Page 1 of Incoming Layne Shift

CHAPTER ONE

Continued from Layne Closure Ahead

Alarge smile came over Gage’s face, accompanied by a chuckle of amusement. “Look who it is. After all these years and all the places, I didn’t expect to run into my big brother tonight.”

Joey’s back was straighter than a steel rod and his chest puffed out defensively. His arm reached out and possessively guided Layne a step behind him as his eyes remained on Gage.

Layne stared at the two men; two De Luca men, in her presence. Once Gage dropped the bomb that Joey was his brother, she couldn’t unsee it. Their eyes had the same warm brown hues. Their facial structures held similarities that one often would expect between siblings. Both had darker shades of blonde hair. Shit, even both of them had a charm that rolled off of their smiles with ease.

Her eyes darted between them both in shock as she noticed Joey’s reaction didn’t give off any warm and fuzzy vibes. He never told her that he had a brother, when speaking about his childhood, it had always sounded as though he was an only child. Not once did he mention having any siblings. The way he was looking at Gage right now gave her the impression he had wished that was the case.

“Layne,” Joey calmly spoke, “go wait in the car.”

She blinked several times. “I’m not?—”

Joey cut her off, “I’m not fuckin’ asking twice.” His words didn’t have the usual playfulness to them, causing her to flinch at the harsher tone.

Gage attempted to lighten up the tension in the air between them. “She’s welcome to stay and we can have a few drinks together.” He made the mistake of reaching out for Layne’s arm.

Without so much as the blink of an eye, Joey snatched up two handfuls of Gage’s crisp white shirt and forcefully shoved him. “You don’t get to fuckin’ touch her!” He released his hold after the strong push of his little brother, which resulted in Gage stumbling back several steps.

Regaining his footing, Gage lifted his hands harmlessly with a smirk. “I didn’t mean anything by it. Relax.” He chuckled, entertained by Joey’s overreaction. His gaze shifted back to Layne who stood there bewildered and unaware of the history between them. He gave her a sly wink.

Whether or not he knew the subtle move would push Joey’s buttons wasn’t obvious. What was clear was that Joey wasn’t going to put up with it. Years of pent-up rage rumbled to the surface. He lunged at Gage, colliding into him and they both crashed into a nearby table. A few scantily clad girls shrieked in response to the fight breaking out between the two men.

Upon impact with the table, drinks immediately spilled everywhere while Joey and Gage wrestled with one another. After they both rolled off the table and hit the ground, both of them had a fistful of each other’s shirts as punches were thrown.

Both men appeared to be evenly matched with one another. Neither of them were gaining the upper hand in the scuffle. Layne stood back, unsure of how or if she should intervene. If Joey’s life appeared to be in danger, she wouldn’t have hesitated, but this looked more like brothers hashing out their issues.

The rest of Cassidy’s Cave occupants seemed to ignore the battle between the two rolling around on the floor as if this was nothing but a typical brawl at the club.

Joey rolled on top of Gage, pinning him down as he drew back his fist decorated with the skull tattoo. Seizing the opportunity, Layne grabbed his arm with both of her hands, knowing she needed to if she was going to have a chance of putting an end to this.

“Stop, Joey!” Her fingers dug into his arm, pulling back on it to avoid it continuing its path downwards towards Gage’s jaw.

Luckily, he had enough awareness of Layne’s presence to not lash out at her as well. Feeling her tug on him again, his heated glare remained on his brother but gave in to her insistence to put an end to the altercation.

He got up off Gage, speaking between clenched teeth, “I don’t want to ever see your face ever again.” Joey slid his arm from Layne’s grasp forcefully. His bloodied hand from his split knuckles dropped to snatch a tight hold of her hand.

The younger De Luca partially sat up on an elbow and used his thumb to wipe away a small stream of blood coming from the corner of his mouth as he watched the two of them. Well, it was more along the lines of watching Layne’s ass in those skintight jeans she had on. Fuck, that perfect ass practically had his name on it.

Breathing heavily while recovering from the skirmish, Joey tugged Layne along with him on his way out of the strip club. Her steps were doubled up to keep up with his long strides. She looked over at his face, the tension still pulling at his expression in hard lines.

Once they were all in the Challenger, with Liam drunkenly passed the hell out in the backseat, the silence was damn near suffocating.

Unable to take it anymore, Layne spoke, “Joey, you never told me you had?—”

His eyes never leaving the road ahead of them, he stopped her right there. “We’re not talking about this.” The topic of his brother was immediately off-limits.

Both of her brows lifted in surprise that he thought his statement was going to prevent this discussion from happening. It may have put a halt to it for now, but that was only because they had just pulled up in front of Liam’s studio located on the outskirts of Tribeca.

Layne sighed irritably and got out of the passenger seat. She pushed her seat forward and leaned in the back, giving Liam a jab to his arm. “Wake up, jackass.”

A sharp snortle came from Liam as he shifted his position in the back. She wrinkled up her nose and her fist pounded into his bicep once more, this time harder. There may have been a little of her own frustration behind that second hit.

His hazel eyes half-lifted open as he glanced around, grumbling at the inconvenience.

She shook her head and stepped back from the open door. “We’re here. Go drink some water and put your ass to bed.”

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