Chapter 13

After their—ahem—post-workout stretches, Joey informed Layne that the following day he had to drive out to Newark over in Jersey for the day. That meant Gage was going to be stepping up to the plate. She wasn't sure if it was better or worse now that she knew the truth about Rosie.

Up in the master bedroom, Layne yanked her forest green shirt down over her head and torso. Her hands retrieved her long tresses out from underneath the top, allowing them to fall freely over her shoulders. "I could just go with you." She glanced at herself in the full-length mirror on the back of the bedroom door to make sure her outfit was up to her standards. Being the face of a criminal empire meant being aware of one's image.

The long-sleeved shirt clung to her body, accentuating every curve including a peek of her cleavage from the sharp v of the neckline. The dark hue of the green helped to make her eye color pop amongst her other features. The hem of the shirt stopped just above her belly button, revealing the fit muscle tone of her stomach. Layne partially twisted, pivoting her hip to check out her best asset in her low-rise jeans. The swell of her ass proudly showed off all the hard work and squats she did to maintain it.

Joey's hands wrapped over her shoulders as he came up behind her. He brushed her hair to the side, revealing the length of her neck. Lovingly, he laid a path of kisses from the crook of her neck up to her ear. "These aren't the type of people that welcome outsiders. Especially ones with a goddamn ass that begs for some dick." His mouth captured the bottom of her ear lobe, teasingly sucking at it before he drew his lips away from her skin. Those dark brown eyes of his glanced down to admire the plunge of her shirt and the view of her supple cleavage.

The strength of his cut arms wrapped around her and squeezed. "Besides," he continued. "It's a good opportunity for you and Gage to get to know each other a little better. See if he's up to the challenge of keeping up with you." He smirked at her, knowing damn well Layne wasn't an easy assignment to keep tabs on.

Layne turned in his arms, coming face to face with him with a grin. "So, does that mean I can hop a ride on the back of a bike with some stranger to ditch his ass?" Her hands slid around and grabbed a handful of his ass as she recalled how their first date kicked off.

His hand came up below her chin, his thumb running across it, barely tracing along the bottom edge of her lip. "If he fucks up that badly the first day on the job, I will beat the shit out of him. And if you pull that crap on him…" Joey's voice held the edge of a soft warning. "I will find your ass and take you somewhere secluded where no one will ever find us."

"A vacation? I accept." Her smartass comment was coupled with a playful grin.

Before Joey could get more than a grumble out, the doorbell of O'Reilly Manor pierced through the air of the house.

"Probably Gage." He looked down at his watch. "Asshole always runs at least five minutes late. I will meet you downstairs." Joey leaned over and brushed his mouth over hers quickly before leaving to go down to the first floor to let his brother inside.

When Joey pulled open the front door, Gage stood there with a smile and a pair of aviator sunglasses on his face. "Hey. Reporting for duty." He mockingly gave Joey a salute.

"Come inside, you're late, jackass." Joey was taking a big, but calculated risk by letting someone other than himself watch after the woman who meant everything to him. It didn't mean he had to be happy about it either.

When Joey stepped back from the entrance, Gage came inside, his hands tucked into the dark tan pants he was wearing. "I have to admit, I never expected you to be living the swanky Upper Eastside life."

"Shut up." Joey was already sensing a headache approaching with his little brother making stupid comments. He pushed the front door shut and moved to stand in front of him. "Ground rules."

Oh, this was going to be good. Gage didn't typically have rules set for him; he was the one who set them. With an amused smirk, he pulled his sunglasses from his face and hung them on the neck of his black long-sleeved tee. He looked directly at Joey. "I'm all ears."

With all seriousness in his face, Joey stared at Gage. "What she says, goes. The only exception is if it involves you taking your eyes off of her, do you understand me? If she has so much as a papercut when I get back, I swear, Gage…"

The younger De Luca chuckled and raised a hand to stop Joey's impending threat right there. "Relax, I basically took a goddamn bullet for her. I think that should earn me a little trust, yeah? Besides, keeping my eyes on her—" he paused his words as Layne appeared on the stairs. "Not going to be a problem." Damn, the sight of that woman had him ready to face a firing squad for her.

Layne made her descent down the staircase, her ankle-high boots giving quiet little taps against the floor. She had chosen a light jacket to go over her shirt, making it easier to conceal several weapons on her body.

