Chapter 20
For better or for worse, things over the next week moved quickly. Eric wasted no time in meeting with various figureheads across the city. One of those meetings is what had her pacing back and forth inside the office at O’Reilly Manor.
To hammer out some final details on the business end of matters, Liam needed to be involved whether she liked it or not. She tried to convince her brain to settle down while she waited. She wiped her palms against the thighs of her jeans before adjusting the bottom hem of her burgundy blouse.
“The office is right in here.” She heard Liam say on the other side of the door before it opened up, halting her pacing.
In walked Liam, followed by Eric close behind. While Liam had chosen comfort over business wearing a pair of jeans and a hoodie, Eric had gone with a more polished and professional look. He wore a charcoal set of pants with a matching vest overtop a light blue dress shirt and a navy tie.
Eric’s eyes immediately landed on her. “There she is.” He walked to her, smiling in excitement at her presence. Layne allowed him to greet her with a gentle kiss that left her feeling a little on edge given the discussions that were about to take place.
Noticing her apprehension, he moved his mouth to her ear where he whispered. “It will be painless, I promise.” He followed it with another kiss on her cheek before he left to take a seat across from Liam. She doubted that any business discussions between the three of them would be painless.
Liam was already behind his desk firing up the computer. He looked over at Eric. “Let’s talk about what I’m getting for allowing you to marry my sister?”
Layne did her best to stifle her snort that Liam had anything to do with this. He had no authority to claim he had allowed this whole damn order. Now, his only interest was what kickbacks he was going to get. Apparently, her sound of disagreement hadn’t been quiet enough seeing the way that Liam’s glare was shot over at her.
Sitting back with an aura of collective ease around him, Eric laced his fingers in front of him. “I don’t think I was very clear over the phone. You’re getting my help in bolstering your team of men which seem to have been dwindling in numbers over the last six months. Not to mention, investing my money in fixing the financial woes it seems that you have gotten into. For me to do that, I’m going to need you to provide me with account information and get me authorized to manage funds.”
Her brother’s face faltered slightly as he realized that things were not as he had imagined. Liam’s hand rubbed over his jaw as he pondered how he could twist this around selfishly.
Layne spoke up, interrupting her brother’s slow turn of the cogs in his head. “Li, this isn’t the fuckin’ middle ages. You’re not getting a lump sum payment for bringing a woman to market.”
“Did I fuckin’ ask you? You shouldn’t even be here anyway,” he snapped back at her.
Eric straightened up in his chair. “Look at it this way, she won’t be spending a dime of your money, she will be spending mine on whatever she pleases. That’s savings directly in your pocket. You’ll even get to sell her house once she moves in with me, or keep it for yourself, whatever you choose.”
There was no hiding the immediate attitude change on Layne’s face at the mention of moving in together and giving up the home she had earned through all her hard work. “What?”
She stepped over to Eric’s side staring him down. He looked up at her and grinned. “You look so surprised, I figured it was understood that eventually, you’d be living with me under the same roof. It would look a little strange living separately, don’t you think?”
A partial laugh mixed with disbelief came bubbling out of her. Before she could verbally lay into him for the assumption on his part, he quickly reiterated himself.
“I said eventually.” As if that was supposed to soothe her temper.
Liam interjected, “Yeah, Layne, he said eventually. Don’t get your panties in a twist.”
“Shut the fuck up, Li.” Besides, she didn’t have any panties on to get in a twist.
Eric steered the conversation back to his original points of interest discussing timeframes for getting him access to all that he required to sort things out.
While the boys discussed the finer details, Layne’s thoughts wandered to Joey’s role in all of this. He still needed Layne’s help in gathering some key pieces of information out of Ellis for his contracted job. Based on everything he had told her, there were one too many skeletons hiding in Eric’s closet.
When her mind lingered back to the present, Liam was talking very animatedly on the phone. “What the hell do you mean I’m not authorized on the account?!”
She blinked a few times wondering if she had heard him correctly.
Liam continued to berate the poor representative on the other end of the line before he hung up in a fluster. “Bitch.” He looked over at Eric with instant regret that he had lost his temper without thinking about how it would look.
