Devil In The Waters, Book 5, Chapter 3 (complete)

It was even better than she’d expected. She and all of the invitees were sitting at two butted tables under three angled umbrellas that shielded them from the bright sun. Josh had come around the corner with his hands tucked in his pockets, obviously embroiled in a serious conversation with Steve. Her partner in crime. And Josh’s features were harrowed. Disgruntled. Josh was in a bad mood. And that made her gleeful because she would be the one who would change that all around. Turn that smile upside down. Josh looked up, then there was a moment of dazedness that melted then into bewilderment. After that, raised eyebrows indicated shock and surprise. And she rose from the table, made sure he could see her. And then, his expression turned over. From grump to glee. The storm clouds broke on his features, that thunderhead of a furrowed brow easing away, and underneath it was clear his eyes showed sincere emotion. And that was what she wanted for her own sake. Yes, this was prankish, maybe silly, but she was the source of her husband’s gloom. More so than he would ever know, but the look on his face now lifted her feet out of her shoes, and she tiptoed around the table, coming to the top of the stairs and extending a hand to him. Steve continued the joke, prodding Josh, laughing and chuckling, patting her on the arm and heading to the table while she wagged her hand at her husband urging him to come up. At last, he put his fingers in her hand, and they came together on the top step, her slinking her arms around him. Someone at the table made a long sound of affection seeing the two married lovebirds in such a wonderful moment. And it was wonderful.

She whispered, “I told you I was busy after work.”

“I think you’re a jerk,” he said, pure love in his eyes.

She kissed his mouth, brought her face back and tilted to look down her nose at him, wiped the smudge of red she left on his lips. Her handsome and decent and good man. His eyes were wet and she could feel hers were too.

She whispered, “Come say hi to everybody.”

“You really did all this?” he said, taking her hand.

“Looks like it,” she said, then to the tables: “The guest of honor, everybody,” and all Josh’s friends raised their glasses.

***

Josh looked so happy at the head of the table, straddled by Steve and Meyer sitting opposite at the table’s end. Steve and Josh had already split a pitcher at another bar, and now they were into another. The food had arrived, and his cheeks were lively. And he was smiling. And laughing. Order had been restored.

Also in attendance, thanks to the aid of Steve, a huddle of girls from Swanson (all of Josh’s friends from work, other than Steve, were girls; Josh had a certain appeal) that included Samara and Gabrielle and Leah. And Quinn’s invitation had been extended via Samara, and Quinn had showed without her little one. Made her wonder if Quinn’d arranged for a sitter. If she had, it may be a good sign for Meyer. Though after the morning spent with Hyun, she somehow felt guilty for facilitating a meeting, like she was betraying Hyun in some way.

She sat at the other end of the table, with Samara on her left, and Karina on her right—which was a perfect non-conversational distance from Josh. Plus it kept her closest friend at hand, since she was buffered from her husband all the way across the table by his girl friends from work.

First thing Karina’d asked her once they got a moment alone was: “How are you guys doing?” Meaning her and Josh. It’d been a long time since she’d talked to Karina, and she’d been avoiding her friend, sadly, because she lied to her. Avoidance was easy with the change in her life circumstances. She used to see a lot of Karina, and text to her a lot, but once this job thing with Devlin had started . . . 

Karina had seen it happen, had caught her rolling in the grass with Devlin. Caught her with her legs around Devlin’s hips, Devlin with his cock out and trying to get it up her short leg while they wrestled in the grass. And had pursued her doggedly in the aftermath when she’d gone off with Devlin like they needed a moment to talk quietly and work out what happened (because, yes, he was trying to fuck her, but the whole thing had begun as a real argument and then a real fight). Karina was a true and good friend with nothing but her best interests in mind. Like, maybe Karina could even understand Devlin’s appeal. Knew that in a moment of Kimmy’s weakness what she’d witnessed in the grass could happen again. It brought her knocking on the bathroom door.

She owed Karina the apology, and would love to deserve her friendship again.

Karina had arrived after the carload of girls from Swanson, so when they met it was just a little casual, “Hey, I’ve missed you,” hugging, and small talk. But once they were segregated from the group, Karina’d leaned close and asked if “you guys were still doing good.” Translation: how is Josh doing since he knows you cheated on him? Only, it wasn’t really cheating. It hadn’t really happened. Of course, now it had really happened, though Karina didn't know that. And worse: she’d never told Josh the real truth. Wrestling with Devlin, yes. Penis out of his pants? No, she hadn’t told him that part.

Given the dirty talk with her husband last night, she wondered if she could actually have told him the truth in the first place. Not now, of course, because she’d already lied. But what if she had told Josh the truth about what had happened between her and Devlin at Tiffany's? Told him Devlin had his cock out and was trying to get it inside her . . . 

Well, you wouldn’t be working for Devlin right now. And you like working for him. Well, like the job.

