Page 9 of Help Wanted, Vampires Inquire Within (Ours Evermore #6)

Jack laughed and answered Skyler first. “Don’t let this baby face fool you, I’m older than I look.” Then he turned his gaze to Mason. “There are fourteen of us including me.”

“Fourteen, in the same house?” Mason said with a shake of his head.

Jack grimaced. “Yeah, it’s crowded. We really need to get a bigger place, but we have to be picky because it needs to fulfill a lot of requirements.

Back in Illinois, we lived on several acres where we had our office building and several houses.

It was backed up against a little lake and beyond that was all woods. I miss that place.”

“Why’d you move?” Skyler asked.

“Money,” Jack said with a shrug. “We got an amazing contract with a company down here for three years. We all talked and decided that instead of breaking everyone up and half of us moving here and half staying in Illinois, we’d all move.

Our work back there was slowing down so it was a good time to relocate.

Besides, I’d heard a lot of good things about San Diego. ”

“It’s a nice place, but I understand missing your homeland,” Skyler said, thinking about the land she grew up on that rejected her once she started puberty. It was a natural process for a nymph, but that didn’t make it any less painful.

She missed those carefree days. It almost made her tear up to think that she’d never know a true bond to land. Her only experience would be the one she had through her mother as a child.

“I didn’t mean to cause that sad face,” Jack said.

“I might miss the old place, but the winters here are amazing. No ice to skid on. No snow to shovel. It’s January and the most I’ve seen people wearing are light coats.

The man over there walked in wearing flip flops!

You can’t do that in January back in Illinois. ”

Jack’s banter helped lift Skyler’s mood. “That’s true. It didn't snow where I grew up, but there would be awful heatwaves every summer.”

“It gets hot here too,” Mason warned her.

“I’m sure, but we could always go down to the beach or up to the mountains,” Skyler said. “In Arizona, there was only desert close by. Everything around us was sand, rocks, scrub brush, and cactus.”

The conversation turned to the good and bad aspects of living in different places. Jack was smart and funny. He and Mason got into several joke chains that had Skyler laughing so hard she couldn't breathe. It was almost as if the three of them had known each other for years.

“I’m sorry to do this to you guys,” Zan said. “But it’s time to close up.”

Startled at Zan’s sudden appearance, Skyler looked around and realized they were the only ones left at the bar. Rissa was grinning at her from behind the bar, and Anatoly was glaring from the doorway to the stairs.

“Jack doesn’t have to go,” Rissa said. “But we’re going to lock the doors, so you’ll need to let him out.”

Jack jumped up, looking embarrassed. “I’m sorry.” He pulled his wallet out and tried to offer Zan several large bills.”

“No,” Zan said with a wide smile. “You don’t owe anything. We’re just happy you guys had such a good time.”

Skyler and Mason stood up as Jack tried to force the money on Zan. “That’s not fair. You have a business to run, and I can afford to pay my bills.”

“I don’t want it, and you can’t make me!” Zan sang. The mountain lion shifter held up his hands and ran away with his arms waving in the air like a cartoon character.

“Such a drama queen,” Rissa called out.

“Your drama queen demands your attention,” he said, jumping over the bar. Rissa shrieked with laughter as Zan grabbed her. By the time Zan carried her around the counter and to the back stairs, Anatoly was standing to the side and smiling.

When the three of them had disappeared up the stairs, Jack made his way to the front door. “As much as I’d like to stay, I should probably go home, but I’d like to see you two again.”

She and Mason followed Jack. Skyler didn’t want him to leave, but didn’t want him to feel guilty for leaving.

“I’d like that,” Skyler said.

“Me too,” Mason agreed.

“We live on the second floor,” Skyler said, pointing to the ceiling. “We usually hang out down here every evening.”

Jack gave her a bright smile. “Then I’ll be back tomorrow.”

“Good,” Mason said, then looked out the window at Jack’s car. “Maybe I should drive you home. I don’t like the idea of you being on the roads this late.”

“It has to be safer now than it was earlier,” Jack said with a chuckle. “Less people out there to get angry at my slow pace.”

Mason frowned. “But there are probably more drunk drivers.”

“Probably, but they’ll be easy to avoid,” Jack said. “As long as I don’t have to parallel park to get away from them.”

Skyler could tell Mason didn’t like the situation. He seemed to be almost as protective of Jack as he was of her. It was sweet.

Jack stepped out of the door and closed it behind him. “Lock this,” he said, tapping on the glass part of the door. Mason turned the key Zan had left in the door and felt the extra ward Anatoly had purchased snap into place.

Skyler moved to one of the picture windows to keep an eye on Jack as he walked around his car. He was standing on the far side, giving them a last smile and wave, when she saw at least five figures sprint at him from across the street.

“Jack!” Skyler screamed, banging on the window. He gave her a puzzled expression. “Behind you!”

He didn’t get a chance to look; the figures jumped on him at once. They all disappeared behind the car in a jumble of motion.

“Mason!” Skyler cried out, but the gargoyle was already ripping the door open.

“Stay here!” he ordered, and rushed out.