20. Safety First

Chapter Twenty

SAFETY FIRST

" H ow's the leg?" Rebecca asked from the other end of the line.

It was on the edge of being a little too cool to be sitting outside in shorts, but it was worth the occasional goosebumps when the wind picked up. Layne looked down at her stab wound, it was just getting to the stage where it began to itch as it healed. Fortunately, Dr. Patty had only needed to do minimal stitching during the initial triage. The blade had felt like it created a foot-long opening when it had gone in but had only left about an inch-wide wound in its wake.

"It's healing. I've had worse," she responded, trying to minimize the incident. "Anything exciting going on down in Baltimore?"

With a giggle and a coy tone, Rebecca drew out her one-word response, "Maaaaybeee."

For a split second, Layne felt like she was living a part of her life that could be considered normal. This was just another talk with her best friend and she could pretend for a little bit longer that they weren't hundreds of miles away from one another. She could also pretend that her life of crime and danger was nothing but a crafted storyline in a book.

The next thirty minutes were spent listening to Rebecca gush over her new beau. Some guy that shared a lot of the same interests as her and even had a decent taste in wine. She griped about him liking an opposing football team, but otherwise, he seemed like he was worthy of keeping around.

"Well, don't fall too hard for him until I get the chance to meet him, okay? I got to make sure he's good enough for my bestie," Layne playfully warned Rebecca.

Feeling a text come in from her watch, she noticed it was from her associate, Ethan. Real life was beckoning her back it seemed.

"I'm sorry, Rebecca, but duty calls. I promise I will check in again in a few weeks, okay?" The apology was heavy in her voice.

The sadness clung to Rebecca's words, "I love you. Be careful."

"I love you more." Layne ended the call with a sigh. Promising to be careful would have felt like a massive lie. She wasn't going to make promises she couldn't keep.

She looked around the small square footage of the backyard of O'Reilly Manor. It was just enough space in a city where any amount of a footprint came at a premium.

Taking a few minutes to shift the gears in her brain, she looked at Ethan's message and smiled at the way he always attempted to lift her spirits.

ETHAN

Who is your favorite employee?

LAYNE

Depends.

What do you have for me?

ETHAN

Our latex-faced friend suddenly remembered a password.

LAYNE

Suddenly?

ETHAN

After becoming acquainted with the bottom of my boot.

Layne's lips drew upward into a smile. She could only imagine how quickly the man with the Russian contact's calling card cracked under Ethan's physical pressure.

LAYNE

Are you going to keep me waiting?

ETHAN

I want you to answer my question.

She rolled her eyes in minimal annoyance before she texted him the praise he was looking for.

LAYNE

You are my favorite employee.

Don't fuck that shit up.

ETHAN

I knew you loved me most.

Password: 12345

LAYNE

Seriously? 12345?

ETHAN

No, I was just making sure you were paying attention.

The password for real: pokayaniye777$SIYLLCAILSCLW

Holy fuckballs, that was a password. Layne copied and pasted that shit over to Cowboy immediately.

No sooner had she sent the password over to her tech guru than the sliding glass door from the house opened. She looked up and her heart fluttered as she saw Joey step outside to join her.

"You planning on getting ready for tonight?" He asked as he crossed the brick patio to where she was seated on the lounge chair. "I know you take forever and a damn day." He grinned.

That's right, Gage's party was tonight. Gage had been supervising the setup for it all day. She had hardly seen him since he rolled out of bed this morning.

Layne turned, swinging her legs over the side of the chair to put her feet down on the ground. "Yeah, just wanted to finish a few things first."

His hand reached out, his fingers coming up underneath her chin and tilting her head back. Joey's eyes lovingly gazed down into hers. "Promise me something?"

The multitude of shades of green her eyes held were staring right up at him. "You know I don't make blind promises."

With a light touch, his hand trailed over her jaw and up onto the side of her face, his fingers tangling themselves in her hair. She leaned her face into the palm of his hand.

