Chapter 6
MONDAYS REALLY DO LAST FOREVER
IN WHICH JAMISON FACES HIS OWN CLAN
Jamison drove home late that evening. Though their appointment with Carly’s alleged Werewolf boyfriend wouldn’t be until the next day, they’d had a steady stream of clients through the afternoon, and Dessa had kept him busy taking notes and updating old files.
It wasn’t a challenging job by any means, but he was surprised by the calm satisfaction of it.
His hands had been fully tasked for eight hours, and he’d been so overwhelmed with the onslaught of AzRIO minutiae, he’d barely had time to stew about his curse.
Not to mention, the magnetism of being around Dessa McKinney again was something he hadn’t expected.
It was as if he had some kind of Dessa-radar, her presence electrifying his sense every time she was near.
He parked the car in one of their oversized garages and walked into his father’s massive kitchen, throwing his keys absently on the marble counter.
In some ways, Dessa was a lot like he remembered her.
Competent, enigmatic, and polite in a distant sort of way, like there was nothing—Vampire, ghost, or otherwise—that could break her stride.
But there was also a sadness to her, a shadow he didn’t remember at all.
In the moments she didn’t think anyone was watching, the polite smile fell, and her eyes shone with what looked like fresh grief.
He’d even spied Melba wrap her in a hug in the break room.
Not a “happy to see you” hug either, but rather an “I’m here for you” embrace.
One that Dessa had leaned into like she needed it.
Obviously he didn’t know her nearly well enough to ask what was wrong, but curiosity needled him. After all, from the last he’d heard, Dessa was engaged and had started a successful business in Brooklyn.
Now her ring finger was bare, and she hadn’t even mentioned NYC or a business. It was like she’d never left. Not that he’d wanted to spill about the shadows that had glommed onto him either. After all, talking about them only made them seem more real.
“Jay, is that you?” His father walked into the kitchen wearing his usual crisp dark suit.
He slid onto a stool at the bar with a glass of wine dangling from his fingers.
“Terry told me you’ve taken a job at the paranormal records and intermediary office?
” His dad’s expression darkened, his once handsome face now gaunt with too many sleepless nights. “What possessed you?”
Jamison snorted at the phrase that now seemed altogether too literal. “Oh, I dunno, Dad. Maybe the fact that I had no idea that the paranormal world existed up till a year ago, and now we’re practically drowning in it.”
Pain fissured his dad’s face, and he ran a hand through his combed brown hair. “Look, I know it’s hard, but I told you I would fix it. It’s safer for you here. Just give me more time.”
Jamison flattened his palms on the counter, the smooth marble cool against his skin. “Dad, it’s been a year. I can’t just sit around doing nothing.”
“But the paranormal world is what got us into this mess in the first place.” His dad yanked at his tie. “It’s just like you to go looking for trouble. Why would you want to dig yourself deeper into this mess?”
“Deeper?” Jamison belted out a bitter laugh and moved to the fridge. “Get real, Dad. I honestly don’t know how we could get deeper. Besides, now that my eyes are open, it’s not like I can pretend I didn’t see this whole other world.”
“Of course you can.” His set his wine glass on the counter and rolled the stem between his fingers. “The paranormal world is dangerous, especially for our family. With our reputation and resources, who knows who’s out there waiting to take advantage of you.”
“I don’t think I can win here.” Jamison pulled out a glass bottle of coke.
“How would I know how to protect myself from the paranormal world if I don’t understand it?
Especially when no one will tell me anything.
And you didn’t want me to take a job in Grandfather’s business either, so I really don’t know what you want me to do. Become an online Zumba instructor?”
It had a been a point of contention even before the paranormal catastrophe, with his dad campaigning hard to send him abroad for other “professional opportunities” and “cultural broadening” or maybe some “self-improvement.” Because his family never dreamed he could find a job on his own.
In that vacuum of expectation, Jamison had been directionless even then.
His dad took a swig of his wine and swirled the dark liquid in his glass, his voice low. “Your mother and I never wanted you to get sucked into your grandfather’s business. That kind of position comes with strings attached, and we wanted you to have a normal life—to find your own way.”
