Chapter 18
CHAPTER EIGHTEEN
Jonah felt his face burn. Emmett knew the basics, that Jonah’s family was one of those human families that isolated themselves from supes and that they wouldn’t be happy knowing he was working at a supe company, but he didn't know just how bad things had gotten over the years. Jonah had hoped he wouldn’t have to admit it out loud, but it didn’t feel right to lie either.
Emmett was the first person Jonah could talk to without feeling judged. He didn’t want to lie to him.
“They, uh… They don’t really like me all that much.”
The elevator door opened, halting the conversation as they squeezed inside.
Emmett didn't ask more questions while they were surrounded by so many strangers, which Jonah appreciated, but he knew better than to think the werewolf would just let it go.
He took the opportunity to breathe in the scent of safety and happiness that always came off Emmett, and geared himself up for the conversation he knew was coming.
When they stepped outside, they immediately headed to the right, down the path Emmett had taken him the day prior when he was so freaked out. It was empty now, most people headed for trains or the parking lot, and Jonah appreciated the privacy as he explained his situation with his family.
“My parents are the kind of humans who don’t like supes.
They blame them for humans being so low on the totem pole.
They’re ignorant to the point of self-sabotage and refuse to even consider any other kinds of thinking.
They tried to raise me and my siblings to think the same way.
It worked on my brother and sister but not me. ”
“Why not?” Emmett asked curiously. Like he knew how much this bothered Jonah, he reached for him, lacing their fingers together. It was reassuring and Jonah leaned against his shoulder for a minute to soak it in.
“I’m not really sure why I never believed them.
I was homeschooled just like the rest of my family, and the only people outside of my family I ever spent any time with were all humans raised like I was and hated supes just like they did.
When I was younger, I stayed quiet, too afraid to say anything about it and get into trouble, but as I got older, it got harder to ignore.
And when I chose to do something nice for a family of supes at sixteen, my parents lost it.
They tried to double-down, to ‘teach me right’, but the more I dug my heels in and asked why, the more angry they got.
I’m pretty sure the only reason they didn’t kick me out right then was because they hoped that I’d grow out of it or they could change me—to get me on the right path. ”
A path Jonah could never go down. No matter how much he wanted his parents to love him, he couldn’t treat others like shit to earn that love.
Especially not after meeting all the people at Spellbound.
The world was full of good people. Their species didn’t matter.
And Jonah refused to stick his head in the sand and pretend otherwise.
“Do they still think that?”
Emmett sounded uncertain, maybe a little worried, so Jonah was quick to reassure him with a gentle squeeze of his hand.
“I’m not sure if they believe it anymore, but it doesn’t really matter. Nothing is ever going to change.”
He blew out a frustrated breath. He was pretty sure his parents gave up on the idea of changing his mind after he graduated university.
By that point, he’d learned enough to know their rhetoric was wrong, and they were only making life more difficult on themselves by hiding away.
He did sometimes wonder why they hadn’t tossed him aside yet.
Their hesitation gave him hope that they’d let it go someday.
Maybe they’d love him enough to not cut him out completely.
Emmett stopped, tugging on their joined hands with a deep frown on his face. “Jonah… are you safe? With them?”
Pressing his lips together, Jonah considered his answer.
“I don’t think they’d hurt me. But I do think if they find out what I do or who I spend my time with, they’ll cut me out completely.
I’m hoping with enough time, they’ll come around.
They’re ignorant and a little cold, but they’re still my family. ”
Emmett searched his face, and Jonah could practically hear the werewolf fighting his protective instincts. He appreciated it, but he didn’t want Emmett interfering. He’d only make things worse.
Jonah’s phone buzzed, interrupting the conversation. He grimaced and whispered an apology as he fished it out of his pocket. When he saw the message, he couldn’t even hold back the groan of dismay.
“What? What is it?”
“I totally forgot. I need to take the end of the week off.”
“We’ve been worried about you, dear. Your mother tells us you’re working in the city now. You aren’t falling in with the wrong crowd are you?”
“Stick to your own kind, that’s what I always say.”
“You never know what you’ll catch from hanging out with those people.”
Holiday dinners with his family were a prime example of what Jonah hated the most about his family.
Every single one of them was a supe hater to their cores and would go out of their way to make a supe miserable if a supe had the unfortunate luck of setting foot in their town when any member of his family was around to see it.
Jonah was used to being the center of these kinds of conversations, but it was getting harder to ignore now that he had friends who were supes, who he knew didn’t deserve to be treated that way.
He gripped his fork tightly, keeping his eyes locked on his food so he didn’t slip and say something he’d regret.
“What is it that you’re doing in the city now, dear?” his grandmother asked.
It took him a minute to realize she was actually asking him a question and not just berating him like everyone else had been. Only when his father cleared his throat and glared at him did he figure it out.
“Oh, uh… I work in IT. Fixing computers for a human company.”
His uncle scoffed, taking another heavy swallow of his beer. “Still playin’ around with those computers, huh? Couldn’t find a real job?”
