Golden Trail by Kristen Ashley Read Free Book Online Page A

outside the utilities, she
isn’t payin’ at all. She didn’t often carry debt, except around
Christmas. She’s been inchin’ up but, last two months, she’s shot
up and she’s also maxed. They’ve both been declined for new cards,
him twice in the last month and she’s tried taking out three.”
    “That’s not good,” Merry mumbled.
    “Nope,” Layne agreed. “She makes decent
money and never lived beyond her means. We bought that house
together sixteen years ago. Her mortgage is low. He lost his job,
which he hasn’t, she could take him on. She’d feel the hit but she
can do it. This kinda shit, he owes someone. Gambling. Betting.
Something.”
    “I’ll ask around,” Dave offered.
    “It would be appreciated,” Layne
replied.
    Merry crushed his butt into the ashtray on
the outdoor table and twisted his head to his Dad.
    “Got a date, Dad,” he said and Layne
smiled.
    Merry was Jasper except forty years old.
He’d been married once, for six years. Before and since, he played
the field as often as he could. Like his sister, young, he’d been a
knockout and age hadn’t touched it, in fact, it seemed to enhance
it so Merry’s field was wide and varied.
    Layne’s smile died when Dave got up from his
chair and headed into the house, muttering, “I’ll leave you to
it.”
    Layne took one last drag and then crushed
out his cigarette on the exhale knowing now this invitation to
dinner was more than a family get together.
    Layne watched Dave close the backdoor then
he locked his eyes on Merry.
    “What?” he asked instantly.
    “You know we gotta talk, it’s been six
weeks,” Merry replied quietly, his eyes on his Dad’s dark
backyard.
    “Yeah, we’ll talk but not now. I took a hit
–”
    He didn’t finish when Merry’s eyes sliced to
him and he growled, “Yeah, you took a hit.”
    He was talking about Layne getting shot.
    “I didn’t mean that kinda hit, Merry, the
hospital bills wiped me out. It kills to say it but I can’t focus
on that right now. I gotta take cases that pay.”
    “You’re off on this one,” Merry declared and
Layne felt his neck muscles contract.
    “No, Garrett, I’m not,” he said softly.
    “Yeah, Tanner, you are,” Merry shot back.
“You’ve been blown.”
    “You can’t work it,” Layne pointed out.
    “I won’t be. Rocky is,” Merry returned.
    Every muscle in Layne’s body contracted.
    “What?” he whispered.
    “She’s gonna cozy up to Rutledge, get in on
the inside,” Merry shared.
    Layne’s fingers curled into fists and he
turned fully to face his friend. It took a lot out of him but he
didn’t grab his collar and shake some sense into him – or beat it
into him – both of which he’d prefer to do.
    “Are you fucking insane? ” Layne
asked.
    “She’s all over it,” Merry retorted and
Layne sucked in a breath and it made a sound like a hiss.
    Then he looked at the yard.
    She would. Rocky would. She’d be all over
it.
    He now had proof that Raquel was just as
nuts as ever and her brother surpassed her by a long fucking
shot.
    “She doesn’t know what she’s doing,” Layne
pointed out.
    “We’re talking. She’s learning. She’s good,”
Merry replied.
    He looked back at his friend. “News flash,
man, I took three because of this shit six weeks ago and I know
what I’m doin’. You want that to happen to your sister?”
    Merry leaned into Layne and he saw it in his
face. It wasn’t stark, he was trying to control it, but it was
there.
    Fear.
    “It was her idea,” he whispered.
    “Fuck me,” Layne whispered back and it hit
him.
    She knew. Merry told her everything. She
knew there was a dirty cop in the Department. She knew it was
Rutledge. She knew Merry couldn’t work it so he farmed it out to
Layne. She knew Layne got too close and Rutledge got tweaked and
Layne got ambushed. And, it was worthwhile to repeat, she knew
there was a dirty copy in the department.
    And she knew her father’s partner
twenty-four years ago was a