Reece tried to carefully elaborate. “He’s very loyal to Stone.”
Grayson waited.
Reece threw up his hands in frustration and the words burst from him in a flood. “Adams is solidly middle-class but angry he isn’t rich and believes there’s not enough for everyone and he’s not getting his fair share so he chose a safe government job but likes money and even more than that likes to feel like he’s getting things other people aren’t so a rich man like Stone giving him attention and presents and treating him like he’s special would have bought his loyalty in a way a year working closely with Senator Hathaway never—”
Nausea tore through him. Reece scrambled for the elevator wall, swallowing down the sudden urge to vomit. He pressed his forehead against the cold metal and took deep breaths, uncomfortably aware of Grayson’s blank stare.
Grayson’s cool drawl broke the silence. “That’s what you deduced without touch?”
Panic sent Reece’s stomach lurching again, but he hadn’t let on that he’d heard Adams lying. “Sorry to disappoint. But I’ve never claimed to be the world’s most powerful empath.”
“Uh-huh,” said Grayson. “And this is normal, for you?”
Was it? The emotions had been right there on Adams’ face, so strong Adams had been sweating. But connecting the dots like that, without any contact—
That was new, and that was supposed to be a boundary Reece never crossed without permission.
Reece made a noncommittal noise, and tried to think of something to say that might annoy Grayson enough he’d drop the subject. “How about we contrast Adams withyou, a man who thinks he’s so special that he doesn’t feel the need to prove it?”
“I know you can’t read anything off me,” said Grayson. “So where’d you come up with that?”
Reece looked up from the elevator wall, way up, all the way to Grayson’s unreadable hazel eyes. “You don’t exist in a vacuum. I see how people react when you’re around. Every person you meet is nervous. Well, unless they’re on Team B, the people who want to bang you.”
Grayson raised an eyebrow.
Reece gestured at himself. “Obviously I’m Team A.”
Lie. Son of a bitch. Reece never wanted to know which traitorous cell in his clearly unhinged brain was to blame forthat.
Grayson hit something on the elevator panel, and with a screeching protest it grumbled back to life and began to descend again.
“So we’re not going back up to Adams’ office?” Reece asked.
“You’re not.” The elevator doors opened, and Grayson again waited for Reece to exit the elevator first, like he hadn’t just trapped Reece in said elevator only moments before. “Whether I go back remains to be seen.”
“Oh look, riddles, what a fresh change of pace.” They walked into the lobby, where a different security guard was at the desk, speaking urgently into the phone. “Do you practice being an enigma? Look at me, the mysterious Dead Man; I speak in riddles and have weird elevator manners, fear me, empaths?”
“Do you practice your sarcasm, making sure no one can take you anywhere unless they enjoy inappropriate sound bites?”
Reece made a face. “I don’t actually try to—shit.”
Outside the windows of the lobby, a crowd was gathering. People in coats and fleeces, pressed close to the doors, each face angrier or more fearful than the next. Poster-board signs on sticks were being passed around, with messages likeHonor Hathaway, Pass Her BillandProtect American Minds From Empathy. Behind the growing mass of people, camera crews were setting up.
Reece cringed. “They’re going to freak if they see me come out of this building.”
“They won’t be here to see it.” Grayson already had his phone out.
“What?”Reece threw up his hands. “No. Stop it, they have a right to protest, you can’t use your weird powers to make them leave.”
Grayson barely spared him half a glance before turning away to speak into his phone.
“Why does everything have to have so muchdramawith you?” Reece demanded. He pointed across the room, to theExitsign on the other side of the elevators. “Look, we can go out those stairs instead. Problem solved.”
Grayson covered the phone. “Are you done?”
Overly dramaticanda dick. Maybe Grayson didn’t listen to anyone but Grayson, but that didn’t mean Reece had to. He turned on his heel and stomped off to the stairs.
Chapter Eleven