Joey stood there drinking in the sight of her melting into his hold. His mouth positioned itself in a knowing smile. His ask was so simple, and still, he knew nothing with his wife was ever simple.

"Try to have some fun tonight. Relax. No working and absolutely no worrying. Can you do that for me?" He leaned in, brushing his lips over hers to help sweeten the request.

It was a tall request that she wasn't sure she could give her word on, no matter how much she wanted to. "How can you ask me not to worry after everything that's happened? What if?—"

He grinned at her stubbornness and cut her words off, "Don't make me ask twice, Layney." Joey pulled her up onto her feet, tugging her up against him.

Layne dragged her teeth over her bottom lip as she rested her hands on top of his chest. "But it's fun when I do."

His hands slid down her lower back and came to rest on her ass. Joey filled both of his hands with the full curves of her backside. "Get this ass inside and start getting ready before I make us both late to the party."

He looked down at his watch on his wrist. What the hell was taking her so long? Joey had been waiting out front of O'Reilly Manor for what felt like hours but had been more like fifteen minutes.

The front door opened and Joey's cock hardened the second he laid eyes on Layne.

One dainty little foot after the other stepped over the threshold of the front door onto the front stoop. Her strappy black heels wrapped around her feet and crisscrossed several times over each ankle. Much to the delight of his dick, the rest of her lean legs were left bare.

Layne may have thought the stab wound on her thigh was an eyesore, but it didn't deter him from wanting to kiss and worship every part of her—scars included. The short length of the tight crimson dress had the smallest ruffle at the bottom hem that added an extra feminine flare to the style. It made him want to immediately plunge himself between her thighs.

He had known the outfit would be absolute perfection on her body when he had chosen it, but seeing it on her surpassed his wildest dreams. It adhered to every curve and line of her slender physique. The thin straps looked like he would be able to break them easily with just one pluck of his finger.

Layne's waterfall of chestnut locks of hair naturally hung down around her bare shoulders with a loose mohawk-style French braid down the center of her head.

The Challenger was already running in anticipation of getting them both to Cassidy's Chains ahead of schedule. He was so stunned by the vision he saw emerging from their home that his feet were left cemented to the ground until she was standing right in front of him.

She tried to steady her breath as she soaked in the sight of Joey dressed in a suit that he had no business wearing so well. The all-black ensemble was tailored to each swell of his muscles. The black dress shirt was left without a tie and the top couple of buttons remained undone, leaving exposed the spread wings of the tattooed birds creeping up his neck.

"Every time you put a suit on—" she began only to have her words silenced. Joey leaned in and crushed his mouth against hers. His lips nearly bruised her own with the intense need brewing behind them.

His hands roamed over her body, exploring it like he didn't already have every inch committed to memory. The spread of his palms ran down her sides, sliding back to grab at the spheres of her ass in appreciation before coming back around to travel over her hips.

Just as his hand dropped down past the hem of her dress, sliding between her legs, it took everything in her to bring him to a halt. Her hand grabbed onto his wrist as her thighs squeezed together to close off access to where he very much wanted to gain entry.

Layne's words were coming out breathlessly as she forced them past her lips, "You know it's Gage's night and we promised we wouldn't be late." She wanted nothing more than to break the rules the three of them had set, and maybe she would at the after-party. However, she was doing her best to make sure that Gage also got his dedicated alone time with her.

Groaning in a mixture of disappointment and irritation, Joey knew damn well that he could press the issue and get past Layne's defenses with very little effort. However, they had agreed on solo nights so Layne could get some semblance of physical recovery while trying to keep up with all three of their needs. Given tonight was Gage's big evening, his brother had dibs.

Begrudgingly he withdrew his hand knowing it was going to be a long night watching Layne moving her body in a dress that looked like it was painted on. Gage better take advantage of their girl, good enough for the both of them.

She wasn't blind to the disappointment in Joey's eyes, but seeing as he was driving them to the club, perhaps she could find an acceptable compromise. Her hand patted his chest lightly as she walked over to his vehicle.

Joey drew in a deep breath, trying to convince his fucking erection to settle down. He turned and rushed ahead of her to open the passenger door before she got the chance.

