CHAPTER 11

Alysha

MAC SAT AT THE TABLE I had sent him to. He remained there through both the breakfast rush and then through the lunch rush. I felt bad. I’d been so focused on making sure I kept things up and running at the store that I hadn’t even though of taking him something to eat.

Thankfully, Jade had helped me out on that front. So, when the lunch rush finally died down, I decided it was my turn to take care of my genie.

“Hey,” I said as I came around the counter to stop in front of Mac. The clothes I had bought him weren’t perfect by any means, but they didn’t detract from his general deliciousness.

Mac stood from the table and I was once again reminded of his towering height. It didn’t intimidate me the way it might some other women but made me feel safe. As if he could really take of himself and me.

“Sorry, I kind of forgot about you over here,” I tried to make my voice reveal how sorry I was, but I was too tired, and I ended up sounding more strained than apologetic.

“You’ve been busy,” Mac’s eyes crinkled on the sides as he smiled down at me.

“Yeah, you’d think these people would learn by now that the coffee sucks around here,” I gave a nervous laugh and pushed my hair behind my ear.

“It’s not the coffee they come for,” an unreadable expression crossed his face. One that made my cheeks heat up.

“You liked my muffins, huh?” I glanced at the crumbles scattered on his table.

Stepping closer to me, he took me by the hips and murmured, “There’s only one other thing I could imagine tastes better than those delicious creations.”

I made a choking sound and searched around the shop, worried someone would hear the double meaning in his words. But no one was paying us any mind. Well, besides Jade, who wasn’t even trying to pretend she wasn’t eavesdropping.

“Um, why don’t we run down to the sandwich shop and get us some lunch, okay?” I pressed a palm against his chest and he dropped his hands.

Waving at Jade, I walked out of the store and turn right. I didn’t need to look behind me to know Mac had followed. The heat from his body warmed my skin and something inside of me urged me closer. I slowed down slightly so we were walking side by side.

“Your friend Jade really cares about you,” Mac said after a moment.

“Yeah, she’s great.”

“She wanted to know about what happened with your ex-boyfriend yesterday.”

I stopped in my tracks and then started back up again, “She did?” I asked cautiously. As my best friend, I usually told Jade everything. Except when it came to Jared.

When Jared and I had originally started dating we’d been great together. Everyone had been so happy for us that it had almost been like a dream. Even Jade hadn’t been able to find fault in him, and she could find an error in a twenty-foot painting. Believe me, she did it once!

Then suddenly, Jared started investing. Which turned into him needing to borrow money. At first, it was only a little bit here and there. Then it turned into large amounts, and cosigning on loans and credit cards. I’d been young and in love. I didn’t know any better.

Eventually, I’d realized what was happening and had told him no more. He’d argued with me and had even grabbed me once. Hard enough to leave bruises. That had been it for me.

I’d never told Jade how bad it had actually gotten. Or how much much worse it could have been if I hadn’t gotten out. And I still didn’t plan on telling her, or anyone else either.

“She’s worried about you,” Mac said after a moment when I didn’t follow up my question with an explanation.

“I’m sure she is,” I replied and then sneaked a look at his face. His brows were furrowed and a frown marred his lips. I gave an audible sigh, “Don’t worry about it. He won’t bother us anymore.”

“But what if he does?”

“Then I’ll deal with it,” I snapped and then sighed again, “I know what you are going to say.”

“Really?” Mac smirked, “What am I going to say?”

I crossed my arms over my chest and came to a stop, “That I should just use one of my wishes to get rid of him.”

Mac tucked his hands into his pockets and rocked back on his heels as he asked, “Then, why don’t you?”

I unfolded my arm and gestured wildly, “Because magic can’t solve all my problems. That’s something I have to just do on my own. I’ve done fine so far. Why give in now?”

“But what if I want to help you?” Mac took a step toward me, his fingers brushing my cheek, “What if I don’t want to see you hurt?”

I brushed his hand away, “You can’t do magic without me making a wish, remember? It’s part of the rules.”

“Right,” Mac dropped his hand and stepped back.

“Anyways, we’re here,” I waved a hand at the building next to us. Mac turned around to look at the place.

The only sandwich shop in town was a mom-and-pop place called Walter’s. Whether or not the original owner’s name was Walter, I didn’t know. The current owners were a cute little Middle Eastern couple who always gave me extra pickles.

I walked up to the counter and ordered my usual, which also happened to be Jade’s, and then asked Mac what he wanted. His eyes studied the menu for a long while before finally placing his order.

“Are you sure?” I asked after he gave the teenager at the register his order, “That has peppers and hot sauce on it.”

Giving me a lopsided grin, he nodded, “I like hot food,” I stared him down until he added on, “Flavor wise, not temperature.”

