Page 63 of Phobia
“Because you’re the reasonheis still around. Dr. Corbin thinks he’s attached himself to you, not me. You have to separate yourself and then I can say the incantation to get rid of him for good.”
Larkin sighed and got to his feet, peeling off his t-shirt. “Fine. Let’s do this.”
I recreated the same bath from the night before, only this time I stayed in the room with Larkin. There was no way on God’s green earth I was leaving anything to chance.
After a couple awkward moments of silence, Larkin looked up at me from the tub and spread his hands. “Now what?”
“I don’t know.” Shrugging, I shifted on the edge of the tub, trying to find a way to get remotely comfortable on the narrow perch.
“Am I supposed to feel something?”
“I don’t know,” I sighed.
“K…”
“I guess we wait forhimto show up.”
“Well, that’s all you, since I can’t see shit.”
“Didn’t the lady at the flower shop give you something for that?”
“Yeah, it’s in the kitchen.”
“After this, I guess, put some in your pocket. Along with the piece of jet from Dr. Corbin.”
“Yes, sir,” he said with a faux salute.
“Smart ass,” I shot back, splashing water in his face.
Laughing, he sliced his hand through the top of the water and more or less flung it at me, dousing my side.
“Larkin!”
“You started it!”
I scooped up a bigger handful of water but before I could toss it at him, he grabbed my wrist. One swift yank and he pulled me forward, straight into the tub. I crashed into his chest and ended up with my mouth conveniently pressed against his, his hand cupping the back of my neck.
Melting into him, I didn’t care that I was still fully dressed or that the tub was, indeed, too small for the both of us. When he was kissing me, nothing else mattered.
Even though my anxiety should have been reaching its zenith with Halloween literally hours away, compounded by having a deranged serial killer stalking me from beyond the grave, I was strangely ok. Between Larkin and I confessing our secrets and finally voicing our real love for each other, life was starting to look up. Maybe Halloweenwasa time for new beginnings, like Dr. Corbin said. Hopefully we’d live to see another one.
Chapter 12
Planning the perfect, ghost-free Halloween for Jamie wasn’t as easy as I’d hoped.
After the magical bath, Jamie rattled off something in Latin that was supposed to seal the deal and we proceeded to hang out like it was any other night. I kept watching him out of the corner of my eye, waiting to see if he’d suddenly tense up, the way I could now safely say was him reacting to a ghost nearby while also tryingnotto react. From what I could see, he didn’t flinch at all or go strangely quiet. He was his happy, usual self. To my delighted surprise, we even messed around before falling asleep. I fully expected another ghostly wake-up call in the middle of the night, but it never came. And for the first time sincethatHalloween, Jamie woke up with a smile on his most dreaded day.
“Do you have time for breakfast?” I asked, pulling him closer and kissing his neck.
“No. My class starts in twenty.”
“Want me to come with you?”
He shook his head. “Nah. I got it this year. Besides, it’s right down the hall from Dr. Corbin’s office. Other than that one time freshman year, no ghosts have managed to get in the classrooms when I’m around, so I think I’m good.”
I blinked, watching him hop out of bed and disappear into the bathroom as if he didn’t have a care in the world. I was thrilled for him, for all the progress he’d made since I brought the monster into his life, but it also meant I was more bound and determined than ever not to let anyone ruin his newfound zen or whatever the hell it was.
We left at the same time—him to go to class like the good little student he was, while I went shopping for all the things we’d need for our own version of a Halloween tradition.