Jamison laughed again as he cracked open the coke with a hiss.
“And that worked out so well, didn’t it?
Now here I am, in complete bliss, living this completely normal life.
Oh, except everyone thinks I’m a murderer, and oh yeah, there’s that other thing that we can’t even talk about.
” Just like that, the sense of calm he’d managed to find at some point in the day evaporated under the recessed kitchen lighting, and the shadow that had haunted him for the last year threatened to swallow him all over again.
“Listen, I’m sorry.” His father’s hand clenched and unclenched on the counter. “Trust me, I know the pain you’re feeling.”
His dad’s voice cracked, and a splinter of guilt stabbed into Jamison. Because his dad did know. In fact, between the two of them, his dad might’ve had it worse. Still, Jamison couldn’t find it in himself to apologize. Even if everyone treated him like the screw-up, he hadn’t started this.
A muscle in his dad’s jaw ticked. “I’m just worried that if your grandfather sees you’ve taken an interest in the paranormal world, that you have ties with it…
” His dad’s fractured gaze met his. “He’s going to try to pressure you into taking the position.
Now that we’re in this paranormal mess, he’s going to manipulate it for financial gain. ”
“Okay.” Jamison shrugged. “But the rest of my classmates would give their left kidney for a KEG job, so I still don’t get why you’re freaking out over it.”
“Your grandfather hired me into the business straight out of school. Within a year, a wife from another wealthy family business had been picked out for me with the clear expectation of children, and she too was forced into taking a position.”
“Forced?” Jamison cocked his head. “But if you were an adult, how could he force you?”
“You already know there are some secrets we cannot speak aloud, but in this world, Jay, you must also be careful of the bargains you make. Here, deals can be binding, and there are some decisions you will not be able to undo. We went in with smiles, thinking of fortune and success.” His mouth tightened.
“We received it, but at the price of our independence. When you were born, we agreed we would do everything in our power to make sure you didn’t make the same mistakes as us. ”
“I only see Grandfather a few times a year though, and it’s not as if he actually likes me. He just tells me to stop being an idiot and get my act together before I embarrass the family. He’s big and bad enough to find somebody he likes better for that kind of work.”
His father sighed. “You’re the eldest son of his eldest son, and that means something to your grandfather.”
Jamison tapped a finger against the coke bottle, studying his dad’s slumped shoulders.
His dad had always been the picture of restraint, poise, and judgment, but the past year seemed to be unraveling him thread by thread.
It was one of the reasons that Jamison had taken to walking the paranormal neighborhoods.
He could barely stand to watch his father disintegrate before his eyes—so he’d gone looking for an answer.
“Get real. He can’t be all that bad,” Jamison said, remembering how expertly his grandfather had handled the murder allegations. It was because of him that they’d avoided a nationwide scandal. “It’s not like he’s some Azalea Springs Godfather.”
He thought that might’ve gotten a laugh out of his dad, but if anything, his expression only tightened.
“Just don’t make an enemy of him, Jay, and don’t underestimate him either.
If I could go back in time, I’d walk away from this world.
Even before…” He drifted off, and their shared reality filled the space.
Jamison could almost feel the dark magic stretching between them, binding them together like it had a mind of its own. Though there was so much he still didn’t understand about how it worked, he knew it was a part of them both. Their shared shackle. Their curse.
“No use trying to change the past.” Jamison drained his coke and set the glass bottle on the counter with a harsh clink. “We couldn’t walk away now even if we wanted to.”
“Walk away from what?” Noah breezed into the kitchen with a bounce in his step, his messy brown hair falling across his forehead.
Though technically Noah was Jamison’s cousin via his father’s younger brother, Noah’s freewheeling parents had basically abandoned him with Grandfather at birth, so the cousins had been raised by the same nannies in the same house.
Even now as an adult, Noah spent just as much time at their place as he did his own.
The darkness in Noah seemed to reach out to bind the three of them in what was almost a sardonic high five. Noah leaned his elbows on the counter next to Jamison’s dad. “Seriously, what is it with you two? You’re always moping around the house like the world is ending or something.”
