“Yes.”
“Guarding me?”
“Yes.”
A surge of need had Mary licking her lips, but she fought against the impulse to tempt him. She wasn’t his mate, so he could have no real relief from the desire between them. Being physical with Tucker would only result in her reaching full enjoyment and that wasn’t right. It wasn’t right no matter how loud the whisper spoke in the back of her mind, urging her to tantalize him into giving in, telling her vampire rules didn’t apply to her.
That was selfish.
Is that how she wanted Tucker to remember her?
A sharp object turned over in Mary’s throat, causing her hunger to dim. She traced the faucet of the bathtub with her big toe and thought of all the things she would remember about Tucker. His cigar and mint scent. The cushion of his body. The metallic taste of his chains, the reassuring pressure of his hand. But she wanted to remember more. She wanted to know everything. That’s when she remembered something he’d said earlier.
I mean, hell, I grew up pudgy with a smart mouth, so I’d been in my share of fist fights. Mostly happened when they’d make fun of my father. A black eye now and again was par for the course.
Mary sat up straighter in the bathtub. “Hey Tucker?”
“Yeah, honey.”
God, that nickname made her feel warmer than this bath. “When we were driving, you said that people used to make fun of your father. Why did they do that?”
His snort was followed by silence. “From the time I was sixteen, he was only interested in one thing. Contacting aliens.”
Mary’s mouth dropped open. “Aliens?”
“That’s right. He put together a satellite in our barn, right there in plain view of the road where everyone could see it. In a small town, that kind of behavior doesn’t just get noticed, it gets the whole place talking. People would come by and watch the crazy man rigging up this monstrosity, muttering numbers and formulas. Running back and forth between the satellite and his magnetic anomalies detector. Making notes that no one could understand…” He trailed off. “And then one day, there was a second satellite. A third. They were on the roof of the barn now, parts scattered all over the lawn. He never came in the house anymore. His life became the barn and waiting for transmissions that obviously never came.”
This was a left turn Mary hadn’t seen coming. She could only move her hand back and forth on the surface of the water, trying to process it all. Her only knowledge of aliens came from War of the Worlds, but that was a fantastical sci-fi creation. It wasn’t real. Sure, some humans purported to have communicated with beings from outer space, but those claims weren’t given much credibility. “This is going to sound silly but…did it work? Or did he ever…believe it to be working?”
“No. At least not while I was still living at home. I haven’t been back in well over a decade.”
“Your father still lives in the same place?”
“As far as I know.”
Mary sat up so quickly, water sloshed over the side of the bathtub. “You mean, you haven’t checked?”
Tucker didn’t respond for a moment. “It occurs to me how selfish that must sound to you. Being that you have no way of getting in contact with your father. You’re going to these great lengths to bring him back and I haven’t even bothered to send mine an email. But, uh…” He cleared his throat. “It’s not that easy.”
Calling herself ten times a fool, Mary shook her head. “Of course it’s not. How would you explain to him you haven’t aged a day since the last time he saw you?”
“It’s not that, Mary,” Tucker said, so quietly she almost didn’t hear him through the door. “Remember what I told you? About those kids who were killed the night I was Silenced? Well…me disappearing after three murders didn’t look so great.”
Her breath came faster. “They think it was you?”
He confirmed with a sound.
“But what about the two drivers who lived? They didn’t tell the police what really happened?”
“The vamps who turned me must have doubled back and erased any memory of them. In their statements to the cops—at least according to the articles I read—the last thing they remember is their cars spinning out of control and colliding.” He paused. “Over fifty witnesses put me there that night and like I said, the way I left was suspicious. I don’t blame them for thinking I’m a murderer. It’s just…” His voice turned thick. “I hate my dad thinking that about me. Especially when we weren’t getting along in the first place.” A sigh left him. “I just couldn’t understand why he insisted on being a laughingstock, you know?”
“Yes,” she whispered, understanding his meaning more than he could ever know. “All you want at that age is to be accepted. To blend in until you figure out…”