4. Jeffrey

Chapter four

Jeffrey

W hen I wake the next morning, there is the faint scent of jasmine and spices in the air as if Odai just walked by me or is sitting on the end of my bed.

He isn't. He isn't anywhere, and I swiftly sit up as I remember everything that happened last night.

The weight of the amulet on my chest tells me it was real. I was afraid to take it off before bed, even while showering. I'll need to ask Odai about it. Can I take it off? Is it even possible to remove it now?

None of this is settling in my skull as reality. How can it be real that I had my skirt hiked up by an incubus and now he'll do anything I ask of him, anything I wish? There is no guarantee this isn't still dangerous or doesn't come with some greater catch. There is so much I don't know.

Like where Odai is right now.

I quickly change clothes and braid my hair, since it's damp from going to bed with it wet. I can fix it later before the midnight tours. I hope to find Odai in the hallway, but he's nowhere to be seen when I use the bathroom to brush my teeth.

It's just as I'm spitting into the sink that I hear an uproar of laughter from downstairs. Cas and Mr. Bevilaqua usually get here early on weekends since it's our busy time. It's Sunday now, the last day with midnight tours until Thursday. We're closed on Mondays, and Tuesday and Wednesday have day tours only.

Hearing Cas and Mr. B laughing wouldn't normally be out of the ordinary, but there is definitely a third voice.

I bolt downstairs. The door to the main floor is shut, but old buildings like this are hardly soundproof, and I hear them clearer as I near it. I will never understand how brothel frequenters could do what they did and not care they could probably hear their neighbors.

"Jeffrey!" Mr. Bevilaqua exclaims as I burst out the door. He, Cas, and Odai are gathered around the checkout counter. Odai is wearing the same outfit as last night, and absolutely gorgeous, enough that he makes my breath catch as much as running did. I can barely believe the even hotter incubus version of him had his face between my legs, and his tongue and tail in… places.

Also, because this is insane and really bad that my boss and best friend are talking to an incubus and don't know it.

"Slow down, kiddo!" Mr. B continues. "Wouldn't want you taking a tumble down those steps someday. Now, why didn't you tell me you were hiring a consultant with your own money? You can't afford that, can you?"

I obviously have no idea what he's talking about, but Odai's expression is intense, hinting for me to play along, and, well, playacting is what I do. "Um… we, uh… worked something out! Don't worry about it."

Cas looks way too smug about how we "worked something out," which… isn't entirely wrong.

I take a breath. It isn't as if I was going to keep Odai locked away from anyone seeing him, at least not after knowing he could look human, but I did not think about introductions.

"Before we all get pulled in different directions today, let me get your contact info, Mr. Jinn." Mr. B motions for Odai to join him behind the counter, and I am close to losing my composure again when Odai pulls out a cellphone to provide said info. No idea where that came from, but I have so many more questions than I thought I did.

Mr. Jinn? Really?

Cas sidles up to me and whispers, "That dude is hoooooot ."

"I'm aware," I whisper back.

"You banged, didn't you?"

"We… I-I-I mean… well…"

She laughs and shoulders into me with a playful nudge, while we watch Mr. B input Odai's contact info into his phone. "Did you seriously find this guy after work last night and still managed to get laid? Or did you know him from before? "

As much as I wish—ha, wish —that Odai had filled me in on his cover before being dropped into it, I remember that the easiest way to lie is usually to tell as much of the truth as possible. "I knew of him before. Then things kind of happened unexpectedly last night. I know it's crazy, but he can help us. This isn't only about him being hot."

" Super -hot."

"Super-hot," I agree.

Odai tosses the longer side of his hair out of his face and might as well be starring in an Herbal Essences commercial. He sneaks a wink at me.

Super -hot.

"I'm just not ready to say goodbye to this place, you know? We needed some fresh ideas." And magical powers.

"Try to save this place all you want." Cas's next nudge turns into a comfortable lean. "I'm just glad ya got some."

I sputter my own laugh, and when Cas joins me, it is impossible for Mr. B to miss us giggling. I push her away before he can ask why we are laughing so hard.

"What's that?" Cas notices the amulet. I tucked it under my shirt, but it must have jostled loose during my sprint. "Not really your style. Something new for Mattie?"

"Yes! Exactly. When I found it, I just had to have it." I rest my hand over it, and the purple gem feels warm, warmer than just from me sleeping with it, like something alive. Not concerning at all. "It's a little heavy though. I figured I should wear it around to decide if I'll actually like having it on for four hours straight, four nights a week."

Cas gives me a curious side-eye but shrugs. "I like it."

"Okay, all!" Mr. B grabs our attention with a clap. "Mr. Jinn told me you have all sorts of tricks up your sleeves to discuss this morning, Jeffrey, and you aren't on the clock until this evening. You have my full blessing with whatever you'd like to try to increase sales, just be sensible, okay? Don't get your hopes up too much."

