Layne held his angry gaze and said quietly, “Don’t give me that badass bullshit. You care about this kid, you didn’t, you wouldn’t have spent the time you spent surveilling Gaines’s apartment. What you’re doin’ isn’t for Lissa so much as it’s for Alexis, you know it, I know it, you deny it, I’m tellin’ you that’s bullshit. She doesn’t have a Dad? Be a true badass, Ryker, and give her one by protectin’ her from what you and I both know is some seriously bad shit.”

Ryker glared at him but didn’t answer.

So Layne continued. “I call the moves on this investigation. You make the moves I call. You don’t then you go it alone, but I’m tellin’ you right now, you f**k up what I got goin’ on and you put my boys’ asses further out there than they already are, we got problems.” Layne paused then whispered, “I’m not someone you mess with, Ryker. I think you already get that and my guess is that you don’t want a demonstration of why. Do not make me demonstrate why. Clear?”

Ryker kept glaring at him but still didn’t answer.

“I got a meet with Colt in about fifteen minutes. Girls are on the line and we got no choice but to go in hard at every angle we can manage. Colt isn’t stupid and he knows what’s happening in his Department. He’ll take care of that. Now, you got two jobs, one is to do what I tell you to do and the other one is to get your woman’s daughter outta that mess. You with me?” Ryker didn’t respond so Layne prompted, “I need to know you’re with me.”

Ryker hesitated only a beat before he grunted, “I’m with you.”

“Then you stay for the meet with Colt. You need to know all that’s goin’ down but you’re gonna hear shit that doesn’t leave this office. I find out it leaves this office then I’ll know who shared and that is not gonna make me happy.”

“Think I’m done with you threatenin’ me, bro,” Ryker growled.

“Got two boys, a woman, a dog and nearly three months ago I took three bullets because of this shit,” Layne said softly and Ryker’s brows went up. “Yeah, you heard about it. Two and two are makin’ four and I mean that for both of us. Now, you think I’m gonna go through that again, put my boys and woman through that again, you think wrong. I’ll do what I gotta do to prevent that. So, boilin’ that down, big man, I’m not makin’ threats.”

Ryker stared at him. Layne sat back, grabbed his coffee off the desk and took a sip.

When he put the coffee back to his desk, Ryker spoke.

“One thing,” he said.

“Yeah?” Layne asked when he said no more.

“Cosgrove better be into her. This is just a mission and he leaves her crushed –”

Layne interrupted him and fought back a grin. He couldn’t have been sure Ryker was doing what he was doing for Alexis rather than the best head he ever had that he got from her Mom. Now he knew this was for Alexis. He also knew what kind of man Ryker was.

“My boys understand there’s no collateral damage. They’ll have briefed Seth. Jasper would have found another way to steer her clear if he thought Seth wasn’t into her. That means Seth is into her.”

“He better be,” Ryker returned.

“Relax, brother, he is.”

Ryker glared at him some more. Then he nodded.

Then Layne said, “You got just about enough time to get a coffee from Mimi before Colt gets here.”

“Don’t drink that fancy-ass shit,” Ryker stated.

Layne took another sip.

“You’re missin’ out,” he muttered after his sip.

Ryker looked at Blondie. “Fuck me, bro, a badass who drinks sissy coffee and owns a yellow lab.” His eyes came back to Layne, his attitude shut down and he grinned his ugly grin. “Gotta say, impressed you could pull that off.”

Layne put his cup down and pulled his phone out of his pocket, suggesting, “Maybe you should get Alexis a puppy.”

Ryker sat back and stretched his legs out in front of him, still grinning, the showdown was over, Layne was again his bud and Layne relaxed in his chair.

“They already got three cats and two hamsters. Don’t need no dog,” Ryker told him.

Layne flipped his phone open, scrolled down to Devin, hit go and looked at Ryker, muttering, “Your call.”

“What?” Devin answered in his ear.

“Give me Marissa Gibbon’s cell number,” Layne replied.

“Why?” Devin barked.

“Just do it, old man, I’ll brief you later,” Layne told him.

Devin sighed then gave him the number that Layne wrote down on a legal pad on his desk.

“Boys are with Gabby for the week and I’m at Roc’s the next two nights,” Layne told his friend.

“I’ll inform the President,” Devin replied then disconnected.

Layne grinned at his desk then punched Marissa Gibbon’s number in his phone.

“Marissa Gibbons?” Ryker asked as Layne’s thumb hit the buttons.

“I’ll tell you later,” Layne murmured and put his phone to his ear.

* * * * *

“This is the last time we meet,” Layne said to Colt who was sitting by Ryker in his office, his fingers toying with the flash drive with Gaines’s pictures that Layne gave him. “If they haven’t already, Rutledge, Gaines and the woman are gonna start bein’ more vigilant and they don’t need to see you comin’ and goin’ from my office.”

Colt nodded and leaned forward. “Copy that but I gotta know, man, why am I here and Merry isn’t?”

“Merry and I got family issues,” Layne answered, Colt’s brows went up and Layne felt Ryker’s gaze grow intense.

“Rocky?” Colt asked.

“Yep,” Layne answered.

“Somethin’ I can do?” Colt offered.

“Can you pry Merry or Dave’s heads outta their asses?”

Colt smiled. “Probably not.”

“Then no, there’s nothin’ you can do,” Layne answered.

Colt leaned back but kept Layne’s gaze. “We’re goin’ hard means you’re swingin’ your ass back out there again.”

“Had the head’s up to beat all head’s up on that, brother, this time, also got backup,” Layne replied, jerking his head to Ryker.

Colt didn’t even look at Ryker. Colt was undecided about how he felt about Ryker.

Therefore he said, “Stay sharp.”