Clearing his throat, Liam shifted in his seat. “They must be having some sort of shitty system error. I will get things sorted and everything to you.”
“I hope for your sake, it gets figured out quickly.” Eric pushed himself up out of his chair after taking a peek at his watch. “Based on that, I think we’ve discussed everything we can for today. I will be in touch by the end of the week so we can finish wrapping up everything here.”
Layne’s eyes remained critical while assessing each of the expressions tugging at her brother’s face. She only drew her eyes away when Eric took her hands in his. He lifted them both to his mouth where he affectionately laid a kiss on each set of her knuckles. “We still need to schedule that celebration we talked about.” He gave her a wink.
“Of course.” She was too bothered by what she had heard from that phone call to argue. “I will see you to the door and we can talk about it soon.”
Layne left the office with Eric to accompany him back to the front door. A few minutes later she returned to the office, closing the door behind her, and staring at her brother who was sitting there with his hands buried in his short auburn hair.
“What the hell was that about?” She stared at him.
Liam looked up at her with the gravity of the situation finally hitting him and showing in his eyes. “How should I know? The dumb bitch said I wasn’t authorized to discuss details on the account!” His words were getting defensive.
“Goddamnit,” she sighed and tried to think through all the potential reasons for their access to be restricted. “Did you have the right account number?”
“Yes! Do you think I’m stupid, Layne?!”
“How are you even just now finding out that you aren’t authorized on the account? Haven’t you been using it?”
There was silence.
Her tone grew stern. “Liam?”
He finally responded in a hurry of words. “There hasn’t been a reason! I’ve been busy. Besides, the money has been going out as fast as it’s been coming in.”
Layne threw her hands up in the air. “Are you kidding me? Busy fucking off?!”
She walked over to the desk and placed a hand on it while her other hand pointed at him. “You have to fix this! This is your screw-up, not mine. I don’t give a damn how you do it, but make it right.”
“What do you want me to do?!” He threw his hands up in the air.
She shouted back at him. “Dad showed you the ropes and put you in charge, Liam. You should know these things and at least have a clue what to do. You wanted me to stay out of this shit, and I have. I have sacrificed enough of myself for this family for one week!”
When her phone rang, her irritation was already on a warpath, she saw Joey’s name pop up on the screen and she answered. “Joey, it’s not a good time. I will call you when I finish dealing with Liam’s fuck up.” She hung up abruptly not waiting for his acknowledgment.
“Who the hell was that?” Liam’s eyes narrowed at her.
She shook her head. “None of your business.”
He stood up and walked over to her to yank the phone right out of her hand. Layne turned and clutched onto it while using her other hand to shove him away. He grabbed her arm and they both wrestled with one another until the phone slipped from her hold.
“Liam, give it back!” She was unable to reach around him as he turned and began tapping on the screen.
“Really? Mom’s birthday is your passcode?” He scoffed. “Predictable.” He shook his head as he began sliding his finger across the screen and tapping away.
He pulled his shoulders back as he pulled up a picture from her albums. Liam turned and showed her what was on her screen. Layne pressed her lips together immediately recognizing the picture she had taken with Joey after their breakfast together. The memory of it was clear as day.
After getting dressed, she noticed his skull mask hanging over the edge of his laundry basket. She picked it up and dangled it in front of him. “Maybe next time you could wear this.” Her eyes sparkled with playful excitement.
“Be careful what you wish for. That mask comes with a lot of other conditions,” Joey smirked at her.
“Oh? I think I will take my chances.” Layne stretched the mask over her face and pulled her phone out on selfie mode to see how it suited her. “It almost looks better on me than it does on you.”
Joey came up behind her, wrapping his arms around her waist while laying a kiss against her neck. Her thumb snapped the selfie of them together with her in his infamous mask.
The sound of Liam’s harsh words brought her back to reality. “It seems like I’m not the only one who is fucking around.”
She stood there quietly not feeling that she owed him any sort of explanation.
“Is this who I think it is? The masked freak that dad hired to take out Franzetti, and you couldn’t keep your whore mouth off of?”
Layne shrugged at him. “Does it matter if it is?”
