Chapter 12
Jamie brought his lunch box and two drinks over and sat down with Max. “I brought you a coffee,” Jamie said, putting it in front of Max.
“Thanks. Thomaz made you lunch as well?” he said, nodding to the lunch box.
“Yeah. It was really nice of him. He gave me the lunch boxes as I was leaving,” Jamie paused and looked at Max.
“I saw you sat next to the chap whose name I have forgotten. I’m guessing he’s one of the shifters that was mentioned.
I had so much information thrown at me last night, but I was still stressed out from what happened to Karl and Kitty to remember everything.
I know I’m new to all this, but you seem scared of this new world. What can I do to help?”
Max put down the mini quiche he was about to eat and sighed. “I’m getting better. Bert, the guy whose name you forgot, is a wolf shifter. Technically, he’s king of all wolf shifters, so there’s that, as well as he can change into a wolf, and it’s a dangerous world.”
Jamie snorted. “Max, I hate to break this to you, but our world is dangerous. Have you watched the news lately? Our world is going to hell in a handbasket.”
“True,” Max said, nodding. “And everyone I’ve met has been nice.”
“So..,” Jamie prompted.
Max blew out a breath. “Fine, I’ll jump in with both feet, but if something goes wrong, I'm totally blaming you.”
Jamie laughed. “Okay, I can take one for the team.”
Max held his quiche up, Jamie picked his up, and they clinked them before eating.
Jamie and Max talked and laughed for ages, as it really was quiet in the library.
Finally, Max went off to shelve more books, and Jamie cleared their things up and wiped down the table.
It was an hour before closing, and a man walked up to the counter. Jamie got really strange vibes off him, dangerous even.
“What can I get for you?” Jamie asked, trying not to shiver.
“Black coffee, large,” the man demanded.
Jamie didn’t want to turn his back on the man, but did and got his drink as quickly as he could. “Three ninety-five, please.”
The man used his card to pay and stared at Jamie for a moment before picking up his coffee and moving away. He chose a table towards the back of the seating area and sat staring at Jamie.
Jamie turned his back on the man and cleaned the coffee machine, making it take as long as possible, all the while he could feel the man’s eye boring into his back.
He pulled his phone out, about to message Ivan and ask him to come early, but gave his head an internal shake.
It wasn’t the first time some weirdo had come into the library or coffee shop.
Instead, he sent an email to his boss, giving his notice and suggesting Lucy take on his shifts.
He then messaged Karl to check on them. Finally taking a breath, he turned around. The phone was still in his hand.
The man was still staring at him, but now with a smirk on his face, like he knew Jamie had turned his back on purpose.
He raised his cardboard cup and saluted Jamie, drinking the last of his coffee, all the while still watching Jamie.
Finally, when he was finished, he licked his lips, put his cup down, stood up and tilted his head at Jamie before walking off, heading for the library exit.
Jamie blew out a breath as Max came rushing over.
“Are you okay? That man was weird.”
Jamie nodded. “He was. He stared at me the whole time.”
“Thank goodness it’s nearly time to close. I’m closing early tonight, as he was the last person here. Shut everything down and message Ivan, let him know I’ll drive you home.”
“We were going to stop off on the way home so I could pick up some clothes as I’m wearing Dave’s at the moment.”
“I thought I recognised them. We can still do that and be at the coven in time for dinner.”
“Okay, I’ll message Ivan and let him know.”
“And I will go and lock the doors,” Max said happily, walking off.
Jamie’s phone pinged, and he looked down. He had a message from Karl, saying they’d been having fun and had started martial arts. He messaged back saying they can tell him all about it later. He just finished messaging his brother when Ivan messaged, telling them to stay safe.
Ivan sighed as he put his phone down.
“Something wrong?” Olly asked him.
Ivan spun his chair around and looked at him. “Not really. I was going to pick Jamie up after work, but he’s just messaged me to say Max would drive him home.”
“You’re worried about someone following them,” Olly guessed.
“Yeah. I’m hoping whoever it was, was just following me.”
“Have you thought it might have been Jamie’s dad?”
Ivan nodded. “I did wonder if it could have been him. I’ve spent some time researching his parents; neither of them has the type of car that followed us, and as far as I can see, they are both still in Wallingford.”
“But you won’t stop worrying until Jamie is back safely under our roof.”
“I won’t. Changing the subject, how are you getting on looking through those electronics?”
Olly gave a wry smile. “Pulling out lots of information and collating it into a report. You?”
“Quintus’ computer is full of everything, and helpfully, it’s all in different folders. There is even a folder for the listening devices. I need to message David as there are listening devices at the council offices and council flats.”
“Damn, that’s ballsey.”
“Yeah. I still don’t get how their security was so lacklustre.”