Getting into her seat, Layne made sure she strapped herself in before he yelled at her for being reckless about her personal safety. It was going to be a twenty-minute drive in slow city traffic, she hardly expected any large-scale incidents where a seat belt was going to be required.

He rounded the front of the car and got settled before pulling away from the curb. "Remember what I said, Layne. We got everything covered, all you need to do is let Gage show you a good time tonight."

When Joey glanced over at Layne, she was unbuckling her seat belt. His jaw tensed, hating when she wasn't strapped in. "What are you doing? Put your damn seatbelt back on."

As they slowed for a red light, she gave a smile that said she was up to no good. Her hand ran over the large muscle of his thigh before reaching between his legs and rubbing over his cock that had only partially softened.

"Showing you a good time." Her hand gave another firm massage over the front of his pants before leaning over the console between their seats and working his pants open.

He shifted in his seat, his eyes darting between the mischievous woman now fishing her hand into his pants and the traffic signal ahead of them. "Layne, you need to be buckled up." His voice didn't sound convincing and with one hand on top of the steering wheel, he wasn't making any effort to stop her with his other hand.

"Joey?" She pulled his long and hard length from his boxer briefs.

The light turned green and he nearly forgot he needed to press the gas pedal to get the car moving. "What?" He looked down at Layne as her upper half encroached on his space.

"Shut the fuck up and drive." She smirked before she lowered her head and drew his dick into her mouth.

He groaned as his cock was suddenly buried into that tight and warm space past her lips. Joey's hand grasped onto the steering wheel tightly while trying to focus on the road.

Layne hallowed her cheeks while sucking on him like he was her favorite treat. Her lips applied added pressure in waves as she bobbed her head up and down on him.

Quickly, his spare hand roughly grabbed a handful of hair on the back of her head guiding her movements as he cursed to himself.

"Fuck, Layney. You and your damn mouth." Joey pressed his hips up into her, feeling the tip of his cock greeting the back of her throat.

Her tongue swirled around his cock, taunting, and teasing him as she made every effort to make sure that he had to work at maintaining his focus on the road.

Joey's palm circled the steering wheel as he made a turn that he had nearly forgotten to take. He was constantly torn between watching the road and sneaking glimpses of Layne with her ass in the air while her mouth worked him over.

With his release rapidly approaching, he gave a light growl as his hand pushed her head down on him. The way she gagged around his dick had him barely clinging to his control over his release.

"Ah, fuck! You better not waste a drop of my cum, Layney." His breaths grew ragged as he pulled her head back and forced it back down on his cock several more times.

His knuckles turned white from gripping the steering wheel so tightly. Feeling the tingle at the base of his spine, he pinned her head down on him right before his dick began pulsing. Groaning as his pleasure burst through his body, Joey's hips thrust up into her mouth as he came, shooting lines of his hot seed into the back of her throat.

Each swallow she made with him still buried inside her had him whimpering and working to catch his breath. His hand released her hair and slid down over her upper back.

"Jesus Christ." He sighed in satisfaction as he relaxed back into the driver's seat. It shocked the hell out of him that he managed to keep the damn car on the road this entire time.

Layne slid her mouth off of him, giving the head of his cock one final lick as she smiled proudly. She shifted back into her seat and pulled her seat belt across her lap.

"Couldn't have you feeling left out all night." Her eyes sparkled, complimenting the flush of her cheeks and the puffiness of her lips that were missing most of her lip gloss after her oral endeavors.

Joey gave her a relaxed grin before he pulled up to the building with a slate blue sign above it bearing the club's new name. Metal chains wrapped around each of the individual handles for aesthetics and a line wrapped around the block of people waiting to get into Cassidy's Chains.

Before she could open her door, Joey reached over and took her by the back of her neck. With her face turned toward him, he smiled. "I love you." He leaned over and captured her lips in a tender and gentle kiss. If he had made the wrong decision so many years ago, it killed him to think that he would never have found his own piece of heaven.