“You don’t care about your kids, Gabrielle,” Rocky said quietly. “You care about Layne.”
Gabrielle’s torso shot back and she pushed out a puff of air. “Please.”
“You want him, you’ve always wanted him,” Rocky replied.
“Had that,” Gabby stated, her mouth a sneer, not glancing at Layne, “got rid of it.”
Layne rolled his eyes to the ceiling but Rocky laughed and it was laughter without humor so he rolled his eyes back to his woman.
“You are so full of it, Gabrielle, completely full of shit,” Rocky said quietly.
“Trust me, honey, you ever stick around long enough to get his ring on your finger, you’ll throw it back too,” Gabby stated.
Layne went still but Rocky went solid.
That didn’t mean Rocky didn’t speak. She did, to say, “Right, so, to get his ring on my finger, what’s your advice, Gabrielle? Should I quit taking birth control and get him drunk?”
“Bitch,” Gabby hissed on a forward lean.
“Oh wait,” Rocky threw down. “I don’t have to get him drunk for him to want to fuck me.”
Fucking hell.
“Women,” Layne growled.
Both ignored him.
“Go to hell,” Gabby snapped.
“See, full of shit,” Rocky went back to her earlier theme.
“What’s full of shit is you bein’ Tripp’s guide to all things girl and you playin’ matchmaker to get Jas what he wants. Yeah, I know, I hear Tripp on the phone, I saw you with Keira Winters at the game and then, poof,” her hand flicked out, “Jasper’s dating the most popular girl in school. Shit, you’ve crawled so far up their asses, it’s a wonder they can walk!” She ended on a shout.
“Tone it down, Gabby,” Layne warned but Rocky spoke over him.
“Um… let me educate you, Gabrielle,” she said. “I’m a teacher, I see it year after year, Keira’s the most popular girl and Jasper’s the most popular boy. That shit happens, the most popular boy and the most popular girl hooking up. It was going to happen one way or another but, just so you know, I didn’t work Keira, Keira worked Jas.”
“Right, Keira hasn’t been to my house for dinner,” Gabrielle retorted.
“Then ask her,” Rocky shot back.
“This is goin’ nowhere,” Layne cut in and his eyes locked on Gabby. “And this is not cool. You said your piece and, as usual, we don’t agree. Now we move on.”
“Oh no, no we don’t,” Gabby told him, her eyes still shooting fire and he knew, from experience, by the look on her face, she was about to step way over the line. And she did. “You want to know what isn’t cool? What isn’t cool is you two teamin’ up to take away the only things I got left, my boys. And what’s also not cool is you,” she jabbed a finger at Layne, “lettin’ them do what they damn well want to do whenever they want to do it. I leave here only if we have an agreement and that’s gonna be that she,” she jabbed her finger at Rocky, “doesn’t stay at your house when the boys are there and you,” she jabbed her finger again at Layne, “learn how to suck it up and be a decent father!”
Layne clenched his teeth and started counting to ten even though he knew that didn’t work, he had to try something so he didn’t lay his hands on the mother of his children.
Rocky didn’t count to ten.
She marched to the door, opened it and ordered, “Get out.”
“No way, Saint Rocky, you wanted me in, the drama happens here,” Gabrielle retorted, pointing to the floor at her feet.
“Get out,” Rocky repeated.
“You horned your way in on this discussion, you see it out,” Gabby retorted.
“I didn’t horn my way into anything, Gabrielle, this is my living room!” Rocky’s voice was close to a shout.
“Enough,” Layne clipped and both women’s eyes came to him but his eyes were on Gabrielle. “I’ve put up with your shit for a long time, penance for fuckin’ up with my boys, but that’s done. I’m warnin’ you right now, Gabby, that’s done. You fucked up and I straightened your shit out. I’ll remind you of somethin’ you forgot and it sucks I gotta throw it in your face, I wanted to avoid that but you forced my hand, but woman, you no longer have the high ground. You obviously didn’t pay even a little attention to me the last time we talked so you’ve again made a choice, the wrong one, but it’s your choice.”
