Golden Trail

by Ashley, Kristen

  Rocky moved to him and took his hand.

  “Somehow, Seth heard word. Paige is inside too. Jasper tried to get him to go but he wouldn’t,” she whispered, leaning in close.

  “He’s a good kid,” Layne whispered back, eyes on Seth who was hanging back but his gaze was intense on Alexis.

  “Lissa told us she’s okay. Is she okay?” Rocky asked and Layne looked at her.

  “She’s good,” Layne answered.

  “Totally good?” Rocky pushed, her eyes as intense as Seth’s and she was holding her body funny – guarded, alert.

  “She’s fine, baby, she woke up just when we got to her. She doesn’t even know what happened but no one got a chance to touch her.”

  “Tiffany?”

  “Tiffany too, it’s all good.” He leaned down and put his hand to her neck. “Totally good, Rocky.”

  Rocky nodded and her eyes moved to Ryker who was shuffling Lissa back while carrying Alexis to the house. Layne and Rocky moved with them. Layne nodded to Devin then his eyes cut to his sons.

  Finally, he looked at Seth and stopped. “It’s good you’re here, Seth, but let me scope this out, yeah? Stay out here with Jas, Keira and Tripp.”

  Seth nodded. Layne nodded back, swept his eyes through his boys and he and Rocky went inside.

  Vi, Feb, Josie and Paige were there. Coffee mugs were everywhere but Vi was collecting them. Angela was asleep in Paige’s arms. Jack was sitting on his ass on the floor, sucking on something purple and edible that he’d gotten all over his face in a way that gave evidence to the fact it was sticky. Layne could see through a wide opening and Feb was in the tiny kitchen, doing something at the sink. Josie was wiping down counters. Lissa, Ryker and Alexis had disappeared, likely down the back hall.

  Layne went to the mouth of the hall and waited.

  Ryker came out five minutes later, walked to Layne and stopped.

  “Your call, brother, you want company, they’re here for the long haul. You don’t, I’ll get them gone,” Layne offered.

  Ryker stared at him, said not a word, then turned and disappeared in the room he came out of. Two minutes later, he was back.

  “Liss likes to hear people in her house. Alexis is asking about Seth. Your crew is in for the long haul.”

  “Right.” Layne nodded. “I’ll call Reggie’s and order pizza.”

  Layne turned to move into the living room but turned back when Ryker said, “Bro.”

  “Yeah?”

  “She was wakin’ up when we got to her.”

  “Yeah man, I was there.”

  “She was wakin’ up when we got to her,” Ryker repeated.

  He had something to say so Layne waited for him to say it.

  Ryker finally spoke. “She had less than an hour.”

  “Ryker –” Layne began.

  “You hadn’t called that location, bro…” He trailed off and stopped.

  “Well, I did.”

  Ryker held his gaze.

  Then he whispered, “Yeah, you did.”

  Then he turned around and disappeared back in the room.

  Layne went to the living room, his eyes going to Rocky.

  “Let the kids in. We need to order pizza,” he said into the room.

  Rocky’s eyes locked with his.

  Then she gave him the dimple.

  * * * * *

  Layne woke to his cell phone ringing and Rocky pinning him to the bed.

  Instantly, her head came up.

  He reached out to the phone, his eyes scanning his clock, it was three forty-two. He looked at the display, it said “Unknown Caller” and he flipped it open, putting it to his ear.

  “Layne,” he answered.

  “Heard word from your man, it’s safe to call you,” a woman replied, it took him a minute to place the voice and then he did.

  He scooted up in the bed and Rocky scooted with him.

  “Marissa,” he said on a squeeze of Rocky who gave him a squeeze back and pressed closer.

  “She didn’t make it,” Marissa stated.

  Marissa was right. Nicolette Towers was dead on arrival. Layne had no problem with this.

  Jeremy Goulding had flipped and copped to Tara, Summer and Hannah, but there were no other girls from the ‘burg. However, he did know of operations in other small town churches in two locations. Towers held these parties often and the girls went for top dollar. Jeremy withheld this information because he knew he was screwed and he didn’t want to be more screwed. He thought, since the girls hadn’t talked for months, this knowledge would never make the light of day. Fortunately, he was wrong.

