Page 55 of Minding the Minotaur

“Anything to report?”

“Nope.”

“Minotaur being nice to you?”

I cough slightly at that, remembering just how nice he’d been only fifteen minutes earlier.

“He’s polite. Friendly. Good-natured.”

“Hasn’t mauled you with those horns, then?”

I laugh nervously, recalling the many times I’ve gripped those horns over the last couple of weeks as I rode his mouth to orgasm. “No, of course not.”

Jax’s lips quirk. “Otis been to see you?”

“Yes, at first he came daily, but that’s tapered off a bit. I think he trusts me with Arlo now.”

“So you haven’t been out and about?”

“Nope, not really,” I fib, keeping my cards close to my chest. I don’t even know if Jax knows about Arlo’s clinic job. In fact, I’m struggling to work out Jax’s relationship with monsters, especially now I know more about the Labyrinth. I decide to do some of my own digging. “How long have you known Otis?”

He shrugs. “Been dealing with him for a few years now.”

“In your role as head of exports?”

He eyes me, chewing slowly, his expression inscrutable. “Yeah, that’s my official title.”

“I didn’t know that you headed up the whole of exports.”

“Because I didn’t tell you.” His mouth twists into a grin. “Didn’t think I looked the boss-type, right?”

“Bingo.”

He snorts. “Bosses don’t always wear suits.”

I have to smother a smile. Jax couldn’t look scruffier if he tried.

“So are you and Otis friends?” I continue.

Jax crosses the ankle of one leg over his other thigh, then pulls at the heel of his boot. I notice it has sharp silver buckles all up the side that look like blades.

“I do what’s needed to keep things running smoothly on both sides of the portal. That’s my job, making sure everyone’s happy—the dome authorities up top, the monsters down here. I know everyone, but I’m not friends with anyone.”

I frown, feeling like I’m getting nowhere. Suddenly he says, “You don’t entirely trust me, do you?”

I let out a huff. “I trust you in that you’re Clem’s brother, and I trust her, but?—”

I stop mid-sentence. It suddenly strikes me in a way it never really has before that Clem has a brother. When barely anybody else of our generation has a sibling.

“But what?” Jax cocks his head.

A cloud of unease gathers within me.

Before I can stop myself, I blurt, “Have you ever heard of malefics?”

Jax’s jaw ticks. Something blazes in the depths of his eyes for an infinitesimal second. Then it’s gone.

“Never heard that term. Should I have?”