I nodded back at him, matching his politeness. “Good day, Mr. Tucker.”
“And to you as well, Ms. Parker,” he drawled right back at me.
I stared at him a heartbeat longer, then spun around on my heel and stalked away.
ChapterFive
I marched backover to where Silvio and Sophia were waiting at the counter and plopped down on my previous stool. I also set my to-go lemonade on the countertop and pushed it away. I didn’t want it anymore.
“Problems?” Sophia rasped, still clutching that serrated knife and eyeing Tucker like she wanted to fillet him like a fish.
“Tucker had a business proposition, but I turned him down.”
“Did I hear you right?” Silvio asked. “Is he really working for Clyde O’Neal?”
“I didn’t realize you were such an eavesdropper.”
He shrugged, not the least bit chastised. “I have excellent hearing, just like most vampires do. Besides, eavesdropping has become second nature. Gin doesn’t tell me half the trouble she gets into, and I need some way to keep tabs on her. Eavesdropping is one of the many tools in my arsenal.”
“You know that’s totally creepy, right?”
Silvio shrugged again.
I sighed. “But yes, Tucker is working for Clyde O’Neal.”
“Do you need help, Lorelei?” Sophia rasped.
“Nah. Clyde has been after my shipping yard for months, and he’s not the only underworld boss who’s approached me about selling it. I can handle him and all the others.”
“Well, if you need anything, you just let us know,” Silvio said.
“Anything at all,” Sophia agreed.
As tempting as it was, I had no intention of asking them to intervene with Clyde O’Neal or any of my other enemies. That would be admitting I was too weak to handle such threats myself. And once word got around that I was asking my friends for help, well, that would make me even more of a target for all the underworld bosses. Nothing brought out the sharks like the scent of blood in the water.
Even worse, it would makemefeel weak. After my mother had been murdered, I had made a vow that I would never be weak again, that I would never let someone make me feel small and stupid and at fault the way my father and my brother so often had.
Silvio and Sophia kept staring at me, so I forced myself to smile at them. “Of course, I’ll reach out if I need anything. That’s what friends are for, right?”
They both nodded, not seeming to notice my tight expression or hear the blatant lie in my voice.
I chattedwith Silvio and Sophia several more minutes, then left the Pork Pit.
Tucker had already wolfed down his food, paid, and exited the restaurant, but I still found myself scanning the people moving along the sidewalks. It would be foolishnotto look for him, given that I’d just turned down his boss’s offer. At least, that’s what I told myself. But I had just lied to Silvio and Sophia, and now I was lying to myself too.
I was looking for the vampire because I wanted to see him again, even though I knew he was employed by my enemy.
But I didn’t spot Tucker lurking in any of the alleys, and I reached the street where my car was. When I’d parked here before lunch, the area had been teeming with people and vehicles. But now that lunch was over, everyone had vanished inside to return to work, and the street was deserted, with nary a soul in sight. I didn’t hear any whispers of emotion from the surrounding brick buildings, not like Gin did with her Stone power, but metal was an offshoot of Stone, and my magic often gave me a sense of sound and vibration, of people and objects moving around, like audible peals and invisible waves emanating from a ringing bell.
Just like the growing hum I was sensing right now.
I scanned the street, wondering where this particular vibration was coming from, but I didn’t see anyone sitting inside a car or hunkered behind a truck, waiting to leap out and attack me. I kept walking, reaching out with my magic again, but mine were the only footsteps scuffing along the sidewalk.
Perhaps my conversation with Tucker had unsettled me more than I wanted to admit. Despite my bravado, Clyde O’Neal was still a dangerous enemy, and he had used his combination of giant and dwarven strength to pummel more than one person to death. If I wasn’t careful, he could easily do the same to me.
But nothing happened, and I made it to my car without incident. I had started to reach for the door handle when that telltale hum sounded in my ears again, and a delicious vibration skittered down my spine. This wasn’t just the sound and feel of another person or some metal object nearby but a particular sensation I knew from past experience. I slowly turned around to find…
Hugh Tucker standing on the sidewalk.
