Chapter 11

Italo squeezed the trigger with the intent to eliminate one of the masked individuals closest to him–Layne.

The second the jerkoff had revealed the firearm, Gage saw it being lifted in line with where Layne was. Gage stepped toward Layne, who was fortunately still within his arm's reach. Protectively he wrapped his large arms around her, drawing her in tightly to his chest as he turned his back to Italo so his body curled over Layne's petite form like a shield.

He ducked down covering as much of Layne's body as he could, paying particular attention to her most vital parts like her head and upper body. Tightly, using his strength, he clutched onto her like a man fearful of losing a rare treasure to the depths of the ocean.

She had no time to react from the moment Italo became an active threat and when she was suddenly yanked into Gage's tight embrace. It had happened so quickly that all she could ascertain was that she was cloaked in safety. While the protective hold that Gage had on her was damn near suffocating, it was far better than suffering a potentially fatal gunshot wound. One experience in the whole being shot department was more than enough for her.

Layne felt Gage's body flinch around her as the sound of the bullet bursting into flight echoed in the air, her hands were pinned between their bodies not allowing her to grab for anything defensively. Being pressed so close to his chest she couldn't see shit. All she could do was huddle up with him and listen to the sound of his heavy breathing. Quickly after the first shot, that's when she heard a second round fired, which caused a slight ringing in her ears and was followed by a heavy thud.

It all felt like it transpired over the span of minutes, but it had only taken mere seconds. Even as panic set in at the sound of a body hitting the floor and she began to struggle and push against Gage, he didn't allow her a single inch of freedom.

Once Gage looked up, Joey was holstering his pistol, and behind Gage was one less regular patron of Cassidy's Cave.

Joey immediately came over to where Gage was crouched down, his arms locked around Layne. He met eyes with his brother, not needing to say anything as a look passed between them. It was a look from Joey that held something with the least amount of hostility than it ever had in recent history with Gage.

His voice held a gravelly texture to it as Joey spoke. "Let me see her."

Layne was still squirming against Gage's chest, only easing up as she felt Gage pull her up with him as he stood. He loosened his arms from around her, allowing her to create space for herself. However, Joey didn't give her the chance as he immediately pulled her into his arms surrounding her with the familiar woodsy scent of sage and leather.

The hug was brief but just enough to erase the concern from them both. Joey pulled back and looked her over. "Are you okay?"

She nodded and did the same inspection to Joey to confirm he was equally unhurt. "I'm fine."

Now that the adrenaline-filled moment was over, Gage looked at his arm which had a burning sensation nagging at him. As he moved his arm to take a look, he gave a quiet hiss of pain, noticing a small tear in the curve of the shoulder of his shirt. "Goddamnit, this was a new fucking shirt," he grumbled.

Gage undid the series of buttons on the dress shirt until he peeled it from his torso. It revealed the white tank top that clung to each line of his bulky muscles and exposed the series of tattoos creeping up his arms. The lines of ink curved into images of roses and various sharp-edged weapons.

He inspected his shoulder where there was a small wound, a line of blood creeping from it. Thankfully, it was only a graze. If he hadn't pulled Layne to him, it was quite possible she would have been struck down. He would accept this minor inconvenience over the thought of her perfect body being damaged.

When Layne noticed Gage stripping his shirt off and revealing where Italo's bullet must have skimmed past him, she had a mixture of feelings fill her up inside. Guilt that he had put himself in harm's way for her and awe that he hadn't even thought twice about it. Sprinkle a little gratitude on top of all that and she found herself seeing him through a slightly different lens. That lens especially didn't look half bad when she saw how the thin fabric of his tank top adhered to his fit form and the cut of the muscles of the steel-like biceps that had been clenching around her moments ago.

Interrupting her thoughts while her eyes had been lost on his younger brother, Joey spoke. "Now that we're down a lead," he motioned over to Italo's still body, "hopefully these four are feeling chatty."

Layne looked over at the group of men all on the floor with their hands bound behind their backs. Some looked worse for wear, especially the one with the smashed nose courtesy of Joey's fist.

Killing Italo was not in the plan for tonight and it put a major hitch in her plans. She tried not to be pissed about it, given they didn't have much of an option when guns were drawn. Pulling away from Joey's hold, she walked over to the group of men all with different expressions on each of their faces. One still looked to be in pain, another looked defiant, one appeared to be terrified he would be shot next, and one was in shock and mentally checked the fuck out.

"The first one of you to give me something useful about Russ Spencer will be the only one walking out of here with both legs intact." Her eyes narrowed at them dangerously, she wondered who was going to break first.

Layne had been pleasantly surprised that the man who had appeared full of steadfast contempt was the first to crumble. He had sung like a canary the second Gage had fetched her the metal bat he had used earlier and Layne used it to give a love tap to the lackey's kneecap.

