8. Family Disputes

Chapter Eight

FAMILY DISPUTES

L ayne groaned, rubbing the heels of her palms over her eyes as she sat at her desk. It was nearly three in the damn morning. She knew she was burning the candle at both ends but couldn't find it within herself to give a fuck and surrender to her body's demands for rest. Time was of the essence if she was playing catch-up on whatever strategy Liam had been concocting for months, if not years.

She had snuck out of bed in her black joggers and matching cropped camisole, leaving Joey soundly asleep while he caught up on his still much-needed rest and recovery. Despite his reassurances, he was nowhere near back to his prime after the shooting.

As for her other love, Gage was likely wrapping up at Cassidy's Chains about now, the recently renamed strip club-turned-night club. Whether he intended to come back here or just crash at his condo was always a toss-up on any given night.

After speaking with her senior advisor, Thomas, earlier in the evening, it was noted that the relations between her alliances were getting dicey. Contradicting reports were coming in about who did and did not support Layne after the misfortune of events the day she and Joey were married. Some factions thought Liam's move was ballsy enough that perhaps he was a worthy connection to side with. Regardless of Thomas' words of comfort, this would all blow over in time, she didn't feel any less stressed out. All her hard work to get where she was and now Liam's emergence was fucking it to hell and back.

Now here she was listening to Jonathan, her prized political negotiator, about how another faction was refusing to do so much as keep their eyes or ears open for Liam and whatever crew he was working with. How was it that no one could tell her the extent of what he had managed to pull together underneath her nose? He had gone dark and nobody knew a thing? She found that fucking hard to believe.

"There's nothing I can do about it," Jonathan apologized for the umpteenth time on the other end of the phone that lay on top of her desk on speaker. He continued, "The Holskis are claiming that they don't want involvement in a family dispute."

" Family dispute?! " she shrieked. Great, just fucking great. Another flakey-ass criminal organization was going to turn a blind eye. Trying to reel herself back in, she lowered the volume of her voice. "Keep putting pressure on them, make whatever negotiations you have to. I don't care what the hell it costs, we can't afford to lose support right now."

After their goodbyes, Layne hung up and pushed away from the desk. She walked over to the window that overlooked the street out front. It was as empty as the room she was standing in.

Alone with her thoughts, she got lost in the web of hypotheticals being woven in her brain. Were any of them going to be left standing at the end of this? Could she pull the trigger to end her brother's life? Maybe if she gave herself up, Joey and Gage would have a chance at survival.

Her train of thought was interrupted as her cell phone began ringing from its position on her desk. Layne rushed over and answered, "Yes?"

Silence.

"Hello?" Her voice carried the crankiness from her lack of sleep. She double-checked to make sure the call was still connected before she repeated herself.

More silence.

She turned her back to the door so she could perch her ass on the edge of her desk. "Oh, for fucks sake," she was prepared to hang up until she heard the silence breaking on the other end.

Liam's laughter echoed in the receiver like he had just delivered the world's funniest punchline. "Jesus Christ, Layne. You sound stressed. You should learn to let loose a bit. Go get a massage or some shit."

If she hadn't been dealing with high blood pressure before, she sure as hell was now when she heard him on the other end of the line.

"What the fuck do you want?" she muttered tiredly.

"Just checking in on my big sister, making sure you're doing okay. Is that a crime?" Liam nearly had her convinced for a split second that he gave a damn.

Looking at the clock hung on the wall, she forced out her exhale. "Given what time it is, yes."

"Hmph," Liam seemed to take offense. "I guess I will get straight to the point. Have you decided if you're going to be surrendering control of all your assets to me?"

"I've been a little busy. I know this might be difficult for you to understand, Liam, but running this business requires a lot of work. So, if you'd?—"

The phone was taken right out of her hand. When she gazed at the thief, Gage stood there with fire blazing in his eyes as he put the phone to his ear. She had never even heard him come in.

His massive hand looked like it was about to crush her cell as his body filled with palpable tension. "Look here, shithead. You come fuckin' near her again, I will kill you. You call her again, I will kill you. You so much as mention her name, I will kill you. Do you get my drift?"

Layne dropped down onto her feet from her seat on her desk and attempted to pry the phone from Gage.

Easily keeping it out of reach from her, he pointed at her and then the chair aggressively. He mouthed the word ‘sit' with such force she nearly heard it shouted from his thoughts.

Slowly, she sank into the office chair as she waited for Gage to conclude his talk with her brother.

Gage was greeted with Liam's sniggering. "Oh, you must be the other one I've been hearing so much about. Couldn't find a woman of your own so you had to settle for passing my sister back and forth between you and your brother? Seems real fuckin' pathetic if you ask me."

The twitching in Gage's jaw was visible despite the dim lighting of the office. His anger was rolling off of him and very quickly filling the room. He responded through clenched teeth, "That's a lot of big talk from a little fucking man."

Liam's cocky attitude danced along his words, "Tell Layne she better start making up her mind on what she wants." His emphasis on his sister's name was clearly intentional after Gage's threat. "I've got far less patience than she does, and I have my eyes set on taking back a lot of things that belong to me."

Before Gage could snap back, the call went silent as Liam disconnected. He looked at the phone before dropping it down onto her desk. "Goddamn asshole!"

Layne sat there staring at him, unsure of what to say to ease him down.

