Layne heard Rocky suck in breath at the same time he heard Tripp shout, “You did that Dad?”

“Damn straight he did it, boy,” Devin growled at Tripp then his eyes cut to Layne. “A dog, an HOA and domestication, three things I did not think I’d ever see attached to you.”

“Things change, Dev,” Layne replied, acutely aware that, for some reason, Rocky was staring at him and she was not doing it the same way Tripp was.

“That sounds cool!” Tripp yelled. “Devin, who were the hostiles, where was this, when…?”

Layne looked to Rocky while Tripp fired out his questions and the minute he did, her eyes dropped, she turned so he had her profile and her hand lifted so she could take a sip of wine. But she couldn’t hide the fact that her face had paled or her hand was trembling.

“It wasn’t as dangerous as Dev makes it sound,” Layne lied to Tripp in an effort to reassure a visibly shaken Rocky.

It was. It was extremely dangerous and it was a hotshot, bullshit maneuver he pulled. He could have been killed and it could have got the hostage killed. The problem was, the hostage was an eight year old, dark-headed boy whose picture reminded him of Jasper. He’d been kidnapped and held hostage for three weeks and Dev had been hired to manage an extraction the Feds had botched – which meant two parts of the boy had been delivered to his parents, a finger and a toe – and Dev had taken Layne along as backup. It was a part miracle that Layne hadn’t been filled with bullets, part excellent cover from Devin. What Dev wasn’t sharing was that he didn’t watch proudly as Layne did this. What he did was lay into Layne approximately two seconds after Dev took down the last “hostile” and they secured the boy.

“We should wait until Jas gets back so he can hear the story too,” Tripp suggested and Layne tore his eyes from Rocky, who, at this point, had turned her back to him and he looked at his son while walking to Rocky, fitting his front again against her back and leaning both of their bodies into his palm at the edge of the counter.

“Jasper’s gotta cook and you gotta grab a pop and take a load off after all your cleaning activity. Rocky and me got somethin’ important to talk to you about,” Layne said.

Tripp’s eyes grew both bright and wary as they looked between Layne and Rocky and he asked, “Really?”

“Really,” Layne answered. “Get your pop, Pal.”

Tripp nodded, he got his pop and sat his ass down as Devin appeared to sip his beer casually but Layne knew he’d been alerted by Layne’s serious tone. Through this, Rocky stood noticeably silent in front of him.

Jasper walked in and Layne stayed close to Rocky even as he turned to Jas.

“You can do the Calais before you go to pick up Keira, Bud, I want you to hear this and you need to get your pasta bake show on the road. You wait to cook that shit until after she gets here, she’ll miss her curfew, Cal will lose his mind and I’ll have to make sure my gun is loaded.”

Jasper grinned and walked into the room asking, “Hear what?” then he put Rocky’s keys on the counter by her hand.

When he did, Rocky quietly said, “Thanks Jasper,” and Jasper turned his grin to her.

Layne kept her body pinned in just as his son had pinned in her car as he said to Jas, “Just listen, yeah?” and then he turned to Tripp and started to lay it out.

“Got a head’s up from a friend on the Force and a little while later Rocky shared her concerns about stuff she’s hearin’ at school. She’s got a bad vibe and I’ve got a bad vibe and, Tripp, I need you to help us to do something about it.”

Tripp’s eyes were glued to him and he didn’t hesitate in nodding.

“What’s the bad vibe?” Jasper asked from behind them.

“It’s about the Youth Group at the Christian Church,” Layne answered which he saw made Tripp nod even more enthusiastically.

“Oh yeah, I can see that,” Tripp said and Layne felt Rocky’s body stiffen against him as his did the same.

“Me too,” Jasper added.

“What can you see?” Layne asked.

“Cult city,” Jasper noted. “It’s freakin’ creepy.”

“Totally creepy,” Tripp agreed. “Like that pied piper story, except he skipped the mice and went straight to the kids.”

Rocky forced him back by turning at the same time twisting her neck and looking up at him.

Layne looked down at her to see she looked even paler and that concern he saw earlier that day was flooding her eyes.

He took his palm from the counter and forced her back to his front with his arms around her, one at her chest, one at her ribs and he gave her a reassuring squeeze then left his arms where they were.

Then he looked at Tripp. “We need you to go in.”

Tripp’s brows knitted and his head tipped to the side. “Go in?”

“Undercover, Pal, I need you to work this case for Rocky and me.”

Tripp’s brows slowly separated, his face went blank then he smiled huge and bounced once on his stool. “Oh yeah!” he shouted. “I can do that.”

