SamuZai
ktmorrison
ktmorrison

patreon


DITW 13-10: Heav'n Of Hell

The angle of Kimmy’s jawline, the way it dipped, long eyelash lowered, sultry lips pouting, told him all he needed to know. She watched for him to join her. Wanted him to follow. Expected him to enter. While this seductive glance over a wet-glistening shoulder was an obvious act, there was still truth to her intention. Kimmy had lured him in here, and so what if she did? Kimmy wanted him. He always hoped to be wanted.

But wasn’t it all artifice?

It couldn’t be. If this was only an act, what would Kimmy gain? Only the same man she’d betrayed. If she’d strayed because he’d failed her or left her unfulfilled, why would she return to him? Perhaps Kimmy loved betrayal more than she loved him. Maybe she loved wickedness more than she loved him. Maybe he proved the perfect partner for a woman who adored cruelty.

He prayed that wasn’t true.

Then there was a sharper blade slashed along his psyche’s ripe flesh: perhaps Kimmy wanted them rejoined so she would be the one who performed the final severing.

It wasn’t far-fetched. It wasn’t impossible. And that crushed his heart.

He stepped into the shower as naked as she was and slid the door closed. Kimmy’s head turned more, tracking him.

He said, “Don’t worry. I didn’t bring a chair.”

“We love each other. I don’t think you’d ever hurt me.”

“What if I hurt you the way you hurt me?” Kimmy closed her eyes, nodded her chin down, acknowledging the harm she’d delivered, and he said, “You’re the one throwing chairs.”

The eye opened again, but she didn’t turn to face him and he hated how it made him think she knew how good she looked right now, that this might be her best angle, and how submissive she appeared; a naked and beautiful woman who could never harm a fly.

He held up a hand to block the fine mist scattering into his eyes, the shower water splashing off his wife’s tangled black hair that hung down her slender back. He dropped the hand to block out the view of her seductive mouth, to free himself from whatever hold she had on him. But that only brought attention lower, to her skinny waist, to her pert cheeks and her long legs, all glistening wet flesh. Between his legs his cock stood upright, eager for satisfaction. He’d suffered a long time today. Endured the gravest sexual macabre. He’d watched his most feared and most depraved fantasy come to life, and he hated it. But he wasn’t sure if it was hate at all. Kimmy was right in so many ways. What had ruined the show for him was Kimmy’s betrayal. Her lies. Witnessing the act, however, riled him in incomprehensible revolutions, twisting his most masculine core until it shed liquid lust. Hate and fury and desire and lust all at once. There were astounding moments.

His slippery front pressed her slippery back. His hands glided down her arms and circled her wrists. He brought her arms overhead and leaned into her until her cheek pressed the tiled wall under the shower-head. The spray cascaded down his back now and soaked his hair.

He said, “You don’t love me, you only love yourself.”

The belly of his throbbing cock found the seam between her cheeks and slipped between. The feeling was wild paradise. His cock swelled harder, flexing against the plush constraint of his wife’s lubricious ass.

“And you hate me,” she said.

“I only wish I did. I don’t even know how to feel anymore. No one’s ever hurt me like you just did.”

Kimmy grunted, and he was sure it wasn’t with a wounding or a sadness; he swore the sound came with an exasperation, like her husband was playing the same tired song again. But not a song, more like an article of faith. Anger rose once more, and he gritted his teeth. His hard cock-belly pressed into her slippery seam with greater force.

Kimmy said, “I’ll tell you a million times if you need it, Josh, but I never wanted to hurt you.”

He lifted her hands higher, pinned them harder to the bathroom tile. “You just didn’t care.”

That was something she didn’t argue. This statement she allowed to pass without a noted assessment. So he continued.

“You just wanted to get what you wanted, and you didn’t care about me at all.”

“I cared about you, Josh. Don’t make up things that aren’t true.”

“That’s your fucking job, right?” He dipped at the knees, his body wanting to brutalize her more than his mind did; wanting to degrade her, wanting to pull down her fancy attire and show her all she was worth underneath wasn’t much at all. His cock slipped along her crack like a card in a credit machine, drawing down until the point of his erection dropped between her legs. Then he rose, his cock head looking for a weakness in her armor, looking to sink inside her softness, to impale her with the sword she’d forged with her lies and manipulation. She’d honed his kink, tempered it on a forge burning with her white-hot wickedness.

Kimmy’s anus was tight, unyielding. But she didn’t struggle. She held still and allowed him to sink inside her, his cock wet with shower water.

“Ah, careful,” she warned him. He didn’t even want to be careful.

His cock squeaked and slipped, getting deeper inside her. “Did he ever fuck your ass?”

“Oh, Josh, don’t—you’re disgusting.”

