Demon Boyfriend: Jolly Jay 3 (special preview)

Jay put on his mask then sat upon the edge of his desk, looking down at me. I was the cat with the canary, or it may be more apropos to say I am the canary in the coalmine right now. I can only glance up at him for a moment before I turn my eyes away, distracting myself with my hair or the way my shirt is tucked into my pants. I fiddle so much with my shirt that a lower button rubbing against the belt falls off and bounces on the ground. It rolls to Jay’s feet and he stoops over to pick it up. In between his longer fingers the button looks so tiny, even though, for my fingers, they felt a bit too big.

“I wonder,” he begins with that smooth, cool voice of his. “Perhaps i should not have given you that book and planted the idea in your head.” His arm stretches all the way across the room and places the button into my palm. “Pandora, too, was whispered.” he sighs heavily. “Maybe it was my own selfish desire.”

I clutch the button in my fist. “I heard the radio and came to check on you. Seeing you gone made me-” My voice trails off. What exactly made me open the door?

He rises off his desk and stands erect before me. He’s wearing a dark sweater that covers his neck and arms, and the gray pants he wears are a bit too short for him. “Made you what?”

I look up at him and that grinning mask. “Where did you go?”

“I thought you didn’t like knowing these things. That it was best you remained above it all.” He places his hands into his pockets. “Why the change of heart?”

“The dates in the books,” I whisper. “The eyes.” I shake my head and shrug. “I can’t pinpoint it. If I am Pandora or if I am the Bright Star to you, does it matter?”

His body language goes slack and his hands slip back out from his pockets. “You read Bright Star?”

I nod. “The pages were the most worn. I knew it had to have been read many times.”

“I don’t know why it was banned. It has made so many happy.” He chuckles under his breath then lays his hand upon his chest.

I take a cautious step towards him. “Jay-”

“I know,” he turns to look down upon me. “You want answers. All this time together and now you want answers. Why you? Isn’t that it?”

I stiffen my jaw, grind my teeth. “You’ve always been a step ahead of me. I caught onto that. It’s like you know how I am going to move. That’s why I didn’t feel the need to know. You knew for me.”

“Yes, you were smarter this time, keeper.”

I furrow my brow. “This time?”

“I can only be held, truly, by someone I have known before. And I have known you many, many times, Imelda. Different places, different names, different worlds.” He turns and sits down at his desk. “But I lose you each time.”

“Stop hiding things!” I snap at him. “What the hell is even that?”

His head turns over his shoulder, and I see an eye flicker behind the mask. “You want to know the truth then come here to me.” He turns his chair around and holds out his hands. “There is too much distance between us.”

I take a deep breath and confidently stride towards him. I sit down upon his lap, placing my arm around his back. “Better?”

He’s very still. “I just meant for you to hold my hand. You’ve surprised me a bit.” I’ve never heard his voice break before, let alone hear him so nervous. It was kind of refreshing.

“Tell me what’s going on.”

He clears his throat. “I come from a world called the Underneath. It is a place that is under everything. This time and place, as well as many others. They connect through this void, and inside are creatures like me. Long ago, I was summoned from the Underneath by my first keeper.