Page 32 of Incoming Layne Shift

Joey had on a pair of his navy sweats and a white tank clinging to the trim muscles of his torso. As usual, each of Joey’s tattoos flexed with his movements creating a show that she could watch for the rest of her days and intended to. As for Gage, while he had on a pair of jeans, he was missing a shirt. The cut of each of Gage’s large muscles was on full display, while the necklace he always wore hung down in the center of his chest.

The sight of them both made her mouth water, and her mouth wasn’t the only thing getting wet. It was a quick reprieve from the more serious thoughts floating around in her mind seconds ago.

“There you are.” Joey approached her, one hand resting on her hip while his other slid into the soft chestnut locks of her hair. He greeted her with a kiss that had a fiercely possessive love behind it.

After he pulled away, he stepped away to rummage through the fridge. That’s when Gage stepped up to her next. His hands came up to her face, and before he made a connection with her lips, he spoke in a low voice to her. “Did you take the ibuprofen I left for you?”

Layne nodded her head. “Yes.”

Gage smiled in approval, but he still hovered his mouth over hers. “You forgot something.”

When her eyebrows shifted in confusion while her emerald pools stared up at his face looking for an indication of what he meant.

He brought his mouth to her ear while he whispered, “‘Yes, Sir.’” The emphasis on the way he added the title to it sent a heat barreling deep to her core. Gage drew back to face her again. “Try again, lucky charm. Did you take the meds I left for you?” If she wanted him in on this little arrangement, he was going to make his expectations known.

The way his eyes felt like they were watching the burn of lust warming her soul had her willing to say any goddamn thing he wanted. “Yes… Sir.”

After addressing him the way he demanded, Gage gave her the kiss he had been withholding from her. His mouth gently caressed her lips as the expanse of his hands cradled her face just underneath her jaw.

Gage grinned happily after he eased away from the kiss. “Just had to make sure you’d be as much of a good girl as Joey said you would.”

That earned a snort from Joey who pulled out a sub from the fridge and began laying it out on a plate for Layne. “I said she’s a good girl when I want her to be. I never fuckin’ said that you’d get the same treatment.”

“Hm, seems she’s a quick learner.” Gage flashed a wink at her before he walked back over to where there was an open bag of chips on the counter. He leaned back against the counter and dug into the crinkly bag for a handful of the salty snack.

With both of them talking about her, she shot them a sassy look. “If you both keep talking about me like I’m not here, I’m not going to be anybody’s good girl.”

That earned her a chuckle from Gage. “Oh, I’ll be looking forward to that.” He enjoyed dishing out punishments to bratty bad girls.

Layne walked over to where Joey was pulling the last of the paper from her sandwich. “Tell me that’s for me. I’m starving.”

Joey nodded at her and kissed her cheek as he pushed the plate towards her, not before giving a smack to her ass for her smartass comment though.

After both of them watched her devour the roast beef sandwich in record time, Joey was the first to bring up the sensitive topic of what happened at McGregor’s. “Layne, we should talk about what happened at the pub.”

She raised a glass of water to her mouth, washing down the last of her sandwich. “I agree.” Both Gage and Joey blinked at her unexpected response. Layne brushed off her hands over the now empty plate and continued, “I’m pissed—no, I’m fucking livid. When I find out who is responsible, they’re going to learn real damn quick. If they want to fuck with me thinking I’m going to be scared off, they have another thing coming. This is one bitch that is going to come out, play the damn game, and win.”

Layne was tired of people being ripped from her life one tragedy after another. One of the other factions had to be at play here, and she was bound and determined on finding out which one thought they were going to fuck with this O’Reilly. Her father, Scott O’Reilly, would have never tolerated this type of attack and Layne wasn’t going to either.

Her eyes looked at both of them, “I’m going to meet with the head of every damn faction in the city myself. Someone is going to give me answers.” Layne’s voice was firm but surprisingly calm.

Gage popped one last chip in his mouth, chomping down on the crunchy round quickly. “I like this plan. Let’s do it.”

It was Joey who gave an irritated sigh at Gage’s enthusiastic response to what seemed like a reckless plan. He tried to be the voice of reason for all their sakes. “We’ve got an unhinged psychopath here. Before we shake up a hornet’s nest even further, let me try to see what information I can shake out of a few sources.”

She wasn’t swayed off course by Joey’s attempt to dissuade her. “I’ve already texted Jonathan telling him to start setting up the meetings. I’m not backing off just because some coward wants to make a move behind my back.” Russ was at the top of her list of suspects, and she was willing to put money on it that he was involved one way or another.

Gage had to take off shortly after their discussion with Layne. It was one of the most popular nights at Cassidy’s, Eat Me, Greet Me night. All of the girls got candy necklaces and with every purchase of a lap dance, each patron received one as well. The concept was devilishly simple: the candy could be eaten off of its elastic string wherever the necklace was placed on the other person.

Layne was doing what she did best, burying herself in work to avoid letting her mind wander too far into the darker depths of her soul. She had been holed up in her office all afternoon making back-to-back phone calls to faction heads.

She sat in the office chair, her feet propped up on the edge of the desk as she leaned back with her phone to her ear listening to the thick Russian accent of Alexei Kuznetsov.

“Pchelka,” he sighed as he called her ‘little bee’ in his native tongue. “I am a very busy man.”

Her fingers buried into the hair on the top of her head growing tired of political dances through minefields of oversized egos.

“And I’m a very busy woman, Alexei. In fact, I’m going to be even busier once I find out which of your men took shots at me several months ago.” Layne’s voice grew heated with irritation.

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