She also wasn’t right.
Before he could reply, she finished. “I’m going to take a bath and you’re welcome to finish your game but, you should know, I’m not coming down here again until I know you’re gone. We’ll get through this because we have to but no more of that shit.” She pointed to the couch. “Whoever was out there was probably hired by Jarrod. What we did to him last night made him angry and he is not nice when he gets angry and I’ll bet, just about five seconds after he saw us walk in last night, he decided to play dirtier than he’s already been playing. And, head’s up, he’s been playing dirty even after putting her in my bed before there was time to change the sheets. But with our current situation, I’ll do my part, you do yours and we retreat back to what we’ve been doing the last two weeks. That was working. But this,” she waved her hand between them, “is as clear as the air is going to get. You don’t like it, tough. You’re just going to have to deal with it.”
Then she walked around him, out of the kitchen and kept her head bent to her feet as she walked up the stairs and landed her last. “Tuesday’s good for me for pasta bake and Keira. I’ll be at your house at six.”
Then he lost sight of her at the top of the stairs.
Layne kept his hand at his neck, clenching and unclenching, trying to release the tension in the muscles there as he stared at the top of the stairs.
Then his eyes fell to her wineglass and he resisted the urge to throw it across the room.
Then he turned on his boot and stalked out of her apartment, slamming the door when he went.
Chapter Nine
Proceed with Caution
The next afternoon, Layne sat at his desk and flipped open his phone.
Using his thumb, he typed in, “Management office, The Brendel. Number. Now.” Then he sent the text to Rocky.
He clenched his jaw and flipped his phone closed.
You were my first kiss, my first everything.
Her words from last night sounded in his head.
He was, even as pretty as she was, he was her first kiss and her first lover. For her eighteenth birthday, he gave her a pair of emerald-cut emerald stud earrings, her birthstone. She’d given him her virginity.
He was her first date, her first kiss, her first boyfriend. She had friends and she was popular at school but she didn’t date, never got close to a boy, until him.
And she let him in immediately. Out of respect for father, but mostly for her and because of her inexperience, he’d played it cool the first year and he’d taken great pains her first time. He couldn’t say he was entirely successful. He could say he made her come before he caused her pain so at least she knew she had something to look forward to.
And she looked forward to it. Christ, it was like breaking a seal then what was held in exploded all over the place.
But she’d never even kissed a guy, until him.
He’d never thought about it, not once, except to thank his stars and consider himself lucky.
Now, he thought, what the fuck was up with that?
He flipped and twisted the phone around in his fingers and stared at his desk, jaw clenched, mind filled not just with last night but with a lot of shit, a lot of shit from the last three weeks and a lot of shit from nearly two decades ago and he only looked up when the security beep sounded.
His eyes went to the monitor and he saw Merry, a white coffee cup in each hand, coming up the stairs.
Answers.
He’d called Merry half an hour ago and told him he wanted a meet but he didn’t tell him why. But Layne was going to get answers and he loved Merry but if his friend held out on him, after the shit that came out of Rocky’s mouth last night, Layne would resort to any means necessary.
He kept flipping his phone around in his fingers as he heard the front door open and close and then he saw Merry coming through the door to his office. He was smiling but he got one look at Layne and his brows went up.
“I’m guessin’ you aren’t havin’ a good day,” Merry remarked, walking straight in.
“You’d be guessin’ right,” Layne agreed.
Merry put Layne’s coffee in front of him and sat opposite him, lifting a leg to hook his ankle on his knee.
“Well, join the club, brother. Today is officially shit,” he declared before he sucked back some joe.
“You got problems?” Layne asked and Merry nodded.
“But let’s get your shit outta the way first. Why’d you call? Somethin’ up?”
“A lot of things are up. It sucks I got shot because it delayed me hiring a receptionist. I got so much up I can’t fuckin’ keep track of it all.”
“Break it down for me, brother.”
Layne palmed the phone and leaned back in his chair. “Stew’s shit is tied to Carlito.”
Merry stared at Layne a second then his eyes rolled to the ceiling. “Oh boy.”
“Damn straight,” Layne said.
Merry’s eyes rolled back to Layne. “You know how much he’s into him for?”
“I don’t know shit. Jasper saw Carlito take a collection at the house.”
Merry’s face grew dark, his ankle left his knee and he sat forward, putting his coffee cup on Layne’s desk. “Tell me you are fuckin’ shittin’ me.”
“I’m not.”
Merry looked toward the floor, breathing out, “Motherfucker.”
“You know Stew? He play the dogs or is he sittin’ a game?”
Merry looked back up. “Dogs. Before Gabby, Stew was at the track every weekend. Since her, I’m guessin’ he’s at the track every weekend she’s workin’.”
Layne nodded. “Right.”
“I don’t need to tell you, a collection at the house –” Merry started.
Layne cut him off. “He’s in deep.”
“Okay then, I don’t need to tell you bein’ in deep with Carlito –”
Layne cut him off again. “Isn’t fuckin’ good.”