“He’s been staring at you since you walked out of the shop. He followed you here.”
Lu flicked a quick glance over at the man who was sitting in the cab of his truck, windows up, engine running. He appeared to be scrolling through his phone, not watching Lu, but I’d been in that cab just a minute ago to check him out.
He wasn’t messing with a phone. He was listening to a talk show saying there was a severe lack of Jesus in these parts. From the cross hanging off his review mirror and the silver one he had tucked under his white, button-down shirt, I thought the radio show was preaching to the choir.
I also thought he was a vampire hunter.
“He’s hunting,” I said.
Lu made a little humming sound and went back to her fries. She dropped one hand to pet Lorde who was tight up against her, lying under the table.
I shifted forward and stretched across the scarred-up wooden table, pressing my fingertips against the pocket watch she was wearing under her shirt. I focused, really focused.
“Hunter,” I said, pushing that word out through my body, my fingers, my soul. Urging the word to reach into that watch, to those moments we still had left to us. Willing that word to reach through it to her, into her, so she would know, so she would hear me even though we were not in a graveyard and the watch was not ticking.
“Hunter, Lu.”
She shivered and closed her eyes, inhaling like she’d just caught the scent of flowers, or like she’d just gentled herself down into a warm, soothing bath.
“I know, baby,” I said. “I miss you too.” I didn’t draw my fingers away. She couldn’t hear me, but I kept talking. “We’ll find a way through this. You and I. But right now, baby, open your eyes. That man doesn’t like the look of you. Or maybe likes it too much. You need to get moving.”
I pulled back, rocking to sit on the bench, which was almost too small for me. She opened her eyes, blinked and blinked, and for that one, swift moment, she looked vulnerable, sad.
She looked lonely.
Then the hard edges were back. An armor no one could crack. Well, no one but me. And I tried not to. I knew she needed that hard exterior to keep herself together. To keep herself safe.
She had more than just her armor to keep her safe. She had me. I wasn’t going to let anything hurt her again.
“That truck right there.” I pointed, then cleared the roughness out of my voice. “Might just be a local who’s never seen a woman as beautiful as you. Might be a hunter who’s trying to decide how much vampire you have in you. Either way, he is not friendly.”
Lu popped a couple more fries in her mouth while swinging up off the bench. She offered a small handful to Lorde, who took them gently, then swallowed them down in two quick chomps, wagging her tail.
Lu and Lorde strolled out into the sunshine, taking their time.
The man watched. Waiting to see if her skin steamed.
Vampires weren’t killed by sunlight. But it was not comfortable. They usually wore long sleeves, kept their hands in their pockets, and found some way to keep a hat and sunglasses handy.
Lu stopped right there in the parking lot, pulling her phone out like she was looking for directions.
I glanced down at the screen.
“Bed and breakfasts? Around here? You’re dreaming, girl.”
She swiped her thumb over the screen, and little markers showed up on a map. She tapped on one and read through the listing—it was an Airbnb—then scrolled to the next.
“Still don’t know why you want a bed. Gonna be a good night for the stars.” I walked away from her, covering the distance to the watcher in the truck. I leaned on the door and stuck my head in through the closed window so I could get a look at him again.
He was still tracking her movements, but something about him had changed. He didn’t look like he planned to jump out of the truck and attack her. As a matter of fact, he had another kind of look. One I wouldn’t stand for.
“She’s taken, buddy,” I said. “You get anywhere near her, and I’ll knock your head off.”
He exhaled and looked back down at his phone.
I drifted back over to Lu.
“I think he’s just horny,” I said. “But let’s not give him a chance to prove me wrong. Lorde?”
