7. Jeffrey

Chapter seven

Jeffrey

June 5, 1885

My first and former diary, as I shared in my inaugural entry of these pages, is at the bottom of the Atlantic. I tossed it there myself before my ship made port, having crossed from the supposed Old World to the New. It certainly was new to me, and I vowed then to only recount my days, as I had my wretched childhood, when there was something worthwhile to write about.

I bought this diary far sooner than expected, although worthwhile did not always mean nice or of good fortune. If I am an old woman rereading this, I hope the early days in this city are but a memory I would need this diary to even recall. If you are someone else reading this for posterity or mere curiosity, I guarantee my story gets more scintillating from here, and not in any way I ever could have predicted.

Last night, as a well-versed seamstress of still prominent youth, I was just finishing some lengthy work of hemming at trouser level for a moderately successful businessman, when he decided to shortchange me. Naturally, I made a fuss, for any self-respecting non-married woman in charge of her own financial situation deserves her fair due for services rendered. The policeman who heard me squalling disagreed, and I made haste to escape his faulty assessment of the situation.

I fled to a part of the city still being built, hoping the dirt and dishevelment of building materials would deter the policeman from pursuit. It did not, and I found myself taking refuge in what I thought was access to the sewers but that quickly became the depths of a cave system, only open to entry due to the large pits that had been dug for the laying of foundation for future businesses.

The path was too dangerous for the policeman to follow farther, though I feared I might be spending the night there if I didn't want to run into him trudging back out the way I'd come. I hoped instead to find a way out of the caves ahead or an actual part of the sewers above with a manhole I might escape through.

I did find a hole, a walled-up part of the caves that had to have been put there by a person, and when I dug away at those stones, what I found within, chained like some Greek Titan, was worth any danger or toil I had suffered through thus far.

A wave of nausea hits me, my blood sugar having dropped, and I instantly lose focus.

Shit. What time is it?

I look for my phone, but it's plugged into the wall to charge, so I glance at my alarm clock and—12:30pm! It's already after lunch? I'd only now gotten to the part of the story that connects to the history I'd heard, to Mattie's supposed tall tales she told clients and employees, of when she found Odai just like I had.

I want to keep reading, but if I do, I know I won't want to stop, and I really need to eat something. And to rejoin Odai. It feels sort of mean again, leaving him down there to work, while I have the day off, even if all he ever asks for is whether he can fulfill something for me.

It's not as if I haven't been thinking about him filling various things. Because I have. A lot. But even though the diary is at the good part, it's not as if I don't know what Mattie's about to find down there. For now, I bookmark my spot and slip the journal beneath my pillow.

"Ah, you have returned. May I—"

"Lunch," I say, cutting Odai off before I've even finished shutting the door to upstairs. "I really need lunch. Can I wish for a quick snack, so I don't keel over before we eat something substantial? Oh my god!" A depth of guilt weighs my stomach down again, which does not feel pleasant when empty. "I forgot to ask if you needed to eat! You drank coffee yesterday. Have I been starving you—"

"Jeffrey." Odai exits the office to meet up with me, and there is a chuckle in his voice. "All is well. I can eat, but like with sleep, it is not a necessity for me. I do enjoy it, however."

"That still makes me feel bad!" I say with a cringe. "Because I'm guessing you haven't been sneaking off to Cold Stone to try ice cream for the first time."

"I have not. Although I have had ice cream before."

"You have?"

"It has been around for quite some time."

I scratch the back of my neck and find a loose strand of hair. My bun probably looks like a rat's nest with how I was lounging while reading. "I think I heard that before. When was it invented?"

"Before the fall of Babylon."

That draws my attention away from my tangles. Maybe he really is Babylonian.

"As to your wish—what would you like as a snack, Jeffrey?" Odai asks.

"Um…" Again, knowing I can ask for anything makes my entire mind go blank, especially since I'd been so engrossed in the diary.

