Page 8 of Help Wanted, Vampires Inquire Within (Ours Evermore #6)

Skyler

It was late by the time they parked the Bronco back in the parking garage. They didn’t have an interview scheduled that night, but Skyler was anxious to get back to the safety of Joy now that it was dark.

It wasn’t that she didn’t trust Mason to keep her safe.

The problem was that she still felt guilty for going out without him yesterday.

She wanted to avoid putting him in a position where he might have to fight.

Gargoyles were tough, but they weren’t indestructible, despite what they wanted everyone to believe.

“That’s a nice car,” Mason commented as they walked up the sidewalk toward Joy.

She followed his gaze to see some kind of luxury sedan attempt to parallel park.

It was clear the driver wasn’t skilled because the angle was much too sharp and the back tire hit the curb long before the front bumper could clear the car in front.

Both she and Mason stopped to watch the driver pull out and try again. By the fourth time, people trying to get around him started honking angrily. It was Saturday night so there were plenty of people eager to get by him and find parking of their own.

They could see the driver from where they were standing. He looked young, maybe only recently turned twenty-one. He’d probably borrowed his father’s car and was now stuck, unable to park the expensive and long vehicle.

Traffic had also gotten bad enough that he couldn’t pull away either. People were rolling down their windows to shout and cuss at him. He was doing a good job of ignoring them, but Skyler felt horrible for the young man.

Skyler looked up at Mason. “Could you help him?”

Mason lifted an eyebrow, then glanced around. “Only if you stay here,” he said, placing her against the wall next to Joy’s door. That put her within the building’s wards.

“I’ll stay,” she agreed.

Mason gave her a nod, then moved to crouch next to the passenger window. He knocked on the window and made a gesture asking the young man to lower it. Skyler was surprised that the guy didn’t look startled, but he didn’t look trusting either. He lowered the window, his expression sour.

“I’m working on it,” he stated, loud enough for Skyler to hear. “But cursing at me isn’t going to help!”

“Mason can help!” Skyler called. When the young man looked past Mason, she gave him a smile and wave. “You can trust him; he’s a good guy.”

The young man’s gray eyes widened. He shifted his gaze from Skyler to Mason. “Um, yeah, I guess I could use some help.”

“Do you want me to give you instructions, or park the car for you?” Mason asked.

The guy nearly banged the car door into a passing vehicle in his eagerness to get out. “Oh god, park it for me!”

He left the car running and rushed around the back and onto the sidewalk with a frustrated wave of his hands. “You can have it! Feel free to drive it off a cliff if you want to!”

His words made both her and Mason laugh. Mason strode around the front of the car as the young man joined her against the building to watch him park.

“You two saved me,” he said, leaning against the wall next to her. “Without help, I would’ve been there all night.”

He looked as young up close as he did when he was driving the car. He was slightly taller than her, so maybe five foot ten or so. His black hair was a sharp contrast to his pale skin. His features were delicate but still distinctly masculine.

She had the urge to touch his sharp cheekbones and run her fingers down and under his jaw. Except for Mason, she’d never had the urge to touch anyone like this.

“Have you been driving long?” Skyler asked. She could sympathize with struggling to drive. She had a driver’s license but wasn’t comfortable driving anywhere but empty country roads.

The young man’s smile turned wry. “I should be better considering how long I’ve had access, but I hate it. The freeways around here are horrible. So many people honked at me on the way here that it might be a new record for me. I’m not sure I’ll be able to work up the courage to drive home.”

She chuckled. “Do you have anyone you can call to pick you up?” she asked as a group of humans walked past them, not giving them or the lively bar behind them a second glance.

He shook his head. “My friends are all out for the night, and I don’t want to ask them to stop having fun for me. It took a lot for me to convince them to go out without me.”

That made her curious. “You didn’t want to hang out with your friends?”

A brief, sad expression crossed his face. “They feel obligated to stay close to me. It’s not fair to them.”

That sounded like a complicated situation. Before she could ask another question, Mason was striding up. “Do you have the fob for the car?”

The boy nodded and held up a rectangular fob. “You mean this thing? Do you want it so you can rid me of that infernal contraption?”

Mason laughed. “No, but you should lock it. It’s a nice vehicle.”

The boy hit a button on the fob and the perfectly parked car beeped. “There, now it’s safe until you decide to steal it from me.”

“You just need a little practice in a better place,” Mason said. “Not on a narrow busy street at night.”