“Disgusting because I want to know? He did, didn’t he? You’re so fucking rotten.”

Kimmy gasped again, the softest, sexiest sound he could imagine. A provocative mixture of impetus: his own dirty intrusion into her ass, combined with her recollection of when Devlin had done it to her. That’s what he believed. More anger rolled now. Devlin had fucked Kimmy’s ass. Kimmy had allowed it behind her husband’s back. Kimmy lied and lied and lied. And for what? So she could get an illicit fucking with a big tall man packed with muscle? A handsome asshole with a giant dick? . . . He squeezed her skinny wrists like he wanted to break them and pushed himself deeper inside her. “Are you thinking of it now? Are you thinking of him?”

“No,” Kimmy said, pinned to the wall and letting her husband take out the frustration she’d loaded on him in over-laden heavy haulage. Something she and her transport-biz lover had to work out together, determine the logistics of how poor Josh could manage such tonnage without breaking an axle.

“He fucked your ass?”

She nodded, her lips parted, eyes closed. He was sure she was thinking how much better Devlin Stone had fucked her ass. How much better Devlin could do it, with his big hands and his black eyes and his horse cock. Hate and pure bile-inducing disgust swelled his cock even harder. Brought a muscular surge beginning somewhere near his asshole. He thrusted deep into her. Drew back and did it again, this time holding it, impaling her with every inch, lifting her onto her toes. Her hands went to fists and her wrists twisted in his grip. He held them firm.

“God, I fucking hate you so much,” he growled.

She whimpered, but stayed resilient, answering, “No, you don’t.”

And he didn’t. He should. And holy shit did he want to. He wanted to take all of her stupid expensive clothes, throw them out the window, take her shit, any single fucking thing that reminded him of her, and break it over his knee. He wanted to shout and scream and he wanted to hurt her as much as she had hurt him. But he couldn’t do that. He’d never harm her. And she didn’t love him from the same angle he loved her. So how the hell could he give the same hurt back to her? Fuck her bully? Fuck Amy behind her back? That sounded like more harm to him than to Kimmy. He had nothing. Nothing but suffering. It would be so easy to let go, let his grip on this cliff-side precipice release, find freedom splattered on the ground below...

He let his tight grip loosen but still held her wrists, his thumb caressing her skin, wanting to kiss her neck, to nuzzle his mouth and nose under her ear, feel her wet hair on his cheek. He wanted to make love to her. To win her back. Like a chump. Like a goddamn fucking chump. She was a bitch who spread her legs for his sworn enemy. Lied to his face. Made him believe they were in this together, made him believe it was all for him. Acted like the novice, an uninitiated saint trying to comprehend her husband’s ill-shaped kink as he struggled to explain whatever it was he wanted. Putting it in his head so she could get fucked better. Luring, leading, coaxing, nourishing and nurturing the sin that beat in her heart, getting her dumb husband to ask her to do the very thing she was already doing behind his back. A fucking cunt. An evil, despicable whore.

He withdrew and then pushed himself in deeper, making Kimmy wince and whimper, then closing his eyes tight, growling, hating himself more than he hated her right now. Or at least should. Wishing none of this had happened, that they could be transported back in time. That this was all a dream, that he was still inside the tent outside of Tiffany’s cottage, and he was still drunk, and soon he’d wake, taught the lessons of some ghost of summer future.

He let her wrists go, rested his forehead on the crown of her skull, lovely warm water running his back. “I hate you so much, Kimmy. I hate you so fucking much,” he said, now grabbing her little breasts and squeezing them. Her nipples were swollen against his palm.

Her slick hands went over the backs of his and she angled her ass so he could fuck it. The act was lurid and he couldn’t stop the cannon-blast thought that she’d shared herself like this with Devlin. Done it behind his back.

His mouth supped the water draining from her black hair. His teeth raked her back; he bit at her collar and her neck. “Did he do it?” he bit and grunted, eyes squeezed shut again. “Did he fuck your ass?”

She gasped, “Yeah,” and he hated the instant click of hydraulic turnout switches in his ears, two enormous railway tracks heading different directions lining up again, ready to send their loaded freight train to the registered destination.

His hips propelled against her rump in an exquisite dance of rolling and dropping and swiveling, his wife’s cheeks patting against his drive, her ass gripping his cock tight.

He asked her where, and Kimmy hesitated, but she panted with his thrusts, her head rolling on her long neck, her nails scratching his hands. “Cayman,” she admitted at last, uttering the lone word in a single breathy syllable.

“He fucked your ass in his hotel room while I waited?” His voice was tinged with rage and yet there was something electrical humming along the surface of his brain, a storm surging over thirsty sunbaked farmland.

