Page 75 of Desert Thorns
I laughed. “Did you just call me a bonehead?”Holzchopfwas the only Swiss German word I could comprehend. The literal translation was woodhead. She used the word for my brother as well as for her brother, Tripp Rhyner, all the time.
“I said, please don’t tell me you’re the same bonehead as Keaton. Big difference.” Grinning, she brushed sand off her gray sweats and black oversized T-shirt. “He almost divorced me because he thought he wasn’t good enough for me.” Her gaze came to me. “Please don’t do this to Harley. I mean, don’t unless it’s God’s will for you to let her go.”
I shook my head. “He was pretty clear about my future with her.” Just yesterday He’d given me the final okay to get in touch with her again.
“Ah, see.” Layne smiled. “What are you waiting for then?”
“Yeah, champ. What are you waiting for?” Keaton came strolling to us, wearing black slacks and a white dress shirt with the sleeves rolled up—straight from work. A big grin split hisface. “About time you move out again so Layne and I don’t need to worry about scarring you for life.”
I stared back out onto the ocean, hoping the increasing darkness would hide my reddening neck and ears. Another reason why I wanted to move out. Hopefully I’d soon hear back from the companies I had sent an application to.
“Bunny, do you wanna explain what that ‘You just got passed by a girl’ bumper sticker is doing on my Porsche?” Keaton asked Layne. “Do you know how many men honked at me and got all excited until they realized I’m a dude?”
Layne burst out laughing. She laughed so hard that tears started streaming down her cheeks. “I wish I could’ve seen your face,” she wheezed, then laughed even harder.
“Why on earth did you—” Keaton raked a hand through his black hair, visibly wrestling with a grin. “You don’t even drive that car.”
“Only because I can’t drive at the moment. Just wait till I’m back in the game. Then I’ll take her drifting every day.”
“I think someone needs a reminder that I’m not a girl.” Keaton pretty much tackled a laughing Layne into the sand.
Wow, yeah, my cue to take a hike.
I stood, the sand cool under my feet. “Message received. I’m going to Harley.”
The two were too busy eating each other up to hear me. I fled the small bay and headed through the lush yard to the house. After donning a ball cap—it was getting dark out, but I didn’t want to give people or the media a chance to recognize me—I headed into the garage. Keaton had told me I could use their vehicles whenever needed.
There it was, the bumper sticker on the ice-gray 911 Carrera 4 GTS Cabriolet. I chuckled. It even had a lip print on it. Not wanting to attract even more attention, I opted for the black Ram 1500 TRX. I spent the entire forty-minute drive to Harley’sapartment in prayer. God had spoken pretty clearly to me about my future—it was with Harley as my wife. Yet there was still some kind of hesitation. Something felt . . . off.
Harley wasn’t home, so I headed to Golden Palace. She wasn’t there either, but Rome was. Dalton Scott, one of Keaton’s best friends and apparently one of the bouncers here, escorted me through the raging club to his office.
“Look what the cat dragged in.” Rome stood from his desk and sauntered toward me. I almost expected some kind of stunt, but he pulled me into a hug and slapped my back. “Come stai, bro?”
“Been better,” I admitted.
“I heard you got kicked out of the monastery.”
“It was a mutual decision.”
Rome licked his lips. “Your screw-ups weighed too heavily on your conscience to stay, didn’t they?”
Sounded like the man knew what it felt like to have your mistakes haunt you. Maybe he had more of a soul than I’d expected from a man of the underworld.
“Yeah. What, uh . . .” I cleared my throat. “What are you up to?”
“Busy hunting down Harley’s ex. Dude once again dropped off the face of the earth.”
I roughed a hand over my mouth and beard. “Is there anything I can do?”
“Talk to Harley. If you guys aren’t walking down the wedding aisle some time in the next six months I’ll come and huntyoudown.”
I chuckled. “Noted. That’s why I’m here. She isn’t home.”
“She’s staying with me.”
Still? Or maybe again. Either way, I wouldn’t have wanted her anywhere else.
Rome unearthed a key from his slacks and tossed it to me. “Go talk to her. You guys have a lot to figure out.”
