Page 11 of Jinn

“I wanted to learn while I was here anyway.” He’d built himself a thick roast beef sandwich he brought back to the table. He moaned when he took a bite of the sandwich, the noise going straight to Finn’s groin.

He abruptly stood, ignoring Ajax’s startled look and took his plate to the sink. “I’m going outside to make sure we don’t have any more trying to climb the fence.”

“Okay,” Ajax said slowly.

Finn felt the man’s eyes on him as he walked out of the kitchen.

Chapter Seven

Finn

A small crowd grew overnight outside the gate. Finn stayed out of sight but kept an eye on them the whole next morning. He felt bad for Ajax, who only wanted time alone to create his solo music. Of course, he’d chosen a career that could bring fame, so he had to be used to this.

When Finn let himself into the house, it was filled with someone else’s music. It was a dreamy sort of music with a soft male voice and an appealing melody. He walked into the kitchen to find Ajax slowly dancing in place, a rapt expression on his face as he sang along with lyrics that talked about losing themself in the feeling and taking it back to that moment before starting to feel broken.

When the song was over, Ajax opened his eyes, caught Finn watching him and instead of being startled or embarrassed as one usually does when caught dancing alone, he only gave Finn a smile. “Enjoy that song?”

Finn nodded. “Why did you get into the harder music when you love this kind so much?”

“Because I love that, too. I’m currently kind of obsessed with Sleep Token. There’s beauty to be found in all kinds of music. That was “Be Slow” by Harrison Storm—just love his work. But I’ve yearned to write this sort of music for years, and it was finally time to take a step back from the band and get these songs down.”

Even though it was personal and hella nosy, Finn couldn’t help asking, “Did your breakup have anything to do with the timing?”

Ajax picked up his stack of recipes off the counter and shuffled through them for a couple of moments before answering. “That played a part in my decision, yes. My relationship with Alan wasn’t healthy. Still isn’t, if you count the way he’s blowing up my phone. When I bother to turn it on, that is.” He must have decided on what he was making for dinner because he separated out one of the papers and walked to the freezer to pull out a package of ground beef.

“Can I ask you something else?”

He looked up. “Finn, you can ask me anything.”

“In your band, you sing about…monsters a lot. Why is that?”

Ajax was silent for a long time as he studied him. He set the beef on the counter and turned to face Finn. He seemed to be weighing his answer before he finally spoke. “Because I see things that others do not.”

Finn held his breath as his heart skipped a beat. “Do you mean that in the literal sense?”

“Literal, yes, but figurative as well.” Ajax walked closer to him and his scent hit Finn’s nose. Vanilla, like those candles he was always burning.

He waited as Ajax studied him. He must have come to a decision, because he gave an almost imperceptible nod. “There are people in this world who look differently to me than they doto others. And I can sense a difference in some who look just as human as I do. You, for instance.”

“Me?” Finn was still having trouble breathing. “What do you sense?”

“The moment you walked into this house that first day, I felt your magic. You’re not like me, are you? You don’t have any physical characteristics that I can see with my eyes, but there’s some kind of magic built into you, isn’t there? One of my band members is like you. He easily passes for human but can shift into a wolf. But I could see the subtle differences he hides behind magic, and I could feel the presence of his magic before I ever saw him change.”

Finn had never paid attention to any of the other members of the band, or he might have picked up on that. Though cameras and videos captured only what preternaturals wanted humans to see. The glamours worked even through secondary imagery. “So, you could see what he was from the beginning?”

The corner of Ajax’s mouth went up. “From the day I met him in high school. Well, I was in high school, and I thought he was just a few years older. Turned out I was wrong about his age. The two of us have been in the band the longest. He’s a good friend and is one of the two…people…who know that I can see what so many try to hide.” His half smile switched over to a smirk. “He was not a fan of Alan’s. I always wondered if Matt could sense something off about my ex.”

Still reeling over the fact Ajax was one of the humans like Clive, Ezra, and Lonnie, Finn welcomed the quick change in subject. For that moment anyway. “How long did you date Alan?”

“For four years. I honestly thought we were forever for a short time.”

“What happened?”

“I started talking about my solo music, and he was vehemently against it. Turned out he liked having a famous boyfriend and didn’t want to risk losing that.”

Finn scowled. “He’s a fool.”

“I was the fool. There were signs. He constantly wanted to go to parties filled with famous people, and he spent my money like he thought it was a never-ending well. He always stopped for photographers and collected the images.”

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