That made Reece grin. “So what’s eating at you?” he asked, as they sat down.
Diesel watched the TVs for a moment. The closest one showed the street and sidewalk just in front of the warehouse’s front door. “Um. Well. My therapist disappeared a couple weeks ago. Actually, you might even know of her, since she’s also an empath. Cora Falcon?”
“Oh,” Reece said weakly. “Yeah. I know her.” Cora had been a veterans’ therapist, specializing in PTSD. Diesel was an ex-marine; Reece could guess why he might have been her patient.
“She was amazing,” said Diesel. “She was helping me move past—well. The past. But the hospital said she moved. I didn’t even get to say goodbye. And now—”
He closed his mouth.
“What?” Reece said.
Diesel sighed. “Just someone from my past, that I knew in the military. He’s been hanging around, showing up here a lot. Always hinting that he’s got some amazing job and I could too, if I wanted to learn more.”
“But you don’t want to learn more,” Reece guessed. “You’re happy here, at McFeely’s?”
“People try to be kind here, and there’s not enough of that in the world.” Diesel shook his head. “A lot of people would think I’m being stupid, though. Keith—that’s the guy’s name—he drives a brand-new Hellcat; he clearly is getting paid.” He tilted his head, bunny ears and all. “I like my hybrid, though. Or biking, that’s even better for the planet.”
“You’re not being stupid, and that’s really hot,” Reece admitted. “Can you talk to Evan? I think between the two of us, we could get through to him on carbon emissions. He pretends he’s so stubborn but he really does listen.”
“Does he?” Was Diesel smothering a smile?
“Yeah, he does,” said Reece suspiciously. “Why?”
Diesel shrugged, and oh, he wasdefinitelysmothering a smile. “It’s just sweet: you’re this snack-sized perpetual grouch, but Agent Grayson comes up, and all of a sudden, you’re lit up like rainbows and kittens. Or you were. You’re kind of glaring again now.”
Reece narrowed his eyes.
Diesel put his hands up in surrender, though his smile hadn’t disappeared. “Anyway, you caught me brooding because Keith reminds me of some shit from the past right when I have to find a new therapist. But I’ll be fine; I’m heading to Vancouver for a few days, it’ll be a perfect chance to clear my head.”
Reece gratefully latched on to the subject change. “What’s in Vancouver?”
“International car show,” Diesel said. “One of the manufacturers is a new electric car company from Vietnam and I have a guaranteed test drive.”
“Are you kidding me?” Reece said. “Oh, I amjealous.”
“I know, right?” Diesel sounded genuinely excited. “They’re going to have models we don’t have here in the States yet. I actually won a whole package: VIP pass, hotel—can you believe it? I never win anything.”
“Okay, youhaveto talk to Evan,” Reece said. “I bet we could get him to a car show—”
There was a knock on the door, and then it swung open to reveal Rocky. “We got a situation trying to form,” he said. “Group of dicks talking shit to Ink. Ben’s pissed and two seconds from taking them all on by himself.”
Reece started to stand. “I can—”
“You can sit back down,” Diesel said, getting to his feet. “Rocky’s going to send the staff outside for a breather while we take care of this.”
“But—”
“Your sister made me guard an office with you in it to keep you away from violence, and I’m pretty sure I will be in for a world of regret if Agent Grayson finds out I let you near a fight,” Diesel said. “We’ll take care of it, and you can wait here, okay? Unless you’re going to break another historical window and rappel to the ground if we leave you to your own devices for a moment?”
Reece flushed. “There aren’t any windows in here,” he said grumpily.
Diesel gave him a smile that was annoyingly effective at making Reece smile back, and then disappeared through the door with Rocky.
Reece tucked his feet under him to sit cross-legged in the big desk chair. Maybe Grayson had texted again with some kind of goddamn explanation for why he wanted Reece to stay at McFeely’s.
But as Reece went to pull out his phone, his gaze was drawn to movement on one of the monitors.
His eyes widened.
