Devil In The Waters, Book 7, Chapter 2

The Cape Ginger’s bathroom didn’t use liquid soap, they used bar soap, which was weird, except the bar was new and unused, and she wondered if they replaced them after every customer. Some sort of bathroom attendant lurking where she couldn’t see. The bar of soap was very small; shaped like a clamshell, not much bigger than a marble.

Hands washed and dried, she stood by the sink and held them out. They trembled. She laughed.

What on earth do you think you’re doing?

The actions of this weekend were the boldest in her life. A truly insane escapade brewing at the dinner table. An alignment of chaotic trajectories that only she could manipulate. It somehow made her feel powerful, though the consequences of her actions could be disastrous.

The task at hand was impossible and yet she was doing it. And wild as it was, there was something compelling about what she was witnessing.

Josh had disrobed in front of Devlin and swam. She wondered what that felt like for him. Wondered if there was pain or joy. She suspected joy. Hoped for joy. Hoped for more than joy. In time, maybe Josh would even find himself.

Devlin was a manipulator. A bully. A bully in high school, and now grown up, an entitled manipulator used to getting his way. The man had somehow lured her out of the safety of her home and marriage—a happy place—and into a lifestyle she’d never imagined for herself, and into actions she’d never anticipated. Fucking him. Sucking him. When this started she didn’t even like Devlin. Now she knew him, she knew his charms. And his weaknesses.

Three months ago she was lamenting a failed pregnancy, moping around the house before returning to work at the bland and beige immigration firm. She made baskets by day. Cat beds. Now here she was earning a great income as a lawyer working for an old friend from high school. Almost everything about her was different. Even her appearance.

She regarded it now in the gold-edged mirror above the gleaming porcelain sink. The woman she saw made money with skills acquired through hard work and stress and all-nighters. No longer meek, she was beautiful. Beautiful in a way a girl in high school could never imagine. Tall, smoky eyes, serious expression; standing in the bathroom of a steakhouse in Grand Cayman, two guys at her dinner table she was fucking, and one of them she was in love with.

She couldn’t help smiling. Adjusted her top then, tugging the thin straps and seeing her nipples had hardened. And here she was braless. Heat pooled at her core and she felt a warmth waver up her back.

Devlin brought out the change. What she’d become was not a product of Devlin’s manipulations. She was still the same woman, and who she was now was who she’d hidden before.

She used to watch K-dramas while she wove baskets, and now her life had become one. But even dirtier. The excitement of it all was incredible. The weirdest thing right now was this strange sense of nobility. That she was somehow doing the right thing here. That all the bad she’d done up to this point was now serving her husband. Only he didn’t know it. As his wife she knew what was best for him. It was crazy, but in her heart she wasn’t frightened anymore.

No, she was frightened. Undaunted was more accurate. There was a certain fright in being discovered. But Devlin was far too motivated to ruin this. And she knew how to inculcate him further.

One more up close check, leaning and examining her reflection, flicking at her lashes with a pinky, then she headed out of the bathroom, returning to their table, hungry for steak.

Back through the dining room, she emerged on the patio and into the warm tropical evening air, turned left and made her way back to the table. Devlin saw her first, Josh’s back to her, Devlin giving her his sly face, smirking, the light from the overhead globe casting shadows under his chiseled jaw and strong chin.

She slipped into the banquette, working her way closer to Devlin, saying, “What did I miss?”

“Absolutely nothing,” Devlin said.

She smiled at Josh. Josh was ashen. His eyes hollow, his cheeks drawn.

Devlin said, “We waited for you like good boys.”

She looked at their untouched dinners. “You didn’t have to wait for me.”

Devlin smiled, Josh’s mouth worked around. His eyes went to hers and their gazes met. His thinned lips went to one side in a wan smile and he lifted his knife and fork.

Devlin did as well, and she followed suit, eyes moving from each of them as they cut into their meat.

Something had changed.

***

Josh said to Devlin, “There’s nothing going on.”

