“Not one thing he put on his application is the truth. Not even his fuckin’ address.” Layne moved closer to her and his voice dropped lower. “Not even his name, Rocky.”

“Oh my God,” she whispered.

“Thomas Jameson ‘TJ’ Gaines, as far as I can tell, is a Youth Minister at a Baptist Church in a suburb of Chattanooga, Tennessee. He’s been employed there for two years and still lives there, or he did last night, when he took his family out to dinner and charged it. So, unless he’s discovered a way to clone himself, the man who’s Youth Minister at the Christian Church is not TJ Gaines.”

She was staring up at him, lips parted, eyes huge. Then she swallowed before she asked, “Are you going to give it to Merry?”

“Only one I could probably give it to is Merry since we came into the possession of his personnel file by breaking and entering and then stealing confidential documents.”

“We didn’t break and enter, I had a key!” she snapped.

“A key you stole, sweetcheeks,” he shot back.

Her teeth instantly sunk into her lip but her eyes were shooting fire. Then she stated, “Merry would run with it and keep us out of it.”

Layne shook his head. “We gotta send Tripp in.”

“Why?”

“Because, what Drew told me and what you added last night, I had a feeling this was bad, now I know this is worse. A lot worse. Something is going on there and we fucked it up by committing a variety of unlawful acts to come about undeniably damning information. As damning as it is, sweetcheeks, they build a case against this guy, it’ll all come crashing down if anyone ever finds out they were tipped from info we acquired and the way we acquired it. That could happen, Roc. So, a kid’s gotta report him and that kid’s gonna be Tripp, but he has to know what he’s reporting. He can’t just go to a few Youth Group meetings and cry wolf. If this guy is in there doin’ bad shit with those kids, someone says boo, he’s gone and they’ll never find him. Tripp gets anything, they can investigate in a way where they won’t tweak him until they got enough to arrest him. I have a meet with Colt later this morning, I’ll give him the head’s up Drew punted this case to me and what Tripp’s doin’ so he can work his end. You see Drew or Merry, you do the same. But what we did no one knows about, yeah?”

She stared at him for three long beats before she muttered, “I hate it when you make sense.”

Layne smiled and muttered back, “Baby.”

Her irritation fled and her face changed, worry seeping into it, so much, she didn’t check herself from leaning closer to him and resting her bandaged hand lightly on his chest. “Layne, we’re talking girls here. Young girls.”

He put his hand to her neck and gave her a squeeze. “I’ll coach Tripp, Rocky, and give him the sense of urgency. He’ll play it smart but he won’t fuck around. You have to have patience. Even if the cops were investigating this, it would take time. Now, we’re goin’ at it both ways.”

“Yes, I understand that, but time –”

Layne interrupted her. “He’s doin’ bad shit with kids, this guy has gotta go down and stay down, Roc and, baby,” his head dipped so his face was close to hers, “I’m sorry, but that takes time.”

She stared into his eyes and then she nodded. She’d agreed but he didn’t move out of her space or her face. His fingers tensed on her neck and his eyes dropped to her raspberry lips and, his hand on her skin, her hand on his chest, she was so close he could smell her perfume, Layne had the sudden urge to discover if she tasted like raspberries.

“Layne,” those lips whispered as his hand at her neck pulled her closer.

“Yeah, baby?” he asked, his mouth nearly on hers.

“What –?”

His mouth captured hers and his tongue darted out to taste her lip gloss. It tasted like fruit but he didn’t know if it was raspberry and he didn’t care because her lips parted and Layne didn’t waste the opportunity, his tongue slid inside.

His hand stayed at her neck as his other hand gripped her waist and pulled her body into his. Both her hands went to his shoulders, not to push away, for the fingers to curl in and she held on.

Her head tipped further back and tilted to the side causing her breasts to press into his chest. That felt good and he wanted more of it.

So he moved his hand along her waist, feeling the fabric of her sweater was soft, not scratchy, and he wrapped his arm around her, pulling her body deeper into his, plastering her softness against him.

Yep, that felt better and Rocky thought so too, he knew this because she made a sweet, little noise in her throat that vibrated against his tongue.

That noise made Layne give a reciprocating one, but his wasn’t sweet, it was hungry.

Too hungry, the taste of her, the smell of her perfume, her body pressed against his felt fucking great. His body was reacting and she was at work. This couldn’t get out of hand. Not how he wanted it to, not here.

He tore his lips from hers but kept her close with his hand at her neck and arm around her waist.

“Layne,” she breathed and he realized then she’d kissed him back. No complaints, no resistance, like Sunday night, he’d touched his tongue to her lips and she was his.

This said a lot and all of it was fucking brilliant.

“I got work to do, baby,” he whispered.

“What are you… why are you –?” she started to ask but he touched his mouth to hers once, then again then he looked in her eyes to see they were slightly unfocused and slightly confused and that look was definitely cute.

“Got shit to do, sweetcheeks. Colt’s got a guy who may give me info I need on Stew and I got a file to build on a case I completed last night and I need to get that done so I can get paid.”

“Um… okay,” she whispered.

His hand at her neck and his arm at her waist gave her a squeeze. “See you tonight.”

“Okay,” she repeated.

“Later,” he muttered and touched his mouth to hers again.

“Okay,” she muttered back when he was done, her mutter breathy. “Later.”

He smiled down at her, let her go, stepped away from her and her hands dropped from his shoulders. He wiped her berry gloss off his lips with the back of his hand while still smiling. Then he turned to the door and his timing couldn’t have been any fucking better. The bell rang and he opened the door as kids started streaming into the halls. He waited a few beats, looking back at her and finding she was where he left her, staring at him, still seeming unfocused. Then, when the halls were packed with kids, he took a step out, turned back to her, gave her a wink and started to walk down the hall.

