“If I disappear, especially from the Pacemates, they’ll know –”

Layne cut her off. “I told you, I got a guy who’ll watch your back.”

“He got twelve eyes? Because they can come from all directions,” she returned.

He knew that even better than she did. He got hit with three bullets and each of those bullets came from different guns. Ambush. The only things Marissa had given him were who was behind it and why they didn’t drill a round in his head after he went down.

“You trusted me to do the right thing with that shit you just shared, now trust me to do the right thing by you,” Layne told her.

“I’ve been takin’ care of my –”

He stepped back into her space and she clamped her mouth shut. “I know you have, Marissa, so I know this won’t be easy, since no one has ever looked out for you but I’m not like the trash that’s been twistin’ around you your whole life. You know it. This guy knows what he’s doin’ and if I didn’t think he did then I wouldn’t send you out there.” She’d closed down, he could see it, she was giving him nothing and she wasn’t buying one word he said. That was how terrified she was of what she’d just done. And fear could make you do some seriously stupid shit. So Layne pushed, “Your life just changed. You had an opportunity to turn your back on a bunch of girls you don’t know who’re either livin’ nightmares or goin’ to. You didn’t do that. You did the right thing. Now you leave the wrong life behind and look, the fuck, forward to an entirely new experience.”

She gazed up at him and he knew she was undecided.

So he decided for her.

“Dev doesn’t get a call, you make me hunt you down, which I’ll do, Marissa, no fuckin’ joke, that’ll piss me off. But I got too much to worry about to worry about you and if something happens to you, I’m not livin’ with that on my conscience. So you make me take time out to take you to LA and make you safe, like I said, that’ll piss me off. You don’t wanna piss me off. So, tonight, pick up the phone and call Dev.”

He didn’t know how he got to her but he got to her and he knew that when she whispered, “I’ll call Dev.”

“Eyes and ears open until you reach LA. You don’t turn that ‘vette, just leave it,” Layne pressed.

She nodded.

“Until you’re with my man, you get a bad feeling, you call Dev.”

She nodded again.

“You got friends; they’re not your friends anymore. You’ll make new friends in LA.”

She swallowed then she nodded again.

Layne examined her face then he toned it down. “You did the right thing.”

“Right,” she whispered and Layne knew she didn’t believe him but instead wished she could turn back time and keep her mouth shut.

“Before it turned shit for you, how would you feel if some woman saved you from that life?”

“They’ll never know it was me,” she returned.

“You wouldn’t have either but you also wouldn’t have had that life. Isn’t knowin’ that enough?”

She pulled her lips between her teeth and pressed her teeth together. Then she nodded again.

“You did the right thing,” he repeated.

She nodded yet again then her teeth released her lips so she could say, “Do me a favor?”

“What?” Layne asked.

Her face changed, she gave him that look with her mouth going soft and Layne hoped for her that she’d direct that look to the right guy, a guy who would show her the life she should have had.

“Don’t get dead,” she replied on a whisper, bent and gave Blondie a quick rub and then without looking at him again, she turned and jogged away.

Blondie woofed her excited good-bye.

In case they had an audience, Layne didn’t watch her go. He immediately opened the door to his truck, Blondie jumped in, he slammed it, rounded the hood, folded into the driver’s side and pulled out of his spot. He scanned the area as he did so and he drove home with his eyes on his mirrors just as much as they were on the road.

He’d wait until the planned meet later with Devin and Ryker to give Devin his next assignment.

* * *

Layne was sitting in Merry’s armchair in his living room, facing his front door as Merry walked in.

“You’re a hard man to get hold of,” Layne remarked, Merry turned quickly, his hand going into his jacket toward his gun before he saw Layne and stopped.

“Jesus, fuck, shit, Tanner, what the fuck?” Merry clipped.

“Been callin’ you, brother,” Layne reminded him.

“Yeah, so, I’m busy and you break into my goddamned house?” Merry asked, coming into the room shrugging off his leather jacket and throwing it on the back of the couch.

“You’re busy?” Layne asked, not making the slightest move in his chair except to raise his eyebrows.

“Yeah, brother, busy,” Merry bit off then asked, “How’d you get in here?”

“Picked the lock,” Layne answered.

“You’re tellin’ me you picked the lock of a cop’s apartment?”

