Tucker and I returned to the bathroom, which was still empty.
I washed the blood off my face, hands, and arms and made sure that none was visible on my dress. I also grabbed my purse from the floor, plucked out the comb and compact inside, and fixed my hair and makeup. Tucker scrubbed the blood off his mouth, but it wouldn’t come out of his white shirt.
He dried his hands, tossed the paper towel into the trash, and faced me. “I should go finish cleaning up. And you should return to the party before Mallory misses you.”
He was right. I should go, but I wanted some answers first.
“Why did you kill Walter Butler, the hit man Clyde sent after me?”
Tucker shifted on his feet, as though suddenly uncomfortable. “You know why.”
“No, actually, I don’t. Sometimes I think I know you so well. But other times, you are a complete and utter mystery.”
“An annoying, frustrating, and stubborn mystery?” he asked in a teasing tone.
“Yes. All of those things and many others,” I growled, tired of playing word games—and all the other games we seemed to be playing with each other. “Just tell me why you did it. And especially why you tried to hide the hit man’s body afterward.”
He kept shifting on his feet, as though the motion would somehow make my question disappear. Finally, he sighed, stilled, and raised his eyes to mine.
“Because I like you far more than I have liked anyone in a long time,” Tucker replied. “And I didn’t want you to feel beholden to me, not for one instant, not for the smallest thing.”
He sighed again, and weary resignation rippled through his long, slow exhale. “I know what it’s like when someone does something for you and then expects something even greater in return. Not just expects it but demands it. When they put a hefty price tag on the help you so desperately need. And not a monetary price but something far more precious, little bits of your heart and soul and conscience and self-esteem that they take for themselves, one bloody favor at a time.”
“Someone like Mason Mitchell?” I asked in a soft voice.
Tucker nodded, the jerk of his head as sharp as a silverstone knife slicing through the air. “Yes. After my father’s gambling debts became too large and public to hide, Mason approached me. He was just starting his rise to power within the Circle, and he said he needed someone like me on his side, someone to help enact his vision for the group, a vision that would make us all richer and more powerful than we’d ever imagined. I was young and stupid at the time, and Mason was deceptively charismatic, so I foolishly believed him. I didn’t see Mason for the monster he truly was until it was far too late, and he had already cost me much more than I had ever wanted to spend.”
A haunted look filled his face, but I didn’t ask what he was remembering—or what price he’d paid for Mason’s greed and cruelty.
“The Circle had always dealt in various illegal enterprises in Ashland, and my father consorted with all sorts of unsavory people, gamblers, loan sharks, and the like. Anyone who would front him money, or play poker with him, or meet him for drinks at the casino or horse track that was his latest gambling obsession. So I didn’t have a problem with Mason’s vision for Ashland, not back then. Plus, it seemed like the only way to save my mother and the rest of my family from financial ruin.”
“What happened?” I asked.
“Mason claimed that he would take care of all my father’s debts, if only I would work for him.”
“And you did.”
Tucker nodded. “Mason was throwing me what seemed like a life preserver. I just didn’t realize at the time that it was really an anchor.”
His head dropped, his shoulders slumped, and his gaze fell to the tile floor, as if just thinking about all the awful things he’d done for Mason was another anchor dragging him down, down, down.
After several long, silent seconds, Tucker lifted his head and stared at me again. More of that weary resignation creased his face, and he looked utterly exhausted, far more exhausted than he had seemed even while he was recovering from almost dying at Mason’s hands.
“I’ve done horrible things, Lorelei. Terrible, evil, unspeakable things. And I would have kept right on doing them if Gin hadn’t learned about the Circle and killed Mason.” Tucker’s voice was low and raspy, but his words tolled out as loudly as a bell, as if marking each and every one of those dark, despicable, dirty deeds.
My heart ached for him, for everything he’d been through, for the awful position his father had put him in and the terrible things he’d had to do in order to survive. I opened my mouth to tell him that I understood, and especially that I didn’t feel beholden to him, but Tucker gave me a sad, rueful smile.
“Mallory is probably wondering where you are. Good night, Ms. Parker.”
Tucker tipped his head to me, then opened the door and stepped outside, leaving me alone in the bathroom with his confession still echoing in the air all around me.
I stared at the closed door for several seconds. Then I shook off my daze. What was I doing? I needed to go after Tucker and tell him… Well, I wasn’t sure what I was going to tell him, but I had to try.
So I crossed the bathroom, opened the door, and stepped into the corridor, but of course, Tucker was long gone. I cursed the vampire’s speed, but I headed to my right, away from the noise of the ballroom. Tucker wouldn’t go there, which meant he was probably somewhere deeper in the resort—
“Pumpkin! There you are!” Mallory’s voice boomed through the corridor. “Where have you been?”
I plastered a smile on my face, spun around, and walked over to her. “Sorry. It got a little hot and stuffy inside the ballroom, so I stepped outside to get some cool, fresh air.”
Mallory arched an eyebrow. “Really? Is that why there are bloodstains all over your dress?”
I glanced down, but I didn’t see any stains on the blue fabric, just a few damp spots from where I had already dabbed the blood away.
“What bloodstains?” I chirped in a bright voice.
Her eyebrow arched a little higher. “I’m more than three hundred years old, pumpkin. I can tell when you’re lying. Plus, Silvio and Liam left the party several minutes ago, along with Sophia, and none of them has come back. You disappearing, along with the three of them, is a sure sign of trouble. So you might as well tell me what’s going on.”
