Devil In The Waters, Book 7, Chapter 13

Five hours ago they were in the Caribbean, now they were stuck in highway traffic, five clicks from their apartment, and he was bursting to pee. His leg bounced up and down and Kimmy rested her hand on it, giving him a serious look. “There’s a Timmy’s just off the exit. Want me to tell her to stop?”

He shook his head no, lips thinned, brow lowered.

“You’re sure your going to make it?”

“We’re almost home,” he said, voice tight.

“You don’t look like you’re going to make it.”

He shifted in the back seat of the Uber, trying to get a look ahead at the traffic and why the fuck they were stopped. It was Sunday fucking evening, why were so many people on the fucking road?

Kimmy slunk against him and he immediately got defensive. “Don’t do it,” he said, trying not to sound angry but at the same time wanting her to know this was no joke.

“Don’t do what?” she purred, putting an arm around his middle—or at least trying to.

He squeezed his elbows to his sides and leaned away from her.

She said, “Where are you going?”

“Don’t, Kimmy, it’s not funny,” he said, already chuckling.

That was a mess-up, because as soon as he did it was like license for her to be a jerk. She clawed her fingers and tried to bite at his side with them. He jolted and hissed through clenched teeth, “I’m not kidding,” and glowered at her.

She stopped, got near his ear and whispered, “You’re not going to pee your pants, are you?”

“Kimmy, look,” he said, trying to be reasonable, “don’t be a jerk right now, I’m serious.”

“It would be so embarrassing if you peed your pants in this nice lady’s Mazda. It’s practically brand new.”

Now he couldn’t help smiling at her humor—and the smile would hopefully appease her and reduce the chance of her going whole-hog with her tickling fingers.

What was amazing—truly amazing—was what had transpired over the weekend. Despite the ruination that Devlin could have brought, the man’s arrival had done the opposite. In fact, even now, far removed from their tropical vacation, he felt closer to Kimmy than he had in years. Gosh, really maybe ever. It was the admissions he made to her. It was like he’d kept those dark thoughts in his head so long, worried at the humiliation their revelation would bring. But once revealed all the revelation had done was to relax his own anxieties. Though his imminent urination was an emergency, all he could think now was how young and uninhibited he felt. And the way Kimmy acted suggested she felt the same. There was a youthful exuberance that reminded him of the way they were in university. Was it possible that when his barriers crumbled, her own did as well—as though they’d put up glass walls where they could see each other but not come too close. Kimmy’s had been built against his and toppled when his did.

Now her hand slipped along his side to his thigh, then smoothed to cup between his legs. He held his breath and puffed out his cheeks. Kimmy made sure their driver’s attention was still on the road—traffic had picked up and they were near the highway exit. She manipulated and fondled his package. “Where’s he hiding?”

“He’s in there somewhere,” he said.

Kimmy watched his face as her finger and thumb began pinching at his bulge—I don’t know what’s a ball . . . and what’s . . . like maybe the . . . head part—and a slow smile crept. So slow, so quiet, he could hear the crackle of her lips against her teeth.

“What is it you think you’re doing?”

“I’m going to put a kink in your hose,” she said, at the exact moment her finger and thumb clenched just behind his cock head. The smile she had grew wider still and she bit down on her lower lip as if she wanted to diminish it. Her eyes stayed on his and there was a mischievous sparkle.

He dipped his chin and kissed her. She kissed him in return, into it. The warm breath from her nostrils felt amazing on his skin. She thumbed over his cock head then gave the whole package two gentle pats.

Their kiss parted and he said, “You’re a real—”

With a burst of scrabbling energy, her spidery fingers clawed and walked on his stomach, pinching at his side, shovel-stabbing where she thought his bladder might be. Just a few jabs, then she was cackling, jumping back to her side of the seat, raising her knees protectively. He watched her, thinking how beautiful she was, how amazing. The way her long black hair fell around her perfect face—beauty yes, intelligence too, but also the picture of mirth and happiness. He thought to chase after her, give her her own tickling–it wasn’t like she wasn’t ticklish–but his belly felt full, the skin as tight as a drum. Why did he have two bottles of Perrier on the plane?

Kimmy brought from her pocket her phone and wagged it in his face. “Hold on,” she said, “hold on,” keeping him at bay.

“You’re so mean,” he said as he watched her, smiling eyes turned down to her phone as both her thumbs danced over it. She put the phone to her ear, held up a finger for him to be quiet. He sat listening as they exited the highway, Kimmy ordering jerk chicken and shrimp fried rice with a wing chow mein they could split. She said, “Okay, thank you, we’ll be there in ten.”

She closed off her phone and slipped it in her pocket again. “Good Taste.You can run in to pick up our dinner. You know they have a bathroom.”

“It’s really clean too,” he said, laying back with his head on the headrest, looking at the Mazda’s ceiling, and resting his hands on his distended and aching stomach.

***

Josh ate in absolute peace. It was a joy to see him so happy. They ate like college students, not two adults with real jobs. It was like they were back at college and there wasn’t a thing wrong with that in the world. All it did was make her look forward to going to work in her expensive suits and meeting with high-power clients, and . . . what else? Travel. More prestige. More money.

They ate from the takeout containers, sitting on the floor in front of the TV, their backs to the couch’s front face, their meals and Cokes on the coffee table. They’d watch a movie, they’d go to bed early, and she couldn’t wait to snuggle up next to him in bed. Looked forward to it.

Also looked forward to seeing Devlin tomorrow. To meeting him at lunch and spending an hour in his North Toronto apartment.

Six months from now, maybe eight, she would trade the Leaf in and lease something she’d be proud to show up in at Devlin’s building. Would look proper getting out of. Something black and low.

Her best friend—her husband—sat poised next to her, one hand on the remote as he scanned for a show they’d both enjoy, a plastic forkful of fried rice with shrimp held near his mouth. She couldn’t help herself, shimmying closer to him and putting an arm around him. He asked her what she was doing.

“I love you,” she said.

Josh set down his fork in the dinner container and hooked an arm around her, then the other. he squeezed her too tight and she made a choking sound. “I love you too,” he said. Then he tried to kiss her, knowing his lips shone with grease and she shied away, getting a hand in between them and laughing, falling to her side. He slapped her rump and got back to eating.

They’d both jumped into their PJs when they got home, didn’t unpack, just threw it all in the closet. She wiped her face with the long sleeves of her sweatshirt and Josh ate, laughing to himself, landing on Jeopardy and letting it ride.

“Jeopardy?” She skewered a shrimp with her fork tines.

“You object? I’m tired of looking for something to watch, I just want to eat.”

“Fine,” she said, “but I want to watch a funny movie next.”

“Deal,” he said, eyes still on the television. then: “Thanks for bringing me this weekend.”

“Who else was I going to bring?”

“I had the best time, I mean it.”

“I did too.”

He looked her way like he had more to say but changed his mind and went back to Jeopardy, the category: Potent Potables.

***

Later, in bed, three in the morning, watching Josh sleep with her arm around him, she thought: What if there was a way to give her husband his fantasy, and in turn, give him the knowledge of Devlin he required in order not to suffer? In order to exist in peace.

She knew the way and it was something she was already doing though Josh didn’t know it. How would she make Josh ask her to do it?