A young girl ran into the back of an opened locker right beside him after he took two steps and he caught her by the bicep because the noise of her slamming into the locker was loud and her dazed expression made it look like she was going down.

“You all right?” he asked and she stared up at him still looking dazed. He bent closer. “Hey, honey, I asked, you all right?”

“Uh…” she stared up at him like she’d never seen another human being before then she whispered in a voice so quiet he could barely hear her, “you called me honey.”

“Molly,” Rocky was there, “did you hurt yourself? Is everything okay?”

The girl tore her gaze from him, blinked at Rocky and mumbled, “Uh, yeah, Mrs. Astley.”

“Her name is Ms. Merrick,” Layne told the girl, he heard Rocky suck in breath, he let the girl’s arm go and the girl turned her head and blinked up at him.

“Oh, okay,” she turned back to Rocky, “yeah, I’m fine, Ms. Merrick.”

Rocky was glaring at him but she spoke to the girl. “That’s good, Molly, now you better get to class.”

“Right,” she muttered, scuttled between them and took off down the hall.

“Hey, Mrs. Astley,” a pack of girls called in unison then one of them went on, “your boyfriend is hot.” Then all of them burst out in giggles.

“Thank you, Mariah, your opinion is noted,” Rocky replied irately and Layne burst out laughing. When he was done, Rocky was close and she hissed at him, “Don’t you have work to do?”

“Yeah, Roc.” He grinned at her. “See you tonight.”

“See you tonight.”

He winked again and she glared, then she turned, walked back to her room and then disappeared inside. It was only two strides but she did it with her strut so Layne took the time to watch. When he was done, he turned, saw two of Jasper’s friends, backs against the walls, both of their eyes were locked on Layne.

“Hey Mr. Layne,” one of them said in Jasper’s “you the man” tone of last night.

“Jamie,” Layne nodded and his eyes cut to the other kid, “Mitch.”

“Yo, Mr. Layne.”

Layne smiled at them and started walking down the hall thinking that his whole play went really, fucking great.

* * *

Layne met Colt and they took off in Layne’s Suburban.

When they did, Layne left Blondie with Sully at the Station knowing Jas’s dog would love him forever, such was her excitement at being left in a place full of men who liked dogs as well as a variety of corners she could stick her nose into to experience a variety of new and unusual smells.

“Things good?” Colt asked from the passenger seat.

“Workin’ on it,” Layne answered.

“How’s Rocky?” Colt went on.

“Workin’ on that too,” Layne replied and Colt chuckled.

“Can’t say I wasn’t shocked as shit coupla weeks ago,” Colt remarked.

“Everyone’s shocked as shit, includin’ me,” Layne told him.

Colt was silent a moment before he asked quietly, his voice openly concerned, “It goin’ okay?”

Alec Colton was a good cop, a good man and a good friend. They’d worked together years ago, he’d been that way then and he was that way now. Colt knew Layne before Rocky left him and after. He knew what she meant to him and he knew what it meant she was back.

Therefore, Layne said quietly back, “Path’s full of thorns.”

Another moment of silence and then Colt replied, “You get to the rose, man, it’s unbelievably soft and smells incredibly fuckin’ sweet.”

It hit Layne then that Colt and Feb had lived their own bittersweet love story in that ‘burg. Colt was a few years older than Layne but he’d been at high school with Feb. With Colt best friends with February’s brother since he was in kindergarten, Colt had known Feb forever. They’d been solid, unshakable, the couple who hooked up in high school that everyone knew would stick true. They didn’t. Layne had no idea what went down except it wasn’t good. Colt had stayed in the ‘burg and, working with him, Layne knew the loss of Feb, even years after, was a loss that stayed fresh. Like Layne, Feb had taken off and she’d been gone even longer than Layne. She came back a few years ago and they’d hooked up again when a local guy lost control of what was left of his mind and went on a killing spree in Feb’s name. Colt had stepped in to keep her safe and they’d come out of that back together, solid, unshakable, now married with a kid. Whatever tore them apart, they found a way to put it behind them and they made it through.

Reminded of this, Layne could say at that juncture that reminder was really freaking welcome.

“So I take it Feb’s good,” Layne noted.

“Yeah, man, Feb is good.” Colt’s words were weighty and Layne didn’t try to stop his smile.

Layne drove out of the ‘burg, they hit the vast fields that surrounded it and he changed the subject. “Run this down for me.”

Colt didn’t hesitate. “Guy’s name is Ryker. It’s happening, he knows about it.”

“Informant?”

“He isn’t adverse to sharing information when he might get somethin’ outta it.”

Layne glanced at Colt then back at the road. “He the kind of guy I wanna owe a favor?”

“That’s the beauty of this, Tanner. Ryker is not a friend of Carlito’s and no one is a friend of Stew’s. I reckon he won’t consider it a favor to share what he knows about Stew.”

Layne found himself smiling again.

Layne had learned one thing from his father, a man he’d never met, or he hadn’t met him at a time where Layne was old enough to form a coherent thought, and that was you not only didn’t shit where you lived, you didn’t shit anywhere. Layne had grown up watching his mother struggle to keep a roof over their heads, working as a secretary, going to night school, studying to be an accountant, having no time to do it and even less money so it took her freaking forever. But she did it and began to make more money but she always had to work. Layne was a latchkey kid, she had no choice but to lean on him to help her out by learning how to take care of himself early on and the minute he could earn, he did what he could to kick in. His aunt and grandparents did as much as they could but they had their own lives to lead. She was his Mom but Layne knew his mother was a looker. He also knew she was a good woman, she was funny, she was sweet, her family adored her and she had dozens of friends, all of whom she could call close. A man losing out on that, shitting where he lived, turning his back on a good woman and family and never looking back, let the whole world slip through his own fingers.