Both Jasper and Tripp were going out for pizza, Jas responsible for getting his brother home so there was only one reason Layne would remain after the game.

Therefore Colt, Morrie and Cal remained too and Rocky’s Dad, Dave and his cronies Ernie and Spike were also sticking close.

So did Gabrielle, but Stew was nowhere to be seen.

Some of the crowd was waiting around to see what Layne would do. The rest of them were likely there to give moral support or, perhaps, set up the ladder for Layne to climb in order to swing Cosgrove’s noose around a stout branch.

The folks in that town liked their football but they also looked after their kids. Cosgrove’s abuse of Tripp had been widely witnessed and an unpopular man struggling to keep his footing in that community had not only slipped, he’d come crashing to the ground.

Most of the players had come out when Jasper and Tripp came out together. When they did, Layne saw that Jasper was so close to his brother, he was crowding him but Tripp didn’t notice. His mind was elsewhere. He’d stayed benched the second half and he’d been humiliated in front of his friends, his schoolmates and half the town.

Jasper saw Layne first and he started with surprise, his eyes darted to his Mom and then came back to Layne.

Gabby closed in on Tripp.

“You okay, honey?” she asked.

Tripp took a quick step away from her, not wanting to be mothered, not anytime at fourteen years old and especially not then.

“Yeah, Mom,” he muttered.

Layne approached but Rocky stayed clear, standing in a huddle with Josie Judd, February Colton, Violet Callahan and Violet’s extremely pretty daughter, Keira.

The minute Layne met Keira between the third and fourth quarters when the women had decided that they’d given it enough time, they’d borne down on Rocky and infiltrated the boys long enough to pull Raquel aside for a quick, voices lowered discussion before they all returned and hung out with the men, Layne could see why Jas had been hooked.

He stopped close to Jasper, Tripp and Gabby and said, “Good game, Jas. Tripp, sweet tag and great run, Pal.”

Tripp tipped his head back just enough to look at his father under his brow and then bent his neck again.

“Great catch, kid,” Cal said, coming up to Layne’s side, Tripp shrugged, not looking at him then Cal went on. “You Jasper?”

“Yes sir,” Jasper replied.

“Layne says you’re goin’ for pizza,” Cal remarked.

“Yeah,” Jasper answered.

“Keira wants to go. You think you could get her there, bring her home?”

This was something Keira had finagled during the fourth quarter (giving cause to her hanging out with the adults) through a girl gang ambush of Cal that included her mother, Feb, Josie and Rocky while Cal stood, arms crossed on his chest, his eyes to the heavens. Rocky had not been wrong. Keira Winters definitely liked Jasper and it was evident she was tired of waiting around for him to make his move. Layne knew this because, during her finagling, she and her posse had succeeded in enlisting Cal for the maneuver he’d just delivered.

Tripp’s head jerked around to look at his brother but Jasper looked toward Rocky, Keira and the other women then he looked back at Layne.

“Why’re you hangin’ around, Dad?” he asked.

Layne didn’t delay in replying. “Waitin’ for Coach.”

Tripp’s body got tight and Jasper’s face got hard before he looked at Tripp then to Cal then to Keira.

Then he yelled, “Hey Keira, can you wait a sec for pizza?”

“Yeah,” Keira shouted back.

“Cool,” Jasper yelled in return.

“Jas, dude, what’re you –?” Tripp began.

Jasper interrupted him. “Waitin’ with Dad.”

“But –”

“Waitin’ with Dad,” Jasper said more firmly and Tripp looked to Layne.

“Dad, it wasn’t that –”

“It was, Pal.”

“But –”

Layne leaned into him and got in his face. “No one puts his hand on my boy. Not like that. Get me?” Tripp looked uncertain and Layne repeated, “Get me?”

Tripp stared him in the eyes, heaved a sigh, nodded once and muttered, “Got you.”

Jasper and Tripp stayed close, so did Colt, Morrie, Cal and Gabby as well as the milling crowd. Finally, Cosgrove left the locker rooms.

Layne moved right in, Cosgrove saw him and lifted a hand.

“Don’t need this Tanner, those boys are my boys on the field.” And he moved to walk by Layne but Layne got in front of him and stopped him with a palm flat on his chest.

Cosgrove looked down at Layne’s hand, his face got red and his head shot back but before he could say a word, Layne removed his hand and spoke.

“You got this weekend to come up with a good excuse to tell the School Board when they investigate the formal complaint I’m lodging first thing Monday morning.”

