Page 83 of Twisted Shadows
“Because I wasn’t lying.” Reece pulled the hat on. “You like it?”
Well, damn. It somehow suited Reece, managing to be charming instead of ridiculous, and Grayson really hadn’t needed more reasons to be slapped in the face with how cute Reece was right before they shared a hotel room.
Grayson could hear the unhappy crying of an overtired toddler from the parking lot. And sure enough, as the front doors slid open, there was a young man in the lobby, a fussy toddler in pajamas in his arms as he walked back and forth in front of the decorative gas fireplace.
As Reece walked in, the toddler abruptly stopped crying. She turned toward Reece with big eyes.
“Aww, it’s a baby!” Reece waved at her. “Hi, sweetie!”
The toddler blinked and then broke into a smile. She rested her head on her dad’s shoulder and waved back at Reece.
The young dad mouthedthank youat Grayson. He was also smiling, his tired strain from moments before vanished.
Oh, Reece was definitely projecting.
Grayson had no protocol for this. Did he need to interfere? Get Reece away from other people immediately?
But projection wasn’t anything like thralling. The effect was transient, and maybe projecting rage or fear was dangerous, especially in a corrupted empath’s hands, but Reece wasn’t trying to manipulate anyone. Projecting a good feeling wouldn’t be any more harmful than playing a song someone really liked and momentarily cheering them up.
And if Reece knew he was projecting, he’d be crushed. All his happiness would be gone. Maybe he’d stop projecting, or maybe he’d start projecting sadness instead, but none of it was worth stealing away his happiness. Reece wasn’t hurting anyone; Grayson would leave it alone.
Funny, though. Of all the situations that could make an empath happy enough to influence other people, Grayson would never, ever have thoughtrunning away undercover to Canada with the Dead Mancould make that list.
They checked in at the front desk under León Collins’ credentials. Like the cashier at the store, the front desk clerk also seemed bright and cheerful, as if having Reece in the lobby was the best thing that could have happened to his night.
“Third floor or higher, please,” Grayson requested.
“And a king bed,” Reece added.
Grayson side-eyed him. “I got us two doubles.”
Reece waved it off. “You won’t fit on a double. Your long legs will hang off. I’ll sleep on the sofa bed.”
Grayson was being bossed around by an empath half his size wearing a backpack and a bear hat. “I know you like your bad decisions—”
“You’re the one trying to make a bad decision,” Reece said, and he didn’t flinch, so he honestly believed that outrageous sentence. “You just flew in from East Coast time and then drove for hours. You got bad sleep on my couch last night, you’ve been sleeping badly for who knows how long, sometimes in yourtruck. Tonight you’re sleeping on a decent bed that fits your ridiculously huge body.”
“I don’t think you’re going to win this argument, Mr. Collins,” the front desk clerk said, as he slid the keys across the counter. He added, to Reece, “I like your hat.”
“He likes my hat,” Reece said to Grayson.
Lord help him. Graysonwasmaking bad decisions.
Their studio room on the third floor looked like countless others Grayson had slept in, with a kitchenette, a small living area, and a king bed just past the couch. Though the empath in bear ears curiously examining the instant apple cider packets by the coffee maker was, admittedly, new.
“We’re up high so no one can come in the window, and now I need to be between you and the door,” Grayson said, as he locked the door behind him.
“You’re literally engaging all the locks right now and we can put a chair under the handle. Stop trying to find excuses and accept you have to be comfortable tonight.” Reece had already set his backpack on the couch and was heading for the thermostat. “Let me warm it up in here.”
Defeated by bear ears, Grayson crossed the room and set his own backpack on the bed. “I know you’re doing that for me.”
“Obviously,” Reece said. “I run hot as a furnace.”
Grayson knew that already. Having Reece in your bed was probably as cozy as having a heated blanket. Acuddlyheated blanket that would be wrapped around you all night, seeking out all the touch he could get.
Except, of course, for the part where he’d pass out again the instant he touched Grayson. There would never be a warm and cuddly empath in Grayson’s bed, and he needed to remember that.
Grayson unzipped his backpack as Reece wandered into the bathroom. “Looks like all the soaps and shampoos are citrus-scented. Will that bother you? Jamey’s usually okay with that, but I don’t know about your nose.”
