Devil In The Waters, Book 3, Chapter 6b (complete)

ETA: At the end of the cargo container scene I swore I wrote that Devlin kept Kimmy's panties, but after RCH's comment I realized I might have left it out. I did! Sorry. I've added it now. Just a simple action right as he tells Kimmy to clean up before she gets back in his car. It's a necessary point moving into this scene...

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It would have been smarter to cancel, but she knew Josh was expecting her—sensed he needed her, hidden urgency in his phone call—and after what she’d done with Devlin this afternoon, she wouldn’t let her husband down. So here she was trotting into The Monkey House, and she hadn’t had time to stop at home before coming. If she’d wanted to change she’d have had to go past Pickering to home, come back to Pickering . . . 45 minutes or an hour more. But coming into the huge maze-like warehouse, feeling the cool temperature against her bare legs, made her feel suddenly naked. Under her skirt she wore no underwear. And while in the car it had been a known problem and she’d almost stopped off the highway looking to get deeper into Pickering and locate the Walmart or something, buy some cheap underwear, she thought the extra time would cost too much—figured she could get away without anyone knowing. But now she was here her stomach tightened with fear. All those rug-rats running around, her wearing high heels . . . it seemed so easy someone would accidentally catch an up-skirt glimpse, and, being a kid, unabashedly blurt it out in front of everyone.

Now she was paused in the wide lobby of the warehouse, the bouncing chaos playing out beyond the half-wall barriers, two teenage cashiers standing at the counter wondering what this woman was doing just standing here. She was split—thinking she’d run out to the car and zip to find the closest place to buy underwear, and her rational mind saying she was being silly, that her skirt was long and no one could see up it, not even kids, come on already, you just feel guilty . . . Maybe that was it. Guilt manifesting in a fearful feeling of exposure. Come on, Kimmy, you could spend all day here with panties on under your skirt and no one would be able to tell you what they look like. But still, that air-conditioned air tickled her pubic hair right now . . . 

She smiled awkwardly at the closest checkout girl and approached. Bought the ticket for admittance and entered then, standing there in a suit looking like a Monkey House corporate exec here to examine the set-up, scanning the crowd and looking for familiar faces. Someone called her name.

Around the corner of the half wall where she stood, the central alley ran lined with tables and benches. At the far end were concessions with soft drink logos and photos of meal combos. Three picnic tables down, she saw Gabrielle, one of Josh’s coworkers from Swanson. Though Gabrielle had met her a dozen times at Josh’s work functions, Gabrielle looked unsure, frowning, smirking, her wave tentative. But it was the new look and the business suit throwing her off, so Kimmy smiled, called out, “Hey, Gabrielle,” and headed her way. Gabrielle wagged a pointed finger to her left, and Kimmy looked that way.

On the other side of a double row of ten-by-ten trampoline spaces, she could see Josh and Meyer and Sophie on a square trampoline, their room with a basketball hoop overhead. Josh was bouncing, holding Sophie, trying to get her higher but couldn’t, the little girl was getting heavier. Sophie held the bright green ball with both hands, waiting for the right opportunity to throw while Meyer bounced nearby, ready for a rebound.

Gabrielle cupped hands around her mouth and shouted out Josh’s name. The Monkey House was already loud, but Josh heard his name and looked around. He spotted Gabrielle first then Kimmy, brightening and waving, getting Sophie to wave with him. Kimmy returned the happy greeting, continuing on to join Gabrielle who said, “Hey, Kimmy, I didn’t think it was you for a second.”

“It’s me, Gabrielle, me and my new haircut. How’s it going?”

“And the suit, too. You look so good. Yeah, it’s going good. Josh says you got a new job . . .”

She caught up with Gabrielle, her son, Simon, eating a sundae at her side, while she waited for Josh to come around. The whole while a panic flirting at the back of her mind while she tried to stay present in the conversation with Gabrielle. The things screaming for her attention (though she’d earlier triple-checked): another man’s semen is on your cheeks! You’ve got cum on your shirt collar! On your jacket! You smell like sex! . . . But she’d checked herself, and added perfume in the car.

Then Josh was there, coming in mid-conversation and snaking an arm around her waist. She covered a hand over his where it held her stomach, eyes on Gabrielle’s still, Gabrielle talking about one of Simon’s teachers nominating Simon for an award—but when Josh’s lips came near, she couldn’t help moving her cheek away. Total fear response—fear her husband would smell another man on her. Josh stiffened and she laughed nervously, acting like she’d avoided his kiss because she'd been engaged with Gabrielle—heck, you’re the one being rude, Josh—and then looked in his eyes before kissing his mouth. Their lips pressed only for a moment, but in that awful second, her most beloved husband’s familiar lips pressed to hers, her mind flooded with the terrible things she’d done with her mouth today. Josh’s lips were pressed to lips that had sucked Devlin’s cock today. Devlin had come in her mouth three hours ago, and she hadn’t brushed her teeth in between—though she’d gone through half a pack of Josh’s spearmint gum he kept in the Qashqai. She hid fear from her eyes when their mouths parted, showed Josh a smile. As real as the smile was, it hurt to be so deceptive.

Josh sat and she joined him, Gabrielle tending to Simon’s mess. She shifted side-to-side, tucking her skirt underneath her, Josh watching her strangely a moment. He asked her how traffic was.

“Brutal,” she told him. “I feel like I was in the car all day.”

“How’s Hamilton this time of year?”

“It was fine,” she joked, nudging her shoulder against him and then leaning. Kids jumped on a trampoline across from them, four boys, and things were getting rough. She said, “Hey, we need to go have lunch with my dad soon, he wants to see us this summer, and it’s almost halfway through August.”

“Maybe we’ll take the new car out for a road trip.”

Not a bad idea. She said, “Big road trip all the way out to Markham?”

“What do you say?”

“I think it’s a great idea,” she said as the four-boy-fun on the trampoline turned to combat and crying. Two mothers came and escorted their boys away. She chuckled, leaned to say something to Josh but changed her mind. She was going to make fun of them being the only people here who didn’t have kids, and how out of place she felt. But she was pretty sure Josh had arranged this gathering because he needed some kid energy, and that was just like her sweet husband . . .