She blinked her eyes rapidly and he knew she was struggling against the tears.

Fucking shit.

“Gabby,” he called and she blinked again but kept her eyes open and nodded. “We didn’t have a lot of good times but when you forgot to be pissed off at me and the world, you could be funny. You’ve never been sweet, but, f**k, woman, you could be funny. When you took care of yourself, there was a lot to look at and all of it was good.” He watched her mouth slowly open and she stared at him. “You look around you and see you got a good job, a nice home and two great boys, all of which you worked hard at and created all on your own, you might realize that you’ve got a better than average life and you built that all by yourself. You learn to be funny again and spend time takin’ care of yourself rather than takin’ care of some ass**le who doesn’t deserve your time, you don’t wanna be lonely, you won’t be and you’ll be spendin’ your time with someone who’s worth havin’ it.” She kept staring at him and Layne finished, “And, Gabby, when you forget to be pissed off and act like a bitch, your time is worth havin’.”

With that, he left her staring after him and walked out of the room, through the store and to his truck. He folded in and drove to her house, idling in the alley out back and waiting until he saw Stew come out with a box full of shit.

Then he pulled out his cell and called Jasper.

He watched Stew walk back into the house and got Jasper’s voicemail. “Minute you get this, Bud, you call me. It’s all good but we gotta brief.”

He flipped his phone shut, sat in his truck and waited until he saw Stew come out with an overstuffed, beat up workout bag that had to be his. Gabby might not be rolling in it or working out herself but she kitted the boys out better than that. Then, when Stew re-entered the back gate, Layne put the Suburban into first and drove down the alley. Then he drove home.

He rolled down his street to see both the Mercedes and the Calais at the curb in front of his house along with his mother’s rental car.

He was sitting waiting for the garage door to slide up when he saw the door to the utility room open and Rocky stood there. Seeing her, he had added evidence she’d been to her apartment because now she was wearing jeans and a long-sleeved, green tee that had a high neckline that was wide and showed some skin at her shoulders. She also had her hair in what he knew was a clip because a spray of it could be seen at the top of her head. He also knew she was seriously pissed about something. He knew this because her arms were crossed on her chest, her hip was hitched, one foot was out, she was tapping her toe and she was wearing a face like thunder.

Fuck.

He pulled in and she watched him until he switched off the ignition. She was standing at his door when he cleared the car.

He’d barely slammed it when she announced, “I’m going to kill Adrian Cosgrove.”

Oh shit. That was not what he was expecting to hear.

It was worse.

“Why?” Layne asked.

“You’ll see,” she shot back, turned on her bare foot and stomped into the house.

Layne followed, looking at his boots and contemplating vacation spots.

He hit the kitchen, took one look at Paige Cosgrove sitting at a stool at his island, her left eye blue and nearly swollen shut, her lower left lip split and he froze, keeping his body still in an effort to control the burning rage that suddenly engulfed his system.

Then he barked, “Where’s your boy?”

She started and he knew he should have gentled his tone but he didn’t have it in him.

Paige pulled in a breath and whispered, “Swimming with the team.”

“Cosgrove?” Layne asked.

She shook her head. “Don’t know, he… after…” Her eyes went to the island and she whispered, “He took off.”

“Seth look like you?” Layne demanded to know.

“No, I… he’d already planned to spend the night at his friend Jamie’s.”

Layne yanked his phone out of back pocket, tossed it to Dev who was standing beside the island next to Vera, who was sitting close to Paige, and he ordered, “Call Jas. Tell him to get his, Tripp’s and Seth’s asses home immediately.” Then he looked at Rocky and growled, “Upstairs.”

He prowled by her and felt her hot on his heels as he took the stairs two at a time and she ran up them. He went directly to his room but stopped at the door, his hand on it, and when she cleared it, he slammed it behind her.

She turned to him, he saw her anger was gone, at that point she was all about controlling his and he knew this because she said immediately, “Breathe, Layne.”

“I’m breathin’,” he bit out.

“No, sweetheart, you’re spitting fire.” She walked up to him and placed her hands on his chest. “Breathe, baby.”

Layne stared down at her and sucked in breath. The fire inside died down but didn’t go out.

“I see I should have warned you,” she whispered.

Shit yeah, she should have warned him.

“Talk to me,” he ordered.

“This isn’t the first time, for her or, last night, for Seth.”

“No shit?” Layne asked with biting sarcasm, he knew what kind of man Cosgrove was, and he watched Rocky flinch and take a step back, her hands falling away from his chest. “Not pissed at you, Rocky,” he told her.

“I know,” she said quietly and watched him closely.

“What’s she doin’ here?”

“Her family’s from Valparaiso. She’s got friends but she doesn’t want…” Rocky trailed off and then said, “I think she thinks you’ll make her and Seth safe.”

“She give you a reason she didn’t go to the cops?” he asked.

“She did, she called last night after he left. I called Merry after she told her story. Merry says they’re looking for him but, until they find him, there’s nothing they can do.”

That was what sucked about being a cop and it was precisely the reason Layne wasn’t one anymore. He could play by the rules but he wasn’t a big fan of doing it with his hands tied. There were too many times when good people were in trouble, you wanted to help and you could but most the time you couldn’t do all you needed to do because you didn’t have the resources.

“Layne,” Rocky called and he focused on her. “She said it was worse last night than normal.”

“Yeah,” Layne returned. “You know how you know that, baby?” he asked and she shook her head, he knew by the expression on her face she didn’t want to know but she was going to listen all the same. “Man like Cosgrove doesn’t make his marks seen. He’s got a place in this community and that’d f**k with his cred, people knowin’ he’s a f**kin’ asshole rather than just suspecting it and talkin’ behind his back. So he does it invisible. Last night, he lost control, made it visible. That’s how you know it was worse.”