"Mr. Bevilaqua," Odai says in his captivating voice, "when I am contracted to deliver to an employer, I assure you, I always come through. Shall we start the day with coffee next door?" He turns to me with a devastatingly handsome smile and offers me his hand.

Taking it would somehow feel weirdly intimate and formal at the same time, so I grab him by the arm instead and tug him toward the exit. "See you both later!" I call. So much for not letting an incubus loose on the city, but where else am I going to yell at him for blindsiding me?

I let go as soon as we hit the sidewalk, heading left toward Sage Coffee Shop I wasn't only saying that. It still baffles me sometimes that it took two years for her and Cas to move in together, but that was mostly Cas being skittish of commitment. Good thing SJ isn't the type to give up. I am 100% gay, but wow, do I get the straights and my lesbian friends when I look at her. She is like some fairy princess come to life.

Her long hair is dyed pale pink and fades to nearly white at its ends. She always wears this subtle but feminine makeup, and the perfect mix of feminine but not too feminine clothes. Like today is a T-shirt and denim jacket over leggings, but she has a micromini over that and is accessorized to the max with necklaces and bangles.

If I didn't know better, I'd think she was as mystical as Odai.

"Hey, Jeffrey!" SJ says when we meet in front of the hotel past Mattie's. " Love that braid for you. Cas forgot the grocery list again. Not complaining! She is the best and is going to pick things up during her lunch break, since my day is jam-packed. I just need to drop this off, and I'm headed off to work. Who's this?" She turns just as brightly to Odai and extends her hand before either of us can utter a name.

"Odai Jinn," he says, shaking her hand with a subtle bow. "A new consultant for the tour."

"That's awesome! It is such a cool place, right? I haven't caught one of Jeffrey's tours in a while, but I hear they are the talk of the town." She giggles and lightly flips the end of my braid.

"I only braided it because it was a mess and still wet this morning." I run my hands over it, hoping to smooth down some of the fly-aways.

"Aren't you lucky then that you look this cute with bedhead?" She giggles again. I don't think I've ever heard her say an unkind word to someone. Whereas Cas usually makes up for that by being the first to call a rude stranger a cunt . "It was a pleasure meeting you, Odai, but I'm afraid I'm in a rush. Hopefully, we can get together soon, huh? It has been forever since we hung out, Jeffrey. Bye, you two!"

SJ flutters past us like she might sprout fairy wings for real. I think she might have been an anime character in a past life. She and Cas live together a few blocks away, and the reason SJ—short for Samantha Jo—is so busy is because she started her own clothing store recently in the queer district.

Apparently, my idols are always entrepreneurial girl bosses.

Odai is staring at me when I finally tear my attention from the now disappearing SJ as she dashes into Madame Mattie's.

"What?"

"The braid does indeed look fetching on you, beautiful one."

"I-I am not beautiful right now! I mean, look at me." I make a hopeless gesture at my appearance.

"I am looking at you," Odai says.

Before I can turn any redder on a public street, I return to the matters at hand. "Okay, so… the hotel." I don't know how to handle Odai's flattery. It's nice , and since he promised to always tell me the truth, he must mean it, but what even are we? Last night were the dirtiest acts I've ever experienced with a person, and now we're strolling down the street talking business?

Only Odai will eventually need more, not just more wishes to grant, but more... sexy stuff, and shit, I cannot think about that right now.

Focus, Jeffrey.

The Amore hotel is one of the businesses that likes us. The people who stay there are usually the type of tourists who enjoy being next to a racy tour with a sordid history. Their tunnels are still open to us, which is crucial. The hotel was a truly connected part of the brothel once, with its rooms also used by the seamstresses. It has since been renovated multiple times but hasn't changed owners in decades.

Beyond them is the Jimmy Johns. They don't really care about us but still closed their tunnels thinking them unnecessary to their business and a possible liability.

The other side of the street has St. Mary's church. You can guess their stance on Madame Mattie's. Then there's Tony's Antique Shop, who loves us, the Starbucks, with a slightly more overbearing corporate slant than Jimmy Johns, and Cold Stone Creamery, who are more ambivalent again.

Oh, and also—

"Stop." Odai holds an arm out as we near the end of the block in front of Cold Stone. I have been explaining the businesses as we walk, and there is one more to go.

The Magic Shop.

It's tucked around the corner, butted up against the back of Cold Stone, like an odd protrusion into the parking lot behind the strip. It's always seemed a little out of place, as if it was simply dropped there, but I can't remember a time when it didn't exist.

