Page 108 of I'll Be Waiting

Hey, if we’re lucky, the entity will kill Nicola, and I’ll get to write a tragic romance of a woman who dies at the hands of an evil entity accidentally summoned while she’s desperately trying to contact her husband.

Aww.

I tried to convince her to end the séances when they got dangerous, but she refused. I think she hid the worst of it from me. It was almost as if she wanted to join her husband. How sad… and yet heartwarming at the same time. A satisfying story of lovers reaching across the divide to reunite.

Could that have been Cirillo I heard last night? Telling me to end my life?

By this point, I have no fucking idea. I only know that this asshole has set me up. I kept telling myself that he’d stop if things got too dangerous. Hell, he insisted he would. But here I have the proof of his lie. Whatever we’ve summonedisdangerous, and he wants to push harder.

Time to pull the plug on this. My brother-in-law has staged at least half this damn summoning, and my medium is ready to shove me into traffic to get a story from it.

If there’s any consolation, it’s that Cirillo is going to be livid when he realizes how much was faked.

I shut the book and stalk from the room. When my phone buzzes, I barely glance at it.

Keith. Figures.

I send it to voicemail. He texts.

Keith: When did Jin leave?

Really, Keith? This is not the time. I almost ignore the text. Then I remember what Jin has done, and my stomach plummets.

I’d forgotten what might be the most important part of that equation: my brother. I just discovered that his husband…

I’m not sure what Jin’s motive is, but he’s betrayed both of us, and goddamn it, my brother loves him.

Fuck.

Me: Just after nine.

Keith: Have you heard from him?

Me: No.

Keith: We were supposed to grab coffee before his meeting. I’ve been waiting for thirty minutes

Me: Toronto traffic?

Keith: He’s not answering his phone or texts

Shit.

I don’t tell Keith that Jin didn’t answer my calls and texts either. I don’t want to worry him, and the one who’s really worried is me. Is Jin avoiding us? Is there some kind of setup here that I don’t see?

Me: Maybe he finally listened to you and shut off his phone while he’s driving

Me: Or he didn’t plug it in properly last night and it’s dead

Keith: Yeah, I’m mother-henning again, aren’t I?

Me: Cluck-cluck

Me: I’m sure he’s fine

Keith: I’ll chill. Talk later?

I send a thumbs-up, and I’m just glad this conversation is by text; if he could hear my voice he’d know something was wrong.

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