The brown hues of his eyes were filled with the darkness of his current mood. "I don't want you fucking talking to him again. Not without Joey or me present. God knows what bullshit he's going to start filling your head with. Do you understand me?"

He rubbed a hand over his short blonde beard, the frustration painted all over his face. His eyes shifted to Layne when she began to get up from her seat. "Just go upstairs and get to bed, it's late." There wasn't much pleasantry in his voice as he ordered her to leave like a child being sent to bed.

Trying to provide a level of comfort, she softly spoke as she reached out a hand to his tensed arm, "Gage?—"

Jerking his arm out of her reach, he raised his voice. "What?!" The sharpness of the word cut through her as it bounced off the walls of the room. "I don't need you to be a brat right now!"

Gage was normally her source of comfort when things were stressful, but hearing him lash out at her made her second-guess all she wanted to say. She shook her head, deciding it wasn't worth saying anything at all. Instead, she pushed past him on her way to leave the office.

After seeing the hurt he inflicted reflecting in her eyes, his face softened and a pang of guilt struck his heart. "Layne, baby…" He only needed to break into a light jog for his longer legs to catch up to her shorter strides. His hand gently took her elbow before she was able to get past the office door.

He gently pulled her up to him. "I'm sorry. You didn't deserve that."

She wiggled her elbow from his hand, doing what she did best and withdrew from uncomfortable conversations and feelings. "It's fine. I'm going to bed like you told me to." The attitude saturated her tone indicating all was not as fine as she wanted it to seem.

He picked up on it, seeing right through the veil she was trying to hide behind. "No, you're not. You're going to bed because you're pissed." Gage frowned at her, realizing that they were all dealing with short fuses around here and he was no exception.

Layne tried to laugh it off as a ridiculous notion, but it fell flat and unconvincing. She crossed her arms in front of her to help bolster her defenses that she was holding her shit together. "Whatever you say, Gage."

God help him, he wanted to shake her by her shoulders when her stubbornness flared up like this. Instead, he opted for a different approach and smirked at her.

His hand slid up the front of her throat. "That's right. When your Daddy tells you to do something, you do it." Gage's voice dropped into the low and gravelly tone that made her knees weak.

Her eyes lifted to meet his, struggling to maintain the heat of her anger. "I'm not in the mood." Her voice was already betraying how much his touch was taming her temper.

Gage brought his mouth to her ear as his grasp on her tightened slowly, "Did I ask if you were in the mood? Be a good girl and meet me in the movie room in five minutes." His lips nibbled at the bottom of her ear lobe before he pulled back and released his hand from her neck.

She felt him give her ass a nudge of encouragement to get moving. Still irritated with his outburst at her, she huffed but turned slowly and left the room. Despite the temptation to ignore his request, she opted to hit the bathroom before going to the room that housed the scaled-down movie theater.

He was there waiting for her, lounging back in one of the double-wide leather recliners with a remote in his hand.

"If you're expecting to get laid, you've got another thing coming," she warned him.

A goofy grin spread across his face. "If you're expecting to get laid, you've got another thing coming," he parroted back at her. His hand patted the vacant space next to him.

Tilting her head in confusion at his comments, she warily approached. Climbing into the seat to his right, she drew her legs up onto the recliner with her as she got comfortable.

Leaning over, Gage's arm wrapped around her shoulders and drew her in close while his left hand grabbed a blanket and draped it over both their laps. Using the remote, he turned on the digital movie projector, illuminating the screen with the opening credits of Layne's favorite movie.

Seeing that he finally gave in to watching her favorite cult classic from the eighties with her, a small piece of her attitude faded away.

Reclining the oversized seat back, he squeezed her against his side allowing her to rest her head on his shoulder. "Comfy?" He smiled lightly at her.

Layne nodded. It was hard not to be comfortable when he was securely holding her and the faint scent of his toasted vanilla cologne was wafting over her.

"I shouldn't have yelled at you," his apology was full of remorse for the hurt he inflicted on her. The only pain he ever wanted to bring her was the type that was paired with intensely gratifying pleasure. His hand rubbed over her arm soothingly.

Not hearing her jumping to forgive him, he realized he had a little more work to do.

Lightly sighing, he ran his hand down over her side. "The thought of ever watching you slip through my fingers would have me battling the darkest of demons. I may not deserve you, Layne, but I will never stop fiercely loving you."

She tilted her head to look up at him as he made his heartwarming profession to her. His words were so full of raw honesty backed by his love that Layne couldn't help but allow the rest of her anger to melt away.

Her hand reached up and pulled his face down to hers, accepting his apology with her lips connecting to his. Her tongue easily pushed into his mouth, exploring the addictive taste of him.

Falling into the sweet caress of her mouth against his, he knew all the bruises to his heart from years gone by were well on their way to fading for good, and it was all due to the woman currently in his arms.

Layne's lips drifted from his after several tender moments, her hand stroking over the side of his scruffy cheek. Without the obstruction of her defenses, her eyes shimmered despite the only light coming off the movie screen. "If I ever slip through your fingers, it's because I feel most at home in your heart."

Relieved that there was still hope they could make it through the ongoing nightmare Liam pitched them into, Gage showered her with several more kisses to erase the invisible wounds his words had created after the rare moment of losing his temper.

Once they both settled back on the cozy dual recliner, it wasn't any longer than ten minutes before Layne was lulled to sleep with the movie still playing on the big screen in front of them. Gage's hold never fell away from her as she passed out listening to the sound of his heart beating in his chest.