turned to leave and Layne spoke.

“My guess is, there’s a racket in the ‘burg,
fourteen, fifteen year old girls, modeling or filming.” She stopped
and turned back to him. “It’s either happening now or it’s gonna
happen. One thing I know for certain is they’re recruitin’ through
the church.”

Marissa stared at him.

“You know anyone into that shit?” Layne
asked.

Marissa didn’t speak.

Layne pushed away from the truck but didn’t
move toward her.

His voice got soft when he said, “Marissa, I
haven’t seen your work, don’t want to, but Dev says you were
underage. Who do you know that’s into that shit?”

She looked away but she still didn’t
speak.

“A woman,” Layne prompted, “a woman who runs
the show.”

Marissa’s eyes snapped back to him, her face
had bleached entirely of color and Layne took a step toward her to
get into her space.

“They’re recruitin’ from a Youth Group,
Marissa. You got anything, you gotta give it to me.”

“I can’t,” she whispered.

“You can, you don’t want girls travellin’
down that road you were forced to take,” he replied.

“She’s,” Marissa swallowed and leaned into
him, “she’s a nasty piece of work, Tanner. Listen to me, do
not
go there.”

“Let those girls swing?” Layne growled,
glaring at her.

“No.” She shook her head and did it hard.
“She’ll have a front, a guy, probably not too smart, definitely
hot. He lines ‘em up, pulls ‘em in. You take him down, she’ll move
on.”

“Not too far considerin’ you know her,”
Layne noted. “Means she’s worked Indy at least, what? Ten
years?”

“You want your reunion with your sweetheart
to last more than a coupla weeks, you steer clear and let the next
place she hits deal with her.”

“What do you know about her?” Layne
pressed.

“She’s a nasty piece of work,” Marissa
repeated.

“What do you know?” Layne pushed it.

“I know you do not want to go there.” She
wasn’t giving him anything.

“God damn it, Marissa, what do you know?”
Layne bit out.

“I know she’s got two markets but only one
she takes real good care of. That one, the girls are fresh and
young.
Fresh
and young. She didn’t want me for that, she
wanted me for somethin’ else. I did not like it but I did not do
shit about it because I learned early how to stay in one piece.
Another girl with me who was in her stable, she wasn’t so smart.
This bitch cut that girl up, Tanner, cut her up on the
inside
. Cut her up so bad, nothin’ll feel good down there.
Ever. Not in her life. She did it herself. She didn’t get one of
her boys to do it. She did it herself. The girl was thirteen and
even after she sliced her, she pimped her.”

“Jesus,” Layne whispered.

“You do not want to go there,” Marissa
reiterated.

“How’d you get out?” Layne asked.

“She worked the foster home angle then, got
me through that then I hit sixteen, too old for her clientele,”
Marissa answered. “I made no trouble, I did my job, I didn’t
complain, I gave good head, I did as I was told and she let me
loose when she couldn’t use me anymore. Let me loose as in sold me,
Tanner. She sold me to the producers who’d work me until I was
eighteen. And I got outta that because I give great head, I’ve had
enough practice and a lotta men get stupid when they get great
head. I wanted a boob job, I asked right before I made him come, I
got a boob job. When I wanted to move on, I asked right before I
made him come, I got to move on. Then I took off some weight,
changed my hair, gave more head to get a new identity… exit Anita
Dewmeyer, enter Marissa Gibbons.”

Layne looked over her head and he did this
in an effort not to touch her. It wasn’t his place. He didn’t know
her. That was not where their relationship could ever go. But he
reckoned she’d never been held in an act of kindness, not in her
life. And knowing a lot more about her life than he ever wanted to
know, none of it good, all of it the worst it could be, he felt
compelled to kindness.

He beat back the urge and looked at her.

“I’m sorry, honey,” he whispered, he meant
his words and her torso lurched like he’d punched her, sock to the
gut.

Nope, Marissa Gibbons hadn’t experienced
much kindness.

Layne ignored the look in her eyes that
seeped into her face and went on. “If you gave me names, would your
ass be out there?”

She sucked in breath and answered quietly,
“They found out it was me, my ass would be in the White River.”

“Then get the fuck out of here, now,” Layne
returned just as quietly and her look intensified.

“What?” she whispered.

“Go, now. And you let it be known to someone
who talks that all you got from me is coachin’ to fuck over Astley.
What you do not know is dick about what’s goin’ on in the
‘burg.”

“You…” she paused, took in another breath
then asked, “you’re gonna leave it at that?”

“Right now, I’m spread thin. I don’t have
the resources to watch your back, not in the short term and not in
the long term should something blow back on you and anyone else in
that business thinks to fuck with you. So, yeah, I’m gonna leave it
at that.”

She held his gaze and she did it too
long.

“Go,” he ordered then turned toward his
truck.

“Nicolette Towers,” she called and Layne’s
head turned to her.

Fuck.

“No more, Marissa,” he warned.

“She’ll be usin’ another name. Her rap
sheet, though, will be under Nicolette Towers.”

“Go,” he ordered.

“She likes to play,” Marissa went on and
Layne turned to her as his stomach churned.

“Go,” he repeated.

