Reece realized his hands had balled into fists. “So I’m, what? Grounded?” he spit out, with much more of an edge he’d meant.
“If that’s how you want to see it.” But then Alex put his hand on Reece’s shoulder. “I’ve been hiding a long time, and I know a thing or two about it by now,” he said more softly. “You go out now, you’re gonna project that rage all over the place, and you’re gonna get caught. Am I lying?”
Reece clenched his teeth. “No,” he admitted. Alex believed that was true.
“Just lay low today,” Cora urged. “We’ll be back soon.”
Reece watched as they walked out of the kitchen, leaving him alone. Jesus. Even corruption couldn’t stop him from always fucking everything up.
Evan never thought you were a fuckup, the little voice in his head said.
Absolutely not. He could not think about Grayson right now.
Except he’d already pulled out his phone.
It doesn’t matter if Evan believes you murdered Wayne Smith, Reece reminded himself, even as his fingers tightened on thephone.Evan is an arrogant asshole who’s not as smart as he thinks he is. This is proof. Proof that he’s all looks, no brains.
Proof that he doesn’t know me and never has.
That thought did not help.
Reece tried breathing through his nose, gaze going to the room’s large windows that framed the gray sky mirrored by the gray waters of Lake Washington. His blood pressure was too high, his skin prickly and hot. If he didn’t calm down, he was going to lose control of the anger, project through the house, maybe to the neighbors beyond.
I don’t care what Evan thinks.
I don’t care if he thinks I’ve murdered half of Seattle.
I don’t care if I DO murder half of Seattle.
I don’t care.
He glanced back at his phone, Grayson’s last text staring up at him:Is that really how you’re going to play this?
And before he meant to, he was texting back.
Reece:We’re not playing anymore.
Grayson had just gotten into the Smart car when Vivian Marist called his phone.
“Where are you?” she said, instead of hello.
He tossed his hat onto the passenger seat. “Heading to Kirkland to see Wayne Smith’s body.” They would have taken Smith to the private Stone Solutions hospital with its private morgue. Grayson could check on all the other empath victims who were being treated there while he was at it.
“Good,” said Marist. “Come to Stone Solutions afterwards.”
He turned the key, then twitched at the sudden volume. ThatHayabusa engine wasn’t subtle. “To see the crime scene? I saw the pictures.” And Grayson had already seen that exact storage closet the night he’d rescued Reece from Stone Solutions, believing he was still too innocent to end up at Polaris.
He touched his shoulder, where his clothes covered the small round scar from the bullet he’d taken that same night.
He really had thought Reece could be saved.
“We’re preparing for the governor to announce Senator Hathaway’s replacement,” said Marist.
“Respectfully, ma’am, I need to find Mr. Davies, not waste time with politics,” he said, as he headed for I-5.
“This is of relevance to the Dead Man,” Marist said impatiently. “Senator Braun plans to take up Hannah’s agenda, not just her office.”
“Which one?” Grayson said dryly. “The anti-empathy agenda and S.B. 1437 that’s gonna give Stone Solutions all that money? Or the one you and I both know was Senator Hathaway’srealagenda at the end, withdrawing that bill of hers?”