His uncle, like most of the men in his family, believed that a job wasn’t considered real unless you were doing something physical. Construction, farming, mechanics, that kind of thing. Anything that had you sitting behind a desk was pathetic in comparison.
“Yep,” Jonah gritted out as politely as he could muster. “I went to school for computer science, remember?”
“Pretty sure the only reason he hasn’t gone completely soft is because he’s still got chores at home,” James sneered, completely ignoring him. “Living at home is the only thing keeping him from becoming a supe loving woman.”
Jonah felt his lip twitch against a scowl.
Holding back comments around his family was hard enough.
Biting his tongue around his brother was excruciating.
He wanted nothing more than to scream at them all and maybe even point out that he made more as a temp than they did on the farm, especially since they refused to sell their products to anyone other than humans.
He looked at his dad, hoping he’d say something.
Jonah got his first paycheck the day prior and had paid the rent his parents had demanded.
He still got up early to do his chores, and he made sure not to stay out too late, even though it meant less time with Emmett.
Surely that was enough for him. But his dad only smirked at the comment, half-hiding the expression behind his beer can.
“You could have at least joined the military like your cousin,” his aunt pointed out, rubbing her son’s shoulder proudly. “At least then you’d be working for a good cause. What company are you even working for anyway?”
Jonah was prepared for that question. Ever since his mom had reminded him about the holiday dinner and that it was necessary for him to be there, Jonah had been preparing.
He’d built a company website, including an employee roster of all humans, connections to other human companies, and even a contact number that would send them to a recording that sounded like any other company directory in the world, to seal the legitimacy of it.
He picked an abandoned building on the edge of the human side of the city, and he asked for Roz’s help manipulating the online searches for it so the pictures would make it look legit.
She’d raised an eyebrow at the request but hadn’t argued with him about it, which he appreciated.
“Stonewell Technology Solutions,” Jonah answered, pulling out his phone to show them the webpage already up on the screen. “I’m a junior employee, so I mostly do tech support.”
“How do we know you didn’t make all that up?” James scoffed. “Why would we trust some image on your phone?”
“Look it up, then,” Jonah countered. “A simple web search of the name will bring up the website.”
Several phones came out as they all attempted to pick apart his story, but he and Roz had tested every angle they could think of.
No matter how they looked at it, they wouldn’t be able to find anything illegitimate about the business unless they looked past the surface, which his family wasn’t skilled enough in tech to do.
His uncle huffed, tossing the phone onto the table and grabbing his beer instead. “Still not a man’s job. You’d think after bein’ raised by a good hardworkin’ man like your father, you’d have learned the value of a real job.”
With nothing left to pick at, the conversation moved on from Jonah for a little while.
They all went back to pretending he didn’t exist, and Jonah found himself relieved to be invisible for once.
He’d practiced his lies before the dinner to make sure he didn't slip, but it was work to make sure he didn’t say anything damning.
His phone buzzed in his pocket, and he carefully slid it out, hiding it under the table while he checked the message.
Emmett: I know you said you were going to be too busy to talk today, so don’t answer these texts. They’re just to make you smile since you said it’d be a rough day.
Emmett: What’s brown and sticky?
Emmett: Wait for it…
Emmett: A stick!
Jonah bit back a snort but didn’t reply.
He knew if he started a conversation with Emmett, he wouldn’t want to stop, and someone at the table would notice.
He was careful with his phone after James surprised him in his truck the other day, and he didn’t want to give anyone in his family a reason to demand he show it to them.
Emmett: Why can’t you trust stairs?
Emmett: Because they’re always up to something.
Emmett: The kids loved that one. They think I’m hilarious.
Jonah did, too.
“Who are you texting?” one of his cousins demanded from a few seats down on his left.
Jonah tucked his phone away, keeping his expression neutral as he replied, “A friend from work.”
“You mean your boyfriend?” James sneered.
That caught his mom’s attention. She’d spent the night ignoring him as usual, but she finally looked his way at James’s comment.
“You’re dating?”
He wasn’t prepared for this line of questioning, and his immediate reply would have been to say no, but he got the feeling they wouldn’t let it go if he did.
And James might bring up the confrontation at his truck.
Instead, he went with the lie he and Emmett had set up for the office.
Who knew, maybe it’d help if he was out late again if they thought he was dating someone.
“Yeah. It’s still new.”
Another cousin whipped out her phone, pulling up the company website again. “Which one is he?”
His face twitched against a grimace as he pointed at a picture of a random human he’d found online that he’d stuck Emmett’s name under.
He was a decent looking guy, but he wasn’t Emmett.
After knowing the werewolf a few weeks now, Jonah wasn’t sure he’d ever find a human as attractive as he found Emmett.
“Well… at least he’s human,” his mother finally said. “You should bring him home for dinner at some point.”
Yeah, there was no way in hell that was ever going to happen. But Jonah knew better than to say that out loud.