  Towers had two stables and recruited her other girls from out of state. Some were runaways. Some were sold into her operation. Some were clocked in juvvie and picked up when they got out, their disappearance put down to running away, none of them missed. And none of them originally came from Indiana, thus flying under IMPD radar.

  There were so many people involved, from pimps, to recruiters, to security, it would take the IMPD some serious time to dismantle the entire operation but it was already disintegrating. Some of the men they picked up were heavy hitters, wealthy power brokers, also not all local. And they were all blabbing like old women.

  Rutledge had survived and was currently handcuffed to a hospital bed. Cal and Ryker had uncovered where he hid his payoff cash in his apartment and they left it for the ‘burg PD to find. It was highly unlikely he’d be offered bail. It was also highly unlikely he’d survive his prison term.

  Ballistics matched on the three guns that shot Layne. Two put bullets in Rutledge, one was found beside the man Layne shot in the calf who then had Towers run over his legs. Since she did this driving on rims, one of his legs was cut clean off.

  “No, she didn’t make it,” Layne confirmed and Roc gave him another squeeze.

  “Heard from your man that you took her out.”

  “That’s right.”

  There was silence.

  Then, “Is it bad that I’m smiling right now?”

  Layne felt his lips twitch. “No.”

  More silence then, “Glad you didn’t get dead.”

  Before Layne could reply he had dead air.

  He flipped his phone closed and tossed it to the nightstand. Then he slid down into the bed, taking Rocky with him.

  “She okay?” Rocky asked.

  “Reckon so, considering she told me she’s smiling.”

  Rocky shoved her face in his chest and he wasn’t sure what this response meant until she lifted her head then shifted her body so it was on his, her face in his neck.

  “Sweetcheeks,” he murmured, his hand sliding in her hair.

  Her lips went to his ear. “Never gave a hero a blowjob.”

  Layne started quietly laughing.

  Her head moved and her mouth came to his.

  “Or… maybe I have,” she whispered.

  “Well, baby, what are you waiting for? I’m not gonna stop you,” he whispered back.

  He felt her smile against his mouth.

  Then she took her time, working her way down his body before she gave him a really, fucking great, four o’clock in the morning blowjob.

  Epilogue

  A Beautiful Life

  She moved, her lips sliding up his neck, over his jaw, to his mouth.

  His arm stole around her waist, his other hand went to her hip as her body moved on top of his.

  “Thank you, baby,” she whispered.

  “For what?” he whispered back.

  The side of her nose brushed his.

  “A beautiful life.”

  * * * * *

  Layne opened his eyes.

  Rocky was pinning him to the bed.

  He smiled at the ceiling.

  Then he rolled into his woman.

  * * * * *

  Layne walked to the foot of the stairs.

  “Sweetcheeks, get your ass down here!” he yelled.

  “Coming!” she yelled back.

  “Yea
h, Roc, you said that ten minutes ago.” He was still yelling.

  “Well, now I’m coming!” She was also still yelling. “You can put CeeCee in the car!”

  That meant she actually was coming.

  Layne turned to the playpen by the dining room table. Blondie was flat out on her side by the pen. Cecilia was in it, holding herself up, her baby fists around the bars, her big blue eyes staring up at her Dad, a little tuft of dark hair in a mini-ponytail with a little purple bow sticking straight up on top of her head.

  Layne approached and Blondie’s head jerked up and twisted, the dog glared at him a second like she had no idea who he was then her tail started banging against the floor. Pretty much no one got near Cecilia unless they had Blondie’s approval.

  He reached into the pen and hefted up his daughter who immediately reached up, grabbed hold of his lower lip and tugged. Hard.

  He knew what that meant so he dropped his head, she let his lip go, he buried his face in her neck and blew.

  She giggled.

  Layne pulled his face out of her neck, kissed her forehead then lifted a hand and gently tugged his daughter’s fucking ponytail, and the goddamned bow, out of her hair.

