Golden Trail (82 page)

“Are you laughing?” she whispered, finally
feeling the way his body was moving, not to mention hearing his
laughter.

“Shit yeah,” he replied.

“Oh.”

“You wore my tee to his bed,” Layne
stated.

“I missed you,” she whispered.

Layne went still again. Then his head tipped
back and he roared with laughter.

“Layne!”

“You wore my tee to his bed,” Layne
choked.

“Okay, now I’m thinking it
was
bitchy.”

“You wore my tee to his bed,” Layne
repeated, still choking on his hilarity.

“Stop laughing!”

“Wrapped yourself up in me and slipped into
his bed,” Layne went on, his body shaking so hard the bed was
moving with it.

He loved this, he loved knowing it, he loved
that she did it, he loved everything about it and he didn’t fucking
care what that said about him or about her. He just loved it.

“Layne!” she cried. “Stop laughing!”

“Dad!” They both heard Jasper shout and they
both went still. “We’re home!”

“Right, Bud,” Layne shouted back. “Have a
good night?”

“Yeah!” Jasper was still shouting.

“Hey Dad!” Tripp yelled.

“Hey Pal,” Layne yelled back.

“Hey Rocky!” Tripp kept yelling.

“Hey Tripp!” Rocky was now yelling.

“We’re hittin’ the sack!” Jasper
shouted.

“Gotcha,” Layne shouted back.

“See you in the morning!” Tripp yelled.

“Right Pal, goodnight,” Layne yelled
back.

“’Night, Dad, ‘night Rocky,” Tripp kept
yelling.

“’Night Tripp,” Rocky yelled back and
Layne’s body started shaking again.

“’Night Roc!” Jasper shouted. “Later,
Dad.”

“’Night Jas!” Rocky shouted and Layne’s
laughter became audible.

Still he managed to shout, “Later, Bud.”

He felt Rocky’s eyes on him in the dark and
then she said in a horrified whisper, “Jeez, we’re the freaking
Waltons.”

At that, Layne roared with laughter yet
again.

* * * * *

Saturday, 2:32 a.m.

Tanner Layne slept with Raquel Merrick
pinning him to the bed.

He was having good dreams.

* * * * *

Rocky’s eyes opened and she saw only
dark.

Dark.

She felt it press into her, like it was
physical, a weight, a heavy weight against her skin.

Her breath started to get heavy.

She saw only dark but she felt only
Layne.

She let the heat from his body seep into
her, feeling his strength under her arm, her cheek, her leg, down
her torso.

She pulled in a deep, steady breath and
stared into the dark, sucking in Layne’s heat, his strength.

She used him to beat it back, closed her
eyes and slept, pinning her man to the bed.

Dark

Saturday, 3:37 p.m.

They were losing her. Towers had followed
Jeremy when he was supposed to be going to the church for Youth
Group. He didn’t realize he was being tailed and when he didn’t go
to church and drove right past, she’d peeled off and gone back to
The Brendel.

Colt had called Layne in. Emergency meeting.
Jeremy hadn’t been able to get the clients’ names or the dirt on
Rutledge and he’d fucked it up, went after it too hard, too
desperate and she got curious as to why he wanted to know.

Now they were screwed.

Layne’s phone rang, he pulled it out, looked
at the display and saw it said, “Tripp Calling”.

He flipped it open and started, “Yo –”

“Dad, somethin’s wrong with Rocky,” Tripp
whispered.

Layne nearly drove off the road at the tone
of his son’s voice.

In order to get some work done, he’d left
his family that morning with donuts and college football pre-game
shows. They were having a special dinner that night and Rocky and
Vera were planning the menu. Rocky had called the furniture store
on Friday and ordered the furniture, paying extra for express
delivery that day. Giselle was going to help them break in the
table and Rocky had called Vi and talked her into letting Keira
come, even though she was still grounded for two more days, just
for the night, just for dinner.

Dave and Merry were coming too.

The whole family.

Rocky, wearing his robe, and Vera had been
laughing about some woman shit and clicking through recipes on
Jasper’s laptop at the island when he left.

Now something was wrong.

Layne swiftly changed lanes and turned left
to circle home.

“Talk to me, Pal,” Layne ordered while he
drove.

