Chapter 16
To her surprise, McGregor’s was hosting a slew of people when she arrived. She walked inside, pushing past the folks who were spilling into the main pathway while waiting at the bar for a beverage.
As she got to the backroom, she noticed a few familiar faces. In particular, Liam was chatting with a couple of his friends while Kristill was perched on his lap. Either she had forgiven Liam or he had made it monetarily worth her while to crawl back to him. Layne didn’t care for either of those scenarios, but there were bigger issues than her brother’s volatile involvement with an escort.
With an arm around the hooker’s waist, Liam polished off the last of his milk stout. Layne approached the table and it didn’t take long before Liam dismissed the rest of the crew surrounding him.
Kristill leaned over and whispered something undoubtedly dirty into his ear before rising off his lap with a salacious grin. “Don’t take too long, baby.” Her teeth nibbled Liam’s ear and tugged on it before releasing the flesh and walking out into the main room.
“Well, if I needed a reason to feel like puking my brains out - that may have been it.” Layne shook her head, still unclear of what Liam ever saw in that girl or what Kristill saw in him.
Liam raised his view to stare at her, remaining silent. Layne took it upon herself to occupy the seat across from him while waiting for him to say something. When he didn’t immediately speak up, she took it upon herself to start the conversation. “You’re the one who wanted to meet.”
“Did you really do it?” It seemed like such a simple question and yet she was unable to comprehend where it was stemming from.
“Do what?” She sat back in her seat, balancing the chair on the back two legs for a moment. A waitress brought her over a light ale that she typically ordered on days when it wasn’t the date of her mother’s death. Layne gave a brief and polite smile at her before taking a sip.
Liam finally cut to the chase. “Marry Eric Ellis?”
A small spray of beer exited from between her lips followed by a cough as the back of her hand came up to wipe across her mouth. “What? Fuck no!”
The expression in Liam’s eyes remained unchanged and full of judgment. She quickly gathered her senses and shook her head. “No, not yet, anyway. Li, look you have to understand where I’m coming from?—”
He interrupted her, “—you have my blessing.”
Her words trailed off as she looked as shell-shocked as she felt. Layne sat there wondering if her hearing was possibly deceiving her. “Wait, what?”
He shrugged. “I think it’s a good idea. You have my blessing.”
“Your blessing?” She lifted a brow in confusion. “I don’t need your damn blessing. Besides that, I’m not sure your blessing means a damn as of lately.”
“Shit is going south and Eric has the means and desire to fix things. If that means you have to finally pull your weight around here, then so be it. I expect I will get appropriately compensated.” He made it sound so simple. So matter of fact. So businesslike. So… easy. Not to mention entirely archaic.
“Compensated? That’s the part you’re worried about?” She rose from her seat, resting her hands on the table as she glared at him. “I’m putting my ass on the line here to try and salvage what Dad built from the bottom up, and you’re worried about getting compensated while you sit back and get your dick warmed by some two-bit hoe?”
Liam shrugged again, seemingly unbothered and unfazed.
Irritated didn’t even begin to describe the feelings bubbling up inside of her. She tilted her head as she stared at him suspiciously. “Where did you hear this anyhow?”
“He hasn’t exactly been keeping it a secret, Layne. He’s already making it known that anyone that crosses us is crossing him.” Her brother looked the most relieved he had looked in months. It rubbed her the wrong way that he could just so easily be ok with this arrangement where he didn’t have to put in any effort.
“Great.” She didn’t hide the displeasure from her voice that word was making its way around in less than twenty-four hours. She rubbed her forehead as her tumultuous thoughts made it ache. Why did everything feel like it was moving far too fast?
Her phone began vibrating in her pocket, and when she pulled it out, she immediately recognized the number. A sensation of butterflies filled her stomach. “I have to take this.”
Liam waved her off to go do as she needed. Layne answered the call, pressing the phone up to her ear as she began to walk away from the table. “Hey, give me a minute to step outside.”
Before she passed by her sibling, his hand reached out and paused her. “Just don’t fuck this up, Layne.”
That was rich coming from him, the same person who had been fucking up his own shit since he was born. She glared at him before she pulled away to cut through the crowd toward the side exit into the alleyway.
Once the fresh air washed over her, she let out a sigh of relief.
“Are you still there?” Joey’s voice on the other end of the line brought her thoughts back into the present. Feeling an overwhelming sense of pressure and loss of control of her life tugging at her soul, she blinked back some tears as she looked up at the dark sky. She pressed both of her lips together tightly as she worked on reigning in all the emotions threatening to spill over the ledge.
He spoke up again, this time more concern evident in his voice. “Layne?”
She leaned back against the side of the building, her hand clutching onto the phone in her hand tightly. Her exhale was a little shaky but she managed to at least respond to him. “Yeah. I’m here.” She swallowed past the knot in her throat.
His voice tried to lull answers out of her with its husky tone. “What’s wrong?”
Not that he could see it, but she shook her head and cleared her throat trying to shake off the emotions. “Nothing. It’s just been a day.”
“Layney—”
She cut him off. “Why did you call?”
After a sigh of resignation that she was going to avoid answering his question, he responded to her. “We need to talk. I will come pick you up.”
“I’m not at home.” She looked down at the ground and kicked an empty beer can across the alley.
“I know.” He always seemed to find his way to her, no matter where she was.
Feeling like she could push past the swell of emotions she had felt moments ago that had threatened to swallow her up whole, she moved away from the wall and walked towards the sidewalk.
“Of course you’d know that.” Not hiding the lack of shock in her voice. “Meet me right outside the 50th Street Station.” It wasn’t too far from McGregor’s making it a convenient spot to have him meet her; only a block and a half away.
During that walk she was able to mentally string herself together, desperately hoping it would stay that way. When she got to the end of the block where the subway station entrance was, she immediately recognized Joey straddling his black sports bike patiently waiting for her.
One boot-clad foot pushed the kickstand down before he got off his ride and walked over to her. He was wearing a dark pair of jeans that hugged over his broad thighs and his black leather jacket that always mixed in with his cologne in a delightful and intoxicating combination of scents.
Despite her efforts to keep a mask over her feelings, what he saw when he looked at her prompted him to pull her into his chest and wrap his arms around her without hesitation. His arms squeezed around her firmly, encasing her in his warmth.
Layne wanted to push him away so she didn’t lose herself to something she wasn’t sure she could shut down once it started. Despite wrangling with the side of her that wanted to maintain a strong front, her hands squeezed onto him tighter and she buried her face into his chest a little more.
All the pieces she had just tried gluing back together inside of her were starting to show indications of faltering. A shudder shook her upper body as a quiet sob broke through. Layne had tried to stop it before it came out, but his embrace provided a sense of safety more than any security system ever could. Another sob soon followed and her body lightly trembled against him. The tension could be felt all over her body as it fought against this breakdown that was currently taking its toll on her.
His hands worked gentle rubs along her back to try and erase whatever torment she was suffering. Joey’s hard exterior managed to provide her with a soft landing spot for the emotions that were at war inside of her.
With people passing them by and going about their lives, Joey stood there holding her for as long as she needed at that moment. He was going to try to soak up anything and everything that was weighing down on her by physical touch alone.