We waited in silence as our orders were made. When our number was called, I reached for the bags but Mac beat me to it with a grin. Instead, of arguing about feminism and all that, I let him carry them. After all, I’d been working all day, while he had just sat there.

We remained silent on the way back, but every time our hands brushed against each other a little shiver would run through me. I almost grabbed his hand just to get it over with, but he beat me too it. Except instead of just holding my hand , he dragged me into a narrow alley between two buildings.

“What are you doing?” I asked before he pressed me against the brick wall and covered my mouth with his.

My arms automatically wrapped around his neck as I arched on my toes to get closer. The bags in his hands dropped to the ground and I tried to pull away to check on them, but Mac cupped my breast and my mind went blank. His mouth worked down from my lips to my neck where he found a particularly sensitive spot and bit down on it.

I let out a delighted squeal which turned into a throaty moan as his hands worked their magic on my chest. When I started rubbing myself against him like a cat in heat, I realized we had to stop before it went any further.

“Wait,” I breathed, pushing him back a little bit, “I thought we were going to slow down?”

“This isn’t slow?” he smirked and looked me over, “you have more clothes on now than last night.”

He had me there. But while every fiber of my being screamed at me to say screw it and let him have his way with me, we were in a public place. And I didn’t feel like getting arrested.

I didn’t answer his question. Instead I bent down and picked up the bag he had dropped. Luckily, it hadn’t torn open and all of our food was still sitting nicely inside. Shooting Mac a chastising glare—which I didn’t really mean—I started down the side walk once more.

We arrived back at the shop just in time. Jade was getting swamped and I handed the bag quickly over to Mac to help her. When we were done clearing out the line, Jade and I sat down at the table with Mac.

“We‘d better eat quickly,” Jade commented, “They are like ravaging raptors today.”

Mac gave me a questioning look and I leaned over to whisper to him, “It’s a dinosaur. You know a large lizard-like creature.”

With a nod, Mac turned back to his food. I didn’t know if he understood what I was talking about. If he didn’t know what a dinosaur was then they must not have existed in his world. Come to think of it, I didn’t know much about him at all.

A customer came through the door but before I could get up to help them, Jade jumped up and said, “I’ve got this.”

With Jade away from the table, I took the moment to voice my curiosity.

“So, Mac,” I said after a few bites into my sandwich, “What’s your home like?”

The genie paused mid-bite and stared at me as if it were unheard of that I would ask about him. He took another bite of his sandwich, which he did in fact enjoy in spite of the hot ingredients. Chewing it for a moment, he swallowed and then said thoughtfully, “Different.”

I wanted to pull my hair out. It was such a guy answer. As a genie, I would have expected him to give me something more than that.

“Come now, you know all about me. And Jade’s going to be back any minute. You have to give me something,” I egged him on, trying to get just a tiny bit more insight into his world.

“Well, we don’t have cars for one.”

I nodded, “I expected that. If you can all poof where you want, there really isn’t a point to it, is there?”

“Oh, we can’t all do that,” Mac shook his head, “We walk most places, or ride a horse.” he glanced up at the ceiling for a moment and tapped his chin, “Come to think of it though, it’s not much bigger than your town here.”

“What isn’t?”

“Tavokia,” Mac stated simply, taking another huge bit of his sandwich.

“Tavokia,” I said slowly, “Is that where you live?”

“Uhuh, I’m the crown prince actually. Or well I was,” his brow furrowed as he frowned.

“Wow,” my brain swirled with the knowledge, “To think I’ve been housing a real prince. But what are you doing acting as a genie? Shouldn’t you be taking care of your kingdom?”

Mac winced, “Well, about that. I got in trouble, you see,” I motioned for him to go on, “You know the way I was when we first met?”

“You mean an arrogant asshole?” I asked with a smile.

He shot me a warning look, then continued, “Yeah, well, I used to be much worse. So bad that my father thought I needed to learn a lesson. And so, here I am,” he held his arms out to the sidesh “Stuck on your plane until whatever spell he put on me is satisfied I have learned humility. Then I can go home.”

“Man,” I said after a moment, “That sucks.”

“You know what else sucks?” Jade called from the counter, “Working by myself.”

My attention darted to the line that had grown quite a bit since Jade had gotten up. I sat the rest of my sandwich down and hurried to help her.

“Sorry about that,” I said as I took her place behind the register.

“Don’t worry about it,” she waved me off, “If I was you, I wouldn’t be able to pay attention to anything else but that man candy.”

Laughing at her description, I twisted around to take the cup from her. The look on her face changed from teasing to worry as her eyes focused on something behind me.

“Uh oh,” Jade said as the door to the shop opened up.

“What?” I asked, a grin still on my face. When my eyes followed hers to the door, my smile dropped. Jared stood before the counter, an eager expression on his face, “What the hell are you doing here?”