“I hear you, brother, but I’m on duty in the office. I gotta brief Roc before I leave so she can take over. I gotta go,” Layne replied.
“Gotcha, see you in ten,” Cal said and Layne heard the disconnect.
His eyes were still on Rocky so he spoke. “Jasper found out who slipped Keira the drug, he’s bearin’ down on him now, Cal’s five minutes out, I gotta get to my boy.”
“Go, baby,” she whispered.
“You take notes you hear anything important, see the numbers on the screen?” he asked, she glanced at the screen and nodded, “Write down timings. I can scroll back and listen. You hear something big, something that freaks you, you take note of the time and call Merry then you call me. Yeah?”
“Yeah,” she nodded, “Go.”
He leaned in quickly to kiss her forehead that she helpfully tipped back for him and he took off.
Jasper’s Charger and Cal’s truck were in front of an enormous house that took up the entirety of a secluded cul de sac at the end of a street on The Heritage. The house was set back from the road and surrounded by trees. Its front yard was also littered with cans, bottles, chip bags and used plastic cups.
Layne parked behind Cal’s truck and jogged to the front door which was partially ajar. He slipped through and saw the house was like the yard, except a lot worse. The place was a disaster and it smelled like vomit and stale beer. And there wasn’t one keg in the wide entryway, there were three.
He heard the voices from upstairs, Jasper’s pissed, Cal’s a murmur, another boy’s sounding scared.
Layne took the stairs two at a time, moved down the hall and walked into a bedroom that was a mess, not from the party, but from a teenaged kid living in it. And it was enormous. It had a queen-sized bed, heavy, expensive furniture and it was stuffed full of everything a kid could want. State-of-the-art stereo, computer, TV, PS3, shelves full of DVDs, CDs and games, handheld video games, digital picture frames, expensive cell phone and an MP3 player scattering the surface of the desk and chest of drawers, tangles of clothes everywhere.
All three pairs of eyes came to him when he entered the room and Layne saw Cal had Jasper held back with a hand in his chest, Jasper was keeping it in check but that didn’t mean he wasn’t straining. Another boy, three inches shorter and definitely slighter than his son, his hair a sandy blond mop on his head, a bedhead, Layne had no doubt when he primped it was styled passed Tripp’s best efforts, had pressed himself against a wall. His eyes were bloodshot and his skin was gray because he was hungover. His lower lip was already swelling fat and a trickle of blood was seeping from his nose because Jasper had time to get a few in before Cal arrived.
Layne’s eyes went to his son. “You cool?”
“No,” Jasper bit out, his eyes never leaving the other kid.
Layne looked at Cal and Cal shook his head.
Layne looked back to Jas. “Stand down,” he said low.
“Slipped it to her, Dad,” Jasper growled, his gaze piercing the other boy.
“Stand down,” Layne repeated.
“Drugged her, drugged my babe, made her pass out. I wasn’t there –”
Layne got close to his son as Jasper spoke and demanded quietly, “Jasper, cool it.”
Jasper scowled at Tyler Berger and he did this for awhile as everyone waited, tense. Then he took a step back from Cal’s hand and Layne watched him force his body to relax.
Cal studied Jasper then dropped his hand.
Then Cal looked at Tyler. “You do it?”
Tyler’s frightened eyes went from Jasper to Cal. Then he realized, with two adults in the room, things had changed. One look at his room and Layne knew that Tyler Berger played the adults in his life and he was really good at it.
This was proved true when he jutted out his fat lip and grunted, “No.”
“You did it,” Jasper said softly.
“You see me do it?” Tyler shot back.
“Nope, but Justin did,” Jasper replied.
“Justin’s an asswipe,” Tyler returned.
“Justin’s got no reason to lie,” Jasper retorted.
“Maybe he did it,” Tyler suggested.
“Yeah, right, he did it,” Jasper said sarcastically. “He’s Keirry’s lab partner in Biology, they’re friends. And he’s dating Heather and thinks he’s gonna get in there. You think he’s gonna fuck that up by drugging Heather’s best friend?”
Tyler shrugged.
Layne entered the conversation. “Advise you to come clean, boy.”
Tyler’s eyes came to his and they were belligerent. “I didn’t do anything.”
“Then you better be a whole lot more convincing than you are right now,” Layne told him. “’Cause Cal and me, we can control what happens in this room. We cannot control what happens at school. You get me?”
Tyler straightened and stated, “No. I don’t get you. What I get is that I’m gonna tell my parents that you and him and your kid broke into my house and he hit me and they’re gonna call their lawyers and we’re gonna see if the Great Jasper Layne plays ball for Purdue after my parents’ lawyers get done with him.”
Layne clenched his teeth.
“My future doesn’t hinge on a full ride,” Cal remarked and all eyes went to him.
“What?” Tyler asked when no one spoke.
“Carried my girl to her bed last night. Her boy here says she had three or four beers and she was out. She’s probably a lightweight but she was out. You’re young, you don’t know how a man feels when life proves to him how vulnerable his girl is when she’s not under his watch. Not a good feelin’, boy,” Cal said.
“I’m so sorry for you,” Tyler sneered.
“Thinkin’ you better get smart pretty fuckin’ soon or I’ll make it so you feel a whole lot sorrier,” Cal whispered and Tyler’s eyes widened before he quickly pulled his asshole teenaged kid cloak back into place.
“My parents will hear that too,” he snapped, “you threatening me.”
“Won’t be able to do shit,” Cal returned. “You don’t play this smart, right fuckin’ now, I can guarantee you Jasper is gonna make your days a livin’ hell and I’m gonna make it my mission to make the rest of your life a livin’ hell. Now, do you get me?”
“You can’t threaten me.” Tyler’s voice was rising.
“Sure I can,” Cal replied casually. “Can fuck with you too and you don’t cop to what you did, I will. That’s a promise.”
Tyler looked to the floor, muttering, “This is bullshit.”
“I see you don’t feel like gettin’ smart so we’re done here,” Cal stated, moving to Jasper, putting his hand on his back and starting the both of them toward the door, he finished with, “It’s on.”
Cal and Jasper kept moving but Layne kept his eyes on Tyler as Tyler’s narrowed on Cal. He was scrambling, he knew he was fucked, he just couldn’t find a way out.
So he took the only way out he knew.
“He can’t come in here and hit me and you can’t come in here and threaten me!” Tyler was beginning to shout. “And you can’t fuck with me! My Dad’s CEO of Wyler Pharmaceuticals.”
Cal stopped, turned and looked at him, brows up. “He is? Well, fuck me, that’s impressive.” Cal put his hands to his hips and went on. “It’s impressive but what it isn’t is frightening. What’s he gonna do, come to my house and throw pills at me?”
“Shut up,” Tyler whispered.
“Still not bein’ smart,” Cal muttered, shaking his head.
“Tyler,” Layne called and Tyler’s angry eyes came to Layne. “Do you know what I do?”
Tyler glared at him a beat then jerked his chin up in an affirmative.
“Then you know I’ll follow the trail and I’ll find evidence you had the drug,” Layne stated and Tyler’s face started to pale. “So, you can spend the rest of the day cleanin’ this house but you’re gonna miss somethin’ or, what I saw downstairs, somethin’ was likely damaged or missin’ and my guess is what’s missin’ is the contents of your parents’ liquor cabinet. Your parents are gonna know you threw a party and it’s likely they’re not gonna be happy about it but they’ll probably let it slide because I reckon they let a lot slide with you, considering you’re a punk and a boy isn’t born a punk, he’s made that way.”