The Genie's Witch (Dirty Djinn) (7 page)

“Stay and finish your lunch. It’ll be better for both of us. Please, understand. All of this – I mean. I’ll only be five minutes and then I’ll head straight to the shuttle.”

“Of course.” He stood up to watch her leave over the partition. For the first time since meeting her, she didn’t’ look back. His chest burned with a heart that ached as if someone else held his lamp. That’s what a lamp was anyway. Heart and home. And his had just disappeared into an elevator.

He’d fight to keep her. No question of that. Djinn had gone mad convincing mates to stay. Some turned to unspeakable things. Not him. He’d woo her unrelentingly and would enjoy watching her fall for him.
If
there were any competitors for her love, he’d squash them. He’d felt he truth of their future and with a little patience, he’d find a way to show it to Dinah.

He tried for a soul cleansing breath, but the tightness in his chest only doubled. That meant one thing - Dinah was on the move again and away from him. She must be in the airport shuttle already.

Impossibly, the vise around his heart made another turn, this one tripling the pain already left by Dinah’s exit. He patted the empty space around his neck and turned around.

A certain redhead stood at their table. He was only an arm’s length away, but it was enough for her slip into Dinah’s seat. He didn’t have to look to know that the space beside his phone would be empty.

Karlin turned around and smiled, holding his lamp in her palm. It glinted under the florescent lights as she twirled it in the air. Two disasters in rapid succession.

“I’ll take that back, now.”

“Oh, I’m sure you’d love to. I did a little bit of research in my room, genie. I believe you and I have a lot to talk about.”

“Hand it over. I’m not in the mood.”

“I am.”

“That desperate to get a man?” He prepared for the slap this time and managed to duck it. Karlin had put so much weight behind it that when she didn’t connect with his face, she stumbled to the ground. He dodged that too, happy to see her faceplant the floor.

She jumped up glaring and shooed off would be Samaritans. “Your lamp and I are heading to Galveston tomorrow. If you want it back, meet me at six.”

“Is that a wish?”

“I’m not that stupid.”

He reached for his phone, but she was quicker, sliding it into her low cut top before disappearing up the stairs.

If they’d been alone, he’d have wrestled her to the ground and taken it. Or at the very least, made her waste a wish to get him off her. That was still a possibility, but here in a place packed with people, tackling a screaming woman would only lead to more trouble.

Out of options, heavy feet walked to a room still wrecked and tousled from his earlier lovemaking with Dinah. Tig fell against the pillow, desperate to catch her scent again. With nothing else to do, he curled up against it and waited for Karlin’s wish.

*****

T
ig met her at the shuttle pickup point as requested. He didn’t roll his eyes at Karlin’s smirk or say anything beyond a grunted greeting. He wouldn’t show how disgusted this situation left him. Let it sit. Let her think this was routine. His plan was simple, answer her three flipping wishes, get himself free and move on with his life. He’d been in this position before. Yet this time, he carried the small hope that it would be his last, thanks to Dinah.

The glint in Karlin’s beady eyes was worrisome though and indicated she meant to drag this out as long as possible. “Aren’t you an obedient little boy?”

“I can be, for a wish.”

“I’ve already planned out my wishes.”

“Let’s hear ‘em.”

Karlin’s fake nails tapped on the seat in front of them. “All in good time. First we get to Galveston and then we’ll talk.”

“Why there?”

“Why? Two islands, home to French and Spanish magic in the New World?”

He wanted very badly to ask how she intended to get to Galveston in the first place. She couldn’t have known that was his original place of departure, so how had she expected him to get a return ticket? He wasn’t going to pay for it. Not without a wish. He resisted a smile at the thought. She’d make this too easy.

Yet at the ticket counter, he found the woman had better sense than he’d given her credit for. Instead of asking him for his ticket or to buy or to do
anything
, Karlin whipped out her credit card and paid for his seat herself. It was the desk agent who asked for his ID, not Karlin, and he handed over one of the few he used for emergencies, a Johnson Smith.

