He was going to look for Jonah in the storage room from before but showed up just in time to watch Jonah disappear into Rosalind’s office.
“Hey, Rosalind, did you want to–”
“Oh, goddess, no. Roz. Call me Roz. Rosalind is so old fashioned,” the fairy complained.
Emmett poked his head into the room, catching Jonah’s amused smirk as he nodded. “Alright, Roz. Did we want to put the new computers on a private network first while setting them up? That way we can be sure nothing will sneak in while we’re setting up firewalls and stuff like that.”
Roz gave a nod of approval. “Smart. We’ll connect them to my private network starting tomorrow. You’ve done enough for today.” She waved him away, then raised an eyebrow when she noticed Emmett. “You’re here a lot. Are you interested in tech or just being nosy?”
“Neither. I’m here for him,” Emmett said, jerking his chin at Jonah. Ever since Jonah pointed out that she was deaf, he was careful to face her directly when speaking and enunciate like Jonah told him. He was curious, though. “Can I ask how you speak so well? I would have never known you were deaf if Jonah hadn’t pointed it out.”
“A spell,” she commented blandly. Emmett gave her a flat look, making her smirk. “I was born deaf, so reproducing words out loud was always hard for me. I got teased a lot at school. There were some options for implants and stuff like that, but I adamantly refused as a kid. Instead, my parents put me in a clinical trial for a voice smoothing spell here with Spellbound’s Medical Innovations research team. I’ve had it long enough now, and it’s been adapted enough times that my voice almost sounds natural, according to everyone else anyway.” She shrugged. “I couldn’t tell either way, but it stopped the bullying and pitying looks I used to get.”
“That’s really cool,” Jonah said, looking at her curiously. “Is it invisible?”
She shook her head, pulling her hair up to show a string of runes behind her ear. “I don’t think any spell is completely invisible. I could probably glamor it, but I figured why bother? I’m not ashamed of being deaf, and the spell was just to make my life a little easier. No one has said anything negative about it, and if they did now, I’d destroy their online presence faster than they could blink.”
Emmett snorted, leaning against the doorframe with a smirk. He spoke again when Roz looked back at him. “Remind me not to piss you off. I don’t have much of an online presence, but I don’t want to make enemies with someone who can destroy me without even giving me a chance to fight back.”
Roz smirked at him, her grin entirely feline and too smug, but Emmett liked it on her. She was nice to Jonah, he wasbouncing every time he left work because she gave him tasks he enjoyed, and she gave no shits. She was fun.
“Alright, enough about me. I’ve got more to do before I leave. Shoo, both of you.” She waved them toward the door, spinning to face her screens again. The music started blasting a moment later, but at least she was polite enough to wait until they were out of the room.
Emmett’s ears flattened, and he grimaced. “She doesn’t play it that loud when you’re in the room, right?”
Jonah snickered and shook his head. “No. She turns it off when I flicker the lights. You don’t have to walk me to my truck, you know. That douchewolf isn’t here anymore. I’m not afraid to get there on my own.”
“Douchewolf?” Emmett cackled. “I’m so calling him that to his face. And I’m not here as an escort. I’m here as a fake boyfriend to steal you away for another meal.”
Jonah grimaced when he pressed the button for the elevator, making Emmett cock his head.
“Is something wrong?”
“No…”
Yeah, that was a lie and not even a good one. He didn’t even need magic to tell Jonah was lying to him. He caught Jonah’s chin with his knuckle, guiding his face up and giving him an expectant look. Jonah’s shoulders slumped in defeat.
“I got home too late last night. My parents said if I came home late again, I’d be sleeping on the porch. It’s better if I go straight home.”
Emmett’s mouth fell open in horror. “They’d make you sleep outside because you came home late?” he squawked. What kind of family would do such a thing?
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’twantto 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.
