Reed shook his head as he plugged a private hot spot into his laptop. “I can confirm he was in Montreal at the same time you were, at least for a few hours, but I don’t know how he got in or out of the city, and I’m fairly confident he’s not there any longer. There hasn’t been any chatter among his known contacts in the city, although that might be because everyone’s been busy talking about you and Mr. Dalton.”
“Just call him Cole.”
Reed blinked. “Oh, I couldn’t do that, it’s—I don’t even know him!”
“Well, you’re going to give me a headache if you keep talking about him like he’s your school principal, so at least drop the mister.”
“It’s not polite.”
“This isn’t finishing school—we don’t have to be polite!”
Reed poked him in the side. “This is why you annoy people, you know. Because you’re overly casual.”
“I annoy people because I’m overlyrightand exceptionallyhotwhile being so, thank you very much.”
“And you have a problem with chronic hyperbole,” Reed continued with a shit-eating grin on his dumb face. “Not to mention?—”
“Boy, you’re asking for a beatdown.”
“Plus you make threats you can’t back up?—”
That’s it.
Will pushed the coffee table back with his foot, then lunged for Reed, wrangling him into a headlock. Reed, being a feisty little fucker and the youngest of five boys, managed to escape almost immediately and fought back, whipping one of the couch’s throw pillows out from behind his back and smacking Will in the face with it. Will wrenched it away and threw it at Reed, then followed it with two more in close succession. Reed had to curl over his creemee to keep it from getting knocked out of his hand, which opened him up to another headlock, and?—
“What thehell?”
They froze for a second, then Will let go of Reed and turned to look at the hallway, where Cole was standing in his sleep clothes and bare feet, staring at them like he couldn’t quite believe what he was seeing. It was the stare of a man who had never been attacked by a sibling with a pillow to the face.Poor thing.
“Morning, honeybee,” Will said with a grin. “Sleep well?”
He didn’t grace that question with a response, which meant yes. “Who are you?” he asked Reed directly.
“Hi, Mr. Dalton.” Reed stood up and paused, like he was considering saluting, before coming over and offering his hand.“I’m Reed Machado. I—um—I work with Will sometimes. It’s nice to meet you.”
“It is, huh?” Cole was giving off vibes that read like he was going to make Will pay for surprising him, but he shook Reed’s hand anyway. “Likewise, but it would have been nice to know you were coming.”
“Right, of course. Um.” Reed glanced at Will, who took pity on him.
“What, like you’d have remembered anything I told you last night?”
“We had all of yesterday as well,” Cole said.
“I wasn’t sure Reed was available,” Will lied through his teeth. “Didn’t want to disappoint you, sugar. But now that he’s here and you’re awake, you two brainiacs can start figuring out where Marcus has run off to.”
Cole eyed Reed with a little more interest. “You’re the person behind the glasses?”
“Yeah. I mean, yes.”
“Did you bring a?—”
The conversation descended into tech-babble, and Will took refuge in the kitchen, making a cup of coffee for Cole and bringing it out to him. He and Reed were sitting now, staring at something on Reed’s screen while Reed chatted about security protocols around a mouthful of creemee.
“Here you go, honeybee,” Will said as he handed over the cup. Cole took a sip, then paused and stared at it for a moment. “What, did I get it wrong?”
“No.”
Will rolled his eyes. Only Cole Dalton could look so offended over someone getting his coffee orderright. “I do pay attention, you know,” he said, his own annoyance starting to come through.
