Chapter 13
There were no kisses, not even a caress. The only time Jene touched me was when he delivered me back to my home. It was almost too surreal to stand in my tidy kitchen and consider my day.
The only words Jene spoke to me were the ones about him returning in the morning. He left before I could say anything else to him.
I stood there in the quiet of my kitchen, and a loneliness that I'd never suffered before surrounded me. Why did Jene just leave so abruptly? With everything I found out today I wanted to talk it over with someone. That someone had just left me without even a backwards glance.
As much as I wanted to throw my frustrations at him, I never got the chance. The man had all of the years since my birth to think over what to do or how to act around me. It bothered me that he didn't seem to have a clue in how to respond to me even now.
Harrison had captured his lamp when he turned fourteen, and Jene had known about me. I'd never known of his presence until a few days ago. Jene had all this time to get to know me, but he'd made no effort.
It drove me crazy and upset me in equal measure. Didn't Jene want happiness? Didn't he want what my mum had made just for him? If he didn't, then why?
His whole 'your life is yours' argument bothered me too. My life had never been mine. Even though I'd only learnt that today, I knew the truth of it because my mother had told me.
With my mind tumbling with everything, I went to bed and hoped that something would clear this muddle. It didn't. My mind kept me awake for most of the night, along with vivid emotions.
I had met my mother, who I'd thought dead for my whole life. That gave me such wonder and happiness. Once I recalled that she had only had me to give Jene his lifelong partner, I became more subdued. I was born of necessity. In a way, I wish I knew none of what I'd heard today. I wanted to return to my happy place of ignorance.
I'm still not sure if it was mum's words or Jene's obvious rejection of me that bothered me the most. Maybe it was both. Mum's purpose for me meant nothing if Jene didn't want anything to do with me. It made my life a bit worthless. That thought really left me down in the dumps.
By the morning, I just lay like a useless lump in my bed. I didn't want to return to the Realm. The last thing I wanted to do was to face my mother or Jene.
Lying in bed and pretending avoidance was my only answer at the moment. Was it childish? Sure, but I'd only met my mother yesterday, so I should have some form of childish allowances.
"Little One, where do you hide?" Jene's all too delicious voice came at a distance, and I stifled my groan.
Burying my head under my blanket, I chose to believe that I didn't hear his voice. If he can ignore me as well as he did, then I could return the favour. Yes, it was as dopey as hell, but it was all I had.
I didn't want to face the destined partner that I'd been made to be with. I also didn't want to face that I was the answer to someone else's problem. My whole existence was the answer to that problem, and my mother now saw it as solved.
"Please, stop hiding. I do not have the patience for this behaviour today." Jene sounded peeved, but I didn't really care.
Yesterday I'd found out that my whole life was a lie. My mother never died. Instead, she was the queen of the realm of the genies. A lunatic had tried to kidnap me, only for me to burn them to a crispness that still bothered me. And, perhaps craziest and worst of all, my mother made me only as a deliberate conception. All she wanted was a partner for Jene.
I flipped the pendant she had given me around in my fingers. My thoughts hadn't stopped churning since I'd discovered all of this information. The more I thought about it all, the more I realised how ridiculous a predicament I'd ended up in.
Jene didn't want me. Those words and the realisation hurt me deep inside. As much as mum suggested that I should shove myself into his space, he wasn't comfortable with it. He had given me the best kiss of my life, and now I floundered.
"Little One, where are you?" Jene's voice took on a frantic edge, and I knew I'd have to answer him.
"I'm here, but I'm in no mood to get up, let alone go to your stupid Realm." I lifted my head from the bedclothes to shout before scurrying back under.
"We have no time for nonsense. She-Gen has made time for us." Jene only seemed more frustrated.
"Don't care what you and your Realm want. Go away!" I retorted sounding like an immature brat, but I almost couldn't help myself.
"I cannot apologise enough for all you discovered yesterday. Today we may have the wish removed so you can see my lamp. You'll find yourself free of me the moment I have my lamp returned." Jene declared, but I detected a hint of uncertainty in his words.
"I can't do this today, Jene. I just can't." Yes, that was me whining up a storm.
"Up, Little One. Never forget that I have magic within your world." Jene said from outside of my bedroom door.
Moments later my blanket started trying to wriggle out of my fingers. There was no way I intended to suffer any of this magic nonsense. I snatched my blankets to me with a rough tug.
"Go away!" I snapped.
Those magic hands returned to their invisible yanking to steal my comfy blanket away. I held on with firm resolution. It took me a moment to realise that I hadn't seen him yet, and he'd kept using magic on me.
"You are so unfair! Stop using magic on me when I haven't got any." I protested.
"We must leave." He demanded, as he stormed into my room.
"Then go already!"
I dragged myself from beneath my covers, mostly so I could glare at Jene and his interference. I did my best glower as I pushed to my knees to face him.
Sapphire blue eyes latched onto mine. That same pull I recalled from yesterday trapped our eyes together. For a long second, I found it hard to breathe, and I could only stare at his perfection.
He approached my bed going a little slack jawed. Not once did his eyes leave mine, but his gaze burnt over every inch of my skin. It was hot, delightful, and just the same as yesterday, I wanted more.