  He tossed it on the island, rounded it, nabbed his keys and walked his daughter out to the truck as she babbled at the same time she slapped his jaw repeatedly.

  He strapped her into the seat and was just slamming the door when Rocky came out. She was carrying a pie plate in one hand, a huge, but stylish bag over her shoulder and she was wearing a short skirt, a sweet top that hugged her frame and her skin was tan. This was because Layne had a below ground pool put in because Rocky told him the winter before she’d always wanted one. The second the spring thaw came, the diggers were there.

  “Told you I was coming,” she informed him as she strutted to the truck.

  “Get in the car, Roc,” Layne replied, swinging in himself.

  She rolled her eyes. He grinned.

  She settled in, put the pie plate on her lap and buckled up as Layne pulled out. They were accelerating forward when Rocky turned and smiled at Cecilia.

  Then he felt her eyes on him.

  “Layne, where’s her bow?”

  “In the garbage disposal,” Layne lied.

  “Layne!” Rocky snapped. “It took me twenty minutes to get that looking right.”

  “So?”

  She turned and faced forward. “I can’t believe you.”

  Layne hit the button to roll down his window.

  “What are you doing? Turn on the air con, that’s too much wind for CeeCee,” she ordered.

  “You’re cute when you’re bossy, sweetcheeks,” Layne replied, stopped at a stop sign, turned to his woman, his hand shot out, fingers fastening on the band in her hair, he pulled it out, tossed it out the window, checked the way was clear and turned left.

  “Did you just do that?” she whispered irately as he rolled the window back up.

  “Yep,” Layne replied.

  “I… I don’t know what to say.” She was still whispering irately.

  “So don’t say anything.”

  He felt her eyes on him and heard her twisting in her seat. “Last week, you pulled out my ponytail holder and took a knife to it while I was making dinner and your mother and Devin were there.”

  “Yeah, Roc, I remember, I was there too,” Layne returned. “Like I keep tellin’ you, you quit wearin’ ‘em, I’ll quit doin’ shit like that.”

  She twisted back to face forward and crossed her arms on her chest.

  Layne reached out a hand and slid it up her bare leg until she clamped her legs together and his fingers got stuck between her thighs.

  “You’re going to make me drop the pie,” she snapped.

  “So move the pie,” Layne replied.

  “You can’t feel me up when I’m mad at you.”

  “Why not?”

  She made a noise in her throat that made Layne chuckle. Then she moved the pie, wrapped her hand around his wrist and yanked it from between her legs. He twisted his wrist, caught her hand, curled his fingers around it and pulled it to his mouth.

  He’d done as he’d intended. He’d given her a huge rock. A few months later, with his sons at his side and Josie Judd at hers, he’d slid a wide gold band at the base of it.

  Right then, he kissed both.

  Her fingers curled around his when he did and behind him he heard his daughter giggle. For some reason, Cecilia thought it was hilarious when Layne showed her mother affection.

  His daughter laughed a lot.

  “You know what’s annoying?” she asked when he rested her hand on his thigh.

  “Nope,” he answered.

  “When you’re sweet when I’m angry at you.”

  “Right,” he muttered.

  “Stop doing that,” she demanded.

  “I’ll get right on that.”

  He knew she’d turned her head to the side window when she murmured, “Big liar.”

  Layne burst out laughing.

  * * * * *

  Layne parked on the street outside Cal and Vi’s house, a street that was lined with cars. One of those cars was Jasper’s red Charger. Another one was Tripp’s silver Camaro.

  Layne released his grateful daughter from the confines of her car seat, Rocky grabbed her big bag and the pie and he slid an arm around her shoulders as they walked up the side of the house between the garage and Cal and Vi’s home and hit the backyard.

  Violet had a way with flowers and her backyard was a showstopper. Now it was also filled with people but, even so, Layne clocked his sons immediately.

  He stopped, Roc stopped with him, turned into him, got up on her toes and brushed her lips to his. Then she bent and brushed her lips to her daughter’s head. Then she turned toward the deck to take her pie to a table groaning with food.

