“Dating!” Jemma announced. Under the table, she snatched at my hand, winding our fingers together and resting our joined hands on my lap. I inhaled sharply, struggling to maintain a straight face. “SJ and I are dating.”

Beezle and Bub tittered against my shoulder as heat surged up my neck and into my face. Of course, the little minx would choose now to use the name I’d practically begged her to use yesterday. While her small, warm hand was encased in mine.

The nondescript man raised an eyebrow at her, then turned that disdainful gaze to me. “And I’m only hearing about this now because …?”

“It’s new,” I interjected. This man was grating on my already edgy nerves. I gripped Jemma tighter under the table, transferring our hands to her leg. “I wasn’t aware that Jemma was required to report her romantic life to … who are you?”

Jemma sucked in a tiny breath beside me, her leg jiggling under my hand.

“I’m her brother. Joe.” The man’s eyes narrowed on me. My lips twitched.

“Oh. She hasn’t mentioned you to me. I suppose … well, this is very new, so …” I watched with carefully concealed satisfaction as his lips twisted into a puckered hole, remarkably reminiscent of Hellen’s cat’s arse face.

“And what about you?” I asked, turning to the ratty-looking man. “Why are you here?”

Even with both of us hunched over on the ridiculous excuses for seating, he had to look up to meet my eyes. Just as Jemma’s thumb skated over the back of my hand. My lips curled further.

“I own this place. Jemma and I go way back … way, way back …” He threw a smarmy smile in her direction, and she stiffened. I eased my thumb from our hold, letting it ghost over the skin of her thigh, just above her knee.

I tried to tell myself that it was an attempt to unsettle her further … but deep down, I knew there was a much more insidious urge going on inside me.

The fact that the small stroke seemed to soften her, rather than further enrage her, was … interesting.

“Yes, we have a very … detailed … history, don’t we, Chad?” Jemma piped up beside me, her voice acidic. I narrowed my eyes at the slender man. Forget dislike. This man had done something to her. Something that had made the Soul Token practically burn me with her emotions.

Emotions that my arrival had somehow soothed …

Fascinating …

“You look like a man who is … what is it that you do, SJ?” her brother asked, slurping on that hideous sludge once more.

Jemma’s fingers squeezed mine in a move that felt shockingly like support.