Reece looked away. “I’m fine.” He tried not to cringe at the sound of the lie, ducking out through the door Grayson was holding open for him and hurrying down the hall.
Grayson followed, one step behind, Reece’s fast pace just a leisurely stroll with his long legs. “You want revenge?”
Reece furrowed his brow in confusion. “Revenge?”
“I can make it happen. Locked room, no records, complete freedom from consequences—”
“Stop,”Reece said sharply, his stomach protesting even the implications of Grayson’s words. “The guards were just doing their jobs.”Lie. His ears heard the sour notes as the twinges of his bruised muscles confirmed them. But Reece stubbornly said, “I’m the one who broke the law. No one should take that out on them.”
Grayson continued to watch him for a long moment, giving Reece the unsettling feeling he’d just taken another test. But then Grayson shrugged and kept walking, like nothing had happened, and Reece had no idea if he’d passed or failed.
As they emerged into the lobby, an unfamiliar security guard rushed up to them. “Agent Grayson, sir,” he said breathlessly. “Our apologies for the oversight. We’re having the car towed right now.”
Towed?Reece’s eyes widened. “Wait—no—”
He broke into a run.
A moment later, he skidded out through the building’s automatic front doors just in time to see the back of his car, attached to the lift of a tow truck and disappearing into the night.
“No, no,no—” He sprinted after his car, but it was too late; in seconds, even the truck’s taillights were swallowed up by the dark.
He stuttered to a stop in the middle of the Stone Solutions drive as his already-spent lungs seized up. He bent at the waist, soft rain falling on his hair as he tried to catch his breath.
“Problem?”
Chest heaving, Reece glanced back to see Grayson, standing on the front curb tucked safely under the roofline, hands in his coat pockets, apparently without a care in the world. Reece tried for the dirtiest look he could muster.
“My car just got towed.” He dropped his head, still panting. “It’s going to cost a million dollars and they’ll take it all the way to California.”
“More like four hundred dollars and Tacoma. That’s what happens when you park in a reserved spot.”
“Soyoucalled for the tow?”
Grayson raised one eyebrow. “No.”
Reece sighed. The accusation had been unfair of him; Grayson wouldn’t bother with something as petty as calling in Reece’s parking violation. He’d even gotten a straight answer out of Grayson this time.
Grayson cocked his head. “You make any more bad decisions tonight I ought to know about?”
Reece screwed his eyes shut, but the night’s humiliation might as well be complete. “I left my gloves in my car.”
There was a weighty,judgysilence.
Reece winced. “What am I going to do?”
“Me arresting you is still on the table.”
Reece stiffened.
“Fact is,” Grayson said casually, “losing your gloves is about the least of what I could arrest you for.”
It didn’t matter that he couldn’t hear Grayson’s lies. Both of them knew that was the truth. Reece looked up at Grayson, squinting as raindrops got in his eyes.
Grayson withdrew a hand from his pocket to point to the souped-up black F-150 illegally parked just to the side of Stone Solutions’ front door. “Or I could give you a ride.”
Reece didn’t move. He stood for a moment, cold rain dripping from his hair down his neck as Grayson opened the passenger door and held it like a perfect Southern gentleman.
“If I get in your truck,” Reece said, “will you let me back out?”
