Mary advanced into the room. “I don’t know if I’ll be able to sleep in the daytime.”
“Ah. Yeah.” He sounded chagrined. “Of course not. I’ll put on the television.”
A few seconds later, the jingles and cheers of a game show filled the air, followed by bed springs creaking. She followed the noise, second-guessing herself all the way. He’d broken contact with her. Maybe he didn’t want it or it made him uncomfortable. But she didn’t want to lie down in this strange place and have her nerves come bowling back in. She’d felt so much better while holding Tucker’s hand, so she padded her way over to him and stretched out on the same bed where he sat back against the headboard.
Slowly, she wound their fingers back together and gathered their joined hands to her cheek, falling asleep minutes later to the sound of a jackpot being struck.
Chapter 6
Tucker turned the cheap spoon over and over in his hand, willing the waitress to appear. Something to distract him so he wouldn’t stare at the vision sitting across from him. Mary was still slightly rumpled from sleep and kind of disoriented, because the second the sun had gone down, he’d woken her up, needing to get them out of the room. Off the bed. Pronto.
Over the course of the day, she’d rolled closer and closer until she’d been lying with her head on his chest, her fist curled on his generous belly, a bare foot tucked between his knees.
It was never like this. The thirst.
His throat was dryer than unbuttered toast, his stomach yawning wide. Waiting.
Usually he could go a week and a half without consuming blood. But there was something about Mary’s pulse that made him ravenous. It beat faster when they were touching, too, and that confused the shit out of Tucker. What did she want from him?
Not sex. The idea was laughable. Because of her blindness, she didn’t realize they were on opposite ends of the hotness scale. That had to be the reason for the increased tempo of her pulse every time they were close. Lying in bed with her back in the motel room, it had been so tempting to pretend they were just a normal couple on a break from the ordinary. A man who would roll between his woman’s welcoming thighs upon waking, their eagerness to fuck spiking, leading to roughness. To gasps and nails marks and squeaking bed springs.
God, he needed to stop.
Those thoughts were dangerous to his peace of mind. They made him need too deeply. Made him uncomfortably hungry for something that couldn’t happen, as badly as his body seemed to require it. More than his body, though. It went deeper. Like an undiscovered part of his internal makeup. A new organ. And her name was written all over it.
The buzz of Tucker’s cell phone diverted his attention. He took out the device, silencing it when he saw the king was calling. Jonas would have to wait, though. At least until Tucker could figure out how to explain how he’d ended up as Mary’s chauffeur, thus aiding the enemy.
“What can I get you folks?” asked the waitress, sidling up to the table.
With the practice of someone who worked night shifts at a roadside diner, she only spared Mary’s light-up crown the barest glance.
“I don’t know.” A crease formed between Mary’s brows. “What’s good?”
The waitress sighed wearily. “I don’t know, hon. Pie? Milkshakes?”
Mary perked up. “Oh, I’ll have a milkshake, please. Strawberry.”
“Nothing for me,” Tucker said, forcing his expression to remain stoic, even though it made him nothing short of wistful watching Mary get excited for a milkshake. “You ever had one?” he asked as the waitress walked away.
“No. We don’t need to eat much. But when I do, I like sugar.” She tilted her head slightly. “Do you miss eating?”
“You have no idea.” Her giggle made the corner of his mouth edge up. “Eating used to be my favorite pastime. If I had a soul, I would sell it for a meatball sub. Straight up.”
Mary reared back. “You don’t think you have a soul?”
He hedged, digging the spoon into the pad of his thumb. “Truthfully…I’m not sure. I’ve met a lot of vamps that were soulless. Others seem just a step away from humanity. All of their emotions were still there.”
“Like you?”
Tucker gave a jerky nod. “Actually, I have kind of a theory about it. Why some vampires are decent and others are…demonic.” He’d never talked about this out loud to anyone before and the actual words leaving his mouth sounded crazier than they did in his head. “I think it comes down to your actions, your intentions in the moment you’re Silenced. My friends, Jonas, Elias, Roksana, Ginny…they were all turned while trying to help someone else. Maybe there’s some small mercy that allows a person to retain their soul if their last moment was a good one.”
“That’s a beautiful theory,” Mary whispered. “Your last moment as a human must have been extraordinary.”
“Now,” he chuckled around the lump forming in his throat. “You already found a hole in the theory. My last night as a human, I organized an illegal street race. People died.”
Her dark red brows pulled together. “Did you kill them?”
“No. Two vampires…I was too far away to see what happened, but they caused a crash between the drivers. Drained three onlookers until there was nothing left.” Tucker pulled over the salt shaker, twisting it in imprecise circles. “None of them would have been there at all if it wasn’t for me.”
A beat passed. “These vampires were the soulless kind?”
He managed a tight nod. “That’s putting it mildly.”
“Then they would have found another way to wreak havoc, Tucker.” She reached across the table, brushing his wrist with her cool fingertips. “What happened to the drivers?”
“They lived.”
“Really? Why?” Tucker didn’t answer, continuing to watch her pale fingers on his ruddy skin. He refused to get credit for leading the vamps away that night. There was no way he deserved an ounce of praise. Still, when he looked up at Mary she was smiling knowingly. As if his silence had been proof enough. “Your last moment was a good one, too,” she murmured.
A paper straw was tossed down on the table between them, followed by a tall glass of blended ice cream. “Strawberry milkshake,” said the waitress, sliding Tucker a look. “Sure you don’t want anything, soldier?”
“I’m sure,” he said, guiding the straw toward Mary’s seeking hand.
The waitress left again.
Mary ripped the straw out of the paper and used both hands to guide it into the milkshake, taking a long sip. Swallowing, she gasped and fell back against the seat. “Oh my goodness. It’s so g…” She snapped her mouth shut, cheeks deepening with color. “Terrible. It’s terrible.”
Tucker grinned. “I see you right through you, kid. You don’t have to pretend you don’t like it for my sake.”
She damn near gulped the entire thing down in one pull. “No, I’m serious. You would hate it.”
“Lies. All lies.”
Mary’s lips twitched, but slowly she sobered. “So. You work for the vampire king.”