Golden Trail

  Yes, Rocky was a nut.

  “Did you catch the part I said to Tripp about not wanting anyone to make him stop?” Layne asked.

  “Yes, Layne, I caught that part but I still want to make him stop, at least until we catch him,” she shot back.

  “Sweetcheeks, you’re not getting involved.”

  “I’m already involved.”

  “Okay, then you’re not getting more involved.”

  “Layne –”

  “We’re not gonna discuss this.”

  “Layne!”

  Layne lifted his hands to rest on her jaws and he tipped her head back further as his face got into hers. “Jasper was right when he used the word ‘predator’. Anytime kids are involved, it’s about predators. And predators are dangerous. Best case scenario, this is about drugs. Worst case scenario, baby, you do not wanna know. Either way, you are not gettin’ near this guy, no lip, no discussion.”

  “These are my kids,” Rocky snapped, pulling her jaw from his hands and stepping back.

  “I get that,” Layne replied, putting his hands on her neck and pulling her right back.

  “Someone has to keep them safe.”

  “That’d be Tripp, but like I said today, Rocky, it’s gonna take time. Give him time.”

  “And until then?”

  “Until then, you keep your eyes and ears open, Jas does the same, Tripp does the same, you trust me and we fuckin’ hope.”

  “That isn’t good enough, Layne.”

  “It sucks, baby, and I know that but that’s all you got.” Layne watched her eyes flash and he pulled her even closer, put his thumbs under her jaws to tilt her head back and put his forehead to hers. “I know this is frustrating and it’s killin’, you, baby, but stick with me on this and do not make it worse by puttin’ yourself out there for this guy.”

  She stared into his eyes a beat until hers closed. Then she pulled in breath through her nose and let it out the same way.

  Then she opened her eyes and whispered, “All right.”

  “I like her,” Devin declared and Layne and Rocky’s heads turned his way. “Bet even with those fancy-ass duds, she don’t live in no development with an HOA.”

  Layne turned to Devin, positioning Rocky in front of him at the counter and pinning her in again as he replied, “She lives in a luxury apartment complex.”

  “Okay then, I bet she don’t care what her luxury apartment complex rules tell her what she can and can’t do with her car,” Devin returned.

  “You’re right, I don’t care, but with the rent I’m paying, Devin, I should be able to park my car right next to the swimming pool if I’ve a mind to do it,” Rocky put in.

  “You got a swimmin’ pool?” Devin asked.

  “Yes,” Rocky answered.

  “Any lovelies who sunbathe there?” Devin went on.

  “I just moved in a couple of weeks ago, Dev, it’s October in Indiana so I haven’t scoped it out yet and won’t get that chance until next summer,” Rocky told him.

  “Well, I’ll be back next summer, I’ll help you scope it out,” Devin offered and Layne heard Rocky’s soft giggle.

  His eyes went to his sons and both of them were looking at Rocky and smiling.

  Then he looked at his watch and back to Jasper. “Too late to get started on pasta bake, Bud, it’s Keira time.”

  Jasper’s body jolted, he looked to the clock over the microwave and hissed, “Fuck!” Then he held his hand out and wiggled his fingers. “Devin, keys.”

  “Don’t care about no HOA,” Dev grunted.

  “You care about it or you go back to my office and sleep on my couch,” Layne stated and Devin gave him a stubborn look.

  “Devin! Keys!” Jasper fairly shouted, desperate not to be late for Keira.

  “Just go, Jasper, I’ll move Devin’s car and start the pasta,” Rocky said, slipping out from in front of Layne and heading to the stove.

  “Thanks, Rocky, you’re the shit,” Jasper muttered then bolted to and out the door.

  “You’re not movin’ my car either, girlie,” Devin declared. “No woman drives the Calais, don’t care how pretty she is.”

  Rocky turned her head and aimed the dimple at him, saying, “We’ll see.” Then she moved a pot to the faucet and started to fill it with water.

  Layne reclaimed his forgotten beer and took a slug, his eyes on Devin.

  When he dropped his beer to the counter he muttered, “My money’s on Roc.”