“Yes! You want to sit here and criticize me while you’re off fucking two guys, one of which I might remind you has our business by the balls!” Let Liam’s throwing of figurative stones begin like he hadn’t wet his dick in half of all of Manhattan.
Both of her brows lifted now that he wanted to step up to the plate. “Oh, now you want to be concerned about the state of things? Where was this attitude six months ago?”
He tossed her phone back at her. “I told you not to fuck this up with Eric and this is your idea of playing it safe?”
Her hands fumbled for the phone that was carelessly returned to her. “This is my idea of doing what I have to in order not to lose my shit. You can take this holier-than-thou crusade and shove it up Kristill’s ass or whoever is the flavor of the week.”
Deciding she wasn’t going to stand there and listen to him bitch at her any longer, she turned for the door before she decided to shoot the last member of her blood relatives.
Before she stepped out of the office, she got her last words in. “Just fix the goddamn account, Liam.”
After the door shut behind her, all she heard was his rage-filled roar as something smashed against the closed office door, shaking it upon impact.
“Stop!” Layne giggled as Joey leaned over and buried his face against her neck playfully nipping at her skin. The short hairs of the dark blonde scruff on his face tickled against the delicate skin of her throat.
They sat inside his Challenger parked at their quiet little spot near the water in Brooklyn. He was leaning over the center console, unable to control himself from showering her with attention to try and erase the mood Liam had put her in. His hand slid up along her inner thigh toward the center of where her legs came together.
“I’m trying to have a serious conversation!” Trying to fight back the smile on her face as she squirmed in her seat.
Joey smirked as he muttered against her neck. “So am I.”
“Bullshit.” Her hips jolted as his hand finally found the apex of her jeans. Finally, she grabbed his hand to pause his efforts temporarily. “Liam was off his rocker level of pissed.”
He finally drew his head back and looked at her unbothered. “Fuck him. He’s a whiny piece of shit.” Joey wasn’t Liam’s biggest fan, not many people were. What else was new?
Before he dove right back in for another taste of her, she turned in the passenger seat to look at him with all business in her eyes. “I don’t need him doing something stupid and interfering.”
He exhaled trying to bring the blood flow back up to his brain as he sat back on his side of the vehicle. “He may be a selfish prick, but he’s not completely stupid, Layne.”
She nodded, still not feeling at ease. “Let’s just say this plan works, and you can get what you need from Eric’s house this time. Then, what?”
“You let me worry about that.” Layne had heard that from one too many people before and hated hearing it out of his mouth. It felt like she was just being placated and kept out of the loop.
Before she could roll her eyes at him, his thumb and forefinger captured her chin so she could look into his eyes. His eyes shone a slightly lighter shade of brown with the sun beating in through the windshield.
She didn’t bother hiding her concern weighing down her voice. “And you’re okay with all of this? I’ve seen the way you look at Eric.”
Joey smiled at her lightly. “I’d be more than okay if you just so happen to become a widow at the ripe old age of twenty-six.” He leaned over and captured her lips to lull them into a slow and drawn-out kiss.
When he pulled away, he looked back into the stunning green eyes he had fallen for time after time again. “Look, Layney, it’s a piece of paper. It doesn’t mean shit.”
“And you’re not the least bit remorseful that you’re putting your hands all over a married woman, are you?” She grinned at the thought of it.
He leaned in and growled into her ear. “I plan to use more than just my hands.”
“Promise?” The question posed to him was full of hopefulness.
He grabbed her and pulled her to his side of the car and into his lap. Layne faced Joey as her legs straddled him. His hand ran up along her spine until he could grab a fistful of her soft locks of hair and tugged her head back. Joey leaned over and dragged his lips down the center of her exposed throat and over her chest. Each kiss was more sensual than the last as they reached the exposed swell of her cleavage. His other hand slid in the opposite direction down her back until his hand squeezed a handful of her ass.
She pushed her hips down over the quickly growing erection. Each seductive movement of her body against him caused him to groan against her. Her hands grasped onto his head, letting her fingers get lost in the newer and longer length of his hair.
Joey didn’t take long to make good on his promise to use more than his hands on her. Hell if he was going to let her enter the lion’s den without knowing who the real king of her jungle was.