Noticing Gage's lustful gaze past him, Joey turned to see Layne approaching them both. He took another quick look at his watch realizing he needed to get on the road soon unless he wanted to be late. His hand gripped firmly onto Gage's shoulder, pulling him in so Joey could whisper, "Follow the fuckin' rules for once."

"Sure, boss." Gage's smile didn't falter while his focus was trained on Layne.

When she got to where they both were, she saw Joey whispering to Gage. She was pretty sure it was some threat having to do with keeping her out of harm's way. After releasing Gage, Joey turned to her, his expression softening partially but a sternness remained present in his eyes that reminded her of pools of melted chocolate.

"You. Behave." A simple instruction. His hand reached behind her neck and pulled her in close. While upstairs he had been brief with his affections, he took his damn sweet time now - whether it be for show or not. His other hand dropped down to grab a handful of her sweet ass, possessively squeezing it in his hand.

The way Joey's lips claimed her own had her gasping for breath, only for his tongue to glide into her mouth where it wrestled with her tongue. He didn't want that moment to end, so he soaked up as much of her taste as he could in the few seconds he had to spare.

Once he released his hold on her, Joey smiled gently. "I mean it, Layne."

Layne crisscrossed her finger over her heart with a grin. "Stop worrying so damn much."

After gathering his jacket and a duffel, Joey was out the door to take care of some contract business matters forty-five minutes away in the next state over. It left Layne and Gage standing there in the foyer of her home staring at one another.

"So, princess, what's on your schedule for the day?" He didn't make an effort to move, waiting for her to feel like she was the one in charge. Gage had all day to figure out all her inner workings, and he was looking forward to it.

Before she had even come downstairs, she knew this day was going to go one of two ways. One or both of them were going to choose violence, and with him calling her ‘princess' it seemed he was intent on sealing his fate.

Recalling Joey's words to her to behave, she slowly filled her lungs with more oxygen to find some sort of inner peace or some bullshit like that. Layne exhaled the worst of her temper and settled on providing him a bitchy look.

"I have a few stops to make to check in with a few of my family's most loyal clients. You should be able to hang back and keep your space." She dug into her jacket pocket a moment before she tossed her car keys at him. "You're driving."

Gage caught the keys with one hand without missing a beat. He examined the blue and white luxury logo on the key fob before dropping it into the safety of his pants.

The moment Layne went to walk past him, he jutted an arm out in front of her, blocking her path. "You're going to have to do better than that."

Her feet stopped short so she didn't walk right into his massive arm. "Excuse me?" She notched up a brow along with her attitude.

"I'm going to need names and places. I may be the new guy on the block, but this isn't my first gig. Joey may have his rules, but so do I." His tone was assertive, but it still had a pleasantness to it. It was irritating as hell.

Gage's past experiences in dealing with seedy businessmen weren't just limited to cash transactions. During the infancy of Cassidy's Cave, he couldn't afford bouncers and had the pleasure of removing rowdy patrons himself and keeping his girls safe. Even outside of that scope, he had a few stints watching some spoiled brats with pervy stalkers—and fucking a few of them, too. The spoiled brats, that was.

Layne rolled her eyes; these De Lucas and their goddamn rules. She crossed her arms in front of her chest. "How do I make this easy enough for you to understand? I am not a wilting flower that some underboss has hired you to follow around while she gets her nails done. I am the fuckin' be-all and end-all of my damn business. You don't make the rules here, I do."

It took a hell of a lot of restraint on his behalf to suppress the laugh that was tugging inside his ribs. From his perspective, Joey had no problem setting rules for her. He wondered how well she followed them. She had a damn firestorm of an attitude that stirred excitement in his pants at the challenge it presented. "You this bossy in bed, too?" He gave a devil's grin at her.

Today was going to be a long one if he kept this up. "Too bad you'll never find out."

"Are you sure about that? You seemed to be quite content when I had you in my arms at the Cave." He leaned in making his words softer, "Admit that you enjoyed being so close."

Refusing to admit to anything, her arms dropped down from her chest and her hand shoved his arm out of her way. It didn't take much effort; Gage allowed her to make a path for herself. "McGregor's is first on the list." This man was going to drive her insane before the day was over. She led the way to the garage where her car was parked.

Gage smugly smiled to himself as he trailed behind her. It seemed little Miss Be-All and End-All could submit when led down the correct path.