Ignoring him, Ari turned to Charlie, letting her heart thump at the sight of him standing there. Of his own accord. Relief blossomed across her chest. “He does the Great Dane thing when dad’s around.” She smiled crookedly. “You’re here?”
Eyes wide, Charlie nodded and stepped into the room, shutting the door carefully behind him. He heaved a sigh and turned around, leaning back against it. She saw a world of hurt in his eyes: trauma, shock, disbelief, relief, fury. Charlie had always felt so much and now she could see he was battling to control how overwhelming it all was. “I don’t blame you,” he whispered, those dark eyes searching her face for reassurance. “I’m sorry I made you think I blamed you I just… God… it was a lot, Ari.”
Afraid to scare him off or do anything to make him change his mind, Ari took a tentative step towards him. “I know. I know. Believe me I know.” She stopped at the pile of ash made from the cushion Jai had burned and tipped her toe into the pile nervously, moving it around. “So… you took some time to think about everything… How do you feel? I mean… how are you?”
Charlie shook his head. “Forget about me for a second. How are you?”
Ari smiled tremulously. “Coping.”
“I can’t believe all this is true. I mean I can because I saw it with my own two eyes but still… Jinn. Jinn are real. How freaking weird is that?”
She laughed at such a natural response and nodded, grateful when he returned her smile with one of his own lopsided ones. “It is weird.”
“So what are you going to do about it?” he asked, pushing up away from the door. Charlie glanced down at Jai who was still reading his book like they weren’t having this momentous conversation in front of him. “Are you going to learn, you know, to be Jinn?”
Scowling at the thought Ari shook her head violently. “Hell no. No. No way, I want nothing to do with any of it. Once I have a couple things sorted out I am going to continue my very human life like none of this ever happened.”
Charlie looked doubtful. “It’s not that easy, Ari.”
“Yes it is. I mean I can’t right away but I will. The Red King refuses to drop the protection so I’m stuck with Jai until I can figure out how to get rid of him.”
“Thanks,” Jai replied dryly without looking up from the book.
Charlie frowned down at him, clearly mystified by him. “So… that’s it? No Jinn stuff… nothing?”
His look of disappointment baffled Ari. She wanted to question him about his reaction but she was afraid of what’d he say, afraid it would spoil the tenuous thread they’d sewn in their torn friendship in the last few minutes. “No. Well… yeah. You remember I told you about Nick? How he’s possessed by one of the Jinn?”
“Jesus.” Charlie’s eyes widened. “After everything… I guess that part I kind of forgot.”
“Understandable under the circumstances. Jai and I are waiting for these Brotherhood guys—”
“Aissawa,” Jai interjected before yawning.
“Aissawa Brotherhood guys who specialize in exorcism.”
Charlie’s eyes lit up, such animation on his face so old and forgotten Ari gaped at him stupidly for a moment. “You’re doing an exorcism?”
“Yeah.” She nodded, so happy to see him awake. “Yeah we are. Once we figure out how to get Nick in a quiet, secluded place where we can, you know, depossess him.”
Jai snorted. “Exorcise him.”
“Whatever.” Ari rolled her eyes at him.
“I want in,” Charlie said, glancing up and down between the two of them.
“What do you mean you want in?” Jai lowered the book now, his rough voice all serious and antagonistic. Ari wanted to punch him.
“Just that. I want to help.”
“No wa—”
“Of course you can,” Ari cut off Jai’s obnoxious shut down. Charlie was actually offering to do something that didn’t involve sex, drinking or drugs. There was no way she was leaving him out of this. “I’ll call you when it’s time.”
He smiled at her. “Great. Look I have to go because Mom and I are you know… well… we’re actually talking so I said I’d be home for dinner…”
Warmth spread through her and Ari grinned happily at the news. “Charlie, that’s great news, that’s—”
“Yeah, yeah.” He stopped her, leaning down to press a kiss to her forehead. “We’ll talk soon, OK. Lots to discuss.” He winked at her and then turned, casting another puzzled and wary look at Jai before disappearing out of the door.