Mattie had a hard early life. She wrote that the diary she threw into the ocean recounted her childhood being even worse, and what I'd read so far was pretty bleak already. Turning to prostitution had not been part of her life goal. Not initially .

"A banana?" I say. "I'd just wish for lunch, but now I kind of want to take you somewhere."

"But it is me, beautiful one, who is meant to fulfill your wishes and desires." Odai hands me a perfectly ripe banana, instantly conjured like the coffee.

I take it, and it's a little firmer to peel but smells amazing. "I can fulfill your wishes and desires too. I mean, not to the same extent as conjuring—mmm!" I'm so hungry, I don't even think before taking a bite mid-sentence, and this is not like a normal banana. It's sweeter and firmer, but not in that unripe sort of way. It's amazing. "This is the best banana I've ever had."

"Perhaps you have never had a Gros Michel before," Odai says.

" Gros Michel ?" I take another bite before asking, "Isn't that the type that went extinct in the fifties? Not that you'd know. But wild! Am I eating something no one has had for over seventy years?" I take another bite. Bananas are not meant to taste this good. "Why did they name it Gros though? I mean, this is anything but gross." I chuckle.

"It's French. It means Big Mike ." Odai says it with his deep, sultry voice just as I'm swallowing another bite of the very phallic fruit. There is no way whoever named it didn't know what they were doing.

"Anyway," I say with a cough and quick swallow. "This is delicious. Thank you. May I also wish to have you fix my hair? I know it's silly, but I think it got a little messy while I was, um, resting upstairs."

"You do not need to ask if you may , Jeffrey. You need only wish." He takes my hand and leads me to the waiting area near the front of the building, where there are chairs and a comfy sofa. He sits me down in the center cushion while I continue to eat the banana but stands behind me and starts to unwind the elastic from my bun. "How would you like your hair to be styled?"

"Oh, nothing fancy. Just brushed out and in a ponytail maybe?"

"Granted."

He has a brush, just has one, and begins to smooth out my tangles. It feels very decadent to be eating an extinct banana while my genie brushes my hair. He somehow never catches any knots, and it's really nice and a little tingly, like how soothing it feels to have a stylist wash your hair.

I could almost fall asleep like this, and my chewing slows as I enjoy the gentle brushing and ease with which Odai ties my hair back.

"I have many things I would like to tell you, Jeffrey, about the progress of your primary wish," Odai says.

"Yeah? That's great. How about you tell me over lunch?" I finish the banana, and before I can even think about needing to throw away the peel, it vanishes. That is so cool. But while it tasted amazing, I'm still pretty hungry.

"If that is your… wish," Odai says with teasing breath at my ear as he bends over me. "All done. Your hair is lovely, Jeffrey."

"Th-thanks." I look up at him. He is so handsome. It's strange to have sort of skipped to the most intimate parts of a relationship, and yet not really know him. If this even is a relationship or just a contract for him. He always says the right things, but it's hard to be sure. I don't know where to start to test the waters for something normal.

"Do you wish for me to kiss you, Jeffrey?" Odai asks—he asks , and damn if that is not the hottest thing, that he is asking rather than me having to.

"Yes, please. I wish that."

He smiles and leans closer.

"You are alive!"

I whip my head forward before our lips touch.

Cas just threw open the front door.

"Why wouldn't I be?" I sputter.

"Because I've been texting you for half an hour and calling for the past ten minutes."

Oh shit . "Um, I think I left my phone charging upstairs? Sorry!"

"Can't imagine why you'd be distracted." She grins at Odai.

"Neither can I," Odai says and turns my head around again to kiss me like I wished. He even uses a tiny swirl of his forked tongue, and I am extra glad for my hoodie, because I think my cock just twitched .

"I was trying to get a hold of you," Cas says loudly to get our attentions, "to see if you wanted to join us for lunch."

"Us?" I look back at her.

