Uber.”
Mary’s nose twitched. “What’s an Uber?”
His chest panged at the reminder of how little she knew of the world. If only he could have the privilege of showing her everything. He’d never ask for a single thing ever again. Not in his entire damn existence. “It’s a cab that you can order on your phone,” he explained gruffly. “And I’ll have you know I’m five-star rated.”
“Wow,” she breathed, sipping her milkshake. “So you drive humans?”
“Yes, ma’am, mostly drunk ones.”
“You talk to them?”
Even though Mary couldn’t see how vulnerable this discussion made him, he glanced away. “Sure. I…like talking to them. And every time one of them is brought home safe, I feel a little better about what happened. That night.” He’d gone too deep, so he hurried to lighten up the conversation. “When I’m just their driver and we’re talking about sports or good restaurants or cars, it’s kind of like being human again. For a few minutes.”
Mary seemed to gather herself. “You miss being human so much?”
It took him a moment to answer. “Yes.”
“What do you miss the most?”
“Besides meatballs?” They both laughed quietly. “I miss going home. Having a permanent place. Going to sleep in the same bed I had my whole life.” He ground a knuckle into the tabletop. “Can’t stay in one place too long when you never age.”
“No.”
Jesus, why was he being such a downer? Might be the fact that he’d spent the whole day with an incurable erection, but that was only the half of it. There was something about this girl that made it feel natural to spill his guts. Maybe it was the way she seemed to read him that made it pointless to do anything but be forthright. Whatever the reason, was this really how he wanted Mary to remember him when he dropped her off and turned tail? All doom and gloom and woe is me? “But hell,” he chuckled, forcing some buoyancy into his tone. “I’m not complaining. If I have to keep moving around, at least the work is honest.”
Tucker’s sudden brightness didn’t appear to fool Mary, but she didn’t comment on it. “You mean driving the Uber?”
“Yes. And the work I do for Jonas.” She shook her head slightly to indicate she had no idea what he meant. “We counsel new vampires. Try and teach them how to live as normal a life as possible. Sometimes we have to give them a place to stay, train them in how to feed without murdering anyone in cold blood. That kind of thing.”
“That’s what you do for the new king?” she whispered, some of the color leaving her cheeks. “I had no idea. My mother said he had no use for the fae, but I never stopped to ask what he stood for beyond that. I really am joining the bad guys, aren’t I?”
“You’ll never be bad, Mary. Your intentions are pure.”
His words did nothing to ease her troubled expression. “When my father returned with the fae, she was never the same. I’ve been wanting to make this right my whole life.”
“You’re not the one who made it wrong in the first place, kid.” He paused to stop his voice from vibrating. “But if you’ve set your mind to changing the situation with your family, you’ll see it through.”
“What if I’ve just been waiting for any opportunity to fix the past for so long, I can’t see why this opportunity is the wrong one?”
“I can’t answer that for you, Mary, but I believe one thing.” With a swallow, he curled his hand around her wrist and listened to her heartbeat pick up. “In my experience, there’ll be a moment when you know exactly what to do. Okay?”
“Okay.” Her pulse thrummed beneath his fingertips. “I give you a five-star rating for advice.”
A laugh caught him off guard. “That’s being generous.”
“You never told me what happened when Jonas got into your car.”
“Oh.” He pried his hand away from her before he could do something stupid. Like try to scent her blood through the delicate skin of her wrist and horrify the poor girl. “He, uh…he said he’d been watching me for a while and needed someone with my restraint. So I could instill it in others.” He cleared his throat hard, trying to dispel the hunger that wouldn’t leave him alone. How ironic that he was having a conversation about willpower while battling the most insane thirst of his life. “I don’t just drive humans for the banter. It helps me