v Ashley: Golden Trail

“Sure, he’s hot,” Keira replied, Jasper’s eyes sliced to her, she grinned insolently at him then leaned in close to his face. “Not as hot as you, honey,” she whispered, glanced over her shoulder at her sister and her man, then back to Jasper where she noted, “But no denying, the Winters women have really good taste. ”

Jasper glared at his girl then looked at his old man. “You know, Dad, I woulda been happy with the gene you gave Tripp, the one that would lead me to a woman who wasn’t a complete nut and also wasn’t friggin’ irritating all the time.”

Keira, completely unoffended by this, burst out laughing. So did Tripp and, to a lesser extent, Giselle. Jasper did not.

Layne smiled at his son then he saw Cecilia straining away from Giselle, her arms stretched out to Tripp.

Tripp took one arm from under him as Giselle lost hold of a very determined CeeCee and she landed on Tripp’s chest. His arm circled his sister’s fat bottom, she reached up, latched on and pulled at his lip which made Tripp smile and instantly bend his head, heft her up his chest and blow into her neck.

Cecilia giggled.

The birth of Cecilia was an event that made a lot of people pretty fucking happy, including Layne’s two boys. They loved their sister and CeeCee liked her Mom and Dad, she liked Vera and Devin, she liked Dave and Merry, she liked Keira and Giselle, but she adored her brothers.

The person it didn’t make happy was Gabrielle. Gabby detested her sons’ devotion to Rocky and Layne’s daughter and didn’t mind letting that fact be known. She didn’t say anything but it pissed her off, her sons preferring to be with their Dad, Roc and their sister and Gabby, being Gabby, found her own, particular bitchy way to let this be known.

As usual, it wasn’t a good play. Her boys didn’t like it and she didn’t let it go so she’d managed to alienate them both. Now, neither saw her very often. When Jas came home from Purdue, he was on the air mattress in his old room, now Tripp’s room. And Tripp, more often than not, stopped taking his turns at Gabby’s.

When this started, Gabby had threatened Layne with attorneys. As he’d told her that morning at Rocky’s apartment, Layne didn’t respond because he never responded. She called, he didn’t answer. She called him from a number he didn’t recognize, he picked up, heard her voice then hung up. She left a message, he didn’t return it. The buzzer beeped at his office and he saw her on the monitor, he walked to the outer door and locked it. She never came to the house because she tried that once, the door went unanswered and Tripp had pulled up while she was camped out on one of Rocky’s Adirondack chairs on the front porch and this didn’t go over very well with Tripp, as in at all, so she’d never tried that shit again.

Gabby didn’t enter his or Roc’s life except when he became annoyed when his sons’ spoke of her bullshit, bitter antics.

But Tripp had had a word with his mother, it was a word she didn’t like but, whatever it was, it was also a word that made her back off. After that, Tripp went his own way and that way normally led him to his room at Layne and Roc’s.

With time, Tripp had learned cool. He’d also learned to focus his intensity. And both made Tripp Layne a young man you didn’t mess with, even if you were his mother.

Rocky had intervened on Gabby’s behalf and she’d done this more than once, with both boys together and separate. She’d intervened but her efforts weren’t successful. Devin had been right, like their father, both Layne’s sons saw Rocky’s vulnerable spot even before she exposed it that Saturday afternoon and her work at healing that wound hadn’t stopped his sons’ from militantly standing strong to protect against it, or anything, causing her pain. This wasn’t because their old man loved Rocky, it was because they did. The addition of Cecilia just strengthened their connection with Layne’s wife. That didn’t mean they didn’t love their mother that just meant she’d made an extremely stupid play. He knew his boys, they cared about Gabby, they’d find their way back – but when they did, they’d do it on their terms.

“Takin’ Ellie down to Bloomington next week, Dad, she wants to scope out the campus,” Tripp told him, his neck craning, dodging CeeCee’s hand at the same time he was grinning at her and tickling her side with his fingers.

“All right,” Layne replied.

“You go to IU, we won’t be able to talk anymore,” Keira told Giselle, dipping her head to rest her cheek back on Jas.

“They have a good med school,” Giselle replied.

“So does IU… PU …I,” Keira returned and Giselle shook her head, a small smile on her face.

It would be interesting to see if Giselle went to IU. She was determined to be a doctor and had the grades for it. She also had the diligence.

Tripp, however, had an uncertain future. It was uncertain but it was bright. He’d made the All-USA High School Football team and this meant he wasn’t just a star in the ‘burg, he was a star throughout the State of Indiana. With Giselle his girl, Rocky his stepmother and his head together, his grades were excellent. Because of this, Tripp had his choice of colleges but, considering his game kept improving and the high school team had seen two consecutive wins at State, both of these having a lot to do with Tripp, who excelled far beyond anyone’s expectations, expectations that were already high, if he avoided injury it was highly likely after school he’d be drafted into the pros.

That said, Giselle might be quiet and shy, but she was also smart and knew what she wanted. If Tripp and Giselle went the distance through their upcoming senior year, it would be interesting to see who followed who. Raquel speculated about it all the time. She figured Tripp would follow Giselle. Layne knew Tripp would do his own thing and if he wanted to keep connected with Giselle, even if they were apart, he’d make that so.

Layne’s eyes moved from his son to his daughter seeing, at this point, not getting what she wanted from one brother, Cecilia was giving up on Tripp and she crawled across his chest, launching herself at Jasper who caught her with two hands, dropped to his back, disengaging from Keira. He threw Cecilia in the air and caught her as she giggled loudly.

Keira kept a hand on Jas’s abs and watched, her face soft, her eyes longing.

Fuck.

Layne was thankfully taken from thoughts of imminent grandfatherhood when he felt cold on his arm and looked up to see Rocky holding a beer there.

“Beer, sweetheart,” she whispered.

“Thanks, baby,” he muttered through a smile and took the bottle.

She gave him the dimple before she dropped down beside him, her movement fluid, then she curled into him much like Keira had been curled into Jas except without her leg tangled with his or her cheek to his shoulder. But her torso was pressed to his side and her hand, holding a fancy-ass bottle of beer, was resting on his abs.

“So, how’s Vi feeling about the engagement?” Layne asked her.

“Old,” Rocky replied, Layne grinned and looked at Vi. She was now standing with Cal at the barbeque, Sam had been claimed by Keira’s grandmother, Bea. Cal had his arm wrapped around Vi’s shoulders and he’d pinned her to his chest, his head dipped down, his face close to hers. Vi looked pissed in a way Layne knew she didn’t mean it and he knew this because Cal was grinning. What Vi didn’t look was old. She looked tanned and healthy and full of attitude.

Layne took a slug from his beer, his eyes doing a scan, seeing Colt and Feb lounged in the grass much like Layne and Rocky. Angela was crawling all over Colt, Jack was chasing after her and Feb was holding on to her man. Colt was grinning down at Angela and Jack. Feb wasn’t grinning. Feb’s forehead was pressed to Colt’s neck, her eyes had a faraway look in them and her face was, no other way to describe it, at peace.