“Oh, come on,” Devlin laughed. “Are you trying to make me look stupid?”

“Stupid how?”

“I’m not blind, Josh. You guys are running a little game on me.”

“What, like a con? That’s what you think? Like what, you’re going to wake up in the bathtub with your liver cut out and Kimmy and I sold it on the black market?”

Devlin grinned and leaned close enough Josh could smell his aftershave. The man loomed large. He put his hands together, big fingers intertwining. He said, “Kinky.”

“I don’t understand what kind of con you think we might be running.”

“Not like grifters, Josh, and you know it.”

“Is that so?”

“I hear it in everything you guys are saying. When I say don’t try to make me look stupid, what I’m saying is you guys are making it very obvious. So it’s one of two things. One, you think I’m stupid and I won’t pick up on it. You guys are goofing on me.”

“There’s nothing to pick up on.”

“Or two,” Devlin said, holding up pronged fingers, and saying, “you want me to figure it out.”

“Figure out what?”

“Hey,” Devlin said, amused, holding up his palms. “Okay. Maybe you don’t get it. But I’ll tell you who does get it.”

“Who’s that?”

“Kimmy. Maybe it’s just Kimmy who wants me to pick up on the signals.”

“What signals? You’re crazy.”

“Impressive meat, Josh?”

he scoffed, but his scalp tingled. “Don’t think so highly of yourself.”

“I don’t have to,” he said, “you do it for me.”

His voice rose. “I do?”

“Hey, I’ll take it. So which is it, one or two? I’d hate to find out you think I’m stupid.”

“I don’t think you’re stupid.”

“Wow, so it’s number two,” he said, widening his eyes.

“It’s not number two.”

“I’m sure it is, Josh. Maybe I shouldn’t have jumped out at you with it like this. Maybe I should’ve let it simmer till you were ready.”

“There’s nothing to be ready for,” Josh said.

“Number two means you want me to catch on. Want me to make the first move. I’ll make the first move.”

His frustration heightened sharply. “Did we talk at the party or not?”

“What party?”

“Tiffany’s.”

“What’s your hang up with this fucking party, Josh. That was like the summer.”

“You talked to me.”

“Whatever. I talked to you. I didn’t talk to you. Why don’t you tell me what it was I said?”

The guy was lying. He talked to him. Talked to him, and put this bullshit in his head. Now his plan was bearing fruit and the guy was utterly gleeful. His face beamed. And it made him angry. It was like Devlin’d manipulated the situation. Put it in Josh’s head, planted a seed until it grew into a gnarled and twisted tree.

Devlin asked again, “What did I say at the party, Josh?”

“You tell me.”

“Jesus, Josh, I keep saying I didn’t talk to you at the party. You think I did, so tell me what I said.”

Josh backed down. “So you didn’t talk to me. Fine. I imagined it.”

“You hit the bourbon good.”

Josh grumbled and leaned forward, putting his elbows on either side of his serving of steak. He rubbed his eyes, pushed back his hair, stared at Devlin.

Devlin said, “So what do you want me to do tonight?”

“I just want Kimmy to come back and for us to eat our steak.”

“Don’t be a coward, Josh. That was always your problem.”

“I don’t have a problem.”

“Yeah, you do. You’re too afraid to ask for what you want. Guys like you never want to admit their own shortcomings. Always want it to be someone else’s fault they don’t get what they want.”

“There’s nothing I want. I’ve got everything I want.”

Devlin eyed him drolly. “Almost everything. So what do you want me to do?”

“How about just leave me alone?” His voice was tight like a teenager.

Devlin shook his head, turned his eyes down to his plate, gathering his thoughts and showing an expression of disappointment. He adjusted his cutlery again, put his elbows on the table and leaned close. He said, “You want me to fuck her?”

“What?’ He feigned incredulity.

“You want me to fuck her, give me a sign.”

“I don’t want that.”

“Josh, I’d fuck her if you want. I’d fuck her if you didn’t want.” He chuckled. “You know what? I think she’s considered it.”