“Nope, I’m tellin’ you I picked the lock of the apartment of the man who’s supposed to be my partner in an operation, one that got my ass shot. He’s also the man who’s supposed to be my goddamned friend and he knows I got all sorts of shit goin’ down, some of it with my boys on the line. He’s also the man who’s brother to my woman who –”

Merry lifted a hand and interrupted. “I get it.”

“You do? I don’t think so. See, if you did, you’d return my goddamned phone calls.”

“I’ve been busy, all right?” Merry lied.

“That’s fuckin’ lame and you fuckin’ know it,” Layne growled, having trouble keeping his seat.

Merry moved straight off the defensive to take the offensive. “You been busy too, brother.”

“Yeah, I have,” Layne agreed.

“So, let me help you with that. Lay off Dad,” Merry returned.

Layne stood and Merry tensed.

Then Layne spoke. “Rutledge is providing safe haven to a Caucasian female in her mid-forties named Nicolette Towers. The shit goin’ down at Youth Group is her game. She likes girls, she likes pimpin’ ‘em any way she can and she just plain likes ‘em.” Layne ignored Merry’s face twisting with disgust and continued. “Colt’s in on this as is a guy named Ryker who I ‘spect you know. Ryker and me, we’ve partnered up and my man Devin is workin’ this too. We’re goin’ in hard, her boy is goin’ down, Rutledge is goin’ down and Towers is goin’ down. Of that cast of characters, the one with the most to lose is Rutledge. She’s got dirt on him and it’s not just dirt. It’s filth. Only thing the boys in the hole hate worse than a cop is a pedophile. He’s both and he’s fucked.” Layne crossed his arms on his chest and kept his eyes locked on Merry. “I got intel that says what we suspected, that ambush was a warning. If they meant to kill me, they’d have done it. They won’t give me a second warning. That said, I’m not pussyfooting around with this shit. I want Rutledge scared, I want Gaines freaked and I want Towers on alert. And all that shit is gonna come from me, not you, not Colt. Me. Colt’s workin’ it but he’s not swingin’ his ass out there. I am. What I don’t want is any of them to run. They run, we’re fucked, they’ll go out of your jurisdiction and they’ll do it after they drill a round in my skull. This operation is gonna require skill and it’s gonna require teamwork and I gotta know, right now, if you’re out because you disappear off radar like you did this week, I’m dead.”

“I’m not out,” Merry clipped.

“Good, welcome back to the team,” Layne returned.

Merry scowled at him then asked, “You done?”

“Nope,” Layne answered. “I’m guessin’ you know Roc and I are back together.”

“Yeah, forgot to send my congratulations bouquet,” Merry retorted sarcastically and Layne pulled in breath.

They watched each other and Layne waited. Merry couldn’t take a stare down, didn’t have enough control, therefore he broke the silence first.

“I figure, since you aren’t movin’ toward the door, you got more to say,” he prompted.

“No, I’m not movin’ to the door because I’m waitin’ to hear what you have to say,” Layne replied.

“Think we had this conversation before, brother,” Merry reminded him.

“And I think I made it pretty clear I didn’t like the way that one went,” Layne shot back.

“Seems you liked it enough, since my sister’s keepin’ you warm at night again.”

“Don’t piss me off,” Layne whispered his warning.

“You aren’t already pissed?” Merry returned.

“Good you could read that, Garrett.”

“Not hard, Tanner.”

“Okay, then I’ll keep makin’ it easy for you. You and your Dad, you’re scared shitless of whatever the hell it is your scared shitless of that would make Rocky cut you out if one or the other of you grows a pair and pulls your head outta your ass –”

“Okay, now you’re pissin’ me off,” Merry growled.

“I’m not done,” Layne told him. “To finish, I find out you sat on somethin’, somethin’ that kept her from me when I wanted her and she wanted me, somethin’ that meant we lost eighteen years, somethin’ that kept her livin’ in fear, led her to a dickhead who treated her like shit, then you better stop worryin’ about her cuttin’ you out and start worryin’ about me. Because, brother, there is nothin’ that is gonna tear us apart, not again, she’s mine until she dies. And I find that shit out, I hold a mean grudge and, God’s honest truth, Garrett, you’ll lose us all and not one of us is ever comin’ back. Do you get me?”

Merry smiled and it was nasty. “Don’t play that game, Tanner. You pit yourself against me and Dad, when it comes to Rocky, I promise you, you’ll lose.”

“You seem sure.”

“That’s because I am.”