18. Luck

Chapter Eighteen

LUCK

U sing a small step stool, she pulled another box from the top shelf of a hallway closet where she kept some of her dad's belongings. She plunked it down on the floor with a huff. Layne sat down next to the box to see if there was anything in there that was useful in trying to predict Liam's next moves.

She lifted the lid of the box and was surprised to find nothing work-related. Instead, she found family photo albums from an era long before cameras were on phones, one where rolls of film had to be processed.

The maroon leather-bound album lying on top still had a thin layer of dust clinging to its front. She pulled it out and opened up to the first page.

Front and center was a rare impromptu O'Reilly family picture. Scott O'Reilly was in a pair of khaki shorts and powder blue polo, a grill filled with burgers and dogs behind him. Smiling proudly, his arm was wrapped around the waist of his vibrantly beautiful wife, Shannon.

The family's matriarch was in a flowy yellow sundress with a brown leather belt wrapped around her waist. Shannon's smile was as bright as the summer day when this photo was taken. Her hands were each resting on one shoulder of her two children standing in front of her.

Layne was giving the biggest, goofiest, and cheesiest-looking smile there ever was at about eight years old. Right next to her was a seven-year-old Liam, sticking his tongue out at the photographer.

Mick tried sputtering out words over his laughter, "L-Liam! Liam, stop sticking your tongue out like that! And Layne, sweetheart, can you give a nice-looking smile?" Their Uncle Mickey made one last failed attempt to wrangle the O'Reilly kids so they could get a decent snapshot during the summer cookout.

Giving up, Mick snapped the picture anyhow with a forced grin. The second he lowered the bulky camera, Layne and Liam went running off into the expanse of Mick's lush green backyard of his summer home.

Layne chased after her brother toward the swing set that was the largest she had ever seen. "Li, wait for me!"

She reached the ladder leading up to the slide at the same time as Liam, they both bumped against one another in an effort to be the first to climb up.

"Layne! I was here first!" Liam griped.

"I'm older!" Layne retorted.

Gaining the advantage of enough footing on the first rung of the ladder, Layne hurried up to the top. She made it down the slide with Liam following behind her moments later.

Not hesitating, Layne ran over to one of the two swings that swayed in the gentle breeze. She flopped her behind onto the blue seat, her hands wrapping around the metal chains that secured it to the wooden frame.

Just beginning to pump her legs to try and gain some momentum, an older child from one of the other families at the barbeque came up behind her and slammed his hands into her back. Layne was knocked right off the swing, landing face down in the grass.

The bully leered down at her like the little shit he was. "This is my favorite swing; girls aren't allowed to use it!"

As Layne pushed herself up onto her feet, Liam came barreling in and shoved the kid. "That's my sister!"

The two boys got into a shoving match while Layne ran back up the hill to tell her mom. The scuffle quickly ended when the boys were separated by one of the other parents in attendance, but not before Liam had landed at least one punch.

Scott took both of his children aside, and he praised Liam for all of his actions before sending him to get some ice on his hand. She stood alone before her father, who was down on a knee looking her in the eyes with disappointment.

"Layne," he started with a shake of his head. "Do you know what you did wrong?"

She frowned as the weight of his words sank into her soul. "No…"

"Not only did you not stick up for yourself, but you ratted out your brother. Don't you ever go snitching on your family again, do you understand me? That is not what O'Reillys do. I don't care what the hell he does, he's your brother and you need to support him." Her father stood again, irritated with her choices. "Go on, get out of here. Go tell your mother to try to get those grass stains out of your nice clothes."

Layne slammed the photo album shut and tried to vanquish the echoing of her father's words in her head. She wondered if he would be so judgmental of her if he was alive to see what Liam was up to. Layne would like to think he wouldn't be, and not knowing for sure was the most difficult part of his absence in her life.

Sitting on the floor in the middle of the hallway, she took a moment to collect her thoughts. Her hand removed her phone from her back pocket as she brought up a name in her contacts. Layne sat there allowing the judgment of her dad's ghost to berate her with whispers inside her ear.

Her thumb tapped the call button and the screen suddenly reflected the damning words, ‘Calling Det. Adams…'. The call rang once before Layne heard the footsteps jog up the main stairs at her back. She quickly disconnected the call before pushing herself up onto her feet.

Gage appeared at the top of the stairs and offered her a large smile. "There you are. Thought maybe you were going to try and get the slip on me."

She shoved her phone back into her pocket and shook her head. "No, just trying to go through some things. Miss me?" Layne smiled sweetly at him.

He wrapped his arms around her waist and pulled her up against the front of his body. "Always." Gage leaned over and the warmth of his mouth washed over the length of her neck. He murmured against her skin, "You always smell so damn good."

She tipped her head back some as he lavished her with his kisses, a light purr rising from her throat. "Mmm, you're one to talk, Mr. Dolce & Gabbana." As much as she teased him about using such a fancy cologne, she couldn't complain about the way the spiced vanilla always perked up her senses.

His hand slipped underneath the shoulder of her shirt and pushed it down along with her bra strap, leaving space for him to continue to get a taste of her. He groaned knowing that he had come up here for intentions not involving his cock getting some action.

"The way I want to bend you over that stepstool right now and pound into your pussy…" Gage wistfully sighed, his dick fully on board with the temptation as it grew harder in his pants. He pressed one more kiss to the faded scar on her shoulder from her old gunshot wound.

Gage pulled her shirt back into place. "But, Sam is waiting for you downstairs."