"Ta da!" SJ pops up from behind Cas, bubbly as ever. "Come on, you two! Let's eat!"

Odai

I find Cas and SJ's company pleasant. They are a loving couple, openly affectionate, with SJ snuggled close against Cas on their side of the booth where we are having lunch. Watching them seems to entice Jeffrey to sit similarly close against me.

I like that very much too.

Instead of telling only Jeffrey the ideas I have been working on, I tell them all. Some of it is simple marketing tactics that promote cross-shopping. People who take the tour will be given coupons for the local eateries, something even the chain stores should see the appeal of. Others we can be more creative with, like the neighboring hotel.

As I explain my ideas, every interjection or exclamation from SJ draws Jeffrey's eyes to her with a unique adoration. Not attraction, but he is enamored with her. Her vivacity. Her… femininity perhaps? He admires and idolizes her but is uncertain why.

I think I might know. Reading others' desires is my specialty, and even more so, drawing those desires out so my owner might ask to have them fulfilled. To be certain, I will have to watch and wait.

"The hotel was a hotel?" Jeffrey questions as I continue to explain one of my more essential partnership ideas. "I thought Mattie owned it and used it for the brothel?"

"She did, but rooms could be booked normally as well," I clarify, "and it had several famous guests. If some people take offence to the specific history of Madame Mattie's, why not add focus on other historical aspects of the neighborhood? The Amore already has a good relationship with you and highlighting their history will benefit them as well."

"I love that idea!" Jeffrey says.

"What sort of famous people stayed there?" SJ bounces in her seat, leaving the last of her fries forgotten, as most of our food is finished now.

Jeffrey wanted me to experience a cheeseburger and suggested we have lunch at a nearby diner. We are several blocks from Madame Mattie's, in a neighborhood I might have once recognized but that is completely foreign to me now.

I focus on the positive and everything new I can experience in this time. Such as my western cheeseburger, with bacon, BBQ sauce, and onion rings .

"Walt Whitman was one guest," I say, remembering when The Amore was called The Nightingale, "William Frederick Cody, Sarah Bernhardt—"

" Sarah Bernhardt ?" Jeffrey clutches my arm. "Really? That's incredible!"

"Um, who is she?" Cas asks, throwing one arm over the back of the booth toward SJ, which encourages her to scoot closer without their eyes even having to meet. "I know Whitman, and I know that Cody guy is Buffalo Bill."

"Sarah Bernhardt is only, like, the first real modern celebrity!" Jeffrey gushes. "She was amazing. An actress, fashion icon, artist. She did everything and gave no shits about what people thought of her. She really stayed at The Amore once?" he returns to me.

"She did, during one of her first American tours. She was an inspiration to Mattie as well."

"Well duh! That makes so much sense! She was everything Mattie strived to be. Independent, powerful, her own businesswoman. She played Hamlet in Hamlet !" Jeffrey says to Cas and SJ even more excitably. "Women did not do that back then!"

"Someone has a girl crush." SJ giggles, not knowing perhaps that Jeffrey has a "girl crush" on her.

"She also wore trousers offstage," I add, "even when it was illegal for women to do so. "

"It was illegal for women to wear pants?" Cas gapes. "I would have died. Like, bury me in a potato sack before you get me in a dress."

SJ giggles again, being in a dress herself today, offset with a wide-brimmed hat and what appear to be combat boots, which women would not have worn the last time I was awake, except for possibly someone like Bernhardt.

"She was a bi icon before that was kosher too," Jeffrey says. "It's so cool she stayed at The Amore." He rocks against me, and the lean is… nice. "I really love the idea of doing something with the hotel that centers on other historical events and people. The research and deep diving will be so much fun!"

"I am glad," I say. "And it is only the start of what we can do together."

Jeffrey looks positively radiant with how happy I have made him, and for a moment, our side of the booth is all that exists in the world.

"Now I see how you two make sense," Cas reminds us that we are not alone. "You're both history nerds."