He didn’t acknowledge the woman’s triumphant grin as they made their way through the airport. Instead, he sat in silence and watched the departure screen.

“I consider this an investment. By the time I’m done with you, it’ll be chump change.” She looked at him, lips parted, clearly angling for some sort of reaction. He picked up a newspaper to block her view. What was happening in the world, he couldn’t tell. The words on the page all merged together as his mind drifted back to Dinah. Memories of her served as his one refuge.

“Not in a talking mood?”

He didn’t look up. “They’re boarding soon.”

Generally, he didn’t mind granting wishes, but he didn’t want this bitch to have anything. However, as long as she had his lamp, he was at her mercy and his wants didn’t mean anything. This could go on for years or end immediately. If he pissed her off, she could squash the lamp and destroy who he is. Had she read that far in her stupid research?

His only hope rested in greed and vanity. Humans were a remarkably consistent lot. Those two sins built the basis of most wishes. She’d screw up sooner or later.

When the flight attendant came by, Karlin ordered herself a drink. Nothing for him, of course. She struggled with the top, grunting and twisting. “If I ask you to open this, will it count as a wish?”

“Yes.”

“Then never mind, but they shouldn’t make these things so hard to open.”

“Done.”

“What?” But the top popped off before she shut her mouth. “That doesn’t count!”

He shrugged and reclined his seat. “You wanted something and now it’s done. Not my rules.”

“That’s not fair.”

“Not as fair as kidnapping a grown man or...”

“Shut...nothing. I think we should both just—”

“Yes?”

Karlin shook her head, opened her mouth then slammed it closed. “Whatever.”

The talking stopped for the rest of the flight. She also refused to speak through baggage claim, in the taxi to the hotel or in the hotel itself. He didn’t mind a bit. He was dead tired and wanted to be left alone. Blessedly, she put him in his own room, probably to prevent herself from slipping up again.

Her choice in hotels didn’t reach any measure of surprise.  It was the type tourists gravitated to. Tig’s hands caressed the walls of the old Colonial District establishment. The place had a story to tell, he was sure, but he’d never hear it. His luck, the woman picked one of the few inns without a resident ghost or ‘geist. The former could be counted on to help. The latter should be avoided unless absolutely necessary. He had the benefit of neither.

Karlin still hadn’t picked up that he called Galveston home. He could do it - escape to his house. It wasn’t
that
far away, but the idea of being away from his lamp for any real length of time filled his veins with ice. The loss of Dinah and the lamp at the same time would be too much for his soul to handle.

Maybe he could steal it back. The woman had to sleep sometime. But too many things would have to work in his favor. One, he’d have to not be caught breaking into a woman’s room. Two, even a busted witch was still a witch and one of the first things she would have learned was a protection spell. Then again, that could work in his advantage. Most spells, except dark ones, were wishes that he could tap into...wishes delayed and timed, but wishes nonetheless in the instant they’re needed.

That, however, would still leave her with a third one and until he knew what it was, he couldn’t chance the risk.  For both their sakes, he hoped she had a better plan in the morning.

*****

D
inah cried the whole way to the airport. Granted, that was only an eight-minute ride, but the stupid tears continued through check-in, security and boarding.

“I hate to see a beautiful woman cry.”

She brushed her tears with the back of her hand and sniffed her snotty nose before looking up into eyes as dark as mahogany. His skin matched the tone exactly.

Human.

Well dressed.

Beautiful.

And not Tig.

She nodded and took the offered napkin. “Thank you. Rough trip.”

“Guy trouble?”

“You could call it that.”

“He’s an idiot to do anything to a woman as beautiful as you are. How about I get us a couple glasses of wine? I’m Demetrius, by the way.”

She introduced herself, snatched the wine from the flight attendant’s hand and flopped back into the seat. The guy kept talking and though he said her name a few times, his voice didn’t have the same melodic, soul-quivering timbre of Tig’s. Old Dinah would have had this guy’s number in a heartbeat. Now, she just wanted to be left alone.

“So, do you live in Sacramento? Maybe we could get together for lunch? Or dinner, perhaps? I have some good connections.”