"Mmm, duty calls then?" Layne's hands rested on his bearded face as she gave him a kiss letting him know she appreciated all the things he had wanted to do to her. "Maybe afterwards you and I can have our own meeting and you can convince me just how much you are the right man for the job."

When she went to put the box back onto the closet's shelf, Gage took the box from her and grinned. "I got it, short stuff." He winked at her.

Her hand lightly patted his firm ass in thanks before she quickly headed downstairs to have a much-needed discussion with Sammy.

Before putting the box back into the closet, Gage peered inside and curiously looked at the photo album right on top. Setting the box on the stool, he flipped to the first page seeing the old photograph of Layne and her family.

He grinned, having seen that same cheesy smile from Layne on more than one occasion.

Flipping to the next page, the following picture wasn't nearly as heartwarming. The handwritten title ‘Layne's 1st Broken Bone After Bike Collision With Liam' was above a picture of Layne with her right ankle in a cast and on a set of crutches.

She looked a little older than the previous picture, but not by much. The thing that caught his attention was Liam's smug face in the background looking at Layne's bright pink cast. Even without knowing the full story, Gage had a gut feeling that the evil little shit was looking proud of his handiwork.

He closed the photo album before he worked himself up further into a rage. Gage securely put the box of memories back into the closet where it came from.

Downstairs, Layne walked into her office and saw Sammy standing by her bookshelf. His hands were tucked into his pockets as he shifted his stance nervously when she entered.

Based on his clothes, the dress slacks, and a casual black button-up, her associate was trying to keep a professional but relaxed image. The tattoos crept up the front of his neck, meeting a silver chain clinging loosely around the base of his throat. "Sorry to drop in on you, Layne."

"It's fine." She walked over to her desk and took her seat behind it. "Gage didn't give you too much trouble, did he?"

Sam looked down in a rare moment of discomfort and shook his head. "Not more than expected." He kept his distance from her while clearing his throat to try and make way for the words. "Look, Layne, I just wanted to let you know that I'd never…"

She cut him off, saving him the awkward words, "I know." Slowly, she exhaled a tired breath. "Liam is doing what Liam does, pushing until he gets the result he wants."

His hazel eyes looked at her with sympathy, seeing that all of this wasn't without its toll on her. Somehow, dealing with people like Russ Spencer and other faction heads came with very little cost to her psyche. Sam may not have been a man with any sort of degree in psychology, but Liam's actions were making more of an impact on her mentally than any other crime lord could.

"You'll get through this." He ran a hand over his thin beard, his fingers tracing over the outline of his mouth. "You just need to treat him like any other jackass that wants to come stomping all over your territory."

She scoffed with a bit of a smile at how he simplified it. "But he's not just any other jackass, Sam. He's my brother. There's no one else out there that has as many years of knowing what makes me tick."

With a nod, he was willing to give her that point. "True, he may have years of knowing you, but you know what he doesn't have?"

The urge to give a smartass comment as a response was all too tempting, "Fashion sense?"

That drew a chuckle from her associate. "You're not wrong. But, even more importantly, he doesn't have this." He pulled his hand from his pocket and tossed an item onto her desk.

Layne leaned forward, reaching out and examining the small metal object in her fingers. Furrowing her brows together, she glanced over at him. "What's this?"

Proudly smirking, Sam responded with words that were music to her ears, "A name."

Flipping the rectangular box in her hand repeatedly, she finally noticed there was a latch. Popping the little spring mechanism, the container opened, and inside was an empty bullet casing. Layne picked it up, examining the shell between her thumb and forefinger still unclear what this was supposed to tell her.

She read the words on the bottom of the casing, "Winchester 45 Auto?"

Sam shook his head with a grin. "Do you know what that's from?"

Well, she was guessing a forty-five-caliber pistol based on the imprinted text.

Knowing that he had her hooked at this point, he dropped the crucial piece of information. "That right there," he pointed at the casing in her hand, "is from the bullet that struck Joey."

Her expression immediately changed to one of disbelief as she stared at her associate. "What?" The question was so quiet that it sounded like she was posing it to no one in particular.

Stepping up to the front of her desk, he leaned over, resting his hands on the edge of it. "And as luck would have it, and with a little help from a friend, the three unique markings left behind from the fired round were able to be traced back to a gun. A gun that has been used repeatedly by a very slippery fellow by the name of Nicholas Orellano. So, the real question is, why would Nick allow Liam to borrow something so sentimental to him?"

The final question really wasn't a question at all. It hardly took any connecting of the dots to assume that this Orellano guy was somehow connected to Liam, perhaps even working with him. Her eyes lit up at finally getting a piece of useful information.

In an unusual and very rare show of girly emotion, she shrieked out happily and popped out of her seat. Closing her palm around the shell, Layne clutched to it like it was a piece of treasure. She ran around her desk and threw herself at Sammy. Her arms wrapped around his neck as she gave him a huge hug.

Layne pressed a kiss to his cheek, not giving a fuck how unprofessional it was. He had just proven his worth by delivering this crucial tidbit to her.

Gage rushed into the doorway, having heard Layne's exclamation. Initially, all he saw was Layne up against her associate and Sam's hands on her sides. After the job offer Sam had been pitched by Liam, Gage was ready to beat the shit of the fucker for even breathing wrong at Layne.

Seeing Gage standing there, Sam immediately lifted his hands in the air off of her.

It wasn't until Layne pulled back with that goddamn cheesy smile plastered over her face that he thought twice about going into a blind fury.

"What's going on?" Gage's suspicion tainted each of his words.

Running over to him, Layne gave him several kisses before she showed him the forty-five casing in the center of her palm.

She explained, "Finally, a bit of luck."