When Ari finally stopped mooning at the doorway, she looked down at Jai only to find him glaring at her. “What?”
“You invited Rehab to help with the exorcism?”
“Don’t call him that.”
“He’s not coming.”
“This is my exorcism. I say who goes.”
“You’re such a child,” he huffed.
Ari guffawed. “Excuse me? I am not the one that just nicknamed someone suffering from substance abuse Rehab.”
“Oh so you admit he has a problem.”
“Had,” she argued. “Had being the operative word. I haven’t seen Charlie that sober or that animated about anything in two years. If coming along to a freaky Jinn exorcism keeps him that way then fine by me.”
“Just be careful with him, OK. You don’t know what his agenda is.”
“You know, Jai, some people don’t have agendas. Some people are just… friends.”
“God, Ari,” he groaned.
Surprised by the entreaty in her guardian’s voice, Ari spun about to look down at him, blinking in confusion at the begrudging smile he wore on his lips. She snorted. “What?”
“You.” He thumped his head back against the wall wearily. “Your loyalty is exhausting.”
Ari flushed at the backhanded compliment, ignoring the flutter of butterfly wings in her stomach. At the feel of them, she suddenly grew irritated and confused. She shook her head at Jai in disbelief. “I am going to the bathroom and you better not follow me.”
“Child,” he muttered as she blew past him.
Ari was surprised but pleased when Charlie called that night to talk. They hadn’t talked on the phone for a long time. He asked her to tell him more about her visit with The White King and as she recounted the terrifying tale, she really wished Jai would disappear so she could have some privacy. After a while the conversation puttered out a little and she realized it was going to take more than the revelation that ‘genies’ lived among them to repair the damage to their relationship. But the call had been a start, and when Ari hung up, she felt eager and hopeful.
As she lay in bed in the dark, listening to Jai’s soft breathing as he slept, she wondered what his story was in all of this. She knew her own. She knew Charlie’s. She even knew Azazil’s and The White and Red King’s. She knew her dad’s. But what about Jai, who liked science fiction and one word sentences and black coffee? Who was this guy who was sharing her life? What life had he left behind? Surprised that he was beginning to take up so much of her thoughts, Ari rolled onto her side to look out the window. It was only natural. It was only natural to wonder about the guardian assigned to her.
It was only natural, she promised herself and let the sound of Jai’s breathing slowly lull her to sleep.
With his Jinn eyes Jai could make out every detail of Ari’s room as if the lights were still on. He waited, watching her, relaxing when she finally closed her eyes and drifted off to sleep. Waving his hand over the floor, he drew on his magic to conjure and began thinking about everything he thought was useful for Ari to know about the Jinn, about her heritage, about the truth, without overwhelming her or going directly against The Red King’s orders. He’d tried now for a number of days to get her interested in the Jinn but she was in denial. She thought if she buried her head in the sand about it, it would all go away.
But Jai didn’t want her to get hurt.
Of course, he never wanted a client to get hurt. It was his job to make sure they didn’t. But… a 24/7 gig wit
h this girl should be killing him. He should be going out of his mind with boredom.
He wasn’t.
He liked being around her.
Not good.
So instead of thinking about how unprofessional that was, he was going to do something to protect his client. From them all. From The Red King. The White King. From himself. Even from that little dick Charlie who looked oh so disappointed when Ari said she wasn’t going to be looking into the Jinn. He was suspicious about this guy. And not because Ari couldn’t see past her memories of a childhood sweetheart to the exceptionally messed up teen who walked in his shoes, but because if Jai had found out someone was responsible for murdering his kid brother he wouldn’t be accepting that so easily. So Jai’s question was… what did Charlie really want with Ari? And was it going to get her hurt?
Jai felt his muscles tense at the thought and his blood grew even hotter. Glancing up at her again sleeping in the dark, he felt an ache in his chest, a feeling he’d never felt before. Angry at himself now, he concentrated back on the job at hand, pouring his magic into his creation for Ari.