“Those boys are mine on the field,” Cosgrove clipped.

“I agree, to coach, to motivate, to teach, to train. I get discipline. What I do not get and will not tolerate is you takin’ out your frustration that you will not live your dream through your kid by puttin’ your hand on my kid in anger.”

Cosgrove’s eyes narrowed. “Who do you think –?”

“I think I’m a man who watched another man slap and shove my son with such force, he had no choice but to physically retreat.”

“He was padded!”

“Yeah, but I counted, Cosgrove, you hit him seven times. Seven times for lookin’ into the crowd. He just tagged a pass most college kids can’t tag, ran over forty yards and you hit him seven times for smiling into the crowd.”

“He was padded, Tanner!” Cosgrove bellowed.

“Good luck with that at the School Board hearing.”

“I do not need this shit,” Cosgrove muttered and moved to pass him, Layne moved to block him and Cal and Colt flanked him.

Cosgrove looked around the men, all three taller, leaner and fitter than him and halted.

Then his eyes narrowed and his voice dropped low. “Don’t cross me, Tanner. That same School Board is lookin’ for reasons to lose your new girlfriend and, you get in my face, I’m thinkin’ I might find some.”

Layne pulled in breath to control his anger.

“Maybe we should give him a shovel,” Morrie, standing behind Layne, suggested. “It’ll make him diggin’ that hole he’s diggin’ a whole lot easier.”

Cal chuckled but Layne stared in Cosgrove’s eyes.

“You do not wanna take me on,” he said quietly. “I’m givin’ you good advice, Coach, you do not wanna take me on.”

Then before Cosgrove could reply, Layne turned, saw Jasper was close to Morrie, his eyes on his old man.

“Go get some pizza, Bud, yeah?” Layne ordered.

Layne stared at his Dad as he said slowly, “Yeah.”

“Good game,” Layne muttered, stopped himself from clapping Jasper on the shoulder and walked by him to Tripp who was standing with Gabby.

Tripp he slapped on the shoulder, his fingers curling around, he gave his son a few gentle jerks.

Then he said, “Go have fun, Pal.”

“Okay, Dad,” Tripp whispered, looked at Layne for three beats then peeled off and followed Jasper who was walking side by side with Keira out of the grounds.

Layne looked around and, still not spotting Stew, he asked Gabby a question he really did not want to ask.

“You need a ride home?”

“I’m good,” she said softly and the way she spoke made Layne focus on her. “Wish they had that all their lives, Tanner,” she went on and Layne felt his neck muscles contract before she finished on a whisper. “But it’s good they have it now.”

Then she hurriedly turned and just as hurriedly walked away.

Morrie clapped him on the back as he walked by, Layne tipped his chin up at Cal and Colt as they made their way passed him toward their women and he gave Dave, Ernie and Spike the high sign which made Dave nod and all of them begin to move away while Rocky approached.

“How’d that go?” she asked, her eyes going beyond him, indicating she was referring to the showdown with Cosgrove.

“I’m not thinkin’ good,” he replied and she got close and bumped him with her shoulder.

“Tell me over pizza,” she invited. “All this talk about pizza and I’m starved. I think it’s my turn to treat.”

He looked down at her to see she was talking in a light way but her eyes were intense, studying him and trying to read him without showing she was.

“Sweetcheeks, we got two pizza places in this ’burg and both of ‘em will be crawling with kids.”

“We’ll get Reggie’s, take it to Merry’s.”

That sounded like a plan.

“You’re on but I’m buyin’,” he said, turning and throwing an arm around her shoulders, pointing her to the exit.

“It’s my turn,” she repeated, sliding her arm around his waist.

“Baby, you just put down first and last and a deposit. I’ll get pizza.”

She walked one foot crossing in front of the other so her weight pressed into him, taking them both off stride and he remembered she’d do that too, all the time, just to horse around when they’d walk close together.

That new bullet scored through his gut but he was able to handle it when she yielded.

“Okay, Layne, you’ve convinced me. You’re buying.”

* * *

“Let me get this straight,” Rocky started, sitting cross-legged facing him on Merry’s couch. “Stew Baranski is screwing over your ex-wife; I’m getting divorced from a cheating asshole; I just took on an apartment that costs about double what I can afford if I have to live on my own salary; Coach Cosgrove, who’s a jerk all the time, by the way, not just tonight, has thrown down, threatening to get me fired; you’re lodging a formal complaint against him on Monday; and you and I are faking a relationship in order to uncover a dirty cop who, nearly seven weeks ago, almost got you killed.”