  Layne watched as Rocky climbed the steps and touched her cheek to the cheek of a smiling Violet who had a chubby infant attached to her hip. Eight months ago, Vi and Cal had added son Sam to their brood. Then Vi had then declared she was done. Cal was of another mind. An epic battle had begun considering Cal kept dumping her birth control pills in the toilet and Vi kept bitching about this to her girlfriends, including Roc, at every available opportunity of which there where many. She also shared her strategies of waging war against Cal’s determination to have another child. Apparently, from what Rocky told him, Cal was extremely determined and put a fair amount of effort into victory. Also, according to Roc, Vi enjoyed bitching about it but wasn’t exactly fighting to win.

  Layne turned from his woman and he and Cecilia made their way to his boys. To get to their destination, Layne had to dodge Jack chasing Angela through the thick, green grass. When the path was clear, his eyes focused on his sons.

  Both were on their backs, side by side, legs straight out, ankles crossed but up on their elbows. Giselle was sitting cross-legged close to Tripp, her knee resting on his hip. Keira was draped full down Jasper, her torso pressed to his side, one of her legs tangled with his, her arm resting on his abs, her cheek to his shoulder but she was gabbing with Giselle.

  Jasper and Keira had never stopped being inseparable. Like his Dad, Jas knew exactly what he wanted when he found it but, unlike his Dad, he was never going to let it go. Keira followed Jas to Purdue and on more than one occasion at a variety of times of during the day and night she answered Jas’s cell or the phone in Jas’s apartment. Layne knew what that meant as well as what their current intimate position stated and neither of them hid it. He had no problem with this and Cal, standing at the barbeque and not a stupid man by a long shot, didn’t either. Both men knew the future would see Jas and Keira’s children running through this grass. Layne had no problem with that either. Keira had learned the hard way to take care of the people she loved while she had them and there was no denying Keira Winters loved his son, she loved him deeply and she loved him in a way that Layne recognized would last a lifetime. Jasper was Jasper, he’d proven early
he’d do anything for his girl and nothing had changed.

  The minute he got close, his sons’ eyes moved to him and he got identical smiles and nods.

  Keira said, “Hey, Mr. Layne,” and Layne greeted her back but Giselle didn’t say a word. She just lifted her arms, instantly reaching for Cecilia.

  Tripp and Giselle often babysat for Cecilia and Giselle doted on Layne and Rocky’s daughter. Tripp doted on Giselle. She hadn’t become less shy but she had become extremely tight with his son. They were as inseparable as Jasper and Keira but in a different way. Tripp’s public displays of affection were limited to hand holding and sometimes when they were watching TV, Giselle would curl up at his feet and rest her head on his knee or curl on the seat of the couch and rest her head on this thigh. Though once Layne had started down the stairs and caught sight of them making out, hot and extremely heavy, on the sectional in a way that stated they did it often when they had no audience around. Not making a noise, Layne had retraced his steps, left them to it and hoped with his father, stepmother and baby sister all upstairs, making out was as far as Tripp was prepared to go.

  But at all times, Tripp was gentle with Giselle and he was still the only person Layne had seen that could make her smile big or laugh hard, both unconsciously. She never liked attention but sometimes Rocky would nudge Layne, nod at Giselle and he’d see Giselle watching his son move through the kitchen or sit watching TV and she’d do it with a look on her face that reminded Layne of Rocky. It wasn’t the same but it was just as good. Tripp made her laugh but he also made her feel safe and he made her feel special, three of the best gifts Tripp could give her and her look made it clear she appreciated them.

  He handed CeeCee to Giselle and dropped to the grass, stretching out like his sons.

  “You and Roc missed the big announcement,” Jas stated when Layne settled and Layne’s eyes went to his boy who was now no longer a boy in any sense of that word.

  “Yeah?” he asked.

  “Kate’s gettin’ married,” Jas declared, Layne’s eyes moved through the people and he located Kate Winters, Keira’s sister and Vi’s older daughter. Kate was just about to enter grad school and she was now leaning against a tall, lean but built, dark-haired man. She was also smiling happily and talking to Cal’s Aunt Theresa and Uncle Vinnie.