Golden Trail (The 'Burg #3)(15)
“What’s her plan, Merry?”
Merry pulled in a breath then blew it out. Then he said, “She’s gonna reel him in.”
“Come again?”
“She’s gonna get on his radar, hopin’ he’ll be interested, which I know he will, then she’s gonna get him to ask her out and get close.”
Layne felt the leg of lamb, cooked with rosemary and garlic and served with roasted potatoes, homemade tzatziki sauce and fresh, still hot from the oven, homemade pita bread followed with homemade baklava smothered in a sugary honey roil in his stomach.
“She intends to sleep with him?” he whispered.
Merry gave him an unhappy look.
Then he said, “We’re talkin’ Rocky here, brother. My sister goes the distance.”
“Fuck,” Layne was still whispering. “Fuck!” he repeated, not in a whisper.
“You talk to her, she’s gonna be pissed… at me,” Merry informed him.
“I’ll take that chance,” Layne snarled.
“Fuck, now you’re pissed at me,” Merry muttered, studying him.
“Believe it, brother,” Layne clipped. “You should have nipped this in the bud.”
Merry threw his arms out. “This is Rocky!” He took a step closer to Layne. “We been skirtin’ this awhile, Tanner, but here we are. It’s over, long over, but we all know shit’s so f**ked up between you two, it isn’t ever gonna get sorted. We also know shit’s so wound up between you, there’ll always be a connection. No,” his hand came up almost in Layne’s face, close enough for Layne to snap his mouth shut, not close enough for Layne to feel the need to take a swing, “do not bullshit me. There’s shit you don’t know and I’m not gonna tell you but let’s just say the last eighteen years you aren’t the only one been lickin’ those wounds, keepin’ ‘em fresh.”
Another shot to the gut, this one bounced around, tearing through a variety of organs.
“You are shitting me, Merry, she walked out on me,” Layne ground out.
“I’m not goin’ there,” Merry shot back.
“You brought it up,” Layne bit off.
“I’m just sayin’, you are not comin’ at this in a position of not bein’ in the know of what I’m dealin’ with here. Roc gets somethin’ in her head, nothin’s gonna shake it out and you and I both know it. The other part of this is, even with that, you aren’t in the position to do dick about it.”
“You wanna bet?” Layne asked quietly.
“Yeah, I’ll bet. Tell me somethin’, brother, she went all out tonight, why isn’t she here?”
Layne straightened and didn’t answer which he knew, f**k him, was the answer.
“Yeah, that’s what I thought. She wanted to be in on our little chat.” Merry indicated the two of them with a hand jerking back and forth. “Tonight was her idea. Dad didn’t win a f**kin’ leg of lamb in a poker game, for f**k’s sake. Rocky bought it. She isn’t stupid enough to think she can head into this without as much firepower at her back as she can get. She went to your house, proverbial olive branch, and you shoved it up her ass. I get that right, brother?” Merry asked cuttingly.
Layne didn’t answer this time because he was grinding his teeth.
“You’re blown,” Merry stated. “You got two sons, an ex-wife shacked up with the town ass**le and three bullets for your troubles. Rutledge knows you took your shot, he nearly took your life makin’ his warning for you to back off so I reckon, since you’re still breathin’, he figures he’s got nothin’ to fear from you. He can only guess I gave you the intel. You’re close with every cop in that department, half of us you worked with when you served.”
“Yeah, but I’m closest to you and Colt,” Layne reminded him.
“And?”
“And because of that he’ll make Rocky in about a second,” Layne bit out.
“Yeah, and Rocky knows that. What Rutledge doesn’t know is that I’m close to my sister and I talk to her. Not a lotta cops share shit like this with their sister. Wife, maybe, their sister? No freaking way.”
“That is, if their sister didn’t hear their mother get murdered by a dirty cop in their own damned house,” Layne reminded him and watched Merry flinch. “He’ll make her.”
Merry recovered quickly. “She’s not dumb, Tanner. She’ll play it smart.”
“He’ll make her,” Layne repeated.
“He won’t make her, big man. Shit, he’s got someone in that Department on his ass. Because he felt the heat from you, he doesn’t know if it’s me, Colt, Sully or Haines. He’s too busy tryin’ to figure out which one of us made him to even think about makin’ Rocky.”
Layne was done with this conversation.
“I’m gonna talk to her,” he stated.
Merry was done too.
“Suit yourself but one thing. I got here tonight and she was in her head. Roc goes into her head for only one reason, and that’s when she’s got her feelings hurt. I know it isn’t her f**kwad husband because she won’t even speak to him except through an attorney and she tells me all about that shit. My guess is, whatever went down this morning between you and her, you scored a direct hit. I love you, man, you know it, sucked losin’ you when you two disintegrated and I’m f**kin’ thrilled to have you back, but I love her a f**kuva lot more than you and I find out she’s in her head because you can’t let go of something that happened eighteen years ago and still feel like gettin’ your licks in, you got me to worry about. You get me?”