"What?" I peer down the street, really more of an alley, at the red sign that simply states its name: The Magic Shop . "The Owner," I say, since that's as close to a name as I've ever gotten out of the man who runs the place, "isn't one of our detractors. He likes us. He's probably more likely to get bought out than we are—"

"That store will not be sold off like others." Odai takes a step back and pulls me with him.

"Why so sure?"

"It is protected. The others I can work with." He turns around and heads back toward Tony's.

I stare down the alley at The Magic Shop. It isn't actually magic…

Is it?

The fact that an incubus just implied it is has me questioning everything I've ever thought about the place and the somewhat weird and intimidating owner. A panic attack for another time, I figure, and hurry to catch up to Odai.

"You said Tony's is the business that is most your friend?" He stops in front of it.

"Yes."

"Then we start here and leave the ones who are not your friend for last." He glances farther down the street at the church, with a packed parking lot given it's Sunday morning. Then he glances across the street at Curves. It's closed on Sundays, but I can see Mrs. Sherman putzing around inside.

"Hang on." I grab Odai's arm before he can enter Tony's. "Can you first make sure that anyone who signed Mrs. Sherman's petition, those who wouldn't want to run us out of business, realize her shady wording and decide to retract having signed it? That's another wish because I know several of them would never want to oust us."

"Granted." Odai snaps his fingers. "If they did not intend that part of the petition, it will simply dawn on them that they were duped."

Maybe some of this can be easy. "Let's check in with Tony."

Odai

I can tell for sure now that Jeffrey is the sensible sort. No immediate wishes for anything. He is taking his time, thinking things through, and while saving the tour that was once Mattie's enterprise benefits Jeffrey, it is also a partially selfless wish in that it can benefit others too.

Also, his friend was right. The braid is very becoming on him. He is almost buried in these clothes compared to the undressed state of his seamstress attire. His costume . That is not him, and yet there was a spark about him while dressed that way that seems muted behind his spectacles and oversized top.

I long to delve deeper into his mind to discover why, but as I told him, I have not lied and will not; things he wishes to keep hidden from me or does not understand himself cannot be plucked from the surface of his mind.

His wishes so far, however small, have me feeling content, but I will need more. I crave more already. Especially his taste.

I am always compelled toward carnal activity, often with my masters and mistresses, but not always. Certainly not if they do not wish for it. But with Jeffrey, I want him in a way that almost feels… new.

Or perhaps old again.

Not being able to tell Jeffrey the entire truth about me without the correct prompting first is out of my control. I should not get my hopes up, not for a savior or for something more, but I would like to feel the coil of his fingers in mine again.

"Jeffrey! I was just thinking about you," a man I assume to be Tony greets us as we near the front counter of the antique shop. He is middle aged but a bit younger, taller, and burlier than Mr. Bevilaqua. "I think I did something stupid the other day. That Mrs. Sherman from Curves had me all upside down about unwanted influences in the neighborhood. Figured she meant theft was up, or maybe too many evangelists were blowing through again, and I signed her clipboard without a thought. I think she pulled a fast one on me and it's really a ploy to eject Madame Mattie's. I'll be sure to set her straight next time I see her."

"Thanks, Tony," Jeffrey says. "I had a feeling that was what happened. "

"Don't go holding it against me! She caught me during a rush of business like a real snake. I swear, that woman has actual scales beneath her skin."

Jeffrey laughs, and I like this man immediately. He is blunt but clearly kind and makes Jeffrey appear at ease in a way he isn't always.

I scan the business's inventory. Some of it I recognize as once being Mattie's, something Jeffrey prepared me for. It is as wrapped up in history as the tour, and with Tony already a friend, this is the best candidate for partnership.

"This is Odai. He's going to be helping me with ideas to get the tour more business," Jeffrey introduces me, and I keep a cordial smile and demeanor, despite analyzing this man like the tool he is to support the wants of my owner.

Anything to fulfill Jeffrey's wishes and continue sustaining me.

Anything.

"A pleasure," I say.

In the few minutes we chat with Tony, I understand the flaws in his business practices and where joint ventures might help us both. We make no definitive plans, but the groundwork is set.

When we leave, Jeffrey makes a tsking noise, as he eyes the unpleasant woman from last night. Mrs. Sherman is talking to someone outside of her closed business, another of the owners, I wager, who came to their senses about her fraudulent forms to discredit Madame Mattie's .

"Bet she's not going to be happy when more people start knocking on her door," Jeffrey says with a touch of delight.

Mrs. Sherman catches him watching, and rather than revel too much or meet her stare, Jeffrey heads for the farther away crosswalk to return to that side of the street.

"Hotel?" Jeffrey suggests. "If we're starting with friends, they'd be next, and we need to keep gathering allies before she realizes she's losing most of hers."

"My thoughts exactly." I follow beside him.

Jeffrey has ambition. Something to prove. Hopefully, he continues to have restraint.

Because I do not.