Page 37 of Chaos Luck Wrath

Gage’s eyes widened enough that they nearly fell out of his head while wondering if he correctly heard what Layne had just said.

Joey froze, standing there slack-jawed like she had just slapped him. His lips moved to try and find a response, but no words fell from him. Stunned by her accusation, he watched as Layne pushed past him and stepped around Gage to leave the room.

“What is she talking about?” Gage looked at his brother hoping for clarification. He didn’t want to murder his own brother, but if what Layne had said was true, he wouldn’t hesitate.

Finally snapping out of trying to process what she had just claimed, he shook his head and stalked after her. “I have no fuckin’ clue, but I’m about to find out,” his voice calmer as he responded to Gage’s question on his way by. Gage followed behind, needing the same answers.

Even fueled by her emotions, the fresh wound in her thigh had her moving slower than she would have liked. She had barely gotten to the front door when Joey ran up behind her and grabbed her by the elbow. He didn’t let up when she rolled her shoulder to try and pull free from him.

Swinging her around to face him, Joey’s confusion was quickly overriding the outrage he had been unleashing moments ago. “Layne! Have you lost your mind? What in the hell are you talking about?”

Her face was flushed and she refused to meet his eyes. “Just forget it.”

“Forget it?!” He caught himself beginning to relight the extremely short fuse he currently had going on. Taking a deep and steady breath, he did his best to ground himself. “Who is knocking up who?” It sounded ridiculous even to ask the question. He lowered his face down trying to force her to look into his concerned brown hues.

Layne saw the doctor standing at the far end of the hall, overseeing the scene unfold. The look she was giving Layne reminded her of the one she had given earlier when she had asked what had Layne so upset.

She shifted her eyes from Dr. Patty to look at Joey who was waiting on her to give an explanation. Layne’s emerald eyes were fighting not to fill with tears as she quietly said the name, “You and Mackenzie Pearson.”

Joey wrinkled his forehead, becoming more perplexed. “Mackenzie?” The way he spoke her name was like it could leave an STD in his mouth. Good God, he wouldn’t have touched that twisted bitch no matter how much she paid him.

Explaining further, “Yeah, I mean it all makes sense. You were so damn off that night you came home from the job and refused to talk about it. You’ve never been that way after a job–ever.” Layne shrugged defeatedly before attempting to pry herself out of his grasp again only to remain unsuccessful.

He stared at her trying to wrap his head around what alternate universe Layne thought they were living in. Then, Joey couldn’t help it when a laugh bubbled up from his chest at the insanity of it all. He tried to hold it back, but the more his brain envisioned fucking Mackenzie the next few laughs couldn’t be contained.

Layne scowled at him. “I’m glad you find this fucking amusing, asshole.” Taking his laughter as a sign of admission, she was damn near the point of kicking him in the balls to see if he thought that shit was funny, too.

His hand released her elbow only so he could take a firm hold of her face with both hands, looking her directly in the eyes. He failed miserably at containing his smile despite his efforts to be serious with her. “Layney, first of all, I’m not putting babies in anybody—not even you. I had that shit snipped years ago.”

Seeing Layne’s skepticism still etched over her features, he reassured her, “I will go jack off in a cup right now and Dr. Patty can have it analyzed just to confirm that all I got are blanks.”

“Fine, then you’re not the father. Congrats.” Her voice was completely flat and devoid of any emotion. It still didn’t mean that Joey hadn’t slept with the dumb hoe.

His thumb rubbed over her cheek, trying to stroke away her doubts. “Second, the reason I was in a bad mood that night wasn’t because I had to come home to you after fucking someone else. It’s because Mackenzie is a whack job, she’s the one who hired me to take out her dad. She wasn’t even supposed to be there that night. I was trying to get the job done and she fucking grabbed my dick—twice.” He shuddered at the memory. “Then, when I tied her up to make it look like a home invasion gone wrong–and so she would keep her hands to herself–she kept moaning like a beached whale and begging me to do weird shit to her.”

Joey felt dirty even thinking about that night. “Layne, it was the worst contract I’ve ever taken because I had to deal with her.” He was also certain if he had fucked the girl, his dick would have disintegrated into ashes from some undiscovered venereal disease.

Layne’s cheeks began to grow hot as Joey began to explain away all her concerns about his faithfulness. All the concerns that had spiraled out of control in her mind thanks to all the stress Liam’s bullshit was causing her.

She sank her teeth into her bottom lip as she scrunched her brows together, realizing that maybe she overreacted and her possessiveness over the two guys got the better of her. It wasn’t like her to jump to conclusions, but nothing about what was going on in her life right now felt normal.

He shook his head at her and brought his mouth down onto hers lovingly to grab her attention for what he had to say next. “Not once since the day I met you has my cock been in another woman, and it never will be. You understand me?”

She nodded. “I’m sorry… Liam had mentioned it, then today he showed me these pictures to try to show me you both aren’t as loyal to me as I thought.”

Gage stiffened hearing the source of all the lies being fed to her and grumbled, “That little prick doesn’t have shit on me.”

Her gaze shifted to settle on Gage while she frowned with embarrassment. “I thought he did, he sent me a picture of you at the club with two girls. It ended up being a fake, but it looked so damn real and my head was already spinning by that point.”

Pulling her into a hug, Joey gave her a hard squeeze and a peck on the forehead before he released her.

Gage took his place, capturing her chin with his fingers as he traced the bottom of her lip with the pad of his thumb. “Layne Nicole De Luca,” he spoke with a playful sternness but still used her full name to emphasize how serious he was. “Until there is a day where you no longer want to wear my collar, you are the only woman that exists for me. If you haven’t learned that by now, I may need to finally put you on my St. Andrew’s cross.”

He smirked at her, already thinking how she would look spread for him on the x-frame. Gage leaned in and affectionately locked his mouth onto hers to help wash away any of the fabrications and doubts Liam had tried to fill her head with.

When the sweet moment concluded, she suddenly remembered one more thing. “Oh!” Her hand dove into her jacket pocket and pulled out Joey’s pocket knife. “This is yours.” Layne offered it to him.

Joey perked up a brow seeing that it indeed was his knife. Unnerved that Liam had gotten his hands on it and then used it on Layne, his jaw ticked as he swallowed his rage. He had been looking for that knife for several weeks and assumed it was hiding out somewhere in O’Reilly Manor.

---