He was going to force Ari to discover her heritage. He was going to force her to be prepared so that when the time came she’d actually be able to handle herself.
The next morning she was literally shaken awake. “What?” she groaned, prying her eyes open only to look up into the blurry face of Jai. “What is it?”
“Wake up. The men from the Aissawa Brotherhood have arrived.”
Jolting up at the news, Ari brushed back her tangled hair and gaped up at him. “Here? Now? What about my dad?”
“Your dad left for the office early this morning. He never saw them.”
“Well these Brotherhood guys can’t stay here.”
Jai smirked. “That’s why you need to get up so we can get on with the exorcism.”
“Right, right. I still have slumber brain. Give me a minute.”
“Slumber brain,” he snorted, shaking his head at her.
Too tired to be teased, Ari pushed him aside and stumbled out of bed. “I take it taking a shower would be out of the question?”
“Not if you hurry.”
“Great.”
“Not a morning person huh?”
Ari rolled her eyes. “Do you have to ask that every morning when you already know the answer?”
“Yes. It’s fun.”
She made a rude gesture at him as she pulled some clothes out of her wardrobe and he snorted in response. She was discovering it was really hard to offend him.
“Oh, here.” Jai suddenly reached out, stopping her before she went into the bathroom. Ari shivered under the heat of his touch and jerked away. His face darkened and he grabbed one of her hands, flattening the palm out before slapping a worn leather-bound book into it.
Making a face, Ari gripped the book with no title, tilting it at him. “What’s this?”
When he crossed his arms over his chest and straightened up to his full height, Ari felt a tingle of warning. Uh oh. Whatever it was he meant business. “That… is a copy of a compilation of facts about the Jinn. Different races, different behaviors, different cultures, as well as some of our very important history, including stuff about the Seven Kings of Jinn and Azazil.”
She thrust the book at him angrily. “I don’t want it.”
Narrowing his eyes on her, Jai shoved the book back at her, lowering his voice to a growl. “Read it, Ari. Read it… or I will spend the next few weeks reading it out loud to you for every minute of every day.”
“Why?”
He frowned. “Why what?”
“Why do you care if I know this stuff?”
“Because…” he shook his head, as if searching for the right words. “It’s… it’s not easy not knowing who you are or where you belong. In the end you have to accept whatever you find out about yourself and make a place for you to belong to. But you can’t discover who you are, Ari Johnson, if you don’t accept what you are.” He tapped the top of the book. “This is a good place to start.” He threw her a cocky smile, rare and as deliciously warm as the sun after a day spent too long in the shade. “Knowledge is power.”
Feeling things Ari couldn’t even name, things that made her breathless trapped in this air bubble with Jai, Ari couldn’t help but gaze back up at him a little dumbly. When he eventually took a step back, Ari flushed, feeling foolish for staring at him too long. “Thanks,” she replied quietly, holding the book close to her chest. “You’re right. I’ll read it.”
“Good.” He nodded stiffly, back in his no nonsense guardian mode. “I’ll go keep the brothers company.” He stopped at the doorway and turned back with a little frown. “Do you have any pineapple juice?”
“Pineapple juice?”
He shrugged. “They want pineapple juice.”
Ari snorted at the weird request. “No. I have OJ.”
Jai shook his head. “Nah. I’ll just conjure some.”
Marveling over how weird her life was now, Ari sighed. “You do that.”
~12~
Rip Me Out and Maybe I’ll Be Different
The Brotherhood was strange to say the least. They stood clustered together, ten Moroccan men from the city of Méknes, dusty and rumpled in their plain shirts and slacks. Somehow Ari had been expecting hooded robes and sinister moustaches. The Brothers regarded Jai with a mixture of awe and fear, and whatever ‘aura’ they got off Ari they refused to even look at her. Even when she was the one detailing the plan. The plan that so could not go wrong. After everyone agreed to the plan (well, the Brothers agreed once Jai reiterated it), including Charlie, Ari left the Brotherhood downstairs and went up to her bedroom to make the call. She was sure she would have to leave some long-winded, pleading voicemail that would beat the hell out of her pride, but to exorcise Nick she was up for it. It had occurred to her in all of this that poor Nick probably didn’t have a crush on her at all. The infatuation belonged to the creepy-ass Jinn that had taken over him.