So things with Karina would have to be mended, but she would have to mind where she stepped.

***

It was the two of them together now at the end of the patio table, two friends united in a larger group more familiar with each other than they were with the majority. It was good to be with Karina. Even her drink choice was better: sparkling water with lemon. Like getting back with Karina steered her return to the times they would do yoga and go out afterward for a vegan meal. In the last month—since starting at Stone—she’d been often imbibing alcohol. Not something she’d done regularly ever before, not even in college. That was Devlin’s influence. But drinking with him wasn’t about impairment or loosening up, it was usually about appreciating something of a finer quality. She did now enjoy a good whiskey—or at least the concept of a good whiskey. A pallet would develop with experience. Although, just like the events within the Royal York’s suite last night, perhaps a passion for whiskey should be left in the past.

Karina said, “So when am I going to get you back in yoga class?”

“I really do miss it.”

“Have you been going to the gym at all?”

“No. I have time in the evenings, but by the time I get home, have dinner with Josh, I’m just exhausted.”

“Is he working you too hard?”

Was that innuendo? Probably not. “It’s not the work. Seriously, it’s the commute . . .”

“I hope you guys aren’t thinking of moving into the city.”

“We’re not thinking about it all. We were looking at houses just the other day . . .”

“Are you serious? Are you guys in the market?”

“Not right now. We were fantasy shopping. But it is our goal.”

“And here in Ajax?”

“Yes. We want . . . we want a family, I guess . . .”

Karina smiled, and her face showed a warmer expression that she liked to see. She hadn’t even intended to mention having a family, but definitely enjoyed the reaction. It was reassuring, like a feeling of returning after being away.

“Are you going to try again?” Karina asked the question softly. It was a delicate thing.

“Not right now. In a few years. Right now . . .” She shrugged. “I like this career.”

Karina nodded. “Do you see him often?”

“Devlin? Maybe a few times a week. He spends most of his time in Kingston. But I do know that he wants to move the head office to Toronto, and if that happens . . .”

“What’s it like?”

“Working for him? You know what?—Totally fine. It’s professional.”

“And what’s the work like?”

“Easy. No, I don’t mean easy. Straightforward. There are challenges, but I have to be honest, I really love solving them . . . let me tell you what happened today . . .”

***

Meyer wanted to know, but Steve was enjoying too well a hearty chuckle that prevented him from talking.

Josh said, “Never mind, anyway.”

Meyer said he really wanted to know. Steve refilled all their glasses from the pitcher, saying, “Josh has some mental problems he needs therapy for.”

Meyer said, “I already knew that.”

Josh resisted. “This isn’t . . .”

“Aw, come on, Josh, it was funny—and I hoped you learned your lesson.”

“I did,” he said, hoping Steve would drop it—but knowing Meyer wouldn’t.

Meyer said, “Tell me.”

Josh scratched his neck, looking up to the underside of the umbrella. “It was just me being stupid,” he sighed.

Steve laughed, said, “You should have seen your face, you idiot, I was trying not to burst out laughing.”

“You already knew, huh?”

“Kimmy called me this morning, wanted me to get word around.”

Meyer said, “Oh, I think I know where this is going.”

Steve jabbed a thumb at Josh, leaning to Meyer and saying, “He fucking takes me out to lunch to talk.”

Meyer leaned closer so he couldn’t be overheard, nodding his chin to the end of the table where Kimmy sat close with Karina. “About . . .”

“Yeah. And I agreed with him.”

Meyer laughed. “What was he saying?”

“I wasn’t saying anything,” Josh said, trying to get in between them, reaching for his plastic-pebbled pint glass and taking a long sip.

“He starts in,” Steve said, hushed, his voice switching to an imitation of Josh’s, “you know, like, man, I really don’t know, like . . .”

Meyer said, “Like phone-tracking her?”

Steve’s eyes flitted toward Kimmy, making sure he wouldn’t get caught talking about her. “He’s just, you know, saying how worried he is, and making up stuff to worry about, you know . . .” Steve broke up, and Meyer joined him, both of them laughing at his expense. At the other end of the table he watched his wonderful wife, smiling, nodding, tossing her hair occasionally while she talked with her good friend all the way back from high school. Watched her beautiful narrow eyes, watched the high dimples on her cheeks when she laughed, the grace of her long neck, and fine hands as she enjoyed a glass of sparkling water. He’d let Devlin get between them. Just like in high school, he’d done the majority of the heavy lifting, making his bully’s work easy. Devlin had probably thought about Josh for about two minutes a day back then. But fear of Devlin consumed him. Worry over interaction, worry about getting beat up or humiliated . . . and fantasies of getting even that would never come to fruition. How many minutes a day had he worried about Devlin back then? A tiny fraction of what Devlin thought of him. And for what? The majority of the things which he worried about never happened. But they could have . . . 