“Tripp,” Layne said low, “You gotta be cool about this. This is not a gung ho mission. This requires finesse, Pal.”

Tripp nodded and his voice was quieter when he repeated, “I can do that.”

Jasper came to the island stating, “I can too and Keira would be all over it.”

Layne looked at Jasper. “I’d be open to you doin’ it, Bud, but Keira, absolutely not.”

“Why not?” Jasper returned. “She’s up for anything and she’s a girl, that guy at the Youth Group, he likes girls.”

At this, Rocky’s hand came up, her fingers curling around Layne’s forearm so tight they almost hurt.

“No to Keira, Jas,” Layne replied.

“She’s a nut but she’s smart,” Jasper returned, defending his girl.

Layne gave him the honesty. “You wanna keep her safe you keep her far away from this guy. Do you get what I’m sayin’ to you?”

Jasper stared at him, the blood running from his face, a muscle ticked in his cheek and he nodded.

Layne looked to Tripp. “Do you get it, Tripp?”

“He’s a bad guy,” Tripp whispered, the excitement now out of his eyes and those eyes were wide.

“I don’t know but I’ve learned to listen to my gut and, on this, my gut is tellin’ me whatever is happening there is not good. And I don’t know what he’s doin’ but my gut tells me he likes doin’ it, he’s got a sweet gig goin’ and he’s not gonna want anyone to make him stop, not anyone, not a cop and not a high school kid. That means you gotta go in there and be smart. You feel somethin’s not right for you, you get the fuck out. You feel safe, you listen, you watch and you got two missions to start with. One, you get close to the girl Rocky tells you to get close to, you make friends with her and you do it in a way that, when this is done, you’re still friends with her. You get her to talk to you and you do that smart too. You wanna know about Youth Group, you wanna get involved, you wanna be a part of it all, you wanna be her friend but you find out everything you can about what they do and where they’re doin’ it, what you see, what they’ll let you get involved in but, mostly, what they won’t. The other part is you get me something he’s touched. A can of pop, a pen, I don’t give a fuck what it is. You do your best not to touch it too much and I’ll give you a bag to put it in. I want to pull his prints off it and run them. We gotta know who this guy is and who we’re goin’ up against. He’s in the system, this goes quick. He’s not, we gotta find another way. You think you can you do that?”

Tripp nodded.

“Good,” Layne told him and then he gave Rocky another squeeze, dipped his head and said close to her ear, “Who’d you pick for Tripp, baby?”

She nodded too and Layne lifted his head as she said, “You have three choices, Tripp. Giselle Speakmon, Sabrina Tilley or Darcy Cassini.”

“Giselle Speakmon,” Jasper said immediately.

“Why?” Devin entered the conversation on a bark that made Jasper, Tripp and Rocky jump.

“’Cause she’s hot,” Jasper replied.

“She’s out,” Devin shot back. “Next.”

“She’s hot and she’s shy. Freakin’ shy, like, it’s painful. She’s a freshman too, like Tripp,” Jasper continued, his eyes steady on Devin. “Sabrina is nice and she’s okay lookin’, at a push, but she’s a junior and Tripp would be outta her league if she wasn’t just okay lookin’ and, like I said, that’s at a push, so, actually, she’s outta his league. Darcy’s nice too but she’s a sophomore and she’s big as a boat. It’d look funny, he got friendly with either of them. He wouldn’t have any reason to do that. This guy’s a predator like you think he is then he’ll cotton onto Tripp’s game, he gets close to one of those chicks. Everyone knows who Tripp is and everyone knows what Dad does.” Jasper’s eyes went to his old man. “No one would question Tripp gettin’ friendly with Giselle. She’s hot and girls like Tripp, think he’s cute. Tripp would have to work it ‘cause she’s so shy but, if anyone could get Giselle talkin’, it’d be Tripp and Tripp could play it like he’s there just to get Giselle to talk to him. That’s the way I’d play it. And he’ll be cool. He’ll work it, no one will know why he’s there and he’ll get what you need.”

In that moment, there was a lot happening at that island for Tanner Layne, so much it was too much for Layne to process. The first part of it being the fact that he’d gone beyond vastly underestimating Jasper. The second part was that Devin was staring at his oldest son with blatant respect, something Devin very rarely did. The third part of it being the fact that Raquel Merrick was standing, unresisting, in his arms with her fingers curled tight, holding onto him. The last part of it was Tripp looking at his brother with unashamed love shining from his eyes and Layne had seen a lot of things in his life, the woman he held in his arms being the most beautiful, or she was until Layne saw Tripp look at his brother like that.