“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 can’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.”
Layne grinned at his reuben.
“Told you this investigation shit is mostly boring,” Layne muttered back, her eyes slid to him and he took a huge bite of one of many of Frank’s Restaurant’s freaking fantastic sandwiches and watched his woman smile.
Layne’s phone rang, her eyes dropped to it on his desk and then narrowed.
“Cal,” she whispered as Layne pulled his feet from the desk and reached for the phone.
He flipped it open and put it to his ear. “Yo, Cal.”
“You at a place where you can move quick?”
Layne’s back went straight.
“Maybe, why?”
“’Cause Keira just came shooting out of her bedroom. Even though she’s grounded and Vi told her no phone calls or texts for a week, she found a way to take one from Jasper. Apparently, he’s been on a mission today. He found out what happened last night and he’s meanin’ to do somethin’ about it.”
Oh fuck.
Layne put his lunch down and stood, reaching for his jacket. “She tell you what he found out?”
“Yep. He heard from someone who witnessed it that Keirry took a shot from a kid named Tyler Berger. Keira says she doesn’t remember it but if she did it that was the only drink she had that Jasper himself didn’t hand her. Jasper learned she took it after usin’ the bathroom right before they were gonna leave so the timing fits. According to Keira, Jasper is not a big fan of Tyler Berger mainly because, while he was playin’ it cool and textin’ her, Tyler asked Keira out. She didn’t go but this made Tyler pretty fuckin’ unpopular to Jasper. Jasper told Keirry that he reckons this kid slipped her the drug and he’s itchin’ for payback for last night and for Tyler tryin’ to move on his territory. That said, Keira says Tyler’s a slimeball and she doesn’t put this shit passed him. She says his parents are out of town and it was his party they were at last night. Jasper is headin’ that way and so am I.”
He had his jacket on and his eyes glued to Rocky. “Where is it?”
“The Heritage. Don’t have the house number but Keira says it’s the second left in the development, at the end of the street. I figure I’ll see Jasper’s Charger parked out front.”
“I’ll be there in ten,” Layne stated.
“Good, I’ll be there in five, I’ll deal with what I find and you take it from there,” Cal replied.
“He was pissed, Cal, and he’s protective. What you find may be messy,” Layne warned.
“Yeah, why’d you think I went easy on him last night? He was more torn up about what happened to Keirry than Vi and I were, and, man, I gotta tell you, your girl gets slipped a date rape drug, it tears you up. But, Keira is on a mission to live her high school years to their fullest and is definitely not immune to fucking up as in taking a shot from a known slimeball and downin’ it.”
This was not in doubt, the Layne family had learned Keira was a nut and it was further indication his son was just like his old man.