A whole year and a half of Nick’s life was gone and he wasn’t getting it back.
She bit her lip praying Staci would pick up. Ari had to make this right. It was her fault. She had to make it right.
“Hello?” Staci’s soft voice asked tentatively.
“Staci,” Ari breathed in relief. “Wow, it’s so good to hear your voice.” She was surprised by how true that was.
“I’m sorry, Ari. I shouldn’t have ignored you like that. I was just… overwhelmed by Rachel. She’s pretty mad at you. You know she hooked up with that teaching assistant she’s been drooling over for the last few months. She was mad about other stuff I guess but also because you weren’t there to talk to about the TA.”
Ari felt a twinge of guilt and tried to shake it off. “That’s great for her. But she won’t take my calls so…” there was an awkward silence and Ari cursed inwardly. This wasn’t going to plan. “Um… you know that’s not why I called. I just wanted to say sorry, once again. And… also to ask you for a favor.”
“A favor?”
“Well… after everything that happened with Charlie at the party I decided that Rache is right and I need to move on. I had a good time with Nick that night but I’m still a little… a little nervous, I guess. So I was thinking maybe you, me, A.J. and Nick could go on a double date later this afternoon. Go to the movies. It’ll be fun.”
“Really?”
Ari’s heart leapt triumphantly at the excitement in Staci’s voice. “Yeah. I mean if it’s not too late notice.”
“No, no. Me and A.J. were going to hang out anyway. Look I’ll call him and get him to call Nick and then I’ll call you right back!”
She smiled. “Sounds perfect.”
“Oh, Ari, I’m so happy you’re doing this. It’s going to be so much fun. I’ll call right back.”
The line went dead and Ari drew her shoulders up.
This was going to be anything but fun.
A.J. and Nick rode up front, arguing over which radio stati
on to tune into and cracking stupid jokes. Every now and then Nick would look in the rear mirror and smile at her and Ari would have to force a warm smile back while in her head she was thinking ‘creepy jerk Jinn stealing my friend’s body, I’m going to rip you out of there, you toad!’.
“I hope you don’t mind but I told Rache we were doing this,” Staci said quietly from beside her, drawing Ari’s attention away from her possessed friend. She tried to concentrate on what Staci was saying but she was distracted. Had there had been any notable differences in Nick’s behavior over the last eighteen months? It was hard to tell for her because they’d only really gotten to know one another in that time. Crap.
Wait. What is Staci saying?
“Rachel?” Ari frowned.
“Yeah.” Staci smiled pleadingly. “I think if you call her again she’ll be more amenable to a discussion. She sounded kind of excited that you were going out with us today.”
Ari grunted. “She wrote on Twitter that I treat our friendship like a one-way street.”
“Oh.” Staci batted the words away with her hand. “She was just upset. She didn’t mean it.”
Guessing now was not the greatest time to alienate her friends, Ari nodded. “You’re right. I’ll call her, smooth things over.”
“Good. It’s silly to fight over something so silly.”
Grinning, Ari shook her head at her friend. Staci was the kind of old-fashioned sweet that made you smile no matter what mood you were in.
They pulled into the parking lot at the movies and Nick got out real quick so he could open Ari’s door. The smile she gave him was almost feral and he frowned a little, seeming puzzled.
Do better, Ari. Do better.
It was hard though, especially when he put his hand on her lower back to guide her across the lot. She just couldn’t get it out of her head that there was a being inside Nick, controlling him, using him… and all to get into her pants! Trying not to shudder and give herself away, Ari relaxed into his touch and gave him a soft smile. His eyes glowed happily back at her and she had to look quickly away before she punched him in the face.
Smokeless Fire (Fire Spirits #1) Page 13