Ended up that Russ had been working with Italo to begin setting up a series of intimidation tactics on known businesses that either supported Layne or straight up were on the outer edges of her territory. Of course, Italo needed the help of pettier criminals who were willing to engage in violent acts for less of a monetary incentive. That's where all four of these men came in.

She had made good on her word, leaving the man's legs uninjured. He only left the strip club with a broken arm and a promise from Layne. If he so much as tattled to Russell, there was no place he could hide that she wouldn't be able to track him down and creatively find more ways to impart pain on him.

The other three? None were so fortunate. Each of them left still sucking air into their lungs, but they all earned a bashing of their legs to have them hobbling or crawling out of there.

Layne locked up the front door after the last of them was gone, exhaustion weighing down on her. The two De Lucas were stationed at the bar, giving her the space to carry out her methods. Gage had offered to assist, but Joey convinced him that Layne was more than able to take care of this on her own while they sat back.

Tossing the bat to the side, she removed her mask and walked back to where Joey and Gage were standing, noticing each of them tracking her movements. What she noticed pressed against the zipper of Joey's pants wasn't unexpected given how he felt about watching her assert herself. It was the outline at the front of Gage's pants that she hadn't expected to notice, and it was incredibly difficult not to have her attention drawn to it.

Well, shit, that was a hell of a sight to see in front of her. Trying her best to ignore that she had seen the dually magnificent sight that had her imagination swirling, she took up a seat on one of the stools.

Joey reached behind him, grabbed a glass of whiskey, and handed it over to her. It earned him one of her delightful smiles. "Thanks." She took the glass from him and wasted no time in emptying its contents into her mouth, swallowing down the burn happily after all of tonight's events.

Gage leaned back against the bar top on his elbows. "I took care of Italo. His body won't be found until someone takes a fine-tooth comb through whichever landfill he ends up at." One perk of Manhattan was the metric tons of trash the city generated got transported to one of many sites, some as far as South Carolina or even overseas in China.

She nodded, impressed that he was willing to help clean up their mess. Layne set her empty glass down on the bar. "I appreciate it." Her emerald eyes looked at his exposed shoulder. "How's your arm?"

He shrugged indifferently. "I'll live. Not the worst I've ever had, and the ladies love a good battle scar." Gage winked at her.

Joey poured another finger-high amount of the amber booze into Layne's empty glass. "Layne," he started with an even tone that sounded like he was about to discuss a trivial matter. "Gage and I were talking."

She sat up straighter in her seat, not liking how guarded he was making his voice. Anytime he started a conversation with such calm it usually meant she wasn't going to particularly like what he had to say.

"About what?" She turned to set her gaze on Joey who was now removing his mask and shoving it into his pocket. He rubbed his hand down over the front of his mouth knowing that this had the potential to be met with a lot of resistance. It also had the risk of Layne trying to send him to sleep on the couch.

He offered her the refill of whiskey, but she refused to take what was only being handed to her to help ease the impact of whatever he was about to drop on her. Joey slowly inhaled and set the glass to the side.

"We already talked about you needing an extra set of eyes on you. I don't want to trust just anyone looking out for you. I need someone I can rely on, and finding anyone in this business that even comes up close to the caliber of protection I need for you…"

Joey didn't even have to finish his thought before Layne jumped to the conclusion. Her eyes darted to Gage, who to his credit, wasn't wearing a smug smile for once. "Are you kidding me? Gage?!" She shook her head. "No." This should have been a point-blank decision from her and the discussion done with.

"Layney—"

She cut him off before he tried to pull out his charm to smooth this over. "Ever since he's come around, all you've been doing is telling me how reckless he is and you don't want him around. Now, you're doing an entire one-eighty on that?"

Gage nodded. "She has a point. I'm about as reckless as you are." The sarcasm was in full swing on his words.

Joey shot his brother a glare before stepping up to Layne, taking her face in his hands. "It's just for the time being. If he does anything to give me pause, he's gone." He pressed his forehead to hers, lowering his voice. "You don't have to like it, but I'm not asking you to. I'm telling you, this is what has to happen."

Met with Joey's face in close proximity to her own, she gave a small frown displaying her dissatisfaction with his decision overriding her own. His ass was already in the doghouse from his comment to Gage earlier, and now he was dropping this bomb on her and she wasn't happy about it.

"Hope you find the couch comfortable to sleep on." She grumbled knowing trying to argue with him on this was going to be pointless. It would have resulted in hours of back and forth, eating up energy she didn't have to expend.

Joey's lips pressed onto hers with a heat to melt away her agitated demeanor. When he pulled back, he smirked at her. "Couch is going to be just fine when you're underneath me taking my cock all night."

His words sent a spark of desire straight down between her legs distracting her from realizing how soon she was going to always have a De Luca at her side.