  Devin grunted.

  Ten minutes later, the pasta was on, the hamburger was browning and the Calais was in the drive in the spot behind Rocky’s Mercedes.

  Layne found this hilariously funny for two reasons. One, Devin wasn’t lying when he said he didn’t let women drive his car and he’d let Rocky drive his car, it was just the turn into the drive, but he’d let her do it. And two, Rocky had pinned her own vehicle in for the night.

  * * * * *

  Layne sat at a chair at his outside table, a burning smoke between two fingers, the other three wrapped around a beer, his eyes on the dark, small wood behind his house.

  That wood was one of the reasons he picked this place, his front faced houses, he had to drive through a sea of them to get home, but he walked out on his back patio and saw nature. It wasn’t a lot of it but it was something.

  Devin sat across from him with a stoagie between his lips.

  “I know who she is, boy,” Devin said quietly around his cigar.

  “I know you know,” Layne replied quietly back, lifted his beer and took a pull.

  They’d spent a lot of time together and they didn’t talk a lot but both of them had talked and Devin knew all about Raquel.

  Devin fell silent for a long while. Then he pulled his cigar out of his mouth, blew out smoke and whispered, “Look at that.”

  Layne looked at Devin to see Devin looking over his shoulder into the house so Layne twisted and looked into the house too.

  The kids and Rocky were playing a game, girls against boys. Keira was up on her feet, jumping up and down, her long, dark hair flying everywhere, her hands straight up in the air. Jasper was sitting back in an armchair, his arms crossed on his chest, pretending to scowl but his eyes were glued to Keira and far more than a scowl could be read from his expression and none of it was bad. Layne couldn’t see Tripp because he was sitting on the floor. Rocky was on the couch, her head was to the back of it, her hands were up in front of her clapping and he could hear her laughter mingled with Keira’s shouts of triumph.

  Blondie, being a female but mostly being a canine, was jumping around Keira and sharing in what appeared to be a feminine victory by barking repeatedly.

  Keira bent and he lost sight of everything but her behind as she gave Blondie a rubdown.

  Layne turned back to the night.

  “You lose hold of that again, boy, any ‘a that, I’ll hunt you down and shoot you. Understood?” Dev declared.

  “So that shit you handed me about the HOA is just that? Shit?”

  “Fuck, Tanner, when I was your age, I’d join the fuckin’ HOA patrol if it meant I could come home to that,” Devin answered.

  Layne didn’t reply, he fell silent, took the last drag of his cigarette, stubbed it out in the ashtray on the table and sipped his beer while Devin enjoyed his stoagie.

  Eventually, he said, “I need you to go to bed early, soon as Keira leaves.”

  “Why?” Devin asked.

  “’Cause you’re sleepin’ on the couch, I wanna talk to Rocky and if you’re on the couch the only place to do it is upstairs.”

  And Layne wasn’t talking about the weight room.

  “Gotcha,” Devin said instantly, knowing Layne wasn’t talking about the weight room.

  Layne kept speaking. “I know I briefed you yesterday but I’ll repeat that we need more than the tail Astley’s been chasin’ to make him come to heel. I told you Rocky was in a luxury apartment complex but I didn’t tell you I talked her into signin’ the lease and I did
it at a time when I thought she was far from hurtin’. With him cuttin’ her off, she’s gonna be hurtin’. I’m not in the position with her yet that I think she’ll take help from me. Her brother doesn’t have it, neither does her Dad. Short-term, maybe. Long-term, negative. That means time is against us, Dev. I don’t want her worried more than she already is. We need somethin’ on this guy that’ll make him take the pressure off Rocky fast and then we need something that’ll make him go away almost as fast. The dirtier, the uglier, the better.”

  “If this is time sensitive, I can make him dirty,” Devin offered quietly.

  “I’ll let you know if it comes to that but humiliation only comes on the heels of bein’ outed for shit you did yourself. I don’t only want him cowed, I want him brought low. You make shit up, with this guy, we’ll be treated to righteous indignation and that doesn’t help us and might even hurt.”

