Chapter 28

When she had spoken with Joey, he rapidly fired off what felt like a thousand questions. He asked her if she was okay, where she was, what happened, and more. Layne couldn't focus on answering any of them except the nearest intersection she was at. Everything was beginning to hurt, even her thoughts.

Within twenty minutes, both he and Gage had picked her up. The drive should have taken at least thirty, but Joey ignored just about every traffic law on the way. She was just over the New York State Line in New Jersey.

When they arrived, Joey nearly forgot to put the car in park before hopping out. The two of them smothered her with hugs and kisses despite the wreck she was. Gage had managed to stop Joey from hammering her with a million more questions. The important thing was that she was okay and they weren't going to let her out of their sight until they had the full story of what transpired.

On the ride back to O'Reilly Manor, she laid across the back seat of the Challenger with her head in Gage's lap while his hand stroked over her head. For once they hadn't harassed her about buckling up. Seeing the state she was in, they both didn't want to do anything more than allow her to find a little bit of comfort. Once they made it back to her house, they gave her the space she needed despite wanting to hover.

The guilt and fear had eaten away at Gage while she had been gone and nobody knew where she was. If Layne hadn't been there helping clean up, she wouldn't have been in the wrong damn place at the wrong time. Conversely, Joey had simply been ready to start busting down every criminal syndicate's door and racking up body counts in search of her.

She stood in the shower for nearly forty-five minutes washing all the filth and blood from herself as the hot water and soap stung the abrasions on her body. Afterward, she pulled on a pair of her favorite sleep shorts with a bralette.It was the only set of clothes she could get comfortable in with the way her body ached.

Now she found herself sitting on the kitchen counter with both the guys staring at her. "I told you I'm fine, just tired." Her fingers pinched the bridge of her nose while trying to fend off the lingering headache.

Gage dabbed some antiseptic on her knuckles eliciting a hiss of pain from her. "Sorry, I'm trying to be gentle, baby."

Joey frowned as his hand carefully turned her head so he could inspect what injuries she had now that the blood had been washed away. Every bruise, cut, and rope burn he saw notched up his anger one more tick. He knew that for each mark visible on her, she had to be hurting internally on top of it.

Taking a measured exhale, Joey turned her to look at him. "What happened?"

Layne shook her head. "I don't want to get into it. I just need my phone so I can call Thomas and?—"

"Now is not the time to make me ask twice, Layne." Joey's voice grew heavier and from the look of his brown eyes, they were ready to turn black with death.

She knew this was all going to go over like a damn lead balloon for both of them. Layne began to recount what happened from being jumped in the back alley after Danielle lured her out there, to waking up in the dingy room tied to a chair, and Danielle's failed attempt to get her boys to do all her dirty work. All the while, Layne avoided telling the kicker of it all. If Joey and Gage both didn't already have all the reasons to lash out at Russell Spencer, this was going to be the breaking point.

Gage finished patching up her hand and laid a kiss lightly on top of the bandage. "Why? What the hell was her issue with you?"

"Besides being twisted in the head?" Layne paused, hating that they were at this point. She had both guys staring at her looking for answers that would make all of this make sense.

The silence from Layne continued for a little while until Joey's agitation began to eat away at him. "I swear, Layne, if you don't just spit it the hell out…" It may not have been the gentlest of prompts, but it was effective as he saw Layne's shoulders sink in forfeit.

She shook her head. "Her dad is Russell Spencer. She wanted to make him proud or some shit, I don't know."

"Motherfucker!" It was Joey who reacted first. Before he could storm off, Layne grabbed him by his belt and nearly slid off the counter if it hadn't been for Gage who caught her before she did. He eased her down onto her feet while Layne refused to release her grasp on Joey.

"Dammit, Joey, wait!" She pleaded. "I don't think he knows and I want it to stay that way. If shit is going down, I want plans in place. That's why I want to get Thomas on board so he can prepare the rest of the team."

He reluctantly turned back around. The desire to go visit Russ right now and destroy every bone in that fucker's body was right up there with wishing he could resurrect Eric Ellis just to send him right back down to hell.

"Wait for what, Layne?! Wait so another motherfucker can take a shot at you?!" All of Joey's pent-up frustrations and fears that had weighed on him during her disappearance were all getting unleashed. "I'm tired of waiting around! You could have died and there was nothing I could have done to stop it. Do you even get that?!"

His words of anger were accompanied by a sense of misery in his eyes that he had been hurting knowing that there had been the possibility of her life being ripped from him forever.

In response, her green hues began to glisten with unshed tears as she felt the pain in his words.

Gage interjected, speaking to his brother, "You're not going to do shit without me." Then, he turned to look at Layne. "And you're not doing anything until you get some rest." He wasn't going to add to the already emotionally charged situation with what he was feeling.

Now it was her turn to be irritated, but with how much her body wanted to crash, she couldn't even raise an argument with him.

