“You gonna feed me or let me fuck you on the kitchen counter?”
Her mouth got soft, her eyelids lowered but she asked, “Without food, do you have strength to fuck me on the kitchen counter?”
“Haven’t had anything since breakfast.”
Her lips tipped up. “Then I’m going to feed you.”
“All right, then I’m gonna get a beer.”
She didn’t let him go and Layne didn’t move.
“Sweetcheeks,” he prompted as her limbs got tighter, her face got softer and her eyes dropped to his mouth
She was changing her mind and Layne liked the direction it turned so he slid his hands up her back.
Then she froze.
“I still don’t have blinds,” she whispered.
Shit.
“Right,” Layne whispered back, she moved in, touched her mouth to his then released her limbs.
Layne got a beer, Rocky took another sip from her white wine before she pulled a pan out of the oven. Then she fed Layne mushroom risotto and it was pretty good.
But it could use meat.
*
Wednesday, 4:02 p.m.
Layne’s cell rang, he looked from Dev sitting across from him in his office to his cell on the desk. He read the display, gave Devin a one minute finger, picked up his cell, flipped it open and put it to his ear.
“What’s up, sweetcheeks?” he said by way of greeting.
“Something weird just happened,” Rocky replied and Layne’s eyes shot to Devin as the muscles in his neck got tight.
“What?”
“Um… a woman came up to me after school and talked to me like she knew me. Really chatty, really friendly and, Layne, she talked for ages. I’ve seen her around, not much but I’ve seen her around. Her name is Lissa McGraw. She’s Alexis’s Mom.”
“And,” Layne prompted when she hesitated.
“Well, she said that you and her man are tight, you’re partners and since you’re partners, we should all get to know each other and to do that we should have dinner. So she kind of set a double date before the game on Friday and then said we could all go to the game together. I didn’t know what to say. She was so friendly, I couldn’t refuse. Um… do you have a partner?”
Layne relaxed, sat back and his eyes dropped to the desk as he grinned. “That’s Ryker’s woman.”
“Ryker the big biker guy?”
“Yeah.”
“Is he your partner?”
“No, he isn’t my partner but I’m his.”
“What?”
“Ryker and I view our relationship in different ways.”
“Oh,” she whispered then shared, “He’s kind of scary.”
“He can be,” Layne agreed. “He also cares a lot about Lissa and her daughter.”
There was a hesitation and then, “So, he’s big and scary and looks somewhat like a raving lunatic but he’s good people.”
Layne’s grin got bigger. “Yep, that’s about it, sweetcheeks.”
“Are we having dinner with them?”
“That isn’t at the top of my list of things I wanna do but I get the sense that big, scary, raving lunatic Ryker does not have a lot of buds and Ryker tells me Lissa spends a lotta her time working her ass off to give her girl a decent life and likely, with Ryker her man and him looking like a raving lunatic, she doesn’t have a lot of chicks of her own so I reckon they’re recruitin’ a posse and we’re pretty much the only candidates in the ‘burg who wouldn’t run a mile. Not to mention, Alexis was a target and we made it so she was safe so I’m guessin’ Lissa feels grateful and friendship is a good gift to give when you don’t have much else to offer.”
“So,” Rocky said, drawing out the word, “we’re having dinner with them.”
“Wouldn’t kill us.”
“You like him,” she observed.
“He’s solid,” Layne replied.
“I liked her, she’s nice and it was kind of sad because she also seemed desperate which she shouldn’t have to be because, well… she was so nice.”
“Proves my point.”
“Yeah,” she whispered.
“He wants her to have a decent life, baby,” Layne whispered back. “He’s not a man who shares much but what he says, she hasn’t had it too good and he wants her to have good.”
“He doesn’t scare me anymore.”
“He shouldn’t. Can’t say he’d lay down his life for you but you’re my woman and if anyone hurt you, he wouldn’t blink before huntin’ them down and breakin’ their neck just because he’s built a connection to me and that’s his kind of justice. And I’m not sayin’ that to say it, Roc, I mean he’d hunt them down and break their neck… literally.”
He could tell she was smiling when she said, “Now, I’m beginning to like him.”
Layne chuckled.
“Are you busy?” she asked.
“I’m always busy,” he answered.
“I’ll let you go.”
“What’s for dinner tonight?”
“Meat.”
“Just meat?”
“Yep, a smorgasbord of meat.”
“You’re full of shit,” he muttered through a smile.
“See you later,” she replied through a giggle.
“Later, sweetcheeks.”
He flipped his phone shut, looked at Devin and felt his neck muscles contract again when he caught the look on Devin’s face.
“What?” Layne asked when Devin didn’t speak.
Devin shook his head.
“What, old man?”
“Just thinkin’, thinkin’ about a man who’d walk out a door and never turn back. Thinkin’ about where he went, what he did and how it could never be worth losin’ what he left behind. Your father is a grade A, one hundred percent, jackass, boy, turnin’ his back and never knowin’ the man you would become.”
Layne didn’t speak, his throat was burning, his chest was frozen and that golden trail was searing through his system.
Then he found his voice. “You gonna kiss me?”
Devin rolled his eyes.
“A hug?” Layne suggested.
Devin’s eyes narrowed.
Layne stared into them. Then he said, “Thanks.”
Devin replied with, “Right.”
Moving on.
“I need you to get to Jeremy,” Layne stated.