He watched Merry’s lips thin then he said, “She would call it, seein’ as I phoned her during her lunch hour to give her the head’s up and then I got her to share what she’s not been sharin’ with anyone but Dad.”

That did not sound good. Raquel shared everything with Merry. If she was keeping something from him, it was something bad, as in, something that would make good ole boy Garrett Merrick go ballistic.

“What?” Layne asked.

“Where should I start?” Merry asked back.

“Garrett,” Layne said low.

“Okay, first, he’s moved their money. All of it.”

Layne’s back straightened in his chair. “Come again?”

“Drained their joint accounts, bank, investment and liquidated stock portfolios. Opened up new accounts in his name only and deposited the money there.”

That didn’t come up in his searches.

“When?” Layne bit off.

“Last week. She started buyin’ shit for her apartment, he cut her off. Started there, she found out on Saturday when she tried to buy something that he cancelled her credit cards. She only has two but they’re also joint and he’s cancelled them both.”

“Fucking shit,” Layne ground out.

“Unh-hunh,” Merry nodded.

“What the f**k are her attorneys doing?”

“What they can, which isn’t much since he’s refusing to meet. You know, brother, the wheels of justice don’t roll, they grind. Their court date isn’t for five and a half months.”

“He can’t take all the money like that, Merry,” Layne clipped.

“He can until the powers that be tell him to give it back,” Merry returned.

“You’re wrong, Merry, he can’t do that. He pulls this shit, Rocky’s attorneys can move to have his assets frozen.”

“I’m right, Layne, because Dr. Astley isn’t just Dr. Astley. Why do you think their court date is buried for five and a half months? She’ll be lucky to see that, big man. They’ll postpone and delay until she’s desperate. He doesn’t just make money, he comes from it. These boys who got Roc’s life in their hands aren’t in his pocket, they grew up together. They’re brothers, brother, like you and me.”

“Goddammit!” Layne exploded, pushing back and out of his chair, curling his fist around his phone, he turned to the window and stared out at Main Street, his fists to his hips.

“I’m guessin’ from that reaction she didn’t share with you,” Merry noted.

“No, she didn’t share,” Layne told the window. “She said he was playing dirty, she just didn’t say how.”

“Now you know.”

Layne made a decision and turned to face his friend.

“Names,” he growled.

“What?”

“You said he was bangin’ every nurse on staff, I want names. I want the name of every woman he even looked at too long since two seconds after he laid eyes on Rocky.”

Merry smiled and it was cruel. “Not enough paper in the ‘burg for that list, Tanner.”

“I’ll order a box for you on-line, have it delivered to your condo.”

Merry nodded, still smiling but the cruelty had gone out and humor had seeped in.

“You might find time to walk across your street,” he suggested. “Natalie Ulrich isn’t Dr. Astley’s biggest fan considering he’s not just a dick, he’s an arrogant dick and, if he isn’t bonin’ the nurses, he’s givin’ them shit. Emma’s friends with Natalie and Emma tells me Natalie’s in throes of ecstasy that Rocky’s Merc is in your drive. Apparently, she’s big into romance novels and she’s thinkin’ one’s playin’ out on her very own street.”

“Natalie just got scratched on the top of my to-do list,” Layne muttered and his phone chimed in his hand.

He dropped his head, flipped it open and saw that Rocky had sent him the number. Nothing else, just the digits.

Fuck.

He flipped the phone shut, tossed it on his desk, sat back down, looked at Merry and got down to the important shit.

“Remember when I told you everything was fine between me and Roc?” he asked and watched Merry’s body get tight right along with his jaw.

“Yeah.” The syllable was forced out.

“Well it’s not.”

Merry closed his eyes and whispered, “I knew it. Fuck.”

“I need answers, Merry.”

Merry opened his eyes but he might as well have kept them closed because he wasn’t giving a thing away.

“Do not shut down on me, brother,” Layne warned, his voice low and quiet.

Merry looked him in the eyes and then whispered, “I can’t, Tanner.”

“You will, Garrett,” Layne returned. “Somethin’ is not right and we can’t move forward unless I sort that shit out.” Merry shook his head. “I’m not askin’ you, I’m tellin’ you, I need answers.”

“Layne, I can’t give you answers.” Layne opened his mouth to speak but Merry leaned forward quickly. “I want to, right? Okay? I want to. But, seriously, she would not be pissed if I gave those answers to you. She would be gone. Not gone as in take off and move to Canada gone. Gone for me. She’d cut me out, Tanner. No joke. She would cease to exist for me and, big man,” he leaned further forward, his eyes glued to Layne’s, “you know how that feels.”

“She’s in pain,” Layne informed his friend and Merry’s eyes closed again. “Look at me, goddammit.” Merry’s eyes opened. “I have no clue how to play this and the plays I’ve been makin’ either do not work for her or they don’t work for me.”

“Only advice I can give is proceed with caution.”

“No shit? Thanks for that, buddy, that helps a whole f**kin’ lot,” Layne clipped.

“You didn’t hear me, Tanner,” Merry said quietly. “Proceed with caution and the operative word in that is proceed.”

Layne felt his chest get tight. “What?”

Merry sat back. “I can’t give you more.”

“You can and you will.”

“Tanner, seriously.”

“Yeah, Garrett, seriously.”

“I can’t –”

Layne leaned forward. “We went out to Swank’s, Saturday night. I walked into my house with her after, knowin’ the biggest fool thing I could do was ask her to stay for a drink at the same time thinkin’ about nothin’ other than how to get her to stay for a drink. We walk in and the lights go on and we find out a friend of mine from LA was payin’ a surprise visit. She’s standin’ there wearing practically nothing but shoes and a smile. Rocky sees her, she’s so fired up to get the f**k out of there, she fell during her run for the door, went down so hard she sprained her wrist. Before she left, she looked at me, Garrett, she looked at me with pain and tears in her eyes and they weren’t from hurting her wrist. That pain… that pain in her eyes shone from her f**kin’ soul. I’d get it the next night when I threw her leavin’ me in her face and she threw Gabby in mine. I’m tellin’ you right now, people do not hold onto this shit. Not for this long. It’s like it happened f**kin’ yesterday. I understand that pain I saw because I feel it every goddamned time I look at her. It’s been eighteen f**king years. That shit is not right. There is something I do not know, something that matters, it mattered then and, brother, it still matters now.”