“No and I’m not staying in town.  I’m just here for vacation.”

“Oh, I see. Shame. Still, maybe I could—”

“No thank you.”

Demetrius nodded, put on his headphones and crawled into a magazine. She shouldn’t feel bad about it. It’s not like they had anything in common.

Like she and Tig.

Or that they lived in the same city to start something.

Like she and Tig.

Or that he would love her completely.

Ugh,
that.
Nothing could make
that
less weird. Every which way she turned it, her future was out of her hands. It left a sour taste on her tongue, one she couldn’t yet stomach. Her only way to maintain control was to ignore him completely.

Maybe she should have a drink with Demetrius after all.

Who was that fair to? Demetrius? No. Herself? Not really.  Still, she deserved the right to decide her own future. She elbowed the man and tried for a smile. “Sorry for being rude. I’ll take a second drink right now, if it’s still on the table.”

––––––––

T
ig ordered breakfast through room service and charged it to Karlin’s account.  Then he paced...then did sit-ups...then flipped through every channel, before ordering lunch and repeating the process.

He was bored.

And tired.

And pissed.

And lonely.

He should have memorized Dinah’s number. Thinking of her only made things worse, but he couldn’t stop. He should have never let her go. This was his punishment. Lesson learned. Dinah would never get out of his sight again. Tig reached for the phone to call for wine, but dropped the handset without speaking. He needed a clear head for what he had to face.

The Walking Vulgarity knocked on his door later that evening. She reeked of pot and sex, but her eyes shone clear with focus. She didn’t ask to come in, just shoved her way past him, teetering on too high heels and in too tight jeans.

“Yes, Karlin?”

She pulled a sheet of paper from her pocket and started reading. “I wish to always choose winning lottery numbers for the place that I am in, at the time I am in, and only in contests I am eligible to win.”

Smart.

Without that little addendum, he would have had her winning every lottery number in Canada and Mexico and every past number in the United States. He played it off. “It always comes down to money. Your kind is so predictable.”

“Just do it.”

“It’s already done.”

“Just like that?” She blinked two or three times, before slipping into open mouthed staring. She took to squealing next and slammed her palm against the wall. Her pleasure in it only matched his own. One more to go. Now he had a huge decision to make. He could take her down this instant, physically, and his eyes flittered down to her neck.

A neck absent of any chain other than her own stupid crystal. The move didn’t go unnoticed.

“Don’t worry. Your lamp is in a safe place. Sta...uh...I’ll be back soon.”

He understood what she was doing, skittering away to find out if he’d really granted the wish. Not good. Having use similar tricks to get his own wealth via the wishes of others, he knew the lotto nights in Texas and surrounding states. The big drawings wouldn’t be until late tomorrow night. That meant more waiting. The longer Karlin sat inactive, the more dangerous she would become. Too often humans, wild with new power, exhausted their wishes in minutes. Not a single tale in their history spoke of good things happening to djinns with patient masters. The invisible chains that bound him hung heavier than ever, but he couldn’t let them break his spirit.

He worked out.

He ate.

Went back to the gym.

Then ate some more.

He wanted to go home. Both of them. Three, if he counted the inside of Dinah. That was ideal. Inside Dinah, inside his lamp, inside his house near the water.

The thought undid him. It had been too long since he’d seen her. How many hours? He licked his lips, but the salty taste of her was gone. He hit the shower, but cleanliness was the furthest thing from his mind. Instead, he wrapped his hand around his cock, hard and ready, but no matter how much he pumped, release didn’t come.

He needed
her.

Dinah’s hands should be doing this. Her whole body was built for his pleasure and he wouldn’t find his easily without her. He closed his eyes, picturing her underneath him. He plucked images from his mind of her twisting for him on the plane and ass up for him in the hotel. Then his mind latched onto one final perfect moment: his name on her lips.

He pumped faster, replaying the sound until he spilled his release and cried out her name.

*****

D
emetrius took her bag as she lifted it off the carousel. “I can give you a ride to Napa. A dozen planes just landed and every person on them will be fighting for a taxi.”