“No, she hasn’t.”

“She checks me out.”

“It’s your imagination.”

He said, “The other day in her office, she chews her pen when she talks to me, chews it and her eyes go down a little low.”

“What do you mean?”

“Down here,” he said, leaned back, legs open, and his big hand grabbed a handful of manhood under the thin fabric of his shorts.

Josh whipped his head away, indignant. but said nothing.

Devlin nudged his arm, and Josh looked back. Devlin’s eyes were narrow, knowing slits. he said, “You’re putting your innocent wife in a very dangerous situation.”

“And you’re being ridic—”

Devlin’s eyes darted over his shoulder. “Quiet, she’s coming now,” he said, then smiled.

***

During dinner he ordered two more whiskeys. He was the only one who did. But with his belly warmed by the first few, the rest were easier to take. And the alcohol quieted his racing mind. They ordered no desserts. Conversation was stiff. At least from him. Kimmy and Devlin got along great while they ate.

Josh shifted out of the banquette first, steadied himself, walked toward the dining room door. A hand gripped him at the elbow, and he wheeled. It was Kimmy. She said, “You okay?”

“Totally fine,” he said.

She whispered, “You sure?”

“I’m sure. I’m fine.”

She chanced a look over her shoulder to see Devlin shifting out of the banquette now. She got close to his ear and whispered, “Suggest we go down for a walk on the beach.”

You’re putting your innocent wife in a very dangerous situation.

But Kimmy was eager. Eager to please him. He didn’t want to ruin the fun. So what if Devlin knew what they were doing? He’d never even admitted it. Devlin was just guessing.

“What for?” he asked her, but now Kimmy let his arm go, stepped away and waited for Devlin to join them.

She set him up saying, “It’s such a nice night out. It should be a beautiful sunset.”

Devlin looked out to the ocean and said, “Can you see it from your beach?”

“We can see the edge of the sun as it goes down,” Kimmy said.

Josh took a deep breath, held it, then let go. He said, “We should take a walk down on the beach.”

Kimmy checked her watch, said, “I think it’s getting late. Devlin? I’ll drive you back.”

Josh looked at her like she was crazy. This was her setup? Drive Devlin back, and he was going to walk on the beach by himself? Of course, she was doing it to make him wild. She was playing a game for his benefit.

You’re putting your innocent wife in a very dangerous situation.

He said, “No, that’s all right. Let me take him.”

Devlin said, “Don’t skip your walk, Josh.”

“It’s okay, baby,” Kimmy said sweetly, ran her hand on his arm. Walk back to the villa on the beach. It’s beautiful.”

“But you’re . . .?”

Devlin said, “I wouldn’t want you to miss the sunset.”

Josh said to Kimmy, “Let me drive him home.”

“Josh, let me take Devlin back to his hotel and you walk back to the villa. I’ll be back to watch the sunset with you in twenty minutes, I swear. Get the hot tub started.”

Kimmy stood expectant but oblivious, Devlin looking behind her almost a head taller. Other diners turned to see why they were lingering do long on the patio and Josh turned to look out at the beach.

Devlin stepped forward, pointing out toward the path from the patio out to the beach, saying, “You go out there, you walk up the beach, it’s like ten minutes to the villa. You can’t get to the villa’s beach, but there’s a trail up there, totally marked, you can’t miss it. It’ll take you to the front of the estate.”

“Go on, Josh,” Kimmy said, “you don’t want to be stuck in the car with us driving into George Town. This is what you came to Cayman for.”

The last thing he should do is let her go off with Devlin if Devlin was onto them. But this was fun, she wanted him to get the thrills she was offering. She was safe. Nothing would happen. She wasn’t going to end up in bed with him. Not for real.

Devlin said, “Go on, Josh. I won’t keep Kimmy long. Trust me.”

He chewed his cheek, heart thudding, knowing he was going to make a big mistake here. “Yeah. Yeah, okay . . .”