"Remove your gaze." Jene demanded in a husky tone that thrilled along my nerve endings.
"We're not going over this old argument again, are we?"
"You have a power far greater than I, so you must be the one to remove your gaze." He had stepped closer to me as he spoke, and something pleasant flowed through me.
"No! You're the all powerful genie. Why don't you sort out your own issues? After all, you're the one who walked into my bedroom."
By this time, he stood next to my bed and towered over me. His fingers slid onto my bare shoulders, and underneath the thin straps of my nightdress. The heat of his fingers, the tantalising touch, and his heated gaze kept me enthralled.
With soft, delicate touches, he caressed my skin. I could barely breathe with how delicious it felt. One of his fingers slid against my neck, and I realised that he had trouble stopping himself from touching me.
"I beg you. Take your eyes off me. I do not wish to do something that will lead to regret." He pleaded.
I decided to do as I thought yesterday, I'd run with it for as far as I could. Who could resist a lusty Jene with his hands touching bare skin? I knew I couldn't.
"I'm not going to regret a single moment. After that kiss from yesterday, you pretty much own me." I told him. Something behind his eyes eased and flared at the same time.
"Do not say such things to me." He spoke softly, but I heard the tension.
"Why not? It's the truth."
Jene went to say something, but his fingers smoothed against my skin. His hands could reach from the top of my shoulders to my collarbone. It thrilled me that he was so much bigger than me. There was something about it that scintillated me. The way he stroked my skin left me a tad delirious.
"Why don't you want this?" I asked as I reached up to touch that perfectly symmetrical face of his.
"It is not right." He uttered.
I yanked my eyes away from his. A gasp escaped him as if he hadn't expected such a move. His fingers on me stilled, but he didn't move away.
"Do you want to remain alone, Jene? Is loneliness what you want?" I asked as I removed my hands from his face.
"My lamp is what I want." He sounded distant, but he still hadn't removed his hands from me.
"I'll get your lamp. After that, you have to make a decision. You have to figure out what you want. I'm not that woman who betrayed you. I might have the same name, but that's all my mother's doing. If you want what she made especially for you, then you need to make a decision about me." I slipped out of his hands and moved back across the bed.
He stared at me with this pained longing that left an ache inside of me. I took me a lot not to go back over and to offer him comfort. I was right, and he knew that.
"I am well aware that you are in no way... her." He choked on the last word.
"Then why do you keep pushing me away?"
"As I have previously stated, you have your life and I have no desire to take you away from that life."
"What if I don't mind leaving this so called life of mine?" I scurried back towards him and poked him in the chest. His bare, naked chest only covered by that tiny vest of his.
"You should not have to give up your life for me. She-Gen should have never done what she did."
"Gawd, you're going to keep up the righteous bit, aren't you? She had me, there's no denying that because here I am. Ta-da!" I waved my hands over me.
"I am well aware of your existence." The dry tone of his voice made me raise my brows.
"You're so darn frustrating." I grouched as I yanked the edges of his vest towards me.
He stumbled against the edge of the bed. For a second, he placed a knee on the bed before rethinking his actions. Before he could move away, I tugged harder so he lost his balance.
He collapsed onto me with a muttered grunt. I chose not to waste a minute of precious time. I crushed my lips against his, moved my body so I could touch as much as him as possible, and slid my hands inside that vest of his.
"Little One." He whispered as he tried to move away from me.
"Don't even try to make a lame excuse." I said before I kissed him again.
I sucked on his bottom lip to try to distract his thoughts. It worked better than any wish. His lips pressed hard against mine, and I slid my tongue out to taste him.
That drove him wild, and our kiss turned fiery. He blazed his lips across mine, and eagerly pressed his body against mine. I revelled in the passion that turned into an inferno between us.
When his fingers once again slid under the strap of my nightdress, I shivered with anticipation. He moved one strap off my shoulder. One of his fingers followed the trail of that strap. The lightest of touches skimmed across the side of my breast tantalising me. I moaned and offered up my body to him.
Jene froze and stared at me for a long moment. Before I could say anything, he'd vaulted off my bed and stood on the other side of the bedroom with his back to me. His body shook with all that we'd just shared together.
"Dress yourself, we must leave to see the She-Gen." Jene snapped and my shoulders slumped.
What was it going to take to get through to him? We just shared the most passionate moment of my life, only for him to turn aloof again.
"I meant what I said, Jene. You have to make the decision if you want to live in loneliness for the rest of your eternal life." I told him.
Jene marched out of the room and I sighed. Mum had it right, he was so frustratingly stubborn, righteous and moral.
Having his touch on me this morning reaffirmed all of what my mother had told me. That man could scramble my mind and emotions with one little look. Every time he touched me I only craved more of his touch.
In wanting Jene, I had to accept the title of Genie-Us and all that it entailed. I admitted, if only to myself, that I wasn't quite agreeing with it yet. I knew with time that I would. It was only a matter of time passing.
Now I had to worry about Jene accepting me as his Genie-Us. He'd already suffered through years of the one he thought was his lifetime love. What if he couldn't accept me? What if he never saw past everything that had happened to him with Evil Isla? What if he never chose me?
It seemed that life had become nothing but unanswered questions for me. Every step I took now seemed to be the wrong one. I had no idea what I should do next.