  “And if there isn’t anything to find?”

  “There’s somethin’ to find, this guy is an asshole. You just need to find it.”

  “You said he’s investigating you,” Devin noted.

  “Got nothin’ I’ve done I’m not proud of outside of walkin’ away from those boys and everyone knows about that.”

  “Nope, you’re right, Tanner, you haven’t but the shit you’ve done could be made to look dirty. This guy isn’t afraid of not playin’ fair, you gotta be ready for that to happen,” Dev returned.

  “Not worried about that either, Dev, people in this town, includin’ my boys and Roc, know me and what kind of man I am and, not includin’ my boys but definitely Roc, know him and what kind of man he is.”

  “Yep, boy,” Devin said softly, “that girl knows what kind of man you are.”

  His tone made Layne turn his head to look at Devin. “What’s that mean?”

  Devin kept peering into the night, puffing on his stoagie.

  “Dev,” Layne prompted.

  Devin didn’t turn his head when he replied, “You don’t wanna know.”

  “You’re wrong,” Layne returned, he wanted to know and this was communicated further to Devin because Layne’s voice was rumbling.

  Devin looked at him. “Okay, then, you’re not ready to know.”

  Layne straightened from his slouch in the chair. “Not in the mood for a mystery, Dev.”

  They stared at each other across the table then Devin asked, “You want her back?”

  Instead of answering outright, Layne said, “You spent the evening with her.”

  “You want her back,” Devin stated.

  “Dev –”

  Devin straightened, pulled the cigar out of his mouth and leaned toward Layne. “Tanner, that girl knows exactly what kind of man you are,” he repeated and finished, “and you scare the snot out of her.”

  Layne felt the muscles in his neck get tight and he said, low and curt, “I’d never hurt her, old man.”

  “That ain’t what scares her,” Devin shot back.

  “Come again?”

  “How’d this start?” Devin suddenly asked.

  “How’d what start?” Layne asked back.

  “You and her, why’s she back in your life?”

  “She had some stupid ass scheme…” Layne started then stopped, it hit him, it hit him so hard it suddenly all became clear, he turned away from Devin and looked out into the night.

  “Boy,” Dev prompted.

  “She came to the hospital when I got shot,” Layne answered quietly.

  “Right,” Dev whispered.

  Layne closed his eyes and muttered, “Fuck.”

  “Right,” Dev whispered again.

  Layne opened his eyes and whispered into the night, “Jesus.”

  “You’re as domesticated as I suspect you’re gonna get, dog, kids, house in a small town, office over a coffee shop. That don’t mean you don’t got dark and wild in you, boy. You got dark and wild in you, ain’t no gettin’ it out. Trust me, I know. A woman can see dark and wild. She can be attracted to it. She can want it. She can even fall in love with it. That don’t mean she can live with it.”

  Layne stayed silent.

  Dev sat back in his chair, put his stoagie to his lips and puffed.

  Then he took it out and spoke. “Far’s I can see, you got a lotta shit you gotta deal with. Her soon-to-be ex, whatever’s happenin’ at that church but the biggest mission you got on your plate is to convince her that comin’ home to dark and wild is a good thing but, more, convincin’ her to be home and take a chance on the fact that that dark and wild may mean one day you won’t be comin’ home.”

  “Nothin’s gonna happen to me, Dev.”

  “I know that, you know that, your girl, she don’t know that. So she’s gotta think it’s worth the risk.”

  “Her father was a cop,” Layne pointed out. “Anyone knows the score, it’s Rocky.”

  “A cop who got shot,” Devin said and Layne turned his head to look at his friend.

  “What?”

  Devin turned his head too. “A cop who got shot. I remember her story, boy.”

  “So she knows the score.”

  “And, I’ll repeat, Tanner, that don’t mean she can live with it.”

  “She’s close with her Dad, she’s close with her brother, she’s fine.”

  “Wild dreams,” Devin replied.

  Now the old man was just irritating him and he let it show when he said, “Dev, that doesn’t make sense.”