I sighed, but I had never been able to sneak anything past my grandmother, so I filled her in on everything that had happened over the past few days, from Clyde O’Neal threatening me, to Tucker killing the hit man outside my mansion, to our fight with Clyde and his giants tonight.
“Silvio and Liam are outside dealing with the bodies, along with Sophia,” I said, finishing my story.
Mallory crossed her arms over her chest. “Why didn’t you tell me about any of this before now?”
“I didn’t want to ruin your party.”
She huffed. “Please. I was expecting something like this to happen. Why do you think I invited Silvio, Liam, and Sophia in the first place?”
I frowned. “Because they’re our friends, and you wanted them to celebrate with you and Mosley?”
“Of course they’re our friends, and I did want them to celebrate with Stuey and me. I love them all dearly.”
“I hear a but in your voice.”
Mallory grinned. “But they also happen to be very handy in certain situations. Besides, I learned an important lesson about planning parties a long time ago.”
“What lesson?”
She shrugged. “That bad things are bound to happen in Ashland, especially at parties, so it’s best to be prepared. And that nobody can handle bad things like us and our friends.”
Laughter erupted out of my lips, loosening the knots of tension in my chest. I might be creative with my magic, but my grandmother was the smartest person I knew, which was one of the many reasons she was my hero.
“Well, now that you know what’s going on, I should go help Silvio and the others.”
A hopeful look filled Mallory’s face. “Will Hugh Tucker be helping you too? Because a man like that could help with all sorts of things.”
“Grandma!” I playfully swatted her shoulder. “In case you’ve forgotten, you are a married woman.”
A blush spread across her cheeks, and a soft, dreamy look filled her blue eyes. “A very happily married woman.” Her gaze sharpened. “But you, my dear, are quite single, and Hugh Tucker is quite handsome. Even better, he actually has a brain in that attractive noggin of his. And perhaps best of all, he looks at you the same way my Stuey looks at me.”
“How is that?” I asked.
“Like he would do anything for you,” Mallory replied. “Even hide out in the woods in the middle of a cold winter night to protect you from a killer and not take any credit for it after the fact.”
She was right, but I still hesitated. “But what about everything he did for Mason and the rest of the Circle? Tucker might not have been at your wedding reception, but he still had a hand in ruining it. Just like he had a hand in kidnapping me, Gin, and Bria from the Posh boutique and in threatening me in the Circle cemetery outside the Mitchell mansion.”
“Sure, Tucker has done a lot of bad things to us, but we’ve done some bad things to him in return.” She gave me a chiding look. “You did stab him in the thigh with an Ice dagger and then basically hold him prisoner in a shipping container for a couple of weeks.”
I grimaced at the reminders. “So?”
“So I’d say we’re all more or less even. I can overlook those things for you, pumpkin. The question is, can you overlook and forgive him for them yourself?”
I thought of the raw pain and aching sadness in Tucker’s voice when he’d told me about his father and the Circle and how he didn’t want me to feel beholden to him the way he had been to Mason Mitchell. How we both constantly bottled up our feelings and put on a calm face for everyone around us. How we’d both been stuck in horrible situations and still survived them. But most of all, I thought of how my heart quickened and my entire body hummed whenever I was near him.
“I’m an idiot,” I muttered.
Mallory nodded. “People often are when matters of the heart are involved.”
“I should go find him.” I glanced up and down the corridor again. “But he’s probably already left the resort, and I have no idea where to look for him.”
“Try room 1320.”
I blinked. “What?”
“Room 1320, here at the resort,” Mallory replied. “That’s where Tucker is staying. He’s been here ever since the night of the fight at the Mitchell mansion.”
“How do you know that?”
Mallory shrugged again. “Finn and Silvio have their sources, and I have mine. Once Gin told me Tucker was staying in Ashland, I figured he would have to check into a hotel sooner or later. So I asked around, and a friend who works here at the resort was nice enough to email the information to me while Stuey and I were on our honeymoon.”
“So you’ve known that Tucker was staying here this whole time?” Suspicion filled me. “Wait a second. Is that why you had your party here instead of at the country club again?”
A sly grin spread across her wrinkled face. “Well, you couldn’t very well run into Tucker if we’d had the party at the country club.”
Another laugh bubbled out of my lips. “I can’t believe you set me up like this. You really are trying to play matchmaker.”
Mallory’s grin widened. “Something like that. I just want you to find the same sort of happiness that I’ve found, whether it’s with Tucker or someone else.”
She stepped forward and hugged me.
“I love you, Grandma,” I rasped, emotion clogging my throat as I returned her hug with an even tighter one of my own.
“Love you too, pumpkin.”
We broke apart. Mallory cleared her throat and blinked back the tears gleaming in her eyes. Me too.
“I really should get back to the party. Stuey and the guests will be wondering where I am. And I believe you have a date to rustle up.” She gave me a saucy wink. “I’ll call you in the morning, and you can give me all the juicy details.”
“Is that so?” I asked, a smile spreading across my face.
“Absolutely.” Mallory patted my arm, then headed back toward the ballroom.
I waited until she had vanished around the corner, then strode in the opposite direction. A minute later, I reached a bank of elevators and stepped inside one. The door slid shut, but the car didn’t move. I stared at the panel, my index finger hovering over the button marked 13.
Doubt crept over me. About myself, my feelings for Tucker, and especially his for me. But everyone else was moving on with their lives, and it was time for me to do the same. And right now, I wanted Hugh Tucker. I’d worry about everything else later.
I punched the button, and the elevator started to rise.