“That’s how you’ll get her. She lets her boy
enlist but she’s hands on, Tanner. As hands on as she can get.”

“Honey,” Layne whispered, “go.”

“She buys immunity from local cops. Keeps
‘em happy with money but gets them under her thumb because they
like to watch her play. She gets that shit on them, they’ll do
anything but she keeps them fat and sassy by puttin’ them on
payroll
and
givin’ them as much of their kink as they can
stand. Just for that, they’d do anything for her.”

Layne swallowed the saliva that filled his
mouth and growled, “No more, woman, go.”

“She’s got muscle and she’s got firepower.
She even
thinks
you’re gettin’ close, she does damage but
she likes a first warning. It’s about power, control. Someone
thinks to fuck with her, she likes knowin’ they’re livin’ and
knowin’ she got the best of ‘em. They come back after her, they’ll
go down.”

Jesus fucking Christ.

“How do you know this shit?” Layne
asked.

“I did my job, I didn’t complain, I wasn’t
fresh but I was a favorite. She knew I was a survivalist. She knew
I would never do what I’m doin’ right now. So she didn’t hide her
business from me when she was of a mind to keep me close. And,
bein’ a survivalist, I learned to keep quiet and listen. So I
did.”

Layne stared at her.

Then he made a decision.

“How tied to Indianapolis are you?” he
asked.

“What?” she asked back.

“How do you feel about LA?”

Her lips parted and she stared back.

“Dev’s got a job today,” Layne said.
“Tonight, he’s got another one. You make contact, you make a meet,
you pick up your new identity tomorrow from Dev. You sell that
fuckin’ car and you get your ass to LA. I got a friend out there,
he’ll help you get set up and he’ll watch your back until he knows
no shit is gonna blow west. You do not check in direct, you check
in with him, he’ll get word to me.”

“I got school here,” she stated.

“They got universities in LA,” he
returned.

“The Pacemates –”

“Are a memory. You are no longer visible.
You do not veer from your path. This shit gets done, you find a
decent guy, you give him great head, you get him hooked, you settle
and you keep that shit from him. You put your ass on the line for
me just now so in return, I’ll give it to you straight. Do not
share with him, no matter how decent he is, about Anita Dewmeyer or
Marissa Gibbons. You were in the system. You lived a shit life. You
had a social worker who showed you the way but other than that, you
don’t wanna talk about it. Ever. You wanna look ahead, never
behind. You keep him facin’ forward, Marissa, don’t you, and don’t
let him, ever look back. But you find you need to talk about that,
work things out after this is over, you contact me or Dev. You do
not lay that shit on your man. Yeah?”

“If I disappear, especially from the
Pacemates, they’ll know –”

Layne cut her off. “I told you, I got a guy
who’ll watch your back.”

“He got twelve eyes? Because they can come
from all directions,” she returned.

He knew that even better than she did. He
got hit with three bullets and each of those bullets came from
different guns. Ambush. The only things Marissa had given him were
who was behind it and why they didn’t drill a round in his head
after he went down.

“You trusted me to do the right thing with
that shit you just shared, now trust me to do the right thing by
you,” Layne told her.

“I’ve been takin’ care of my –”

He stepped back into her space and she
clamped her mouth shut. “I know you have, Marissa, so I know this
won’t be easy, since no one has ever looked out for you but I’m not
like the trash that’s been twistin’ around you your whole life. You
know it. This guy knows what he’s doin’ and if I didn’t think he
did then I wouldn’t send you out there.” She’d closed down, he
could see it, she was giving him nothing and she wasn’t buying one
word he said. That was how terrified she was of what she’d just
done. And fear could make you do some seriously stupid shit. So
Layne pushed, “Your life just changed. You had an opportunity to
turn your back on a bunch of girls you don’t know who’re either
livin’ nightmares or goin’ to. You didn’t do that. You did the
right thing. Now you leave the wrong life behind and look, the
fuck, forward to an entirely new experience.”

She gazed up at him and he knew she was
undecided.

So he decided for her.

“Dev doesn’t get a call, you make me hunt
you down, which I’ll do, Marissa, no fuckin’ joke, that’ll piss me
off. But I got too much to worry about to worry about you and if
something happens to you, I’m not livin’ with that on my
conscience. So you make me take time out to take you to LA and make
you safe, like I said, that’ll piss me off. You don’t wanna piss me
off. So, tonight, pick up the phone and
call
Dev
.”

He didn’t know how he got to her but he got
to her and he knew that when she whispered, “I’ll call Dev.”

“Eyes and ears open until you reach LA. You
don’t turn that ‘vette, just leave it,” Layne pressed.

She nodded.

“Until you’re with my man, you get a bad
feeling, you call Dev.”

She nodded again.

“You got friends; they’re not your friends
anymore. You’ll make new friends in LA.”

She swallowed then she nodded again.

Layne examined her face then he toned it
down. “You did the right thing.”

“Right,” she whispered and Layne knew she
didn’t believe him but instead wished she could turn back time and
keep her mouth shut.

“Before it turned shit for you, how would
you feel if some woman saved you from that life?”

“They’ll never know it was me,” she
returned.

“You wouldn’t have either but you also
wouldn’t have had that life. Isn’t knowin’ that enough?”