Read Online Sticks and Stones by Madeleine Urban ; Abigail Roux - Free Book Online Page A

his eyes on Earl, not sure if there was more to hear.
    “Why’s he worried?” Earl asked him pleasantly.
    “Dad,” Ty said in warning, but Earl continued to look at Zane expectantly.
    After a long moment of silent standoff, Zane just shrugged one shoulder. He didn’t know what the man wanted him to say. Anything he could think of was far too personal. Earl’s eyes transferred from Zane to Ty without a word. Ty merely raised an eyebrow at him and bit into a piece of bacon with a loud crunch, obviously more immune to the gaze than Zane was.
    Deuce gave Zane’s arm a gentle pat, and he scooted his chair back noisily. “Come on, Zane, I’ll show you the mountain,” he offered under his breath.
    Zane glanced to Ty before moving to follow Deuce out. His partner was on his own with this one, and Zane wanted out from under Earl’s knowing eyes before he said something he shouldn’t. It wasn’t really Earl’s reaction he was worried about. Zane didn’t have to go home with him .
    They went through the back door, which was the nearest exit, and Deuce had to grip the railing as he thumped down the old wooden steps that led into the back yard. The grassy part of the yard rolled slightly and then dropped off suddenly into a deep ravine just twenty yards from the back of the house. The thick woods started at the edge of the far side, seeming to enclose the area with a wall of trees. Deuce took a few steps toward the ravine and waved at the land beyond it. “And there’s the mountain,” he told Zane with a small smile.
    Zane took a deep breath of the clean air and gave him a smile. “Thanks,” he said with a nod.
    Deuce waved him off. “Don’t let Dad get to you,” he advised. “If you can deal with Ty, Dad should be a cakewalk for you.”
    “I don’t care about offending Ty,” Zane answered. “Although I do have to work with him, so I try not to piss him off too badly.”
    “A fair plan. And Dad isn’t easily offended,” Deuce told him with a smile. “What are you worried he knows about?” he asked curiously.
    “I don’t exactly have the best track record in the Bureau,” Zane said quietly as he looked around at the trees.
    “You’re still in it, though, and I know Ty doesn’t rate second-hand partners,” Deuce countered.
    Zane would have answered in the affirmative, but he wasn’t quite sure if he really fit the bill. “I guess I’m a little off balance,” he said vaguely, gesturing to the surroundings.
    “High altitudes will do that,” Deuce replied, the sarcasm practically dripping from the words.
    “You talk like him,” Zane said wryly, hearing the smartass echo in Deuce’s voice that so reminded him of Ty.
    “How’s that?” Deuce asked in interest.
    “That tone of voice,” Zane said, fixing his eyes intently on Deuce. “Ty sounds like that all the time. Droll. Like he’s humoring me.”
    Deuce laughed. “I apologize,” he offered with an open, honest grin.
    Zane’s smile was more genuine this time. “I’d say you don’t know how annoying that can be, but….” Deuce laughed harder as the screen door creaked behind them.
    “We’re gonna have to start slipping Dad Valium or something,” Ty muttered as he joined them. He handed Deuce a thick cigar that he’d had hidden in his pocket.
    “Cuban?” Deuce asked in delight.
    “Cuban,” Ty answered with a nod as Deuce slid the cigar under his nose and sniffed it.
    Zane frowned. “Where’s mine?”
    “You haven’t earned illegal Cubans yet,” Ty informed him seriously.
    “Earned?” Zane asked, voice rising toward the end. He looked at Deuce and jerked his thumb toward Ty. “See? This is what I deal with almost every day.” He sniffed. “Earned,” he muttered, shoving his hands in his pockets.
    “I thought acting as a human paintball shield qualified you for illegal Cubans?” Deuce asked Ty in an innocent voice. Ty began snickering before he’d even finished speaking.
    Zane rolled his eyes. “I still have