Page 36 of Sticks and Stones (FBI Romance/Thriller #65)

“How bad is it?”

Gene laughed as he walked toward Ethan’s ride.

“Let’s just say we have more problems than Corbin making bad decisions and sex trafficking. We’re about to be making some bad decisions too.”

Like getting sucked into this mess.

And once again, Corbin had dragged him into a shitshow, and they were going to be sinking fast.

Call it a hunch.

* * * Blackhawk & Cantrell * * *

John’s Pub

Same Time

Just Outside

Of Philadelphia

It was a slow pub day since the weather was getting sketchy, and it was a bye week in football.

For them, that was probably a good thing too.

Why?

John’s wife was making him a nervous wreck, and driving both of them insane in the process.

How?

With worry.

While John got it, understanding that Corbin was her only child, she was only going to piss him off if she didn’t back off.

As in WAY off.

Ethan had been right to block their access to their son. If he knew Corbin like he believed he did, the man was resilient, tough, and could handle himself, but not with the two of them breathing down his neck.

Being a gay man in a straight man’s world had given him a tenacity that most people never had to have.

Because they were easily accepted.

Now, he’d put his faith in Corbin, and his two friends. They were like children to him, too, and he knew what it was like to have brothers have your back.

As a once soldier, it was common.

“You need to stop,” he finally said, when she was pacing as she waited for the food to be done.

When she looked over, he was finished with letting her take them both down with the stress.

The last thing he wanted was a freaking heart attack.

“I love you, Alice, but if you pace behind my bar one more time, I’m sending you home—but only after tying you up so you can’t try to get to Corbin.”

She stared at him.

“What did I do?” she asked.

He told her.

“You’re worrying and making me twitchy. Corbin is fine. If they broke him out of the hospital and to their condo, he’s not in as bad a shape as you’re envisioning. He’s awake and alive. We have to pick the victories on this one.”

She stood her ground.

“John, he was assaulted!”

He moved closer, and kept his voice low.

“And the last thing he’s going to want is a pity party. Do you know our son? The reason he’s refusing to see us is because you’re going to make a big deal out of it.”

She gasped.

“It is a big deal!”

And that was what he meant.

It was a big deal, but it wasn’t THEIR big deal. Corbin was a grown ass man, and he had a right to his privacy. Alice tended to hop, skip, and jump over that line drawn in the sand.

If they wanted to see him ever again, she needed to make this easier on him.

Not.

Harder.

“You have to calm down, and let him have this. He’s twenty-five years old, not ten.

He’s in a relationship and serious about him.

He’s a cop, and trying to get out from under your shadow.

Choking him with pity is going to make him leave our family and resent us.

He’ll cut himself off, even more, and we’ll never see him. ”

She closed her mouth.

“This is his boundary, and Ethan was right. If we push ourselves over this, he’s going to stop seeing us.

Then what? Take all the notes and bullshit you snuck into that food back out, and listen to the Fed.

He knows our son, and he’s not holding him hostage.

He’s protecting him from more pain—from us. ”

She stared at him but didn’t move.

Well, he could do that too.

“I mean it. I will walk out of here with his food, dump it in the garbage, and go buy him fast food before I’ll let you sneak in notes asking if he needed help.”

When she rolled her eyes, he laughed.

Yeah, he’d nailed that.

“Alice, Baby, I love you, and you’re the toughest woman I know. He gets that from you. Now, let him show us how tough our son is. We did our job. We raised him, made sure we taught him what he needed, and gave him the tools to survive this.”

“Aren’t you worried?” she asked.

“Absolutely, but I’m more worried about losing our son than I am about him being hurt.

I have to choose my battles, and he will overcome this.

I have faith in his tenacity, and when he’s better, we’ll be here for him.

He wants it kept quiet, so we’re going to listen for a change.

Do what he wants so we don’t have to apologize forever.

One day, he might get married and have a family.

I’d like to see it. If he marries Will, and they adopt kids, I want to be a grandpa. So knock it off.”

She considered it.

He wasn’t wrong.

“Okay, John. I’ll take the notes I smuggled into the bag out, but I’m not taking out all of the extra food that I know he doesn’t need, but it makes me feel better when I feed him.”

He kissed her on the forehead.

“That’s my girl,” he said. “We’ll take it over in a bit. I just want to make sure the lunch rush is over.”

Alice did what she promised, and when she heard her name from someone across the room, she was surprised.

“Oh, boy,” John said when he saw the man heading their way.

It was Corbin’s boyfriend.

And already, he knew who he was looking for, and why he was there.

