Golden Trail (The 'Burg #3)(164)

“You got a girl who’s got that assclown under her skin?” Ryker shot back and before Layne could answer, Ryker did it for him. “No, you don’t. My babe’s worried but she don’t wanna upset Alexis. Alexis’s Dad is a dickhead. Always cancellin’ on his weekends, breaks Alexis’s heart. He pays child support about once every six months, if Lissa’s lucky. She don’t have a lot and she can’t give Alexis a lot but she works her ass off to give her what she can and that means Alexis don’t see her Mom much either. Alexis likes this Youth Group, she likes this guy and has friends there. Alexis hasn’t found much she likes. Lissa wants her to have what she wants. We been talkin’ ‘bout that shit and she’s been callin’ me down but I been meanin’ to look into it for awhile. Now, I’m lookin’ into it.”

Layne got where Ryker’s woman Lissa was coming from and also where Ryker was coming from.

Even so, it didn’t matter. “You shouldn’t have hesitated, now it’s too late, the wheels are in motion and both my boys are caught up in it and I’m not gonna have you jack them up.”

Ryker stared at him then sat back and whispered, “Cosgrove.”

“Come again?” Layne asked.

“Alexis has a date tonight, her first, with Seth Cosgrove. You set that up?”

Layne didn’t answer.

“Only thing would get her out from under that f**kwad is Cosgrove. Alexis won’t shut up about him. She thinks that Youth Minister is the shit but she thinks the sun shines outta Seth Cosgrove’s ass,” Ryker told him.

“Lissa religious?” Layne asked.

“She prays but she don’t pray to a God in a house that let a jackal in,” Ryker answered.

“Then she needs to suck it up. You and I both know that is not a good place for Alexis to be. Alexis freaks, she freaks, but get your woman to pull her daughter’s ass outta there,” Layne advised.

“That ain’t gonna work, Alexis is a handful.”

“Then you step in.”

“Not my place.”

“You bangin’ her Mom?” Layne asked and Ryker’s jaw got tight.

“Not my place,” Ryker repeated.

“How long you been bangin’ her Mom?” Layne pushed.

“Bro,” Ryker leaned in warningly, “not my place.”

Layne held his angry gaze and said quietly, “Don’t give me that badass bullshit. You care about this kid, you didn’t, you wouldn’t have spent the time you spent surveilling Gaines’s apartment. What you’re doin’ isn’t for Lissa so much as it’s for Alexis, you know it, I know it, you deny it, I’m tellin’ you that’s bullshit. She doesn’t have a Dad? Be a true badass, Ryker, and give her one by protectin’ her from what you and I both know is some seriously bad shit.”

Ryker glared at him but didn’t answer.

So Layne continued. “I call the moves on this investigation. You make the moves I call. You don’t then you go it alone, but I’m tellin’ you right now, you f**k up what I got goin’ on and you put my boys’ asses further out there than they already are, we got problems.” Layne paused then whispered, “I’m not someone you mess with, Ryker. I think you already get that and my guess is that you don’t want a demonstration of why. Do not make me demonstrate why. Clear?”

Ryker kept glaring at him but still didn’t answer.

“I got a meet with Colt in about fifteen minutes. Girls are on the line and we got no choice but to go in hard at every angle we can manage. Colt isn’t stupid and he knows what’s happening in his Department. He’ll take care of that. Now, you got two jobs, one is to do what I tell you to do and the other one is to get your woman’s daughter outta that mess. You with me?” Ryker didn’t respond so Layne prompted, “I need to know you’re with me.”

Ryker hesitated only a beat before he grunted, “I’m with you.”

“Then you stay for the meet with Colt. You need to know all that’s goin’ down but you’re gonna hear shit that doesn’t leave this office. I find out it leaves this office then I’ll know who shared and that is not gonna make me happy.”

“Think I’m done with you threatenin’ me, bro,” Ryker growled.

“Got two boys, a woman, a dog and nearly three months ago I took three bullets because of this shit,” Layne said softly and Ryker’s brows went up. “Yeah, you heard about it. Two and two are makin’ four and I mean that for both of us. Now, you think I’m gonna go through that again, put my boys and woman through that again, you think wrong. I’ll do what I gotta do to prevent that. So, boilin’ that down, big man, I’m not makin’ threats.”

Ryker stared at him. Layne sat back, grabbed his coffee off the desk and took a sip.

When he put the coffee back to his desk, Ryker spoke.

“One thing,” he said.

“Yeah?” Layne asked when he said no more.

“Cosgrove better be into her. This is just a mission and he leaves her crushed –”

Layne interrupted him and fought back a grin. He couldn’t have been sure Ryker was doing what he was doing for Alexis rather than the best head he ever had that he got from her Mom. Now he knew this was for Alexis. He also knew what kind of man Ryker was.