He moved into her space, looked down at her and dropped his voice.
“You do not tell me how to raise my boys. You do not tell me when my woman can sleep in my bed. You do not bring drama to my doorstep or her doorstep at six forty-five in the morning or at any time. You get your support payments and we share sons. You exist for me only as their mother and that’s it. The bridge has been smoldering a long time, woman, but you just burned it to the ground. We… are… done.”
“That’s not going to work,” she shot back, leaning in and getting up on her toes to get in his face. “I know you hate it Tanner, but I’m their mother and you don’t have a choice but to deal with me.”
“Jas is in college next year, Tripp’s three years behind him. They’re nearly gone, Gabby, it’s gonna work because I’m gonna make it work.”
“Then we’ll see what the court has to say about you fucking Saint Rocky with the boys in the house,” she returned.
“Yeah, they’ll probably not like that, you know, a single man havin’ a girlfriend. They probably never heard of that. But, a single woman havin’ a live-in boyfriend who’s also an enforcer for a loan shark, they’ll like that, you reckon?”
Her face paled, she’d made a faulty play, she knew it then, she knew he had her but Gabby, being Gabby, didn’t give it to him. She went into stare down. She wasn’t as good at it as Rocky mainly because she did it with her face twisted and bitter instead of full of adorable attitude. It wasn’t nice to look at and it wasn’t fun at all.
Layne stepped back, ready to move things on but Rocky spoke and she did it softly.
“It’s almost sad,” she said and Gabby’s eyes and body swung to face her, “how much you want him and what lengths you’ll go to for his attention.”
And Rocky sounded sad, she looked it too, her eyes were no longer flashing, they were filled with understanding.
But Layne didn’t process that mainly because his gut squeezed and his eyes moved to Gabby whose face had lost all of its color and she looked like she’d been struck.
Jasper had said it but Layne hadn’t really heard it.
I see the way she looks at you, it’s the way Mom always looks at you when you don’t know she’s lookin’, but it’s more.
Jesus fucking Christ. It was Jarrod Astley, Gabby-style.
“Gabby,” he murmured and her gaze shot to him then over his shoulder.
“Screw you,” she whispered to his shoulder then turned to Rocky. “Screw you too.” She walked to the door, stopped, turned back and swept them both with a glance that didn’t really connect with either one of them. “You have it all, do what you want, you always had it all and did what you wanted. I should have known that would never change.”
“You think that, Gabby, you haven’t been payin’ attention,” Layne said quietly as he moved to stand behind Rocky.
Gabby looked at him then her eyes moved to Rocky then down them both then back to Layne.
“Screw you,” she repeated, turned, walked out the door and disappeared down the stairs.
Rocky threw the door to and turned to look up at Layne.
“Last Sunday started a whole lot better,” she noted.
Layne looked into her eyes a beat that led into two.
Then he burst out laughing.
Rocky pressed into him, her hand going over his mouth, hissing, “Layne, she might hear you!”
“Don’t care,” Layne said from under her hand.
“I do, it’s mean!”
One of Layne’s arms went to span her waist, the other hand went to her wrist and he pulled hers away from his mouth and down then he pressed
it against his chest.
“Live by the sword, die by the sword,” he muttered.
“She’s mother to your sons.”
“She’s a bitch.”
“Layne!”
“What?”
She stared at him then shook her head but didn’t answer.
It was, again, time to move on.
“All right, sweetcheeks, my guess is, we got about ten minutes before the next trauma. We can brush our teeth, make coffee and barricade the door with your couch or we can go back to bed. Your choice.”
“Can I suggest an alternate scenario where we barricade the door, start the coffee, go back to bed then brush our teeth and have a cup of joe?”
“That’ll take more than ten minutes.”
Her eyebrows went up, her body pressed closer and her arm wound around his waist. “Are you saying you aren’t up for the challenge?”
He dropped his head so his face was close to hers and whispered, “No, I’m sayin’ I’m hungry and I don’t like to be rushed when I eat.”
Her body melted full into his but it did this while she shivered.
“Bed it is, then,” she whispered back.
