6. Confessions

Chapter Six

CONFESSIONS

L ayne sat there inside Gage's Jeep staring at her phone cradled in her palm. The logo popped up on the screen as it powered back on. Moments after it booted up, the backlogged text messages from the group chat between her, Gage, and Joey began to pour in.

GAGE

Where are you?

JOEY

Answer your damn phone.

GAGE

Layne?

Baby, we need to know you're safe.

JOEY

Layne, so help me.

Where the fuck did you go??

Give us something to work with.

GAGE

You don't get to get up and ditch us like you're the only one capable of making decisions in this relationship!

THIS IS FUCKING BULLSHIT!!

That's when the texts stopped coming in from Gage. Joey had sent several more repeating things he had already said. It had been the only thing they could do without more information on her whereabouts. Gage tended to be more patient with her, so the fact he had lost his shit in the chat had her shrinking down lower into a darker headspace than she was already in.

Layne leaned forward in the driver's seat, resting her forehead against the worn and faded leather-wrapped steering wheel. She tried to rein in all the competing emotions of guilt, stress, fear, and anger. She knew that leaving without saying a word to either of them was less than fair but risking their lives thanks to her brother's newfound penchant for retribution was also unfair. Seeing Joey on the cusp of death was an image that would never leave her and one she never wished to see again.

Her phone began ringing in her hand. Lifting her head upright, she saw Gage's name sprawled across the top of the screen. She frowned, preparing to get an earful. Her finger swiped and she answered, "Hey, I'm okay." She figured reassuring him she wasn't lying dead in an alley somewhere probably was at the top of the list of things to say.

Waiting for Gage to scream or even say anything at all felt like an eternity.

He blew out a breath of air into the phone. "What the hell, Layne?" His tone wasn't loud or angry but was full of a wearisome relief.

When she wasn't greeted with the same level of aggression he had reflected in his last texts to her, she hoped it meant he would give her the chance to explain herself.

"Look, I'm sorry I didn't say anything. I can explain, but I can't talk about it while you're still there at the hospital. Tell Joey I didn't have a choice or time to spare." The last thing she wanted was for either of them to think that she had worried them without good reason. "I can come back to the hospital to pick you up, then fill you in." Not knowing where Liam had prying ears, Layne didn't dare risk saying anything out loud about his continued threats directed at those she loved the most.

Gage responded, "Don't bother. I got a ride back to your place; I hoped maybe you'd show up here. Just… Just come home, and we can talk about it. I'll let Joey know you're alright."

She nodded, even though he couldn't see it. "Thanks. I'll be there in twenty."

When Gage hung up with Layne he shook his head, still pissed off. He had the call on speaker so Joey could listen as they both stood there in the living room of O'Reilly Manor.

"She better have a damn good excuse for this shit." He looked over at Joey. The last time she had gone missing had been at the hands of the she-bitch, Danielle Spencer. That had been enough hell for him to endure for years to come.

Joey perched himself on the arm of the sofa, arms crossed in front of his chest. "Let me deal with it when she gets here." His hand lifted to pinch the bridge of his nose as the sound of her voice had given him hope that whatever had pulled her away left her unscathed.

Shaking his head, Gage shoved his phone into his pocket. "No, this is a problem for all three of us." He let his thoughts begin to unravel and get the better of him again. "Fuck! What was going through her head to take off like that? Is she trying to get herself killed?"

All Joey could do was shrug as he was wondering the same things as his brother. He knew Layne, he knew her weak spots, and that meant Liam likely knew them as well. If he had anything to do with what had drawn her out into the open, he feared this wouldn't be the last time.

Finally, Joey stood up from his spot on the sofa and walked over to Gage. "You can't push her too hard until we know what happened. She'll push back and then shut down entirely."

Gage didn't like it, but he knew the last thing they wanted was for her to feel like she wasn't safe to confide in him and Joey. They both loved her deeply, more than life itself, and their feelings for her had no contingencies. If she was getting pulled into a shitty situation, they were going to dive into it with her. The tricky part was getting her to understand and accept that.

