28. Burn

Chapter Twenty-Eight

BURN

" L ayne," Gage shook her shoulder.

She mumbled something incoherent as she began to rouse from her slumber.

"Baby, wake up," his voice sounded urgent.

Layne finally rolled onto her back in bed, her body getting even more tangled in the sheets. "What is it?"

Gage hated that he was going to have to wake her for this, but he had waited long enough that his gut was at the bottom of the pit of despair somewhere.

He laid it on her, "Joey isn't back home yet."

Without coffee having her running on all cylinders, there was a little bit of lag as her brain began to process his words. She turned her head to the side to see the clock on the nightstand showing it was shortly after ten in the morning.

The instant everything came together she pushed herself up onto her elbows. "What?"

Fighting with the sheets tangled around her, she scrambled over to the side of the bed where her phone rested on its charger, pulling it from the cradle to scroll through any and all messages. Nothing from Joey.

Trying to grasp the seriousness of the situation she asked Gage, "He hasn't called you?" Layne glanced over at him as she tried to avoid jumping to any conclusions. Internally, she was panicking like fuck.

He just shook his head as he looked at her apologetically, wishing he had a better response for her. There wasn't anything he hadn't already tried to eliminate as a reason for his brother having not made it back home after leaving to go set Liam's potential demise.

"Fuck." Layne scooted out of bed and grabbed one of the guys' spare shirts, yanking it down over her head. These days it was difficult to tell which tee belonged to which of her men, not unless they had worn it and it held either the scent of toasted vanilla of Gage or the musky leather and sage of Joey.

She dialed Joey's number as she stepped over to the window, peering outside as she waited for him to answer. Her fingernail lightly tapped against the pane as her nerves began to fray.

Ring. Ring. Ring. ‘The number you are trying to reach is currently unavailable, please leave a message after the tone.'

Layne hung up and redialed his number. Her eyes scanned the snowy landscape of a frigid February day just outside. Perhaps his car got stuck? The Challenger was shit in the snow. A million thoughts filled her mind as she hardly paid attention to the unanswered rings in her ear.

"Goddamnit, pick up," she whispered to herself.

Finally hearing the generic voicemail switch on again, she hung up and turned to face Gage and shook her head grimly. "Nothing."

Her stomach felt sick; this wasn't like him. "Fuck, fuck, fuck. Fuck!" She brought a hand to her forehead as worst-case scenarios began to bounce around inside of her head.

Gage came up and grabbed her shoulders, he kissed her softly. "Breathe. Let's just try to stay level headed. There are still some good reasons why he may not be back yet." Internally, he was feeling anything but calm. He knew as much as she did that something had to have gone wrong, and the likelihood of his brother forgetting to check-in was next to zero.

She stared into Gage's eyes that attempted to mask his concerns, but she saw right through it. Layne's lower lip quivered. "We almost lost him once, I can't even?—"

"Sshh," Gage stopped her from going down that negative path. "There are a thousand explanations."

"All of which leads to Liam." She pressed her lips firmly together as she tried to see past her own spiraling emotions.

His hands grabbed her face firmly as he leaned in so their foreheads were touching. "Don't think like that," he sternly demanded of her. Both of them couldn't afford to be lost to their fears.

Layne's phone began buzzing in her palm. She glanced down and saw Liam's name appear–so much for avoiding their worst nightmares. Turning the screen to Gage, she said, "This can't be a coincidence."

Without waiting for Gage to provide alternative reasoning, Layne put the call on speaker. Putting on her best front she steadied her voice, "What do you want, Li?"

Her brother darkly sniggered. "What do I want? More importantly, what—well…who do you want?"

She bit into her lower lip so harshly trying to contain the rage that wanted to lash out at him that she swore she was going to break the skin. Unclear of how much silence had passed between them, she finally began assembling her strength to ask the question she needed an answer to. "Is he alive?"

Dramatically, Liam sighed. "Always with the dumb questions, Layne. If he wasn't, it wouldn't do me any good to try and get you down here, now would it?"

"Yes or no, Liam." The bile was rising quickly in her throat as she waited for a straightforward response.

Liam paused before replying to her, "Yes. For now."

The sick feeling temporarily waned as she at least had something to put her at ease, a sliver of hope. There was no telling if Liam was lying or not, but any hope was better than none.

Her brother continued, "You want him? You know where to come find him. Don't wait too long though. When I get bored, bad things happen, sis."

She snapped, "Don't fucking threaten me, Liam." A heated and violent sensation was now flowing through her veins. "You want the O'Reilly empire to yourself? I will be fucking hand-delivering it to you." Her thumb smashed the red button on the screen to disconnect the call.

Gage opened his mouth to say something, but before he had the chance, she screamed and threw her phone across the room. It collided with her dresser, shattering the glass screen, and falling to the floor. "Motherfucking piece of shit!"

Her chest rose and fell with the sheer amount of fury boiling up inside her. It wasn't until Gage grabbed her shoulders tightly and turned her to face him that she saw something other than blinding red.

"Look at me!" His grip on her continued to remain as firm as his voice. "I need you to keep your shit together, Layne. He knows that you're ready to run over there with guns out."

"Damn straight I am! He has six fucking holes in his body and I'm going to put a bullet in every one of them!" Layne was prepared to go on a murder spree and take out anyone who got in her path. "This is it, Gage. I refuse to let him or anyone else fuck with our lives anymore. I'm done ."

Nodding, Gage was on the same page with her but had to be the sanity check to make sure she didn't do something that got herself killed. While he was willing to spend an eternity in the afterlife with her and Joey, it wasn't something he wanted to start today. "Go hop in the shower, I will make a few calls and start packing."