It was all so long ago. Why would he let this poison in his system?

He would start being more honest with Kimmy. She deserved that. He wasn’t giving her all of him. Wasn’t she his life sidekick? Then why hadn’t he been honest from the very beginning? Why hadn’t he told her about the texts on the phone saying Devlin’d visited the apartment? He kept too much to himself. Maybe she could handle a little of his mental twists. His fears. Maybe even a little of the kink he felt when he worried about her spending time with Devlin. Hadn’t the dirty talk last night been kind of amazing? . . . 

What if you trusted her to indulge you a little? I mean, she encouraged it. And why did you never tell her the rest of the story about the jacket? Why did you clip it short? It was all about saving face. Not being embarrassed in front of Kimmy. But in effect it had walled off a portion of yourself from her. Couldn’t she handle it? Wouldn’t she want to?

Steve grabbed his neck roughly and shook him, brought him closer to the table again, pointing toward Kimmy. He said, “That woman loves you, and you don’t know how lucky you are. Look at her. She’s amazing. Super-smart, funny, she makes bank. And she spends her hard earned money on your dumb ass, trying to make you happy.”

Meyer added: “She took Sophie for me today to make this happen tonight, brought her over to Hyun’s before work so Hyun could watch her.”

“Really?”

Meyer said, “Yeah. You might want to wind it in. It’s starting to get annoying.”

“Annoying? Wait, what’s annoying?”

“You’ve got a five-star wife and you’re still trying to find ways to woe-is-me, while Steve and I would give our left nut for a woman like Kimmy. Any guy would.”

Steve said, “Maybe my right nut, too. Seriously, look at her . . .”

All three dudes watched his beautiful wife who’d planned for him this amazing and impromptu surprise. What was it in him that even now liked to wonder why, liked to think this was the act of a guilty woman? If he wouldn’t leave wounds alone, they’d never heal. If he kept playing at them, they’d fester. He swiped open his phone and showed his cousin an important gesture. He opened Find My Phone, showed Meyer, then disconnected Kimmy’s phone from his, then showed Meyer again. A symbolic gesture, one he’d probably not stick to, but it sent Meyer a confirmation that he knew just how lucky he was.

Meyer bumped his arm with his fist, and winked for a job well done. Mid-table, Quinn rose from her chair and squeezed past Gabrielle and the railing, then headed inside to the tavern.

“Now,” Meyer said, eyes tracking this young nurse he was interested in, “speaking of my nuts, I gotta go chat up Quinn.” He pushed his chair back, then leaned close to Josh’s ear, saying, “Kimmy invited her for my sake. My sake. Yeah, Kimmy’s a real bad egg, cuz.” He clapped his shoulder twice, then stuck his finger in Josh’s ear before going around behind Steve, hot on Quinn’s trail.

***

It was during a warm shared moment with Josh the text from Devlin came in.

Devlin: are you kidding me?

It had been one of those movie-like moments that traveled across a busy table. Two people connecting without using words, only their eyes linking one another. Josh with a beer-warm glow of ardor, and her beaming back at him. Both of them full of smiles, her head cocking, playing with her hair and batting her eyes at him. And Josh, red-cheeked, grinning from ear to ear, sipping his beer, putting it down, holding it between two hands and rotating it around in a circle. Bashful. The party she’d thrown for her husband had definitely put them back in place.

But with the text like a beacon on her upturned phone, now her attention was drawn there. She waited for this loving moment with Josh to evaporate, enjoying it’s golden feeling for a few moments longer until Steve nudged Josh’s arm to include him in on something he wanted to say up close. The tendrils that connected her with Josh finally were broken, Josh and her smiling one second more, then their eyes disconnected as he leaned close to hear what Steve had to say.

Then she was thumbing her phone closer, lifting it up. She texted in return.

Kimmy: are you impressed?

Devlin: can you take a call?

Kimmy: give me a minute. I’ll call you.

Karina was inside the tavern visiting the girls’ room, now she pushed back her chair, slipped her phone in her pocket so Josh wouldn’t see what it was she was leaving the table for—let him believe it was to go into the bathroom. But as she turned to the tavern, she could see Karina inside making her way to return to the table, so now she trotted down the three steps from the patio to the laneway that led up to the brick arch and the street beyond. This time, instead of heading to the street, she turned left, heading toward where the garden courtyard sat in the ring of shops. When she got around behind the table, Josh above and with his back to her now, she removed the phone and pretended to window shop. She dialed Devlin.

Devlin answered saying, “Chang, you made me very happy.” She could tell he was driving.

“I’m sure I do,” she replied, adjusting her hair in the reflection of a shop window.

“Where are you?”

“I’m out with some friends,” she told him.

“Are you in Ajax?”

“Yeah, actually a place you know . . .”

“Parked outside your gym?”

