“I haven’t been to Italy either but I’ve been around and Roc isn’t lyin’,” Layne added.

“Your treat tomorrow then, boy,” Dev told him.

“Done in the bathroom!” Trip shouted, rounding the corner and running toward the utility room at the same time juggling an armload of bathroom cleaning stuff.

Layne looked to Jas to see he was also done and winding the cord up. He turned to the back counter, saw Rocky’s purse sitting by the coffeemaker, walked to it and dug through it until he found her keys.

Then he turned to Jasper as he heard Rocky start to say, “What are you –?”

“Jas,” he called over her, Jasper’s head came up and Layne tossed his son the keys which Jasper nabbed one-handed. “You pull the Charger out then pull Rocky’s Merc in the garage.”

“Layne –” Rocky began.

Layne talked over her. “Get Dev’s keys too, pull the Calais into the drive behind the Merc.”

“But –” Rocky tried again.

“You get Keira, you park behind the Suburban. Drop the door after you pull in the Merc,” Layne finished.

“Right Dad,” Jasper said, carried the sweeper to the utility room and disappeared as Tripp reappeared.

“Layne, you can’t –” Rocky started and Layne looked at her.

“HOA isn’t big on cars parked on the street overnight.”

“Over –” she began again, this time in a whisper.

“HOA?” Dev cut in, sounding disgusted. “Tanner Layne, the boy I proudly watched dodge bullets to enter a house filled with hostiles in order to grab a hostage, a rescue during which he took two boys out with only a half-filled clip in his gun, and he ran out without a nick on him carrying that hostage, is livin’ in a place with a home owners association?”

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.