Layne grinned.
* * * * *
“Uh… Layne?” Rocky called hesitantly. She was sitting next to him while he drove her Mercedes, which, even though Astley got it for her, Layne had to admit was a sweet ride.
“Yeah, sweetcheeks,” Layne answered.
The next trauma hadn’t happened. In fact, he’d enjoyed Rocky, Rocky had enjoyed him, then she’d walked downstairs to start coffee, came back upstairs and joined him in the shower, they both enjoyed that then he sat on the counter in her kitchen while she made poached eggs on toast and hash browns and he kept sitting there, beside Rocky, when they ate poached eggs on toast and hash browns. Then Rocky had taken approximately half a year to blow out her hair and put on makeup while Layne called a variety of people to check on a variety of things and then they headed to his office.
He’d been unable to outfit her with a panic button the day before and he’d learned from Dave that Ernie was on duty listening to the bugs. He figured he should take his turn even though he wanted to do this about as much as he wanted to endure water torture but he might as well do it with Rocky hanging with him part of the time. She was going grocery shopping and had a few places to target for silent auction items for the charity gig but in between times she was going to hit the office. She’d be able to get him Mimi’s and lunch and he was pretty sure he could make out with her on his couch and still pay enough attention to the bugs to hear if anything was going down.
Though, the last part, he was only pretty sure about.
“Um… I’m not entirely certain how to say this,” she cut into his thoughts, still talking hesitantly. “But, I guess we’d get to this point eventually since you do have two sons and it would seem I’m going to be in your life for awhile.”
Layne didn’t know where she was heading with this but he still grinned at the windscreen and muttered, “Yeah, baby, you’re gonna be in my life for awhile.”
She was silent a moment then she said, “Okay, well then, um… she could have chosen a more diplomatic way to make her point but her point was valid.”
Layne was confused, therefore he asked, “Come again?”
“Gabrielle.”
Oh shit.
“Rocky –”
“Okay,” she said swiftly and he knew she’d turned to face him and a glance in her direction proved this true, “I’m in your life and they’re your sons so they’re in my life but that said, most of the time, promise, sweetheart, I won’t wade in unless you want me to but this time, I mean, I’ve seen Gabrielle around a lot over the years, with the boys, and it seems to me she’s a good Mom. Being a good Mom, regardless if Jasper is a boy or not, she probably worried about him last night just as much as Vi and Cal did about Keira. I know you’re a man and he’s your son, a boy, and you know how boys are so you won’t get this but I know she worried and,” she sucked in an audible breath, “you should have phoned her to let her know he was all right.”
“Sorry, were you not there a couple hours ago?” Layne asked.
“Yes, but –”
Layne talked over her. “I try to avoid communication with Gabrielle.”
“Well, I can see that too, but –”
“She’s a bitch.”
“Um… yes, but –”
Layne turned on Main and lucked out, in Rocky’s Mercedes, with a double spot open in front of the office, he could pull right in rather than needing to use all of his attention to steer the Suburban behemoth.
Therefore he was able to continue talking over Rocky as he parked. “She isn’t a bitch to the boys but she’s a hard Mom, she’s strict, she’s in their business, I’m not down with that.” He put the car in neutral, set the parking brake, switched off the ignition and turned to face Rocky. “That’s her choice. We discussed it when they were young, we discussed it throughout the time I was away and we’ve discussed it when I came back. That wasn’t the first conversation I’ve had like that with her, Roc, but it was the last.”
Rocky looked directly into his eyes but she spoke quietly when she asked, “Do you at least see where I’m coming from?”
“Yeah, I see where you’re comin’ from. You’re the woman who got up without a word, without a judgment, got in the car and went with me to take care of my boy. You’re the woman I saw grab hold of Jas’s hand last night when he was freaked and pissed and his girl was passed out in his car and he was gearin’ up to face Joe Callahan. You think Gabby would do any of that shit?”
“Um –”
“No, she wouldn’t. She’d lose it. That’s why Jas called me. That is also why he avoided her last night and went to bed.”