She laughed. “Close,” she said.

“I’m on the 401,” he said, “I’m going to come by.”

“No, don’t do that. I’m here with Josh.”

“That’s all right, sneak out and see me. I won’t take more than a minute.”

“What for?”

“I’ve got something for you . . . Actually, bring Josh.”

She chuckled, checked her reflection again. “I’m not bringing Josh, Devlin.”

“Serious, what I have is for him, too.”

“What do you have?”

“Bring him out and see.”

“No. It’s a terrible idea.”

He laughed, said, “Just you then.”

“Why?”

“Where are you? That tavern where we had the whisky?”

“Yeah,” she said. “But I don’t think you should come . . .”

“It’s meant to be, Kimmy. I’m on the 401, I’m passing Pickering. I’ll be there in a couple minutes . . .”

***

When Kimmy returned to the table, he could see a change in her eyes. Wasn’t too hard to guess what it was that inspired the change. She’d gone out for a phone call. Probably talking to Devlin. But, come on, that was just talking to her boss, right? This was an opportunity. All through his shoulders and down his back he felt a deep feeling of relaxation he hadn’t had in a long time. He rose, strode behind Steve, coming to join his wife and Karina, dragging an empty chair from an abandoned table behind theirs to sit between the two women.

“Look at this happy face,” Karina said, and patted his cheek. He eyed her briefly, but settled his gaze on Kimmy.

Kimmy said, “It’s such a nice face,” and then patted the other cheek.

But her hand he took and held against him. He kissed her thumb. “Thank you,” he said.

She accepted the thanks, her eyes on his. A beat later, she said, “You’re very welcome.”

Karina made a soft cooing sound.

He said to Kimmy, “Something up?” Knowing there was, suspecting what it might be, and looking to prove something.

Kimmy’s eyes registered a small measure of alarm, but her expression didn’t otherwise change.

He said, “Whatever it is . . .”

Kimmy’s expression changed to that cold-lawyer look of contemplation, her eyes on his as she assessed his demeanor. She said to him, “Something happened at work today,” then looked past him to Karina. “I was just telling Karina . . .”

Karina said, “Kimmy’s a superstar.”

He said, “I know she is.”

To Karina, Kimmy said, “I don’t like to tell Josh too much . . .”

Josh said, “My wife doesn’t like to brag . . .” But the truth was he’d told her he didn’t want to hear about it.

Karina chuckled.

Her hand he held to his face gripped his chin now, and Kimmy guided him to look at her. She said, “I saved Devlin a lot of money today.”

And this was a test. The name “Devlin” uttered to him—right in front of Karina—set his stomach tingling and rolling over. His smile faltered, but he raised his chin and kept his eyes on Kimmy’s. He said, “That guy doesn’t deserve you.”

“He sure doesn’t,” Kimmy said, matching the narrowness of his eyes.

“I hope he appreciates how lucky he is.”

“I don’t treat him half as good as you,” she said.

Platitudes and bromides. Both of them exchanging clichéd responses to one another. But somehow, Kimmy’s playful banter was arousing him. She didn’t treat Devlin as well as her husband. But still treated him well? . . . 

But instead of rotten Devlin-poison in his system now, with great focus his mind turned turpentine into sweet ice wine. Love for Kimmy. It was that weird hurt-slash-pleasure he could sometimes taste when he thought of her and his high school bully. Now he chuckled, and she chuckled too.

She said, “I hope it’s okay, I might have to go out and meet him.”

With tranquil calm, he said, “In the middle my party?”

She smiled to one side, studying him.

With great Jedi mind force, he pushed the hurt away from him. And the fact that it wasn’t slicing through him like it normally would made him feel strangely powerful. In control. And all this right in front of the girl who’d seen Devlin’s goon drop him into a dirty laundry heap with one punch. With his eyes on Kimmy’s, he focused and sent to her energy representing what he would do to her tonight when he got her home. Even grew slightly plump thinking of her words last night in bed where he’d coaxed her to say she thought of Devlin’s big cock, and she consented without being freaked at him. had she thought of Devlin’s big cock today when she saved him a lot of money? . . . 

He swallowed. Licked his lips and smiled. Their eyes were still connected. He said, “Invite him in.”

She turned up her nose, said, “I don’t want him here.”

He said, “He’s welcome.”

Karina said, “Mm, not really,” and all three of them chuckled.

Those glowing coals in his heart rose to wonderful flames. He said, “Seriously, Kimmy, you can invite him in for a drink.”

“I think he’s just going to pull up out front . . . He says he has something for me.”

His huge cock. 

“Well, go out and get it. But tell him he can come in for a drink. I don’t mind at all. I haven’t talked to him in a long time. And now he’s your boss, so . . .”

Kimmy looked perturbed, said, “No, I’ll go out to talk to him—I’ll only be a few minutes . . .”