Joey sighed, realizing he probably shouldn't have gone off on her the way he did. It didn't make anything he said less true, but his fears had come uncomfortably close to fruition. "Look, it's been a fucker of a time for all of us. Go get in bed and we'll be up in a minute to join you." He agreed with Gage's determination that Layne needed to sleep and allow herself to recover after everything she had been through.

Maybe it was the ‘we' in that statement that convinced her to listen or the fact that she could hardly keep herself up on her feet, but Layne nodded. "I'll be upstairs, don't take too long."

After Layne left the kitchen and went up to the master bedroom, it was Gage's turn to lash out with all the emotions that had been locked away to prevent Layne from getting any more riled up. His hand smacked the bottle of antiseptic off the counter angrily sending it flying across the kitchen. "Son of a bitch! I fuckin' knew Russell was bad news. He and his entire goddamn operation needs to die."

Joey looked over at Gage filled with a calmer variation of his rage. "This isn't going to be pretty. If she makes this move against Spencer, she is either going to get torn apart by the other factions or have half the city by the balls."

Slowly nodding, Gage ran his fingers through his hair in frustration that they both had come too close to having history repeat itself. "Then let's make sure she gets her seat on the throne she deserves to be on."

Layne thought she felt like shit when she had gotten back home last night, but when she woke up the next morning all the aches and pains were tenfold. Her pride refused to voice the weight of her body's angry protests. She was moving much slower and fighting through it all on her own.

She curled up on the sofa watching the morning news on the television with a cup of coffee held between her hands. Joey came up behind the sofa, leaning over and rubbing his hands over her shoulders lightly before kissing the top of her head. "You're up earlier than I expected."

"I couldn't sleep." She sipped from her piping hot morning routine in a mug.

He came around the end of the couch and took a seat next to her, resting his arm along the backrest behind her. "I have ways to help with that," Joey smirked at her playfully.

Lightly smiling, she leaned over into his side, soaking in the warmth and safety his presence provided. "Some of the best ways. Is Gage still upstairs sleeping?"

He shook his head. "He went out to take care of a few things. He promised he'd be back in a little while with food."

"Mm, I could use something to eat. I'm starving." Her stomach rumbled in agreement.

She leaned over to cement a kiss onto his mouth. Joey's hand wrapped around the back of her head to hold her in close for the kiss. Murmuring against her lips, he teased, "I got something for you to put in your mouth to hold you over."

She smiled against his mouth and the kiss began to grow into something more passionate before getting interrupted.

The female news anchor spoke with a solemn voice, "Breaking news. This just in, several bodies have been discovered at an abandoned veterinary clinic in Jersey City. Police are investigating the incident and at this time, say there are no leads. Maria is reporting live from the scene."

Layne pulled back from Joey to look at the screen which showed the very building she had escaped. This time it was surrounded by yellow crime scene tape, flashing lights, and an excessive amount of law enforcement.

The image of the reporter standing in front of the building had the same tone that all reporters seem to have, one which evokes seriousness with perfectly crafted sentences with a hint of suspense. "Thank you, Susan. I spoke with one of the officers earlier and he said that there were four bodies discovered inside. Three of them died of apparent gunshot wounds. The fourth was of a woman who suffered in what was only described to me as a ‘heinous act of disturbing violence'."

Setting her coffee on the table in front of them with a groan, both of her stiff movements and a realization. "Fuck. I need to make a call."

"What is it?" Joey sat up, eyeing her.

Slowly, she eased herself up off the couch with a wince. She looked at Joey with eyes that reflected her anger at herself for making a stupid rookie mistake. "My fingerprints are all over the murder weapons, Joey."

He tried not to add to her worries with his own as he stood up. "We'll get it fixed. Your prints won't mean anything if there's nothing in the system to compare them to."

Layne stared at him, her face full of concern not easing up any.

He raised both his brows. "When the hell did you get arrested?"

She gave a small smile recalling the little she remembered about the incident. "Things got a little ridiculous on my twenty-first birthday. After the cops were called, the one Boy Scout in the group didn't like that I flashed my tits at him."

He smirked. "One lucky son of a bitch. I would have arrested your ass just so I could have you all to myself." Joey wrapped his arms around her and showered her with a few hungry kisses.

There was no fighting the smile and the way he could put her at ease. "Ok, ok! I have to call my contact at the crime lab to make sure that any prints that are lifted are determined to be inconclusive."

His hand rubbed over the curve of her ass. "One call, then you're mine for the rest of the morning until Gage gets back."

They both left the room, leaving the television on. The image shifted to the studio news anchor again to transition to another news story. A familiar face appeared in the upper right part of the screen while the woman continued her news coverage.

"In Midtown, another young woman was found deceased. Kristill Hendricks, twenty-four years old, was discovered by her neighbor after noise complaints about Hendricks' Chihuahua continuing to bark for hours on end. Sources say that the young woman had a history of drug abuse and prostitution, but police aren't ruling out foul play. More to come."