I leaned in to press my lips against his forehead and whispered, “It’s okay, baby.” He curled his hand around my wrist and held on tight for a moment as he tried to get control of himself. I kept up the gentle kisses and repeated the words over and over until he nodded. Knowing he was okay, I pulled back enough so I could see him.
“Will you tell me about Reese?” Everett asked.
I hadn’t expected the question, but despite the inherent danger in bringing Reese into the conversation, I said, “What do you want to know?”
“Everything. I haven’t seen him since his mother died. That was three years ago. But we weren’t exactly on speaking terms. The last time we actually talked was a month before he found out about me and Pierce. It’s like he went from an eager twenty-something soldier to an angry thirty-three-year-old that I don’t even recognize as my son overnight.”
“If it helps, I think he’s worried about you.”
Everett let out an ugly laugh. “I doubt that.”
“He asked me to make sure you were okay tonight. When he made that comment about you lying about having eaten a big lunch today, I don’t think he did it to embarrass you. I think he sees what the rest of us see.”
Everett was quiet for a moment, then nodded. “I’ll do better. Nash… he was pretty upset tonight before you got here. Said I needed to eat more and that maybe I should see a doctor about not being able to sleep.”
“Maybe you need to think about that,” I said.
“I will. I promise, Gage.”
I brushed my mouth over his. “Good,” I murmured. “Okay, so Reese... I can tell you what I know, but it isn’t much and it’s not exactly pretty.”
“I’ll take it,” Everett said.
“I guess you know about Ronan’s group, since he was the one who called you about Reese.”
Everett nodded. “Ronan and I met years ago. He and I lost touch after Ronan suffered his own loss. He called me about a year ago to tell me that someone had put a hit out on Reese. He didn’t know that Reese and I were estranged. Ronan explained to me about the group he’d started. I asked him to do whatever he needed to save my son, but not to tell Reese I knew about any of it. When it was all over, he told me that Reese wasn’t doing well – that he just seemed… broken. He wanted my permission to ask Reese to join his team. He explained what that meant – the kinds of cases Reese would work. As hard as it was to know that not only would he be in danger from the guys he was going after, but the law as well, I trusted Ronan to take care of my boy… to give him something I couldn’t.”
“Ronan was right. I don’t know what Reese was like when he was younger, but when I first met him, he was… I guess hard is a good way to describe him. It was like nothing got through the wall he’d built around himself. He just wanted to get in, do the job and get out. He wasn’t interested in getting to know me… hell, I don’t think he even wanted to partner with anyone. But some of the jobs we work require that extra set of eyes, you know? I think Ronan knew that my personality would mesh well with Reese’s, so that’s why he assigned us to work together so many times.”
“Makes sense,” Everett said. “You’re very…”
“I’m what?” I asked when he hesitated.
“Persistent… persuasive.”
I laughed and said, “This is true. If you haven’t figured it out yet, in my family you say what you’re thinking. Anyway, Reese didn’t need any kind of help when it came to his skillset.”
I didn’t want to expound on the subject. As accepting as Everett was that his son was part of a vigilante group, I doubted he needed to know his child was an extremely capable killer.
“I was a little worried about Reese at first,” I admitted.
“How so?” Everett asked.
“As strange as it sounds, in this line of work you have to have a certain measure of empathy. For the victims, mostly, but sometimes even for the perpetrators. I mean, just because something looks a certain way on paper doesn’t mean that’s how it really is. You have to be able to make decisions about your subject while you’re working the case. I was worried that Reese was so detached that he wouldn’t be able to focus on anything but waiting for the kill order to come through.”
“Jesus,” Everett whispered.
“The first cases we worked were pretty cut and dry – surveillance and protection, mostly. But our third case together was tracking down a man who’d kidnapped his daughter. He’d lost custody to his ex after she’d accused him of sexually abusing the little girl while they were still married. The guy managed to disappear completely, so the cops couldn’t find him. We got intel that the guy was living in Seattle, so Reese and I got the case. There was physical proof the girl had been abused, so Reese was itching to get in there and just finish the job. Terminate the dad, get the girl to safety. But the more we watched the father and daughter together, the more Reese began saying something was off. I’d sensed the same thing, but I let him take the lead in telling our team leader, Memphis, his suspicions. Memphis had us grab the father and daughter and take them to a safe house. That’s when I first saw it, Everett.”