v Ashley - Golden Trail

Then he sought to lighten the atmosphere.

“You’re a nut, sweetcheeks. Only you would think cigarettes taste good,” he joked.

“You smoked when we were together, Layne. You were my first kiss, my first everything. I’m conditioned to think they taste good,” she replied, her voice funny in a hard way, he took that shot to the gut and, while he recovered, she slid out from under him.

He got up on a forearm and watched her grab her wineglass and walk into the kitchen. She went to the bottle of wine opened on the counter and poured more in. She took a sip, her back to him, dropped her hand and stayed where she was.

He pulled in a breath, rolled off the couch and went to her.

She didn’t move so he fitted his front into her back and rested a hand on the counter in front of her.

“You gotta put in blinds, sweetcheeks.”

“Yes,” she agreed quietly.

“You also need to text me the number to the management office of this place. They need to send someone to put in sensors on your doors and change the locks. You’ve got vulnerability there.”

He felt her body stiffen in front of him and he put the hand not on the counter to her hip. If someone was still watching, they’d think this was a post-make out session, lover’s conversation.

“Rocky,” he called.

“I’ll text you the number.”

Layne pulled in breath and his fingers at her hip pressed in.

“We gotta talk about what happened on the couch.”

“Not now,” she replied instantly.

“Roc –”

“Not now, Layne, I have papers to grade.”

He dropped his mouth to her ear. “We got lots of shit to discuss, baby. What just happened, last night –”

She cut him off. “I’m not talking about last night.”

“You are. We are.”

She turned to face him and her head tipped back. “I’m not talking about last night, Layne.”

He moved into her, pressing her back into the counter. He took her wine from her hand and put it on the counter. Then he put his hand on her neck.

“The air has to be cleared,” he stated quietly.

“No, it doesn’t.”

“It does, Rocky.”

Her eyes narrowed.

“No. It. Does. Not,” she hissed.

He studied her then he relented. “I’ll let that go for now but only to let you get a pain pill.”

“I don’t need a pain pill.”

“I saw you holdin’ your wrist, sweetcheeks.”

“I know when I need a pain pill, Layne, I don’t need you to tell me.”

“You landed hard on it,” he reminded her and she surprised him by suddenly coming up on her toes and into his face, her face going tight with anger.

“Yes, Layne, I remember,” she snapped.

“Then take a goddamned pain pill,” he shot back, her anger tipping his.

“God!” she exploded. “Will you leave me alone?”

“No,” he returned. “You took all day to be alone.”

“Go to hell, Layne!” she hissed.

He leaned further into her. “That attitude you’re servin’ up, sweetcheeks, evidence we need to clear the fuckin’ air.”

Her shoulders shot straight and she tossed her hair, dislodging his hand so he put it to the counter beside her.

Then she said, “You want the air clear, okay. Here it is or, at least, what’s bothering me right now, bothering me enough to serve up my attitude,” she bit out. “See, last night was not good. You know it, I know it, we don’t have to go there. But, even you knowing how not good it was, you came here and got in my face. That wasn’t nice, you doing that when I know you know but I can take it because I deserve it. Then, on that couch, shit went down and you proved that you haven’t changed in eighteen fucking years.”

He felt his neck muscles contract and he forced his voice to a whisper when he asked, “What the fuck?”

“You had yourself a leggy brunette last night, baby.” Her voice was an insinuation mixed with deep sarcasm. “And as far as I know, she’s waiting back at your house and you still took what you could get from me on my couch.”

“Not that it’s any of your goddamned business, Raquel, but Melody left ten minutes after you did.”

“I don’t really care, you’re right, that’s none of my business.”

“You just threw it in my face, baby.”

She blew out some air before she said, “It’s not my business but you should also know I don’t believe a word that comes out of your mouth.”

“And why the fuck would you not believe me?”

“Because, Layne,” she ground out, “Jarrod replacing me so fucking quick wasn’t the first time I experienced that, was it? Gabrielle Weil was carrying around your son within weeks of me leaving our bed.”

