The Devil's Wife

Chapter 22

Kitty Marcellino:

The next three days consisted of me waking up at 1 pm to catch up on all the sleep that I missed over the past two months, having a late brunch, and then running on the treadmill, sometimes for so long that I'd have to stop from dizziness and when I did, I would barely make it to the bin before hurling my guts out.

Then when I was done, I'd run for another half an hour before jumping into the shower to relax my aching muscles.

Paige would update my social media accounts with photos of me in Milan to make it look like I was still in Italy and it actually worked because the day before Nathaniel's birthday, Sam called and started begging me to come to Nathaniel's birthday weekend.

After an hour of me lying my ass off and coming up with so many bullshit excuses, I managed to convince him I couldn't make it and when I finally got him off the phone, the next call I made was to Connor to tell him that I was coming by tomorrow to pick up everything I asked for.

The photo I expected to be all over the internet was nowhere to be found and neither was the article and I knew that Nathaniel had something to do with it.

On the day of Nathaniel's birthday, I was on the treadmill in the midst of my daily routine when I felt a tap on my shoulder.

My heart jumped inside of my chest as I let out a bloodcurdling scream and unwittingly jumped five feet into the air.

My foot missed the landing, slipping off the edge on the way down and I went tumbling, my chin hitting the conveyer as I slid off at an awkward angle.

To make things worse, my earphones had gotten stuck on the handle and yanked my phone out of my jacket pocket and dropped it onto the conveyor so that it slid straight down, corner first, right onto my cheek.

I moaned in pain, rolling over to my side as Phoenix's face came into view above me.

"Airpods, Kitty." He said holding out both hands to help me sit up, trying to hold in his laugh. "Get on that."

My body stung with a dull ache as my eyes narrowed into slits at the smug look on his face. I made a face and proceeded to flip him off. "Get on this."

He burst out laughing holding both hands up in front of him, "Take it easy."

"Just shut up, you little shit." I pressed a hand to my chin, wincing as the stinging grew. "What are you doing here? How did you even know I was here?"

"You're not gonna believe this but I went to see a psychic on Monday and she told me you were going to come for Nathaniel's birthday."

I stared up at him, blinking a few times and wondering if I had heard him right.

"Um, what?" I muttered, slowly sitting up straight. "Did you say psychic?"

He shrugged nonchalantly, glancing at the wall like there was something was interesting on it. "Yeah, I just wanted to know my future."

"A psychic told you I was coming?" I drawled out skeptically, staring at my brother who looked like this was the exact reaction he was expecting. "You sure you didn't talk to Paige?"

He held his hand over his heart, "I swear on my life I didn't. Joanne told me I was going to be seeing you soon because of a celebration. What other celebration is there besides the birthday today?"

"And pray tell, how did I even come up in your conversation?" I murmured, gingerly pressing my hand onto my chin.

My brother seeing a psychic was just weird in itself. My brother seeing a psychic about me was even weirder.