His dad grabbed the empty glass bottle before setting it in the recycling bin with another clink. And that was Jamison’s cue to leave. “Nothing, Noah.” The guy was in his business so much, he seemed more like an annoying little brother than a cousin with three years on him.
But apparently his dad wasn’t taking a similar hint. “It was Jamison’s first day at the paranormal office as the…what did you say you do again?”
Jamison glared at his dad. Was this punishment for not taking his advice? “I’m just a temporary intern. It’s not a big deal. Gotta pass the time somehow.”
Noah’s jaw dropped. “What? An intern where? No way.” A belting roar of a laugh burst out of him, and he doubled over.
“I can’t believe you’re an intern. Holy hell, tell me, are they paying you minimum wage?
Or are you free labor? Are you the coffee-boy?
Dude, and I thought you were a stain on the family name before.
Gramps will blow an absolute gasket when he finds out. ”
Jamison’s dad sipped his wine, looking somewhat validated by Noah’s usual overblown reaction. “I’m sure he already knows, and it’s only a matter of time before he visits you at your new place of employment.”
“Um, I’m definitely coming to visit too. Geez, Jase, is this your first real job? Should I take pictures so your mom can put it in your baby book? Nah, who am I kidding, we’ll just post it on the internet so everyone can get in on this moment.”
“Ha. Ha. Hysterical. At least I have my own life.” Jamison folded his arms and leaned against the counter, letting Noah’s stupidity roll over and past him. “Besides, I don’t see you putting in any effort to getting rid of”—Jamison gestured to the three of them—“this whole issue.”
Noah shrugged. “Eh, whatever. Sometimes you just gotta roll with the punches. Gramps is all over this paranormal stuff now. I’m sure it’s only a matter of time before he figures it out.” He clapped Jamison’s dad on the shoulder. “Right, Uncle Sean?”
“Sure, Noah.” His dad took another sip of his wine, a bitter boredom flattening his features.
Jamison’s gaze shifted between Noah and his dad.
They looked similar with their medium brown hair, square jaws, and green eyes that matched his own.
But where Jamison’s dad was a straight back, clear words, and a suit always, much like his grandfather—Noah was a slouched muddle of unclear intent who threw his money around like the barrel had no bottom.
Which was really too bad. If Noah had been reliable, maybe his grandfather could’ve latched on to him as a potential heir instead of nagging Jamison to step up.
Instead, Xavier Kane, business savant, had two worthless grandsons instead of one.
Between the three of them, he saw no reason for Melba’s strange tone when she’d mentioned the Kane family. When it came down to it, outside of status and money, they were just messy people leading the same kind of messy lives as everyone else.
The thought relaxed Jamison’s tense shoulders. His father had to have it wrong. If anything, their grandfather was probably one step away from disowning them—not handing them his precious business. It had to be the strain of the curse that was making his dad all dramatic.
Which he totally understood. The stress and questions had been hovering over their house like an impending hurricane for months now with no end in sight.
Some nights, Jamison lay awake as the guilt gnawed away at him. A guilt that would always be with them, along with the paralyzing dread that they could wake up one day to find a new string of unexplainable murder charges laid at their feet.
But perhaps, if he could learn more at AzRIO, maybe one day the burden of the fear would ease. He walked out of the kitchen and up to his room, his mind still mulling over the day and what the week might bring.
No matter what his dad said, Jamison knew he was doing the right thing.
But the real question was, if his grandfather did come knocking, what would he say?
And more importantly, when the curse was lifted, what would Jamison do then?
After all, if he could prove to his grandfather that he was worthy of an actual job at the Kane Group, he’d have to be crazy not to take it.
He certainly didn’t want to be a blight on the family, and in a way, he owed his grandfather for sending in the super-lawyers.
Flopping onto his bed, he gave himself a shake, forcing the thoughts away. He’d get lost in the spiral if he chewed on it too much. For now, he was actually looking forward to another day at AzRIO, and an unfamiliar sensation unfurled in his chest.
Not magic.
But real, actual hope.
A hope of finding answers.
He thought of Dessa hiding a grin behind her hand.
And maybe the hope of a few more smiles in his life too.