Rocky turned her head and aimed the dimple at him, saying, “We’ll see.” Then she moved a pot to the faucet and started to fill it with water.

Layne reclaimed his forgotten beer and took a slug, his eyes on Devin.

When he dropped his beer to the counter he muttered, “My money’s on Roc.”

Devin grunted.

Ten minutes later, the pasta was on, the hamburger was browning and the Calais was in the drive in the spot behind Rocky’s Mercedes.

Layne found this hilariously funny for two reasons. One, Devin wasn’t lying when he said he didn’t let women drive his car and he’d let Rocky drive his car, it was just the turn into the drive, but he’d let her do it. And two, Rocky had pinned her own vehicle in for the night.

* * * * *

Layne sat at a chair at his outside table, a burning smoke between two fingers, the other three wrapped around a beer, his eyes on the dark, small wood behind his house.

That wood was one of the reasons he picked this place, his front faced houses, he had to drive through a sea of them to get home, but he walked out on his back patio and saw nature. It wasn’t a lot of it but it was something.

Devin sat across from him with a stoagie between his lips.

“I know who she is, boy,” Devin said quietly around his cigar.

“I know you know,” Layne replied quietly back, lifted his beer and took a pull.

They’d spent a lot of time together and they didn’t talk a lot but both of them had talked and Devin knew all about Raquel.

Devin fell silent for a long while. Then he pulled his cigar out of his mouth, blew out smoke and whispered, “Look at that.”

Layne looked at Devin to see Devin looking over his shoulder into the house so Layne twisted and looked into the house too.

The kids and Rocky were playing a game, girls against boys. Keira was up on her feet, jumping up and down, her long, dark hair flying everywhere, her hands straight up in the air. Jasper was sitting back in an armchair, his arms crossed on his chest, pretending to scowl but his eyes were glued to Keira and far more than a scowl could be read from his expression and none of it was bad. Layne couldn’t see Tripp because he was sitting on the floor. Rocky was on the couch, her head was to the back of it, her hands were up in front of her clapping and he could hear her laughter mingled with Keira’s shouts of triumph.

Blondie, being a female but mostly being a canine, was jumping around Keira and sharing in what appeared to be a feminine victory by barking repeatedly.

Keira bent and he lost sight of everything but her behind as she gave Blondie a rubdown.

Layne turned back to the night.

“You lose hold of that again, boy, any ‘a that, I’ll hunt you down and shoot you. Understood?” Dev declared.

“So that shit you handed me about the HOA is just that? Shit?”

“Fuck, Tanner, when I was your age, I’d join the f**kin’ HOA patrol if it meant I could come home to that,” Devin answered.

Layne didn’t reply, he fell silent, took the last drag of his cigarette, stubbed it out in the ashtray on the table and sipped his beer while Devin enjoyed his stoagie.

Eventually, he said, “I need you to go to bed early, soon as Keira leaves.”

“Why?” Devin asked.

“’Cause you’re sleepin’ on the couch, I wanna talk to Rocky and if you’re on the couch the only place to do it is upstairs.”

And Layne wasn’t talking about the weight room.

“Gotcha,” Devin said instantly, knowing Layne wasn’t talking about the weight room.

Layne kept speaking. “I know I briefed you yesterday but I’ll repeat that we need more than the tail Astley’s been chasin’ to make him come to heel. I told you Rocky was in a luxury apartment complex but I didn’t tell you I talked her into signin’ the lease and I did it at a time when I thought she was far from hurtin’. With him cuttin’ her off, she’s gonna be hurtin’. I’m not in the position with her yet that I think she’ll take help from me. Her brother doesn’t have it, neither does her Dad. Short-term, maybe. Long-term, negative. That means time is against us, Dev. I don’t want her worried more than she already is. We need somethin’ on this guy that’ll make him take the pressure off Rocky fast and then we need something that’ll make him go away almost as fast. The dirtier, the uglier, the better.”

“If this is time sensitive, I can make him dirty,” Devin offered quietly.

“I’ll let you know if it comes to that but humiliation only comes on the heels of bein’ outed for shit you did yourself. I don’t only want him cowed, I want him brought low. You make shit up, with this guy, we’ll be treated to righteous indignation and that doesn’t help us and might even hurt.”

“And if there isn’t anything to find?”

“There’s somethin’ to find, this guy is an ass**le. You just need to find it.”

“You said he’s investigating you,” Devin noted.

“Got nothin’ I’ve done I’m not proud of outside of walkin’ away from those boys and everyone knows about that.”

“Nope, you’re right, Tanner, you haven’t but the shit you’ve done could be made to look dirty. This guy isn’t afraid of not playin’ fair, you gotta be ready for that to happen,” Dev returned.

“Not worried about that either, Dev, people in this town, includin’ my boys and Roc, know me and what kind of man I am and, not includin’ my boys but definitely Roc, know him and what kind of man he is.”

“Yep, boy,” Devin said softly, “that girl knows what kind of man you are.”

His tone made Layne turn his head to look at Devin. “What’s that mean?”

Devin kept peering into the night, puffing on his stoagie.

“Dev,” Layne prompted.

Devin didn’t turn his head when he replied, “You don’t wanna know.”

“You’re wrong,” Layne returned, he wanted to know and this was communicated further to Devin because Layne’s voice was rumbling.

Devin looked at him. “Okay, then, you’re not ready to know.”

Layne straightened from his slouch in the chair. “Not in the mood for a mystery, Dev.”

They stared at each other across the table then Devin asked, “You want her back?”

Instead of answering outright, Layne said, “You spent the evening with her.”

“You want her back,” Devin stated.