As he asked, Joe gently sat up, removed his arm and insteadgrabbed
Jacob’s hand.
“Where’s this coming from?” Joe looked at him concerned. “Just a question.”
“What did you do? Kill someone?” Joe chuckled.
“No. Nothing that bad.”
“Oh come now. I’ve killed people before. It can’t be as bad as that
right?” Joe replied.
“You what?” Jacob asked.
“I’m joking.” Joe said with a laugh. Jacob could feel his hands shaking,
which Joe noticed. He squeezed hold of Jacob and once again tried to wrap
himself around him. “Hey, I’m sorry. I didn’t mean to make you upset.” “I’m not upset I just-” Jacob began but quickly lost his words. “Okay,
I’m upset but I don’t know what to do about things.”
“Is this about your friend?” Joe asked.
“Of sorts.” Jacob responded. It wasn’t not about Tic at least. “You shouldn’t worry about that. I’m sure he’s okay.” Joe said. He
sounded so sure that Jacob couldn’t help but think he knew something. “You don’t know that.” Jacob said. He gripped Joe’s hand tighter,
fearing the worst. What if he did know more about that? How much did he
actually know? How much did Joe know? And if he did, what was he
holding back on?
Why hadn’t Joe told him about the Templarness? Why hadn’t he come
clean? What did he know about Tic and what was going on?
More questions bubbled in his brain. What was he thinking? Hecould
break the spell and be fine…But why didn’t he want to? He couldn’t handle
the thought that all of this would have been for nothing. That his dream
man could just be an illusion he created himself to make his own life easier. “Do you even exist?” Jacob asked finally.
“Last I checked the answer was yes.” Joe laughed before trying to cheer
Jacob up with a squeeze. “What’s going on? What awful thing could you
have done that I’d never forgive you for?”
“I don’t want to say. I don’t even want to think about it. I don’t want
to think about losing you.”
“You’re not going to lose me.” Joe said, giving him a gentle kiss on his
