No, don’t think about that. Think about something else, anything else.
He quickly glanced at his phone screen, where Grayson’s unread text was still waiting. Grayson, who had put fear on his fearless sister’s face.
Okay, maybe he should think about anything elseexceptGrayson.
Reece stared at the icon a moment longer. He could ignore it. Heshouldignore it.
But ignoring people hurts their feelings, a little voice in his head said.
Oh, come on. This was different. Completely different. Surely his prickling conscience didn’t apply here?
“Dammit,” he said out loud, and opened the text.
Just four words from Grayson:We need to talk.
Four short and thoroughly ominous words.
“Sure we can talk,” Reece muttered. “We can talk about you respecting the rules of the road, right after you tell me who the fuck you are.”
With a sigh, he called Liam, because if he was dealing with his sister’s tetchy boyfriend at least he wouldn’t have to deal with his thoughts about Grayson.
The phone rang so many times he almost gave up, but then—“Liam Lee, SPD public relations, can you hold?”
Even through the phone Reece could hear how frazzled he was. “Jamey told me to call. But never mind, you sound busy—”
“Reece? Hold on.” There was a moment of silence, then Liam was back. “Jamey bought you a ticket to Juneau.”
“What?”
“My dad runs a float plane charter up there. I’m seeing if he can meet you at the airport.”
A last-second ticket to Juneau? Reece didn’t want to think about how much that had cost Jamey. And then a float plane? “Look, I get that Jamey doesn’t want me on the case, and I guess you probably don’t either—”
Liam snorted.
“Oh come on,” said Reece. “That last time wasn’t that bad—”
“Which last time?” Liam said flatly, and Reece could practically hear the air quotes aroundlast. “When you ran your mouth around reporters about empathy and mind control?”
“Well—”
“Or did you mean when you gave local news those perfect sound bites about empaths’ plan for world domination?”
“I—”
“Or was it when you told the press that the SPD keeps you around for more than your sexual flexibility? That went over so well. I didn’t have any apologizing to do to the mayor after that quote went public.”
Reece flushed. Liam was never, ever going to let that one go. “I’d try to explain myself, but I see you’re already familiar with sarcasm.”
Reece would grudgingly admit Liam was great for Jamey. Both were loyal, caring, and annoyingly smart. They were biracial in different ways and theygoteach other, got what it was like navigating a world built for people who were only one thing. It didn’t take an empath to see the two of them were falling wildly in love.
But Jamey was a package deal with a high-strung empath half brother one R-rated movie away from another nervous breakdown, because she refused to abandon Reece when they were all that was left of their family. Liam’s carefully worded press releases were always kinder to Reece than his big mouth deserved, but not one of Jamey’s boyfriends had stuck around when they realized the extent of the weird-ass empath shit she dealt with because of him. Why would the SPD’s long-suffering PR manager?
Beyond that, they never told anyone that Jamey had quirks of her own. They didn’t know why, and Reece was an anxious, fragile wreck who could not handle the thought of his sister subjected to the same scrutiny as empaths. So Liam only knew his girlfriend had sensitive hearing. A sensitive sense of smell. What was he going to do if he ever found out the rest?
Reece cleared his throat. “I just think banishing me to Alaska seems extreme.”
“Does it,” Liam said dryly. “I’m preparing my battle plan and resigning myself to even more overtime then I already face.”
