He looked up in surprise.
“You didn’t hear me calling your name,” Grayson said, squeezing Reece’s hand.
“Oh,” Reece said weakly, and wow, hey, the air gun fire was ever-so-slightly lost to the new rhythm of his heart beating in his ears.
“I got something that might help.” Grayson dropped his hand, then pulled something out of his pocket. “If you don’t have a playlist, you can listen to one of mine.”
He handed Reece a small white box. “Yousaint,” Reece said, scrambling to get the earbuds out. “Put on whatever you got; anything is better than gunfire.”
Reece popped the earbuds in and the world was instantly, blessedly muffled. He exhaled in a rush. “How can I say thank you?” he said, tilting his head back to look into Grayson’s face.
“Stay put for once,” Grayson said wryly.
Reece huffed but couldn’t help smiling up at him.
“Thefuck,” a man’s voice said, from their left. “Take that fucking gay shit back to Seattle.”
Reece turned, pulling out an earbud and opening his mouth, but Grayson was faster, straightening to his full six feet and five inches. “Come say that to my face,” he called back, voice particularly flat and gravelly.
The man’s mouth worked uselessly for a moment, then he ducked into his SUV.
“The speed limit in a Washington parking lot is fifteen miles per hour!” Reece yelled after him, as the man’s taillights disappeared too quickly. He looked back at Grayson. “It’s like I walk around with a big sign that saysAwkward Annoying Bisexual,” Reece said, scuffing at the gravel with his tennis shoe. “I can’t, um. Can’t believe he actually thoughtyouwere my boyfriend, though.”
“I know,” said Grayson. “Hell of a compliment, that he thought I could bag a guy like you.”
That startled Reece into a laugh.
“Come on,” said Grayson. “Earbuds in, music up, and let’s see what we can learn.”
Reece followed close behind Grayson into the building, steady beats in his ears. Most of the space seemed to be used for the store, with racks of camouflage coats interspersed with other clothes and tactical gear—balaclavas, goggles, knee pads. On the far left was a wooden counter, a brown-haired woman behind it.
Grayson went over to her. Reece averted his eyes from the archway that led into the next room with its bigGuns for Salesign, and quickly walked over to the display of tactical gloves instead. He found the brand, reading the feature list on the tag:hard shell protection, textured for grip, touch-screen technology, top rated for anti-empathy defense—effective as what the empaths themselves wear!
Reece swallowed hard. He didn’t want to make anyone afraid at all, let alone so afraid they’d pay this price to con men to defend themselves against empaths they’d probably never meet.
They should be afraid of you, a little voice in his head said.Not just afraid. Terrified.
Reece’s fingers tightened on the glove, his teeth clenching.
“Hey.”
Grayson’s voice was barely audible over the music, but it drove away the awful thoughts. Reece turned to find Grayson only about a foot away. He pulled one of the earbuds out, just a little.
“Apparently the manager didn’t show up today.” Grayson pointed to the wall.
Reece followed his hand, eyes landing on a framed portrait above a small plaque readingKeith Waller, Manager. He stared at the man in the picture: close-cropped blond hair, a lighter shade than Grayson’s honey-brown; broad shoulders with a familiar tense set; pale eyes that were narrowed at the corners.
Reece had seen those eyes, boring into him above a balaclava.
He quickly pulled his gaze back to Grayson. “I think that’s him,” he said quietly.
Grayson straightened up, looking out the shop windows and into the airsoft course. Reece followed his gaze and groaned out loud.
A small stand-alone structure, like a garden shed, sat a little ways into the course and off the edge, with a big sign readingManager’s Office. No way to reach it without crossing some of the ground currently full of shouting and air gun–armed airsoft enthusiasts.
Reece wrapped his arms around himself. “We have to search that, don’t we?”
“I’ll think of something,” Grayson said, which was not at all thenoReece had wanted to hear.
