But then came the difficult part of getting him to leave before Christopher and Lovie’s arrival. One thing I could say for Ryan was that he gave Florence Nightingale a run for her money when it came to tending to the infirm, or the pretending-to-be-infirm. Once I made the case, though, that I wanted nothing more than to sleep for a few hours, he finally acquiesced. Well, with the agreement that I would call him as soon as I woke up. I could only hope that the exorcism wasn’t going to be a long-winded one.
“I do believe you will never inform le barbare about me,” Drake said in a pouty tone. It was the third or fourth time he’d brought the subject up in the course of two days. If I didn’t know better, I would’ve thought Drake imagined the conversation wouldn’t go over well…
“Don’t be silly,” I answered as I tried to multitask by checking the time on my phone for the umpteenth time. Christopher and Lovie were due to arrive in two minutes. “Of course I’m going to tell him! ”
“Vraiment? Really? And when would that be?”Drake persisted. I could see him in my mind’s eye crossing his arms against his chest and tapping his foot impatiently. What was interesting was that whenever Drake and I had conversations in my head, I always envisioned him in the flesh. That is to say that he wasn’t just a random, floating voice. I wasn’t sure if the imagery of Drake was something my own mind created or a picture he was projecting.
“The next time I see him!”
“Humph!” He ground out, the image of him in my mind frowning. “Je le croirai quand je le verrai! I shall believe it when I see it! Quite like the fact that you still haven’t allowed me beyond the periphery of this house!”
Recently, our conversations either revolved around arguments about the “barbarian” or arguments about when I was planning on taking Drake on the grand adventure known as life beyond the confines of our home. For the last few days, though, I hadn’t wanted to venture anywhere because my body was achingly tired. That and I knew I’d need to be in the right frame of mind to explain things like cars, traffic lights, supermarkets, Starbucks…the list went on. So far, I just couldn’t find the energy so, instead, I’d basically hidden out in my house.
A determined knock sounded on the door. It was a knock that could only belong to Christopher because it was as adamant and curt as he was. Pulling open the door, the smile dissolved right off my face when I recognized Ryan standing between Christopher and Lovie. And he was frowning. “Can we come in?” Christopher asked impatiently when it appeared the cat had gotten my tongue. “We have to prepare.”
I just nodded and stepped aside as he and Lovie brushed by me. Ryan took a few steps toward me and then paused when he was in the threshold of the doorway. “So much for bein’ sick,” he started.
“I, uh…,” I started as I searched for an excuse. “I didn’t want to involve you in this, Ryan, because I figured it was my business.”
“Your business?” he repeated. “I thought we both agreed that we were a team now?” He shook his head and exhaled. “Not only that but I would’ve liked it if you’d talked to me first before goin’ through with this exorcism.” Well, that answered the question as to whether or not Christopher had informed Ryan as to why he and Lovie were at my house. “This sort o’ stuff isn’t to be taken lightly,” Ryan finished as he exhaled heavily.
“There’s really nothing to be worried about,” I answered and brushed away his worry like it was a mosquito buzzing around my head.
“There’s everythin’ to be worried about,” he rebuffed.
“Like what?” I asked, playing the role of devil’s advocate because the truth was that I was nervous about the exorcism too.
Ryan cocked his head to the side and frowned. “Sometimes these things don’t go as planned, an’ if that’s the case, all hell could break loose.”
I narrowed my eyes at him and shook my head, trying my best to play the part of cool, calm, and collected. “All hell could break loose? Wait a second, I thought you were Mr. Rational, Mr. Scientific Method? Whatever happened to that?”
He cocked his head to the side and regarded me coolly. “I guess I’m a little less convinced about science in situations where you’re concerned.”
Not wanting to stand in the doorway any longer, I held the door open wider, hinting for Ryan to step inside, which he did. Then I closed it behind us and started down the hallway, being careful to sidestep Christopher, Lovie, and all their belongings they’d brought. I continued into the kitchen, wanting a little privacy. “So, do I take this to mean that you finally believe that a spirit is responsible for attacking me?” I asked.
Ryan took a deep breath and then simply nodded. “I believe you.”
“You must tell him about me!” Drake sounded inside my head. “Now is the perfect opportunity!”
I leaned against the kitchen wall, eyeing the myriad boxes filling up the majority of the room—they were my special order kitchen cabinets. Had I been in the right frame of mind, I might have been excited to see them. But as it was now, I was nothing but stressed out—nervous about the impending exorcism and apprehensive about telling Ryan about Drake. But I knew I had to tell him. Because now that Christopher and Lovie were here, the chances of them letting something slip were probably 99 percent.
“Um, Ryan,” I started, my heart already hammering in my chest. I was afraid for his reaction because my first thought was that he wouldn’t like the idea of another man interloping on our affairs and, furthermore, I hadn’t really negotiated a date or time when Drake would need to vacate my body. The other part that I knew would upset Ryan was that I hadn’t included him in this decision—I’d just made it for myself. And not only that, but I’d also taken my damn time about telling him.
“What, Pey?”
“Um, there was something that I wanted to talk to you about,” I said, my voice quaking as I searched inside myself for the right words. Somehow they failed me.
He nodded encouragingly. “What’s on your mind?”
I smiled as I tried to think of the best way forward. Was it enough just to come out with, Guess what? Drake’s soul is now in my body, which means he can see and hear everything I see and hear! And that’s why I haven’t had sex with you yet. But the good news is that I can tune him out…Somehow I didn’t think that was a good way to break the news.
“Cessez de tergiverser! Stop procrastinating!” Drake demanded again.
“If you don’t quit it, I’m going to permanently lock you out of my mind!” I railed back at him. “So unless you want to spend a hell of a lot of time in the darkness of my head, with no one to interact with, shut up!” I yelled back.
“Peyton, what’s up?” Ryan repeated, this time eyeing me pointedly. I wasn’t sure if it was obvious when I was having conversations with Drake or if Ryan was just intuitive, but he seemed to always take note whenever I was carrying on with Drake.
“We are ready to begin!” Christopher yelled from the hallway.
“Okay!” I called back and breathed out a sigh as I realized my opportunity to tell Ryan about Drake was gone. “I guess we can talk about it later,” I said as I started for the hallway again, Ryan right beside me.