“Perhaps,” the boy grumbled. Then he gestured behind them at Joy. Are you going in there? I’d like to buy you both drinks for your kindness.”

He must be able to see Joy because he was standing with her and Mason. The wards were designed to let humans see everything when they were accompanied by a non-human.

Even though Mason wasn’t usually this friendly, he seemed as charmed by the young man as she was. “Sure, I could use a stout.”

“Excellent,” he said, leading the way into the small bar. “Barkeep, give my new friends the finest of whatever they want.”

His affectation was adorable. It reminded her of the steampunk group one of her sisters liked to hang out with.

Zan took a deep breath, then tilted his head, confused. “I don’t think we’ve met each other. I’m Zander, or Zan if we become friends.”

The young man’s face looked startled, and he turned to face her and Mason. “I’m terribly sorry, I never told you my name.” He executed a little bow. “I’m Jack.”

“Hi Jack, my name is Jill,” Skyler said.

Jack’s eyes went wide. “No! Really?”

“Not really,” she answered with a chuckle.

“In that case, should I call you Not-Jill?” Jack asked with an easy smile, and pointed to Mason. “Or maybe I should call you Mason and make our interaction efficient, if a little confusing.”

“My name is Skyler,” she said, noticing Zan talking to Rissa with a frown on his face and pointing to Jack. Was Zan upset because Jack was human? He was probably worried about him being here and maybe seeing something he shouldn’t.

“Zan, he’s with us,” Skyler said. It was only a little white lie and a calculated risk. It was rare that anything weird happened at Joy.

Of course, when something did happen, it was usually spectacular with shifters taking their animal forms and vampires with glowing red eyes ready to rip the enemy apart. She’d seen that all firsthand!

Thankfully that was unlikely, so she was willing to take the risk to enjoy the adorable Jack’s company.

“If you’re sure,” Zan said, giving her a relieved smile. “I’ll bring some drinks right over!”

There was only one table left so there was no question where they’d sit. They weren’t sitting long before Zan came over with a tray. He set a wineglass in front of Jack, a beer in front of Mason, and finally her signature sweet drink.

Jack gave the drink a suspicious look and didn’t touch it. “I didn’t order anything.”

“Zan has some kind of bartender magic and knows the perfect drink for everyone,” Skyler said. “I’m sure you’ll love whatever he poured for you.”

“The first round is free for new customers,” Zan said with a grin, then went back behind the bar to fix more drinks for the lively crowd.

Skyler noticed Jack didn’t touch his drink, but didn’t judge him. She heard stories all the time of humans being drugged, so it was probably good that Jack was cautious.

“You should get one of those cars with the parking assist feature,” Mason said, searching for something on his phone, then holding it out to Jack. “Some of the newer cars can park for you. Parallel parking is still a good skill to have, but this way you won’t get caught in a bad situation.”

Jack didn’t look convinced. “Did you hear about the car that parked too close to a wall and another car and trapped the driver?”

Mason nodded his head. “Is that the one where the car bricked? You know, when the computer stops working. That’s rare, I’m sure.”

Jack gave a little shrug. “Maybe, but I don’t trust the tech yet.”

Not surprising, they went from talking about cars to computers. Skyler watched Mason and Jack light up as they talked about solid state storage, CPU speeds, and all sorts of other things Skyler didn’t understand.

She had a phone, that was the extent of her tech possessions. It was adorable how excited both Mason and Jack were to talk about all things computer. Far from feeling excluded or ignored, she sipped her drink and enjoyed that Mason had someone who understood his career and passion.

“This isn’t fair,” Jack said abruptly, looking at her with a smile. “Skyler’s not part of this conversation. We should change the subject.”

Mason gave a little frown and nodded at her. “Yeah, sorry about that.”

Skyler shook her head. “You guys keep talking. I’m fine sitting here.”

“Nope,” Jack said. “We all get to be part of the conversation. If my friends saw me ignoring you, they’d never forgive me. It’s a cardinal sin to leave someone out.”

“You keep talking about these friends,” Skyler said. “Who are these people to you? It sounds like you all live together like a big family.”

“We’re family in all ways except blood,” Jack agreed. “We all started a company together back in Illinois about ten years ago. We look out for each other. Right now, we’re even sharing a house.”

“How many is we ?” Mason asked.

“Ten years ago?” Skyler said. “How old were you, twelve?"