“I don’t know, the dudes got here with the
furniture. They brought in the big couch and then the table. They
tore all the shit away from the table and Rocky, she went funny.
She stared at that table and she went funny. Then she took off
running to your room. It was like Gram knew what was happening and
she took off after her. Gram’s in your room with her now and
sometimes she shouts. Jasper is upstairs, standing outside your
door, he won’t leave it and he didn’t have his phone. He told me to
call you and then call Dev.”

“Sometimes she shouts?” Layne asked.

“She doesn’t even sound like her, Dad,
it’s…” His voice broke and Layne’s stomach dropped hearing it.
“Dad, it’s freaking creepy.”

Fuck.

Layne hooked another left. “What does she
say?”

“Nothin’ that makes sense.”

“Tell me what she says, Tripp.”

He was quiet a beat and then he said, “She
says she can’t make you do it.”

“Can’t make me do what?”

“I don’t know, Dad, God!” He was getting
agitated, or
more
agitated. “That’s just what she says. Over
and over again. ‘I can’t make him do it! I can’t make Layne do
it!’”

Jesus fucking Christ.

“Do not let her leave,” Layne ordered.

“Right.”

“Tripp, listen to me, if she doesn’t have
her keys, find them and hide them. If she’s got them, talk to
Jasper and tell him to do what he’s gotta do to get them away from
her. She still tries to go, I don’t care if you have to tackle her
and pin her to the ground, do not hesitate, boy, and do not let her
leave. Tell your brother.”

“Right.”

“I’m coming home right now.”

“Right.”

“Be there soon,” he stated, flipped his
phone closed, flipped it open, scrolled down to Dave and hit
go.

“Hey Tanner,” Dave answered.

“Rocky’s turned,” Layne announced and got
silence. “Dave, did you hear me? Rocky’s turned. Something’s wrong.
Tripp just called, said she’s shouting at Ma about not making me do
something and he says she doesn’t sound like Rocky. He’s
freaked.”

“I’m on my way,” Dave replied urgently.

“No, no you are fuckin’ not. Talk to
me.”

“She needs me.”

“Talk to me, Dave.”

“I’m at the tackle shop in Plainfield, I’ll
be there soon’s I can.”

“Dave –”

Dead air.

“
Fuck!
” Layne exploded, stopped at a
red light and waited impatiently, adrenalin surging through his
system, so much he could feel it. His hands were shaking, the
muscles in his thighs quivering, he was staring at the no turn on
red sign like he could make it designate with his eyes. “Fuck,” he
whispered.

He turned when he had his shot, the light
still red, Layne went right and broke the speed limit by thirty
miles an hour, overtaking two cars to make it home. He parked on
the street and ran flat out to the front door, opening it, he heard
her instantly.

“
No!
” Rocky shrieked, her voice
hoarse, guttural, even as Layne moved to the stairs he felt that
voice send a shiver along his skin. “I’ve
got to go!
I have
to be gone before he gets home!”

“Rocky, honey, just calm down, okay? Okay,
honey?” Vera cooed, Layne took the stairs three at a time and hit
the top to see Tripp, Vera and Jasper had Rocky cornered in the
weight room.

Her face was red, her body was wired, her
hair was down and wild, like she’d been tearing her hands through
it, a vein had popped out on her forehead, running down the middle
to disappear at the bridge of her nose.

Her eyes came to his and hers were flooded
with fear.

“Baby,” he whispered and she moved, like a
dart, shooting through his family, right at him.

She tried to dodge him at the last minute
but he caught her, arm at the waist, swinging her up in front of
him, her back to his front. Her legs kicked and her nails clawed at
his arm but he turned and walked to his room even as she
fought.

“Calm down, Rocky,” he whispered in her ear,
her body bucked, her head colliding against his shoulder when he
jerked his out of the way at the last second. “Calm down,
baby.”

“
Let me go!
” she screeched in that
hideous voice.

He got into his room and she twisted
violently in his arms, her hand up, she scored his neck with her
nails and the pain shot through him, his arms loosening, she yanked
away from him and tried to get passed him but he put a hand flat on
her chest and gently pushed her back, feeling Vera, Tripp and
Jasper moving in behind him to cut her off. She still made a run
for it and Layne caught her again and pushed her back.

Her gaze swept Layne, his mother and his
boys and she retreated, slowly stepping back, her eyes locking on
Layne as he advanced.

