Golden Trail by Kristen Ashley Read Free Book Online

house. Even working as a waitress on the weekends and going
to school full-time, she still took care of him in every way there
was to take care of a man and she took care of their apartment,
their bills, the food, their lives. Except for paying the rent and
utilities, taking out the trash and helping her do the dishes every
once in awhile, Layne hadn’t had to lift a finger.
    Who would step out on something like that?
    “She’s already filed,” Dave said and
finished before walking away with the platter. “She’s through.”
    Layne watched Dave disappear into the dining
room then he turned to Merry.
    “She okay?” he asked.
    “Nope,” Merry answered. “She had no clue.
Whole town’s talkin’ about it, have been for years and she’s the
putz. She found out, moved out and he moved his new girl in. She’s
twenty-three. Spittin’ image of Roc fifteen years ago. She’s also a
cheerleader for the Pacers.” Merry got closer and his voice dipped
lower. “She’s a freakin’ Pacemate, big man. That dick’s got
courtside season tickets and has for the last ten years. If
shackin’ up with some hottie almost half your age who dances on
court at halftime isn’t in your face, nothing is. So, no, she’s not okay.”
    Layne did not know much about Jarrod Astley.
He knew he was from Indianapolis, Broad Ripple. He knew he was nine
years older than Rocky. He knew he was Chief of Surgery at
Presbyterian in Indianapolis and supposedly a hotshot since he’d
been Chief of Surgery for five years which made him young when he
earned the post. He’d seen the man, not often, a few times around
town. He was good-looking enough, in a stick up his ass kind of
way. He struck Layne as ice cold which Layne thought didn’t work
with Rocky, who was anything but cold.
    Now, he knew the man was just a plain
fool.
    “Jesus,” Layne muttered, tilting his head to
the side and looking at the floor.
    He was wondering, again, why she’d come to
his house that morning.
    He was also wondering why she’d come to his
hospital room, looked at him the way she did, touched him, put her
mouth to his.
    Rebound or something else?
    “Tanner,” Merry called and Layne looked at
him.
    “Let’s eat,” Layne said and watched as
Merry’s eyes flashed then his face closed off, not giving away
anything.
    Then he smiled huge, a cover, grabbed a
basket that had something wrapped in a clean dish towel and he
replied, “Fuckin’ A, bubba.”
    * * * * *
    Layne inhaled from the cigarette, took it
from his lips and exhaled.
    He had one smoke a day, after dinner with a
beer or, if the day had been shit, a whisky. Since quitting ten
years ago, he only had the one a day.
    Unless the day was really shit.
    He looked to Merry as Merry exhaled. Merry
didn’t have one smoke a day. He had a lot more.
    They were both standing outside but Dave,
not smoking, was sitting on a garden chair. The boys were in the
house watching some movie on TV.
    “So Stew’s fucked her over?” Dave asked.
    Layne had told them about Gabby’s
problem.
    “Yeah,” Layne answered.
    “Can’t say I’m surprised,” Dave
muttered.
    “That’d be because it isn’t surprising,”
Layne muttered back.
    “I’ll keep my ear to the ground, big man,
but, with Stew, it could be anything,” Merry told him.
    “It’s bad shit, she’s in danger, I gotta
know,” Layne said to Merry.
    “What’d you get on your searches?” Dave
asked.
    “He’s maxed out,” Layne answered. “Overdrawn
at the bank, credit cards over the limit, hasn’t paid any bills in
over six months, debt collectors circling, his truck has been
shopped out for repo. She’s been holdin’ on but the last three
months she’s struggled. Utilities are only two months out but I
figure she pays them so she won’t get shut off. She was always
current, always paid on time and the last six months, she’s been
juggling, payin’ late, fallin’ short, payin’ minimum payments
instead of payin’ the full amount. Now,