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’sname 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.
CHAPTER NINETEEN
After Jonah’s description of his family and how unhappy he sounded on the phone after the human holiday was over, Emmett was sure Jonah would show up to work the following week in a terrible mood. He’d had to take a few days off and spend a long weekend with his family, only ever managing to sneak in a few text messages throughout the day when he wasn’t busy.
Determined to put him in a better mood, Emmett called Kian early, much to the fae’s annoyance, to beg for Jonah’s schedule, then pleaded with Tasha to switch him to the main building’s security office so he could be close to Jonah. He sold it as him wanting to stick close in case the human had any issues, since four days apart definitely meant Jonah didn’t smell like him anymore, but he was pretty sure his cousin didn’t believe him. It didn’t matter. She agreed in the end, and he practically bounced as he headed to the parking lot to meet Jonah when he arrived.
The poor human looked exhausted when he slid out of his truck, and when Emmett handed him a coffee he’d grabbed from Peri’s Place, Jonah gave him a look like he’d hung the moon.
“Thanks for this. I feel like I’m going to need a few gallons to get through the day.”
“I figured you might need it. How’d the dinner go with your family?”
The only response he got was a grunt, but he didn’t take offense. Mostly because Jonah was busy sipping his coffee like it was nirvana in a cup. He leaned against his truck, eyes closed, and he looked beat. Not physically, he didn’t have dark circles or anything, but emotionally wrung out. It worried Emmett, and his instincts screamed at him to fix it.
When Jonah blew out a breath and straightened, jerking his chin toward Spellbound, Emmett stopped him with a hand on his arm, drawing him in for a hug. Jonah came willingly, and Emmett tried not to grin like an idiot when the human practically melted into his arms. His tail gave away his joy, wagging furiously, but when Jonah tried to look, he squeezed him tighter and muttered, “Ignore that.”