“Don’t,” she warned, lifting a hand and
stopping so Layne stopped too.

“Rocky, what’s goin’ on?” Layne asked
softly.

“I can’t make you do it,” she told him and
she began to pace, like an animal in a cage, side to side, her eyes
flitting from him to Tripp to Vera to Jas to Layne and back as she
repeated, “I can’t make you do it.”

“Do what?” Layne asked.

She shook her head, her eyes catching his.
“I can’t make you do it.”

“Do what, baby?”

“Be with me,” she said and then started
chanting as she paced. “I can’t make you be with me, I can’t make
you be with me, I can’t make you be with me.”

Jesus.
Jesus.

“Rocky, baby,” Layne whispered.

She started to shake her head and kept doing
it, her eyes going to her feet, she was still pacing back and
forth, “I didn’t help her. I didn’t help her. It was so dark.”

“Oh my God,” Vera breathed as Layne felt his
chest squeeze.

“Rocky, what was dark?” he whispered.

She kept shaking her head. “It was so
dark.”

“What was dark, honey?”

“I hid, I hid, I hid when I should have
helped her. I hid in the dark,” Rocky whispered.

“You hid,” Layne said quietly, inching
toward her, “You hid when Carson Fisher came?”

She started nodding then, her head moving in
a rhythm, uncontrolled, bobbing up and down, Rocky was gone, the
woman she was was not there. She’d slid back twenty-four years.

Layne felt Devin’s presence hit the room but
he didn’t turn and Rocky didn’t notice him.

“Yes, when he came. She heard his car. She
came to my room. She woke me up and told me to call 911. She told
me to hide. She told me to hide.” Her head jerked back and she
stopped pacing, the look on her face searing into his soul when she
whispered, “I did what I was told.”

“Baby, you did what you were told. You
called 911. You hid. You did the right thing.”

“I should have helped her.”

“You couldn’t have helped her.”

“She was shouting.”

Layne was moving closer but stopped when
Rocky noticed it, took a huge step back and started visibly
trembling.

“Baby, you couldn’t have helped her.”

“He hurt her before he shot her,” Rocky
whispered.

Fuck,
fuck
, he knew that, he’d read
the report. Carson Fisher had spent some time with Cecilia Merrick.
Not much, he didn’t have it. But he needed the evidence that
Cecilia had so he tried torturing her to get it, he did a messy job
of it in his haste and the results were unpleasant.

Cecilia had lived through it though, and
died when she took a bullet to the face.

Layne just didn’t know Rocky knew it.

Fuck.

“He hurt her and she was screaming.”

“Honey, come here.”

“I didn’t help, I hid, I hid and it was so
dark.”

“Baby, please, come here.”

“The eaves,” she whispered, she was rocking
her torso side to side, her arms sliding along her belly and
holding tight, “Dad hated it when the birds got up there so he
sealed it tight. I went out the little door to the eaves and it was
so dark.”

“Rocky, please, baby, come here.”

“I went there, like a coward, and listened
in the dark while she screamed.”

“Rocky –”

“All alone.”

“Rocky –”

“I left her all alone.”

“Roc –”

Her hands suddenly went straight down,
balled into fists and she shrieked, “
I left her all alone! He
hurt her, I left her all alone! And she knew I could hear that! She
died knowing I could hear that. She knew! My Momma.
Sheknewsheknewsheknew.
”

Layne moved forward fast, caught her in his
arms but she struggled, yanked free and ran to the corner, pressing
her side to it, she twisted to him, hand up, eyes on him.

“Don’t touch me,” she whispered and he
watched her body tremble.

“Ma, call Doc,” Layne ordered, not taking
his eyes off Rocky and Vera didn’t say a word but he knew she left
the room, he saw Rocky’s eyes follow her. “Rocky, baby, you aren’t
yourself,” he told her, moving again slowly and her eyes shot back
to him. “This is called post-traumatic stress, honey. You aren’t
yourself. This isn’t then, this is now, you’re safe.”

She shook her head. “No, no I’m not.”

“You’re safe, baby, nothing is ever gonna
hurt you.”

“No, no, I’m not safe. You’re not safe.”

“I’m safe, Rocky.”

“No,” she kept shaking her head. “It isn’t
right. It could have been right but it isn’t right now. Not now.
It’s worse than before. A lot worse. We could have had time but I
fucked up.”