David appeared bewildered.
Reese went to collect their bags. Hodges helped, and Mati was left scowling at all of them. “I can carry something, you know.”
Reese looked at her pointedly as he took the bags from David, leaving him empty-handed, too. “How aboutyoushow David the kitchen and around the rest of the first floor, and Hodges and I will handle these?”
“Fine,” Mati conceded and took David’s hand. “The kitchen is my favorite room in the house,” she explained as they stepped through the front door and veered left, while Reese and Hodges went toward the stairs.
David looked around curiously as they disappeared down the hall.
Reese jogged up the stairs, eager to drop off the bags and catch up with Mati and David. He walked into his bedroom, but Hodges hovered in the door.
Reese turned back to face him. “In case it wasn’t obvious, we’ll all be sleeping in here.”
“Yeah, I guessed as much.”
“Any objections?” Reese asked, holding his breath. Not that it would stop them, butholy crapit would hurt.
Hodges scowled. “Fuck you for asking, frankly.”
The tension slipped from Reese’s shoulders. “Okay, fair enough.”
Hodges was still staring at him.
“What?” Reese asked, failing not to sound defensive.
“You look at him the way you’ve looked at Mati for years.”
Reese smiled. “Yeah, I do.”
Hodges dropped his bags and pulled Reese into a tight embrace.
“Good for you, kid.”
Reese hugged him back. Fiercely.
Chapter Twenty-Seven
David sat tucked in the window seat in the kitchen with Mati while she and Reese plowed through a mountain of data on Viveiros and Sons. Mati was sorting it all into a system that David was certain would result in a set of color-coded files and folders he would find utterly charming.
He’d fed them a decent lunch and had an idea of what he could do for dinner from what he’d found in the house, but they were going to have to go shopping soon. The trick was, they were in themiddle of nowhere.
It was nice, though. The woods behind the house led down to the ocean, which David was hoping they’d have a chance to explore at some point. For now, he could still see the footprints in the snow, left by some unknown intruder, and wasn’t in any rush to take Mati and Reese out there.
He wasn’t one of those guys who felt naked without his gun. He never had been, which had made him an anomaly on the force and among Chance’s crew. Today, here, he’d really like to havesomething.
Eyeing Hodges, he wondered what he might have that David could borrow. It would be one hundred percent illegal, but if it meant Mati and Reese were safer, David didn’t give a fuck. He suspected Hodges wouldn’t either.
When Mati moved to get up, David put his hand on her knee.
“What do you need?”
“I’m going to pop into my office for some folders, paper clips, stickies…”
David was unsurprised. “Let me get them.”
“You have no idea where you’re going.”
He ignored that. “What color? Green for personal?”