“Well, they’ve been in operation for over a decade without anyone discovering what they were up to or trying to stop them; they thought they were untouchable.”
“Idiots.”
“Yes, they were. Anyway, how does it feel to have a family?” Olly asked him.
“Strange. Kitty trusted me straight away. AJ said children, even human children, are good at discerning who is good or bad. It’s nice to know I’m good.”
Olly looked at him. “Did you doubt you were?”
Ivan nodded. “Yeah, after Derrick, I did wonder.”
“You told us about Derrick. What happened with Derrick wasn’t your fault; it was all on him. Plus, if you’re worried, pretty sure your Jamie is the complete opposite of Derrick.”
Ivan smiled. “He really is.”
Jamie and Max reached the coven house. They’d been to Jamie’s place so he could pack a bag of clothes and pick up his electronics. They had also put a couple of packed boxes in Max’s car.
They got out of the car, and Jamie got his clothes bag out of the boot. Max looked at the boxes. “Ivan can help carry them inside; they’re heavy.”
“The perks of having a strong mate,” Jamie replied, laughing as he closed the boot.
They were still laughing as they walked inside the house.
Ivan was just walking out of his office with Olly. He smiled a giant smile when he saw Jamie, and rushed over to him, pulling Jamie into his arms and kissing him hello.
Jamie dropped his bag and wrapped his arms around Ivan, happily kissing him back, oblivious to those walking past them and into the kitchen.
“Get a room, guys,” Jamie finally heard Karl say in disgust.
Jamie smiled against Ivan’s lips and slowly pulled away. “Hey,” he said simply.
“Hey, yourself,” Ivan started to lean forward for another kiss, but Karl put his arm between them.
“Enough already,” Karl grumbled.
Jamie fake scowled at his brother. “Just wait until you find your somebody and see what I do to you!”
Karl dropped his hand. “That’s just mean.”
Jamie laughed, pulling out of Ivan’s arms, looking from Karl to Kitty. He touched both their shoulders. “How was your day?”
“We had fun, and Jessamy is teaching us martial arts. Gio let us try sword fighting, and tomorrow we have lessons in explosives,” Kitty said in a rush.
“Sounds like you both had fun.”
“And we helped Jack and Spencer look for the secret library. It must be well hidden, because we couldn’t find it,” Karl added.
Jamie laughed. “It is well hidden, but I got to see it this morning, and once I work out my notice at the library, I’m joining Dave and Max working there.”
“Yay,” Kitty said, hugging him. “You get to do proper library things.”
“I do indeed,” Jamie agreed.
“Let’s go into dinner, shall we?” Ivan said, nodding to the kitchen.
Dinner was in full swing, and happy chatter rang around the table.
Dave looked at Max, who seemed to be enjoying himself and interacting with everyone happily. He looked at Gavin, who was also joining in, silently laughing and looking happy again. He could kick himself for unintentionally upsetting him earlier. Then he remembered Gavin’s text from earlier.
Dave waited until there was a moment of quiet. “This dinner is lovely. Thanks, Mum, Tom Tom.”
Thomaz dropped his fork as everyone looked at him before bursting out laughing. He looked at Dave. “Who told?”
“I have no idea what you could possibly mean, Tom Tom,” Dave replied with fake innocence.
“I’ll poison your food if you keep that up, and steal your dog.”
Everyone laughed again, and Dave looked at Gavin and grinned before looking back at Thomaz. “Bruno is loyal to me, and Mum won’t let you poison me.”
“Well, I don’t know, Davy, you did threaten to throw your father and me out into the streets,” Annie reminded him.
“You wanted to hand me over to the cartels,” Dave pointed out.
“Twenty million was a lot of money, Davy. But we didn’t, though, did we?” Willard queried
Dave huffed. “And I didn’t throw you out.”
Annie ignored her son and looked at Jamie, Karl and Kitty. “You need to tell Thomaz and me your favourite foods, so we can cook them for you. Or if there are things you don’t like or are allergic to.”
“I’m allergic to vegetables,” Kitty said quickly.
“And yet you still have to eat them,” Karl said, glaring at her.
“But..,” Kitty started to protest.
“You’ll eat them. They’re good for you,” Jamie added.
“But Ivan only had peas, he didn’t eat any other veg,” Kitty pointed out, as if that would make a difference.
“Ummm welll,” Ivan was at a loss for what to say, and then said the first thing that popped into his head. “I like peas.”
Jamie wasn’t the only one who laughed at that. He patted Ivan’s arm and looked at Kitty. “Don’t worry, in the future Ivan will eat all the vegetables.”
Ivan looked at Jamie. “I will?”
“Yep, because if you do, so will Kitty,” Jamie replied.
“Gah,” was Ivan’s only reply.