Despite being amped up and anxious to get out the door, Layne showered and let her vivid imagination come up with every potential way of killing her brother. If Joey was anything less than unscathed, she would make her pain felt by all of the criminal factions in New York if she had to.

Getting ready to bring a war to your psychopathic brother's turf wasn't as quick of a process as she wished. Gage had been right in trying to get her to slow down and think things through. If he had let her leave right after that phone call, she would have left most of her arsenal at home so she could choke the shit out of Liam with her bare hands.

Instead, dusk was cloaking the city on a below-freezing winter's night. The snow on the roads and sidewalks helped cut through the darkness of the day's end.

Gage parked his Jeep in the church parking lot across the street from Eric Ellis's former residence. "This is it?" He stared at the massive corner property in disbelief. Valuing his life, he decided against asking Layne if Eric had been making up for lack of size in other areas.

"Yeah, Eric was a bougie asshole when he made the move here." Layne unbuckled her seat belt and swung open her door, hopping out onto the cracked pavement of the parking lot.

He hadn't been willing to say it, but fuck, Gage would have purchased the home in a heartbeat if it hadn't been for the bad blood associated with it. Now, he just wanted to see this gorgeous piece of architecture burn to the ground.

Layne had her hair pulled back into a simple ponytail, and dressed in black from head to toe. Stretching her skull mask with the green and orange ribbons across her face, she looked over at Gage as he also got out of the Wrangler.

"Jax and his guys in position?" Layne questioned as she double-checked the weaponry hidden all over her body.

Gage nodded. "They're all set, just waiting on you, Lucky Charm." Whatever waited for them inside, he hoped that they had brought enough bodies to overcome it. There were eight of them, nine if Joey was in any type of fighting form. Truth be told, unless his brother was dead, he'd be prepared to inflict pain on anyone who stood in his way. Included in their headcount were Layne's top guys, Sammy and Ethan. Hunter had been sure to pick them up on his way here.

Her eyes looked across the street at the imposing home that stretched up three floors, four if you included the rooftop. Never did she want to step foot in this house again, but if it meant there was a shot of getting Joey back in one piece, there was nothing that would keep her out.

Before she could leave Gage to take the first steps on her own, he came up to her and adjusted her jacket over her body, making sure it fit snugly around her. "Baby, I love you. You are more than my stars and moon, you are my universe. Just remember what I said, okay?" He leaned in, tugging her mask down enough to fiercely kiss her, spreading his love for her into her soul through their mouths.

She nodded and echoed back to him what he had told her on the way here. "Headshots are permanent, everywhere else is an excuse to haunt your demons."

Trying to give her a proud smile, he coupled it with another tender kiss on her forehead. "That's my girl. We'll be in your shadow, okay?" His fingers adjusted her mask back into place.

It was now or never that she put an end to this feud with Liam. Taking one more deep breath, she blew it out harshly. "I'm good, promise. Liam will be finding his way to the grave tonight." Even if she had to go with him.

Gage's hand lightly patted her on the side of her face. He hated that he had to abandon her side, but there was no way that it was going to do any good to walk up to the front door with her. There was no question that there were bigger battles to fight on the other entrances around the property.

"Go ahead and make that asshole pay his debts." It took everything in him not to cling to her. If he knew he could whisk her away elsewhere, perhaps kidnap her to someplace safe, he would have done it. Joey would have wanted him to do it, but he couldn't justify abandoning such a major pillar in their lives. Layne would never survive it, and neither would he.

Layne tried to keep her voice void of any emotions that would make him feel uneasy, "I love you; I promise I won't stop fighting for all of us. Don't ever give up on me." If she was going to keep her head in the game, she needed to quickly eliminate all the mushy feelings. Yet, there was still the softness in her eyes as she looked at Gage one last time before jogging across the street toward the house that would be the end for at least one person tonight.

Her boots gave the softest crunch against the compacted snow as she approached the front door of the house she had sold only months ago. This place must have been home to some satanic rituals at some point given the people it attracted. Not only was it associated with her ex-husband, but now Liam as well. So much for family bonds being the strongest.

Layne knew that Liam was expecting her, so there was no use in sneaking around. Hell, he was probably anticipating some of her crew to be in the area. The element of surprise may have been gone, but that allowed her insight into what he did or possibly didn't know. He knew she'd be coming, and she could rely on that information to drive her actions.

Her finger reached out and pressed the small gold button next to the door. A series of chimes sounded off deep into the house, being easily heard from right outside the door.

Scanning the exterior, everything inside the home looked dark and ominous. It was confirmed when the front door swung open and she found herself peering into nothing but shadows.

Here went nothing. With a hand resting on the butt of her gun on her hip, she took the first step inside. Swallowing hard as her eyes fought the darkness, Layne glanced around with each advance into the main hall.

The last remaining clip of light from outside dissipated when the front door slammed shut. A voice bounded against the walls and echoed up into the height of the arched ceiling. It wasn't the words spoken that spooked her, but who was saying them that drove terror straight down her spine. All the hairs on the back of her neck were on end and her skin became littered with goosebumps.

"So glad you could join us, Layne. It's been too long since we've had a family reunion." The male voice matched the one the night of the car wreck. With a clear head, she recognized it now. It didn't make any sense, but everything she thought she knew was wrong.

"How?" was all she asked into the darkness that surrounded her.

There was no response, only maniacal laughter.

Spinning around, she strained to hear any threatening movement that may have been approaching her.

A light flickered on and she came face to face with a ghost. Layne gasped as her eyes widened at the familiar face. It was no longer her mind playing tricks on her, he was actually standing there before her. This motherfucker came back from the grave.

Her body went rigid before she said his name out loud, "Uncle Mick."