“But, Layne, he shouldn’t be underage drinking.”
“You did,” Layne returned and he knew she did, she didn’t do it with him, but she called him twice when she was out with friends and got hammered. He’d come to pick her and her girls up to take them home.
“It wasn’t right when I did it either,” she replied softly.
“So, I get in his face about it, next time he fucks up, and there’ll be a next time, Roc, he didn’t like the consequences of him mannin’ up and callin’ me, he goes it alone. Like Gabby said, he’s seventeen, he didn’t know what to do last night, what happens when he doesn’t know what to do but he feels compelled to go it alone because he doesn’t wanna put up with the grief he’ll get by comin’ forward and bein’ honest?”
As he spoke, Rocky’s face changed and when he was done, she whispered, “I hadn’t thought of it like that.”
Layne reached out a hand and curled it around her neck, leaning forward as he pulled her to him.
When they were close, he said gently, “I tried the lecture gig with Jas, it doesn’t go over as in, it doesn’t go over at all. He’s a learn by doin’ type of kid and he’ll make mistakes. My only hope is, he fucks up royally, he’ll call me in for guidance. Last night he fucked up, not royally, but he called me in for guidance. It was the right thing to do.” She nodded and he squeezed her neck. “And Gabby earned what she got last night. That’s the kind of parent she wanted to be, that’s what she gets. She’s too hard on ‘em. That’s my opinion. I can’t say it hasn’t worked because they’re good kids. I can say I don’t agree with all the ways she goes about it. We never found a middle ground, I was willin’ to give, she was not. This is what’s left of that.”
“Okay,” Rocky whispered.
“Somethin’ else, sweetcheeks,” Layne went on.
“What?” She was still whispering.
“You’re in my life, I’m in yours. I come with them. You wanna talk to me about them, about my decisions regarding my boys, about anything, you don’t hesitate. You got somethin’ to say to them, you say it. If I don’t agree, we’ll talk about it later. But this is your life now and I think you know, bein’ a teacher, when it comes to kids, you c
an’t hesitate.”
Her eyes went intense as her lids lowered, her mouth softened and she leaned in, veering to the side, she kissed his jaw.
Then she shifted her lips to his ear and said, “All right, sweetheart.”
His hand flexed on her neck and then slid up into her hair.
“Sweet kiss, baby, but it’s not enough,” he muttered.
Her lips moved and she kissed his cheek.
“Enough?” she said this with her lips moving against his skin.
“Nope.”
She moved again and her lips brushed his, her eyes looking into his, she repeated, “Enough?”
“Quit fuckin’ around, Roc,” he ordered.
He watched up close as her eyes smiled.
Then they closed.
Then her head tilted.
Then she gave him more than enough.
* * * * *
Layne had his feet up on the desk. He was eating the reuben Rocky bought him, his mouth over a square Styrofoam container held up almost to his chin.
Rocky was sitting on his desk, dipping a curly fry into ketchup next to her half-eaten French dip. They were listening to nothing but Layne hadn’t heard only nothing. Layne had heard a showdown between Towers and Jeremy. Jeremy had won, talking Towers down, earning a few more days to swing Giselle around. Clearly, they’d motivated him appropriately the day before, he’d handled it like a pro. Then both of them had left and now silence.
Rocky had been in and out twice. After he spelled Ernie, she’d gone to get him a Mimi’s, hung out with him awhile and then she’d headed out to hit the jewelry store on Main for a donation (and scored herself a gold and amethyst bracelet, it wasn’t fit for a queen but it wasn’t shabby either). Then she’d gone grocery shopping, taken it back to her apartment and come back with lunch.
“When does Spike come to relieve you?” she asked, popping the fry into her mouth.
“Three,” Layne answered.
She moved her Styrofoam container from one hand to the other and looked at her watch. Then her nose scrunched.
“That’s nearly two hours away,” she muttered, picking up her sandwich and shoving it into her little plastic container of au jus. “I’ve never done it but I’m pretty certain watching paint dry is more interesting. At least it changes colors. So, maybe it just darkens a shade but that’s something.”