The entire drive back uptown, Layne was caught up in her thoughts. Was it worth fighting this battle with Liam? What were her options when the risks involved some incredibly hefty costs? What went on when Joey took his contracts? The second her doubts about Joey's loyalty to her heart sprang up inside her mind, she felt a pang of guilt for even questioning his faithfulness. But…

She parked the Jeep out front and walked up the porch steps slowly. Each step was slower than the last as she approached the front door with dread of the conversation she was going to have with Gage.

Pushing the door open and walking in, she called out, "Gage?" She shut the door behind her.

"I'm in here," he called from the living room.

Layne walked through the foyer and into the living room where she saw him sitting on one of the ottomans that paired with an oversized chair. He was leaning forward with his elbows on his knees. His tender eyes looked up to gaze at her, still reflecting the pain of her disappearance and the disappointment in the lack of her trust to confide in him.

Her face fell and her heart crumpled as she saw the way he was still struggling with what she had done and put him through. She began her heartfelt apology, "I'm so, so sorry, Gage. I couldn't…"

That's when a hand came and grabbed her hip from behind, turning her around to come face-to-face with Joey.

"Couldn't what, Layney?" He guided her backward until the wall was flush with her spine and he was leaning into her space with his other hand braced against the wall.

From the light scent of soap and the sight of his dirty blonde hair still damp, he must have just gotten out of the shower. The rest of him was dressed in a pair of jeans and a long-sleeved crimson tee. It had been far too long since she had seen him in anything from the bland and unflattering hospital gown.

Her eyes widened in disbelief that she was seeing him standing there before her in the home they shared. He should have still been in the hospital, he wasn't slated to be released for a couple of weeks. Blinking several times through the shock of it all, she glanced over at Gage who was now getting up off of the ottoman to join them both.

Joey's hand left her hip and cupped her jaw turning her attention back to him. "Eyes on me. You couldn't what, Layne? Couldn't be bothered to tell us where you were running off to? Couldn't care less what the hell we would think? Go ahead, explain to us what you couldn't do."

Layne's mind was still stuck on processing his presence before her. "They discharged you?"

Gage spoke up from a step behind his brother, "He discharged himself when we didn't know where the fuck you were."

She pitched herself forward into Joey's chest, wrapping her arms around his waist as immense relief overcame her. "Thank God!" Her eyes squeezed shut tightly as she inhaled the hint of leather and sage that had been missing the entire time he had been a patient at the hospital. Having him home again gave her back a little peace of mind.

The very sudden and emotional reaction had been unexpected. Joey had been ready for her to barrage him with her headstrong attitude about why she had done what she had. He had been prepared to hear her tout something along the lines of being capable of defending herself in dangerous situations. He hadn't expected her to fall victim to a softer set of emotions.

His arms embraced her upper body, holding her close despite the lack of answers about her whereabouts. Joey sighed and his voice softened as he pressed a kiss to the top of her head. As angry as he was about her choices, it felt good to wrap his arms around her again without all the excess medical equipment getting in the way.

When she was ready, she pulled her head from his chest with her stunning green eyes soaked with her recently shed tears. She sniffled and rushed to erase them from her face with the backs of her fingers. "Sorry..."

"Baby," Gage moved to the side of them. "Don't be sorry, we just need to know what the hell happened." His hand came to the small of her back and gently rubbed it to help soothe whatever feelings had those pretty little eyes tearing up.

She shook her head and looked down. Without hesitation, Joey's fingers captured her chin and tilted her head back up. The concern was painted across his face. "There's nothing the three of us can't figure out," he assured her.

"I underestimated Liam." She went to lower her face again but Joey's hold on her chin prevented her from hiding herself from either of them. "This is all my fault; I should have seen the signs. He's been making moves since God knows when. At this point, I'm beginning to question whether or not he has been plotting shit since he was born."

At the mention of Liam, Gage's jaw tensed and his eyes darkened with fury. "Please tell me you didn't take off on us to go meet up with him. Not after what he did."

Layne didn't need to say anything. When her eyes looked at Gage apologetically it had him grumbling under his breath, "Son of a bitch."

Joey shot a hard glance at Gage, warning him to keep himself in check. Then, he looked at Layne and ran his fingers along the side of her face before sliding them into the depths of her brunette locks. "None of this is your fault. If I ever hear you say that again, I will wash your mouth out with my cock every night for a month straight."

