Golden Trail (The 'Burg #3)(8)

He stared at his son and noted Tripp was also watching him.

Then he made a decision.

“A long time ago, before your Mom, we were together. We lived together. It was good. Then it went bad. Very bad. I’m not a big fan of Mrs. Astley.”

“No shit?” Tripp asked and Layne looked at his younger son.

“No shit,” he answered.

“Wow,” Tripp whispered.

“How’d it go bad?” Jasper asked and Layne’s eyes went to him.

“Maybe, you still care, in about five years I’ll tell you,” Layne answered.

Jasper studied his father and then, miracle of miracles, he let it go.

“We goin’ to Uncle Dave’s tonight to eat her cookin’?” he asked.

“Yeah,” Layne answered.

“That’ll be interesting,” Jasper muttered.

Layne’s anger dissipated and he grinned. It was too bad Jasper spent so much time honing his ass**le teenaged kid act. When he wasn’t doing that, he was smart and damned funny.

“Yep, it’ll be interesting,” Layne agreed. “Now, you guys hafta get to school. And Jasper, I want you to take the trash out before you go.”

The ass**le teenaged kid came back in a flash.

Still, he took the trash out before he went.

After they were gone, in the house alone, Layne let Blondie out to roam the yard while he showered and dressed to get ready to go into the office. He was on his way through the kitchen from the sliding glass door when he saw her mug sitting on the counter, the impression of her lower lip in pink gloss on the side.

Layne stopped and stared at it.

Then he decided to do the dishes before he took a shower.

Chapter Two

My Sister Goes the Distance

Layne sat at his desk in his office and stared at his bank balance on the computer.

Six weeks ago, it was healthy. A year ago, before he bought the house, furnished it and bought his son a car, it was very healthy.

Now, after taking the gargantuan hit of paying his hospital bills, it was not.

He’d lived tight, not much to spend money on; his biggest expense was child support, which Gabby, on a strict schedule of every three years, went to her attorneys to jack up. He never fought her; he just gave her the money. She was a bitch but she loved her kids and she worked hard as the manager of the checkout clerks at the grocery store. She wasn’t rolling in it and she wanted her sons to have a good life. So Layne did his part to help her give it to them.

He heard the warning beep, someone had tripped the sensor which meant someone was coming up. His eyes moved to the video screen on the shelf to his left and he saw Gabby walking up the steps.

Layne had offices over Mimi’s Coffee Shop in town. They consisted of his office, a reception and a small room beside the front door with a counter, a coffeepot on the counter (not that he used it, he wanted coffee, he went to Mimi’s), a sink, a microwave also on the counter and a half-fridge under it. There was a small bathroom, toilet and sink. There was also a big storage room off his office where he kept his equipment.

He watched as Gabby made it to the top and turned to the door and he realized that it wasn’t just a shit day, it was a super shit day.

He stood and was leaning against the doorjamb to his office when she walked in.

“Tanner,” she snapped when her eyes hit him and he shook his head. He hadn’t even said hello and she was snapping at him.

“Good to see you, Gabby,” he replied and her eyes narrowed at his hard to miss sarcasm.

It was not good to see her. It was never good to see her. His ex-wife was a bitch.

At first, he knew she had reason. When Rocky broke it off with him, not even a week later, he’d been out, he’d been drunk and he’d hooked up with Gabby. She had dark hair, like Rocky, but also dark brown eyes, not like Rocky. Rocky’s eyes were deep blue. Nevertheless, he’d f**ked Gabby because she reminded him of Rocky. It had been a one night stand. That was, until two and a half months later when she hunted him down and informed him she was pregnant, it was his and she was keeping the baby. She also informed him they were getting married.

He did not want to do this mainly because, when he wasn’t drunk, he didn’t like her. Also because he didn’t believe the kid was his. Everyone knew Gabrielle Weil got around.

When she had it, though, even as an infant, Layne took one look at his son and knew.

So he did right by Jasper and married Jasper’s mother.

It was the second stupidest thing he’d done in his life, outside getting hooked up with Rocky.

Gabby was far from stupid, though, she knew he was hung up on Rocky and this made their marriage unpleasant, to say the least. Layne tried, God’s honest truth, he did. She wasn’t Rocky, that was true, but he had to give it to her, he couldn’t imagine being tied to a woman who was hung up on another man, who you knew she was thinking about him when you f**ked her.

But he’d wanted to be a good Dad. He didn’t have a father, his father took off within weeks of him being born, and he didn’t want his son to grow up like that. That was the primary reason he’d married her.

But no matter how he tried to make their marriage good and worked to bury the bitterness of losing Raquel, Gabby sensed it under the surface and she made life a living hell. He was close to breaking it off with her when she fell pregnant with Tripp. They hadn’t had sex in months and she knew he was pulling away. That was why he woke up with her mouth latched to his cock, his c**k hard under her working him and he’d f**ked her. If Tripp hadn’t come out of that, he’d think it was the third stupidest thing he’d done in his life. But he couldn’t imagine life without Tripp.