Page 55 of Chaos Luck Wrath

It had been late morning by the time they rolled in and crashed into bed together. Everybody got the hours of sleep that were much needed after being awake for nearly a day straight. Evening was rolling around and that’s when Gage turned over in bed, and his hand reached out to stroke over Layne’s body. His fingers danced along a hard and abnormally large bicep rather than the slender one he had been expecting.

Lifting his head from his pillow he opened his eyes to find Joey staring at him.

“Good morning, sunshine.” Joey snorted.

Grumbling, Gage withdrew his hand quickly before stretching out his body. He felt like absolute garbage, despite all the fluids the hospital had given him trying to flush his system from the commonly used date rape drug. The car accident didn’t do him any favors either.

“Where’s Layne?” Gage groaned out his question past the unforgiving headache pulsing at his temples.

Tossing the sheets aside, Joey slid out of bed. “Probably downstairs the way you were snoring like a broken chainsaw.” He rubbed a hand over his face to try and erase the last remnants of sleep from his eyes.

Moments later, both guys came down to the first floor each wearing just a pair of sweats. They followed the scent of freshly brewed caffeine coming from the kitchen despite the late time of day. Both of them came to a sudden halt as they saw Layne there, fully dressed and finishing off her cup of coffee. She looked ready to attack whatever was on her agenda. As far as they both knew, nothing should have been on her calendar for tonight.

She gently set her empty coffee mug into the sink before buzzing around the center island to snatch her phone off the charger on the counter.

“Layne? What are you doing?” Joey watched her with confusion splashed across his face.

When she didn’t acknowledge either of them, Gage reached out and latched his hand onto her forearm to force her to take a moment and talk with them. “Baby, you look like you’re ready to go somewhere.”

Sighing like she had too much to do and not enough time, she stopped and looked at her two guys. “Yeah, I have a last-minute meeting I need to go to.”

Joey’s jaw immediately clenched as he suppressed his grumbling. “When were you going to tell us?”

She gently coaxed her arm from Gage’s hand. “I know how this looks.”

Gage lifted a brow at her. “Really? Because it looks like you were ready to bail without saying a damn thing.”

Exhaling a short breath, she knew that this was going to be a hard pill to swallow for all of them but better now than never. “Hear me out.”

“Hear you out?” Joey grumpily replied. “We’ve been over this, Layne. Where you go, we go. End of story. Fuck, we can’t even keep you safe when all three of us are together.” Each word he spoke bearing more of his aggravation.

Layne stepped up to Joey and placed a hand on his bare sides, hoping her touch would assist in getting him to listen to her. “I know, but this is different. I have a shot at hitting Liam where it hurts and getting one step ahead of him. This is one meeting I can’t risk anyone knowing about, so I need you both to stay here.”

Gage’s hand slid up her arm onto her shoulder. “You can’t seriously expect us to?—”

She cut Gage off, “I can and I do. I love you both more than life itself, but I can’t be the leader I need to be with my head tied up in my emotions. You’re the one who told me to stop treating Liam like my brother, and that’s why I’m doing this. Liam expects me to be with one of you at all times. For all I know, he’s got people watching who comes and goes from here. He’s not going to give a fuck if one of you leaves to go to Mickey D’s for a late-night snack. But more than one person leaving this house?” She shook her head imagining what lengths her brother was possibly going to in order to bring her down.

He hated to admit it but he was starting to see her logic, and looking over at Joey’s face, his brother also saw the point she was making.

Joey grabbed her face with both his hands. “I’m not budging on this, Layney.” He was being a stubborn asshole, as usual.

As she went to look at Gage for support, Joey turned her face back at him. “Don’t look at him, you’re answering to me right now.”

Her intoxicating green eyes were as calm as the sea before a storm. “You and I both know that I’m doing this with or without your permission. I promise you that I will take every precaution I can, but I need to take this chance. You wanted me to light my fire and let it burn, and I’m standing here telling you that I need a bit of oxygen to do that.”

Staring silently into her eyes, Joey’s conflict was clear.

Layne spoke in a whisper, “Please. I’m going to be late.”

“Fuck,” he cursed under his breath before pulling her face to his. Joey’s lips locked onto hers as he hungrily kissed her.

When he pulled back, his hands were still tightly gripping her face. He forced his words out. “You fuckin’ watch your ass. If the wind so much as blows the wrong damn way, you get the hell out of dodge. Do you fucking understand me, Layne?”

After she nodded, he dropped his hands from her face and wrapped his arms around her. Squeezing her tightly against him, Joey kissed the top of her head several times.

No sooner did Joey release her than Gage pulled her to him by the back of her neck. He pressed his forehead to hers. “Do you know what I’m going to tell you, Lucky Charm?”

She gave a slight smile. “To be careful?”

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