“Mrs. and Mr. Price, can I ask you something?” he inquired, sitting at the bar.

Shit.

Shit.

Shit.

It looked like John was going to have to trust his wife to stay out of this for Corbin, and keep her mouth shut. What were the chances?

“Sure, Will. What’s up?” she asked. “And I told you, it’s Alice and John.”

He smiled, but it didn’t reach his eyes.

“Where’s Corbin? I can’t get a hold of him, someone else is answering his phone and laughing, and I think he’s dumped me. Is that his new lover? What is going on?”

Oh, well, this man was asking questions that they couldn’t answer.

Well, except they could bet that the person laughing was whoever hurt their son. They must have taken his things.

Alice could see John watching her, and she knew that the last thing she needed was to make this more difficult for Corbin.

Or piss her husband off.

They’d just talked about this.

“I think he’s working a case,” she said, choking on the other words she wanted to get out. “Isn’t that what he told you, John?” she asked.

The man nodded.

“He’s working on something. We heard from him today. It’s a big case.”

Will looked beaten down.

“He’s dumping me, isn’t he? He’s seeing someone else.”

Alice glanced at John, and let him handle this since he’d just bullied her into staying out of it.

Let him dance with this devil.

She was out.

“I’ll go pack up the rest of this takeout order, John. Help the boy out,” she said, dumping and running.

Oh, he deserved that, and he knew it.

Moving closer, he poured the man a glass of wine, the same kind his son liked, and placed it in front of him.

“I don’t think he’s dumping you, Will. He’s just tied up with something at the moment. When did you hear from him last?”

He told him.

“It was the other night. We always talk in the evening, and he didn’t call me. When I went to his house, the two Feds were there. You know the ones we spent Christmas day with?”

He nodded.

“Yeah, Ethan and Gene.”

He stopped him.

“No, the other one. Greyson.”

He wiped the already immaculate bar in hopes of getting the man to have his wine and go. He didn’t want to lie to him, since he knew how Corbin felt, but he also didn’t want to tell him too much.

This was a tightrope walk, and someone was sawing away at the line.

“They were acting weird, and Corbin’s place had a break-in.”

Oh, shit.

Alice didn’t know about that, and if she did, that would take her to another level of crazy. Corbin was tucked away in the condo and absolutely safe.

Will sipped his drink.

“You’ll have to wait for Corbin to reach out to you,” he stated. “All I know is he’s working an undercover case, and being careful.”

“And the Feds?”

This was a dance.

“They might be helping him. Really, Will, my son isn’t the kind of man who would ghost someone. You’ll hear from him, I’m sure.”

He pushed his glass away and went to pull out money to pay for it.

John stopped him.

“Your money isn’t good here. You’re dating my son. You get free drinks. God knows I drank a lot when I was around him. He can be exhausting.”

Will laughed.

“He’s absolutely perfect—if I could get him to call me and tell me what’s going on.”

John could hear his wife in the kitchen, so he opted to break his own rules.

“You didn’t hear this from me, but I’d look for him wherever the agents are. They are thick as thieves. That will help you out. If you don’t hear from him tonight, try that.”

Will slowly nodded.

“Thanks, John,” he said, pulling on his jacket to head back out into the snow.

When he was gone, Alice peeked her head out.

“Is he gone?”

He nodded.

“Yeah, he’s gone.”

She poured a glass of soda, and leaned on the counter to talk to her husband.

“The food will all be ready in an hour at the most. You should probably drop it off. I can’t be trusted. I’ll try to bum-rush Ethan. I’ll man the pub.”

That was the best thing she said today. It was better than her previous plan to scale their condo with rope.

“Sounds good, Alice.”

She was curious.

“How did you get rid of Will so fast? Did you tell him anything?”

He laughed.

“What? After I gave you the riot act? I just said I haven’t seen him, but he’ll call when he’s free. That’s all.”

Alice stared at him and John hoped her lie-dar didn’t go off.

His wife was tough to bullshit.

“You’re a better parent than me,” she said. “I would have slipped him some intel. He is in a relationship with him, and I like him.”

John shrugged.

“I like him a lot, but rules are rules, Alice. How about we follow them?”

She snorted.

“Look at you, the ever, rule-following Navy man. Luckily for you, I think that’s sexy in a man,” she said, giving him a kiss on his scruffy cheek before heading back into the kitchen.

That was when he let out a breath.

That was close.

Now, all he had to do was hope Will didn’t do anything ridiculous.

He should leave that up to Alice.

It was, after all, expected.