Instantly, Layne’s back snapped straight and he stepped a foot away from her.

Then he whispered, “What?”

“And she was wearing your ring in less than a year.”

His neck muscles weren’t just tight, every muscle in his frame had turned solid.

“You are shitting me.” He was still whispering in an effort not to shout.

“No,” she returned immediately, “I’m not. So don’t come off all wounded ego that I broke your heart and left you to lick your wounds because we both know that’s not true. You got over me pretty fucking quickly and moved on. You acted to Dad and Merry and everyone like your world was rocked but it wasn’t.”

“You left me, Rocky, and after doin’ it, you didn’t get to tell me where to put my dick.”

“You are correct. My point is, you don’t get to throw in my face what happened when you don’t understand what happened and you moved on and got something better out of it.”

He lifted a hand to curl his fingers around the back of his neck, staring at her hard and asking, “Are you insane?”

“Jasper has been in my school for three years, Layne, and for a semester in my class every day. I’ve been around kids for a long fucking time. I know a good kid when I see him and I know you got something better out of it. Knowing Tripp only upped it.”

Fuck him, but she wasn’t exactly wrong.

She also wasn’t right.

Before he could reply, she finished. “I’m going to take a bath and you’re welcome to finish your game but, you should know, I’m not coming down here again until I know you’re gone. We’ll get through this because we have to but no more of that shit.” She pointed to the couch. “Whoever was out there was probably hired by Jarrod. What we did to him last night made him angry and he is not nice when he gets angry and I’ll bet, just about five seconds after he saw us walk in last night, he decided to play dirtier than he’s already been playing. And, head’s up, he’s been playing dirty even after putting her in my bed before there was time to change the sheets. But with our current situation, I’ll do my part, you do yours and we retreat back to what we’ve been doing the last two weeks. That was working. But this,” she waved her hand between them, “is as clear as the air is going to get. You don’t like it, tough. You’re just going to have to deal with it.”

Then she walked around him, out of the kitchen and kept her head bent to her feet as she walked up the stairs and landed her last. “Tuesday’s good for me for pasta bake and Keira. I’ll be at your house at six.”

Then he lost sight of her at the top of the stairs.

Layne kept his hand at his neck, clenching and unclenching, trying to release the tension in the muscles there as he stared at the top of the stairs.

Then his eyes fell to her wineglass and he resisted the urge to throw it across the room.

Then he turned on his boot and stalked out of her apartment, slamming the door when he went.

The next afternoon, Layne sat at his desk and flipped open his phone.

Using his thumb, he typed in, “Management office, The Brendel. Number. Now.” Then he sent the text to Rocky.

He clenched his jaw and flipped his phone closed.

You were my first kiss, my first everything.

Her words from last night sounded in his head.

He was, even as pretty as she was, he was her first kiss and her first lover. For her eighteenth birthday, he gave her a pair of emerald-cut emerald stud earrings, her birthstone. She’d given him her virginity.

He was her first date, her first kiss, her first boyfriend. She had friends and she was popular at school but she didn’t date, never got close to a boy, until him.

And she let him in immediately. Out of respect for father, but mostly for her and because of her inexperience, he’d played it cool the first year and he’d taken great pains her first time. He couldn’t say he was entirely successful. He could say he made her come before he caused her pain so at least she knew she had something to look forward to.

And she looked forward to it. Christ, it was like breaking a seal then what was held in exploded all over the place.

But she’d never even kissed a guy, until him.

He’d never thought about it, not once, except to thank his stars and consider himself lucky.

Now, he thought, what the fuck was up with that?

He flipped and twisted the phone around in his fingers and stared at his desk, jaw clenched, mind filled not just with last night but with a lot of shit, a lot of shit from the last three weeks and a lot of shit from nearly two decades ago and he only looked up when the security beep sounded.

His eyes went to the monitor and he saw Merry, a white coffee cup in each hand, coming up the stairs.

Answers.