He pulled her mouth up to his, before whispering against her lips, "And before you get too excited about that prospect, I should add that it won't be getting buried in other parts of you afterward."

Closing his grasp on a handful of her hair, he remained painfully close to the pale pink of her lips. "Do you understand me, Layney?"

As quiet as a mouse, she uttered her response, "Yes." It was hard to tell if Joey was bluffing or not, the man had yet to show any amount of restraint when it came to fucking her. However, she enjoyed his cock in her too much to find out just how much he was willing to stick to his word.

"Good. Now," he released her hair and leaned back away from her without ever gracing her with the kiss she had been expecting. "Go sit your ass down and tell us everything."

Both her brows lifted the second he retreated from her. "You're not even going to bother giving me a kiss?"

"If I put my mouth on you right now the only discussion that will end up taking place is going to be you screaming out my name." One thing Joey didn't have was an infinite amount of control. After a few weeks of going without so much as a hand-job from her, he barely trusted himself to be in the same room as her without yanking her pants down and jackhammering into her.

When she looked over at Gage for some level of back-up, he merely shrugged at her. "Don't look at me, Lucky Charm. You're going to have a lot to answer for when I get my hands on you."

Great. She knew she had some explanations to make, but she hardly expected to have them both keeping their distance from her in the interim.

Layne took up a spot in the center of the couch. They both followed and while Gage seemed to prefer standing, Joey sat across the way in a plush armchair. Both sets of brown eyes were on her, patiently waiting for her to lay everything out on the table.

She started from the moment that Liam had called her and walked them through everything up until the time he left the House of the Chinese Dragon. Neither of the guys interrupted her, though at some points it looked like Joey was going to put his fist through the glass coffee table in front of him.

"I couldn't risk it, not knowing whether or not he could actually follow through on his threats." Layne sank back into the couch now that she had retold the entire incident.

Gage squinted his eyes in confusion trying to follow Liam's logic. "Wait. Besides the part where he's a whiny bitch unable to cope with you being in charge, part of this whole damn thing is because he's pissed thinking that Joey executed a contract on your mom?" He scoffed in disbelief.

She shifted uncomfortably, as did Joey. It wasn't a topic they often discussed. They had talked about it enough times to work through the painful realities of it. Layne had gotten to a place where she was able to redirect the blame onto the man who had given the orders, Michael Franzetti. If it hadn't been Joey, it would have just been someone else.

Noticing the awkward silence that fell upon both Layne and Joey, Gage blinked several times in disbelief. He looked at Joey. "Seriously? That's fucked up."

Joey cleared his throat to try and push past the lingering guilt over it. "It was long before I knew Layne." There wasn't a day that passed where he didn't regret that entire fucking contract.

Shifting his attention back over to Layne, Gage now better understood Joey's insistence about being there for Layne on her mother's death anniversary.

Layne busied her hands with a strand of her hair between her fingers as she thought about what else Liam had said about Joey's past. It was something she had deemed unnecessary to bring up during the rundown. "Yeah, so, that's about it. He left it pretty fuckin' vague on when he expected me to get my affairs in order. It could be tomorrow or it could be three months from now for all I know."

Standing, Joey pulled out his phone from his pocket and began texting quickly. "I'll get Brandon working on seeing what he can find out about the two other guys that showed up to the lunch date with Liam." After several more taps of the screen, he sent the request over and returned the device back where it came from.

Having a better understanding of why Layne had done what she had, Gage came over to sit next to her on the couch. "Baby," he placed a hand on her thigh. "I'm sorry I lost it. I know you want to make sure everybody is safe, but you can't do that when you don't have someone watching your back."

"He's right, Layne. This can't be an ongoing thing. If Liam knows hanging this threat over your head will lure you to him, he will keep playing that card for as long as he can," Joey piped up, also rising, and joining them on the couch on the other side of her.

She looked at them both, wondering how she got so lucky. Two men who loved her to a fault. Two men who would never rest when it came to her protection. Two men who were way too close to her to have any sense at all. Layne wondered how soon her luck would turn bad if she didn't start playing some Russian roulette.