"And why would Jeffrey and I not make sense?" I ask. His hand rests on the table, and I place mine atop it like I had in Sage. Jeffrey has not wished that I pretend to be his paramour, but it seems implied. They believe we are courting, and I can tell Jeffrey enjoys this assumption, even if he pulled his hand away from me last time.

"Don't get me wrong. One knockout deserves another," Cas says, making Jeffrey tilt his head down with a blush. He does not believe he is a knockout , yet I know he does when he is a painted beauty in the guise of a seamstress. "But Jeffrey hasn't been doing much pursuing lately. I assume you made the first move?"

"I suppose I did, didn't I?" When I fell upon Jeffrey and lifted his skirt to get closer to the allure of desire already emanating from him. "I truly could not help myself."

Jeffrey's blush deepens, but his thumb slips out from beneath my hand to stroke along the side of my pinky finger.

How… wonderful.

"Awwwww," SJ coos at us, "you two are too cute! That's it! Lunch is on me."

"You don't have to do that!" Jeffrey says.

"I want to! The shop is doing amazeballs. You're gonna come check it out today finally, right?" she asks, starting to move out of the booth.

"You want to go there on your own day off?" Jeffrey asks.

"Um, I also like to shop there, and I can't when I'm on the clock. I mean, I could, but then I'd never have anything left to sell." SJ's laugh is like a bell. I understand why Jeffrey is so taken with her. Why Cas is too, in a very different manner, of course. "Ooo, babe, let's grab some scones to bring home for breakfast tomorrow." She drags Cas after her to go to the bakery counter and cover our bill.

It is pleasing to see them so openly together, when open was rarely how couples of their persuasion would have been in my previous era .

Or my first era some of the time.

"Did you really get to meet Sarah Bernhardt?" Jeffrey whispers, though no one is close enough to overhear.

"I did. She and Mattie butted heads. Very similar personalities. But after some wine flowed, they were best friends in no time."

" Wow ." Jeffrey's thumb is still stroking my skin. "I keep forgetting you were there. You were lots of places and times, weren't you?"

"I was."

"And I haven't asked you about any of it. I want to! To know you better. Where you've been. What you've been through."

"You can ask me anything, Jeffrey, and I will answer."

He glances toward SJ and Cas, but they are still in line to get their pastries and pay. His eyes are full of wonder when he asks, "Were you always… what you are? Or were you human once?"

Ah. One of the right questions. "I was human once."

"How long ago?"

"Very long."

"Before the fall of Babylon?" Jeffrey thinks he is joking.

But the answer is, "Precisely."

Jeffrey's eyes widen behind his glasses. I do rather like them on him, much as I also like him without and with his eyes lined and lashes black. "What did you do back then?" he asks. "Like, what was your profession?"

"I was a performer, like you. I told stories, recited poetry, danced. Though I was not nearly as compelling as you. "

"I doubt that." Jeffrey chuckles. "Did you have family, friends?"

"Of course."

"Lovers?" he asks more hesitantly.

"A few. But there was only one man I ever truly loved."

Before Jeffrey can ask about that unintentional slip—I believe it was unintentional, but perhaps I want him to know, to wonder and be better led to more of the right questions, as much as I can guide him there—Cas and SJ return.

"Ready to check out Fluid Fashion?" SJ asks.

"Uh… yeah! That sounds great." Jeffrey gets out of the booth, and I follow. I have no doubt that he will press me about what I said. Eventually.

As I stand, a lurch tugs at my insides. A hunger that cannot be sated with a cheeseburger and fries. I need more. To fulfill more. That was too much focus on me and not enough on granting Jeffrey's desires. He is being too good to me, too kind, when the simple truth is…

I need to be used.

I will need to encourage him to ask for more. For now, at least, I can do so gently.

"Sounds lovely," I say, as I take Jeffrey's hand, and he gleefully laces our fingers.

For now, we can continue to make sense.