Page 10 of Layne Closure Ahead

Wrinkling up her forehead, her hands pushed down against the strength of his muscled forearms in a poor attempt to remove his hands from her sides. “I-I can’t. I won’t do this.”

Things began to feel like they were moving too quickly around her or perhaps too slowly. The air was too warm but there were chills dancing along her skin. The normally welcomed fog in her head was making it a challenge to think straight. Maybe she should have stuck to just that one pill after all.

He tilted his head as his eyes carefully assessed the way she was reacting to him. “Can’t do what, Layney?”

Her hands left his arms to rub over her face trying to force her brain to pull its shit together and fight against the high that was taking over. “I’m just tired. Just leave, ok?”

Joey’s hands grabbed hers and easily pulled them away from her face so he could look into her eyes. It may have been the torment and hell of her life over the past year, or maybe it was her pupils beginning to constrict, but his entire demeanor shifted into a softer one of genuine concern.

He bent down and scooped one arm under the back of her legs and the other under her back as he picked her up, cradling her close to his chest.

Layne rested her head against his chest letting the warmth of his body sedate her soul while her brain should have been telling him to piss off. She wanted to tell him to put her back down, but the words were only spoken inside her mind.

Carrying her out of the kitchen, Joey brought her up to her bedroom on the second floor. Her fingers toyed with the fabric of his shirt as she let her mind wander to wherever the pills were taking it.

“You smell like sex. Great sex.” Apparently, they were bringing her thoughts straight back to the gutter.

He shot her a confused look. Normally, it would have been a welcomed compliment, but it was a sharp turn from her mood moments ago down in the kitchen.

After he approached her bed, he gently laid her down on it, and Layne’s hands clung to him. “Wait.” She gave a lazy smile as she stared up at him with heavy eyes. “I didn’t mean it.”

Joey raised an eyebrow at her words. “Didn’t mean what?”

“I don’t know, but I didn’t.” Whatever she was trying to say wasn’t making sense as her body began to feel like it was floating through a cloud. She blinked and when her eyelids opened back up, Joey was next to her in bed with a tight hold on her with his chin resting on top of her head.

Layne curled up against him, drawing in a full breath of his soothing scent and when she exhaled, she murmured, “You asked twice.”

Her eyes closed once more as she let the opiate ease her back into a slumber where she didn’t have to feel or think about the broken pieces of her life.

Joey smoothed her dark tresses away from her face as he watched her soft breaths coming and going rhythmically throughout the rest of the night.

She stretched out her body feeling the pull of her muscles lengthening from her fingertips down through her toes before she rolled over onto her stomach in her bed.

Hearing rustling coming from her adjoined bathroom, she lifted her head from her pillow and saw the light shining out from underneath the small crevice at the bottom of the door. A moment later Joey stepped out, still wearing the clothes he had been in last night sans his boots.

Layne propped herself up on her elbows as she had to mentally try and recall the sequence of events of the night prior. “I didn’t expect to see you still here this morning.”

His face was as serious as she had ever seen it. “What’s going on with you?” He had his suspicions, but given how hard they were for him to believe, he was willing to give her the benefit of the doubt.

So, it seemed that this was going to be a morning about picking fights. She scooted to the edge of the bed and got out, nearly stumbling over the boots he had left there on the floor. “God.” She glared at the footwear that nearly killed her, then back to Joey.

“Nothing is going on with me. You’re the one who decided to show up without an invitation.”

She walked towards her bathroom but he stepped in front of her blocking her path. Both her brows perked up as she stared at him. “Do you mind?”

“Layne, something is going on with you.” He made it clear he wasn’t going to let her by without some sort of explanation.

“Ok.” She crossed her arms in front of her chest as both her offensive and defensive mechanisms began to come out. “What’s going on with me? Let’s see, the one guy I was willing to trust with my soul betrayed me and lied to my face. Then, after a year he decides to waltz back into my life asking me to do him a shitty favor.”

The anger and frustration filled her voice as she vented to him about only a fraction of what she had on her plate right now.

His eyes drifted over her trying to assess not only her words but her body language before he let the issue go for the time being. “So, are you going to do it?”

Briefly, she glanced up at the heavens as he renewed his request, and she prayed that whichever god was listening would grant her the patience to deal with his stubbornness that rivaled her own.

Layne sighed as she looked over at him. “You’re so good at breaking into my house, why can’t you just break into his?”

He shrugged unapologetically. “Not for nothing, Layney, but you don’t exactly make it difficult for me. Besides, Ellis has his place built like a damn fortress. Nobody is getting in or out of there without him knowing. Not without enough time, energy, and distractions, anyway.”

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