“Do you want a drink?” He heard Rocky asking Josie.

“Love one, hon, but you know Chip’s a dinner-on-the-table-at-five-thirty-sharp type of guy. I gotta get home and start cookin’,” Josie answered then asked, “You find anything?”

During this exchange, Layne took off his jacket and threw it on the armchair. By the time he turned, Josie was finished speaking and Rocky was standing in the kitchen.

Her eyes flashed to him as she answered her friend, “No, I was interrupted.”

“So all that was for nothing?” Josie asked and while she did, she turned to pin him with an angry woman glare too.

Layne crossed his arms on his chest. “Tell me, Cagney and Lacey, what were you looking for?”

“Rental agreements,” Rocky returned instantly.

“On what?” Layne shot back.

“On an apartment, Layne,” Rocky retorted with deep sarcasm.

“What apartment?” Layne asked and Rocky’s head jerked slightly.

“Sorry?”

“What apartment, sweetcheeks? I didn’t tell you which unit he was in and I already told you he’s got nothin’ in the name of TJ Gaines in this ‘burg, so how, exactly, were you gonna find an agreement when you didn’t know what f**kin’ agreement you were lookin’ for?” He watched her glare turn even angrier as he pointed out her incompetence, he ignored it and continued. “There’s fifteen units in this complex, forty-five apartments, not counting the twenty townhomes. Every unit occupied. Were you gonna copy them all?”

“I would have thought of something,” she replied sharply. “Except I barely got through the window before Scary Biker Bob interrupted the proceedings.”

“Count yourself lucky Ryker was with me, Roc, he thinks this is amusing. I do not.”

Rocky gave him a long, last glare then turned to Josie. “You know how I was telling you the other day that getting back together with Layne was like someone had answered my prayers?” she asked conversationally and Layne’s chest froze.

“Unh-hunh,” Josie answered on a mumble, her eyes darting back and forth between Rocky and Layne.

“Well, I take that back,” Rocky snapped.

Layne looked at his boots as Josie asked, “Do I need to take Rocky into protective custody?”

Layne looked at Josie. “It’d be smart but I’m not gonna let you do it.”

Josie studied Layne awhile then she grinned. “I expect punishment won’t be too harsh.”

She probably wasn’t wrong about that. Probably.

“Anyhoots!” Josie suddenly cried, “I gotta go.” She hitched her purse more firmly on her shoulder. “Even though the operation was a bust, it was fun anyway since The Brendel didn’t hire Chip to do their security and brought in a firm outside the ‘burg which is way uncool and meant I couldn’t have that trip to Hawaii I was planning after he put in his bid.” She started to the door but she did it with her torso twisted to Rocky. “See you at the game tomorrow?”

“Maybe,” Rocky replied. “I’ll want to see Tripp and Jas play but I won’t want to be anywhere near their father so I’m undecided as to my plans tomorrow night.”

Layne’s neck got tight but Josie smiled like she was trying not to laugh and replied, “Okay, see you at the game then.”

At any other time, Layne would have laughed. At that time, Layne didn’t laugh.

Josie had the door opened and was standing in it when she delivered her parting shot and she did it to Layne.

“She’s worried,” Josie stated quietly. “They’re young girls and she’s worried. Yeah?”

She finished on a question but didn’t wait for his answer; she knew she’d driven her point home. She just stepped through the door and closed it behind her.

Layne’s eyes cut to Rocky who was moving around the kitchen but she wasn’t ignoring him. He knew this when she spoke.

“I have things to do tonight. Go to the grocery store, grade papers, make some calls about the bachelor auction, stuff like that.” She pulled the coffeepot out of the coffeemaker and went to the sink to rinse it. “I’ll give your house a miss again.”

“Roc,” he called and she picked up some plastic thing filled with yellow dish liquid and swirled its sponge around the pot. What she didn’t do was respond.

“Roc,” he called again and she rinsed the soap out of the pot and upended it in the dish drainer.

Layne walked to the bar separating the kitchen from the living room.

“Sweetcheeks, eyes to me,” he ordered quietly.

She turned off the sink, leaned to the side, grabbed a dish towel and turned, drying her hands with the towel. Her eyes hit him and her brows went up.

Layne spoke. “Cosgrove got word from three colleges they wanted to talk to Jasper. He didn’t pass on those messages.”

Her brows lowered, her lips parted and she started to look concerned as she tossed the towel on the counter behind her.

Layne continued. “It’s time I started focusing on Rutledge again but I don’t have that time because I gotta work to pay my bills. I also gotta keep an eye on Stew and Gabby’s house. It’s likely that f**kwad is gone and Colt’s lookin’ into shit but she goes home tomorrow and my boys go back to her tomorrow so I can’t lose track of what’s goin’ on there. I gotta keep sharp about Cosgrove because he’s thrown down, f**ked with Jas and he’s the kinda man who won’t see his shortcomings and understand he brought all this shit on himself, he’ll make someone pay. I reckon that’ll be Paige and Seth, Jasper or you. And I got nothin’ on Gaines except I know what he drives, I know where he went last night and I know he’s gotta be shut down. Both my boys are out there on this and somehow, Rutledge, a dirty cop who’s makin’ the Department look bad enough that pretty soon the Chief’s gonna get his head outta his ass and figure out what’s goin’ on, he’s gonna step in and he’s gonna f**k it all up because he got to be Chief not by bein’ a good cop but by bein’ good at playin’ politics. But my boys and my woman come first. You want Gaines and Tripp and Jas are seriously tied up in all this shit and I gotta have their backs.”

She stared at him and he knew she was no longer pissed but she wasn’t ready to let it go either.

So Layne went on, his voice soft. “I love you, baby, and part of why I love you is because you’re worried and you’d do something about it. Any other time this shit you pulled would be cute. Now it isn’t because I don’t have time to have your back and my boys’ and get the shit I need done, done. I was gonna run Gaines’s plates this afternoon but I couldn’t because I’m here.” Her face had changed completely, eyes half-mast, mouth soft and Layne knew he’d gotten to her. “So, help me out in a way that actually helps me out. Be there for me and be smart. Those are the only two things you gotta do, easy enough for you but they’d mean a lot to me.”