Ashes to Ashes (Experiment in Terror #8) by Karina Halle Read Free Book Online Page A

never get to see her anymore.” I
detected a bit of strain in his voice when he said that, probably
thinking about his brother. I wondered how often he talked to my
parents and if they talked about me. I guess I’d have to pry him
for info after he had a few glasses of wine.
    The rest of the introductions
to Rebecca and Marda were quickly made before we made our way into
Uncle Al’s cozy living room to have a drink. The twins were nowhere
to be seen; apparently they were at the beach trying to impress
some neighborhood girls, much to Uncle Al’s dismay. He said Tony
and Matt were still a bunch of troublemakers, and when you added
women to the mix, it usually ended in disaster.
    “ Ain’t that
the truth,” Dex joked as he sat down on the loveseat. He looked up
at me with an expectant expression, wanting me to sit with him. To
tell you the truth, I hesitated. With Rebecca taking an armchair
and my uncle and Marda on the couch, there wasn’t anywhere else for
me to go, but I didn’t want to immediately announce to Uncle Al
that Dex and I were a couple. I mean, I figured he knew since I was
living in Seattle, but then again, I had no idea how much my uncle
knew about the falling out.
    Dex didn’t let me hesitate for
long. He reached up and pulled me down by the arm until I was
sitting back in the loveseat and his arm was placed snuggly around
me. I dared to meet Uncle Al’s eyes. He was staring at us with
judgement. Figures. But before I could feel uncomfortable about it,
he wiped the expression off his face, as if he realized he was
doing it, and got off the couch.
    He pointed at me and Dex. “What
do you two want? Beer? Wine?”
    We both took a beer while
Rebecca went for a small glass of wine. The wine would be better on
my figure but beer was easier.
    We lapsed into easy chit-chat,
most of the attention on Rebecca since she was from England, and
Uncle Al waxed poetic about his time living there when he was a
“young lad.” Rebecca wasn’t always the most talkative person but
she certainly was tonight, maybe because she felt awkward, maybe
because the whole situation was still a teeny bit awkward in
general. Yeah, the whole elephant in the room? It was languidly
parked behind Uncle Al’s couch and no one would dare to look at
it.
    Finally Matt and Tony came home
to alleviate some of the tension. Like, straight up.
    “ So you two
are shacking up now,” Tony said as he nodded to Dex.
“Cool.”
    I rolled my eyes. “I live with
Dex, if that’s what you mean.” I quickly eyed Uncle Al who just
clucked his tongue and excused himself to go check on the grill.
Marda followed after him, the screen door swinging shut.
    “ I had a
feeling this would happen,” Matt said as he grabbed a beer from the
fridge. Though they were under twenty-one, the rules were always
lax for them.
    “ You did?” I
asked.
    He grabbed an extra can of beer
for Dex and threw it at him. Dex caught it without looking, also
eager to hear what Matt had to say.
    “ Totally,” Matt went on, leaning against the counter and
cracking the beer open with a loud snap . “Don’t you guys ever see
those movies where the girl and the guy are, like, under duress ,”
he said duress like he just learned it from his Word of the Day
toilet paper, “and they totally hit it off after? Like Speed with
Keanu Reeves and Sandra Bullock. Meet on a bus. Bus gets a bomb on
it. They make out. Awesome flick, even today.”
    Dex grinned and then took a
large swig of beer. “Thanks, man. I think Keanu Reeves is a fine
actor if you put him on mute. Otherwise, it’s…”
    And then Dex launched into his
repertoire of Keanu impersonations. They weren’t half bad, and I’d
heard a lot of them before, but when the twins encouraged him to
try talking like Jeff Goldblum, I had to draw the line.
    Luckily Uncle Al came back in
with the grilled chicken and everyone gathered around the table
before Dex could continue talking about Chaos Theory.
    “ So, Perry,”
Tony