  “You told me she shared your wild dreams. You went huntin’ for yours. She ever leave this town?”

  Layne stared at him then answered, “No.”

  “Somethin’ means the world to you, you think one day you’ll lose it, you got two choices. You cut yourself off from it so, when you lose it, that don’t destroy you or you hold it so close, it can’t ever go away but, if it does, you got as many precious memories as you can bag. Thinkin’ about your girl, do either of those sound familiar?”

  Layne suddenly found he was struggling to get enough oxygen in his lungs.

  “Well, Tanner? Do they?”

  “You know they do, Dev.”

  “So what you gonna do?”

  Layne reached for his smokes and looked to the night.

  “Two cigarettes, that’s tellin’,” Devin muttered.

  “Shut up, Dev,” Layne muttered back.

  Devin shut up. Then he stubbed his stoagie out in the ashtray and got up. He moved around the table and stood behind Layne’s chair as Layne fired up a cigarette.

  On Layne’s exhale, Devin said, “I’ll leave you to your smoke.”

  “Obliged,” Layne murmured.

  Devin moved to the door and Layne knew there’d be a parting shot even before he heard Dev hesitate in sliding it open.

  “Grab hold, Tanner,” he whispered into the night then Layne heard the door open.

  “Fuck,” Layne whispered one second after he heard it close.

  Chapter Twelve

  Toothbrush

  Rocky’s warmth was pressed against him, her head on his chest, her arm heavy on his stomach, her knee resting on his thigh – pinning him to his back in the bed.

  Her head shifted, her arm tightened around him and she slid up so her lips were against the underside of his jaw.

  “You need to wake me up, baby, I need to get to work,” she whispered.

  * * * * *

  Layne’s eyes opened and he saw dark.

  But what he felt was Rocky’s warmth pressed against him, her head on his chest, her arm heavy on his stomach, her knee resting on his thigh – pinning him to his back in the bed.

  Layne stared into the darkness and let the smell of her, the feel of her, the warmth, the softness, Rocky pressed close, pinning him to the bed for the first time in eighteen years, penetrate.

  He closed his eyes and focused on those sensations and the golden trail they left.

  Then he opened his eyes and smiled.

  * * * * *

  The night before, after Layne sat outside brooding i
n the dark through his second cigarette and to the end of his beer, he entered the house to find Jasper and Keira preparing to leave and Rocky and Tripp in the kitchen putting the finishing touches on cleaning it.

  Layne’s eyes went to his watch and he saw that Jas had half an hour before Keira’s curfew and Keira lived at most a ten minute drive away so either his son was trying to ingratiate himself with Cal and Violet by taking her safely home with time to spare or he was going to take Keira somewhere so he could make out with her.

  Layne was guessing the latter.

  “Be back, Dad,” Jasper called from the front door, his hand in Keira’s.

  “Thanks for dinner, Mr. Layne,” Keira called after Jasper was done.

  “Any time, Keira,” Layne called back and they disappeared.

  Layne looked at Devin who was standing at the front of the couch, already had his arms stretched over his head and was faking a huge yawn.

  Then he heard Rocky announce in a firm, school teacher voice, “Layne, I need to talk to you.”

  Surprised at her tone, his eyes cut to her, she gave him a look and then strutted to the steps and up them, still wearing her heels, her ass swaying with every step.

  Layne stood there and watched because he liked the show but also because she was heading up the stairs and he hadn’t had to make a complicated play to get her up there.

  He heard Devin chuckle and he looked to his friend, saw his eyes shining and Layne grinned at him.

  “Got some homework to do, Dad,” Tripp informed him and Layne’s gaze went to his son.

  “Do me a favor and do it down here,” Layne replied, Tripp’s eyes went in the direction of the stairs he couldn’t see from his place in the kitchen then they came back to his old man, he grinned then he nodded.

  Layne headed up the stairs.

  The light over the desk was on when he got there but Rocky was standing in the middle of the set up, her head moving slowly, her eyes taking in the exercise equipment. When he arrived, they shot to him and he knew something was up. Rocky was not happy.