“The lawyer’s,” she gasped now, and his mind reeled. There was so much he didn’t know that was his to hear. He demanded it. She was his wife, and this information was his. He deserved the truth. But the revelations aroused him through the celestial light bathing his wife’s wickedness. The impossible duality of Kimmy’s claim: she betrayed him because she loved him.

It was too much to assimilate, the particles too large for the finer mesh today’s escapade had inserted into his basket. His thrusts stopped, his interstate clogged with traffic, ears ringing, shower water splashing off his forehead. Kimmy wouldn’t let him retreat, keeping his cock imbedded in her ass by holding onto his wrists now, keeping him locked in place like they were rutting dogs. Her hips shunted back and forth, her ass sucking on his cock. He leaned over her back, resting his forehead between her shoulder blades.

Her rear-thrusting slowed to a more seductive rhythm, and she interlinked their fingers, holding his hands over her chest. She quarter-turned, making sure he would hear her, saying now, “I showed you his true form. Aren’t you going to thank me?”

He scoffed and lifted off her back, his hips taking up her rhythm and meeting her thrusts. He pushed her forward and pinned her front to the tiled wall. “Thank you for that? I watched him fucking shoot his disgusting load all over himself. You’re the fucking devil.”

“I showed you Devlin Stone on his hands and knees, crawling on the floor like a dog. I put that chair in your hands.”

And he pictured it: Devlin in a robe, down on his hands and knees. Man, his heart had hammered in the moment. Lightning had shot through every synapse in his body. He’d never been more sure of his own righteousness in any moment he could remember. He said, “I’m the one who threw it.”

“You threw it, Josh. And then you saw him. That’s who he is. He’s a fucking nobody. It’s you and me. We’re the real people. He’s a nothing. I freed you. I gave you manhood.”

Comments

One thing is clear Devlin and his lackeys enjoyed bullying Joss, when he met Kimmy at Tiffany's he was no doubt thrilled by how the skinny Asian nerd had turned out, and it was icing on the cake when he saw the opportunity of porking her and bullying her hubby, his once and future victim, Josh Waters. Double the fun double the pain when Josh finds out. That's why he was impatient with Kimmy's timetable he was so eager to further demean Josh as a participating accomplice in his own degradation by 'preparing' his wife and her devo boss! Devlin is one of those people who can only feel worth by cheapening and ruining the existence of others...

Bill F Protagoras

Yeah i agree. Devlin seemed an unknown, somewhat enigmatic but as soon as he came into focus he became less intimidating for all and less impressive.

CSH

This talk about Josh submitting to Devlin is exciting. There was a point in the story that had me think Devlin was just a horny pampered narcissist, but not necessarily the demon Josh made him into. For example I saw Joshs and Devlins night out quite a reach out from Devlins side. I saw that in his own way Devlin wanted to show that Joshs ghosts were just ghosts and that Josh had really made something out of himself. And I felt that although Devlin had his own motives, wanting to have sex with Kimmy and make it more kinky with Josh as the willing cuckold, he still felt pretty sincere with trying to make Josh accept his desires and fantasies. Devlin felt like a hedonistic libertine, everyone just enjoy their kinks, who gives a fuck, let me fuck your wife and you watch and enjoy. But after that Devlins been rubbing things the wrong way in my eyes, pushing Kimmy with his nonchalant flirting when Kimmys been wrecked and almost deliberately trying to wreck K & J’s relationship, which is weird. All the dude had to do was chill and back down and let Kimmy deal with it. And after the monday lunch date he left himself in a really bad position. I feel like Devlin had things going really well for him, he maybe could have had it all, but I feel like now he has made himself once again the devil he was to Josh. Of course it’s not a great sign of character boning someone elses wife, but in the end he is single, Kimmy wasn’t, the choice for Devlin has less consequences, so maybe, just maybe, in this chearing scenario Devlin is the lesser evil compared to Kimmy. But I guess Devlins is just as evil and manipulative as Kimmy is now. Or even worse if there’s a bigger scheme revealed. Now I’ve lost my thought already, but I guess it was that if Devlin could have pulled his head out of his ass and act like just a bit like a decent human being, he could’ve possibly have Josh eating out his and Kimmys hand and make Josh live out his cuck fantasies, but now Devlin left a really bad taste in my mouth at least and feel like he has mountain to climb to get back in good faith with J&K.

Karl

He could very easily fake a walk away, he could do a Lysistrata, he could go along then seek pretexts to squabble. They can fuck on his terms... guerrilla warfare was perfected behind a screen of domestic bliss. What makes you think I want him to walk out... I want Kimmy to stop being manic. As I've said before Poor Josh can look after himself, and he has a support system... what does Kimmy have? Nothing of real substance... I wouldn't dream of plotting, who would be so foolish as to try to fix what is the opposite of broken. The last time we were all saying rhubarb, rhubarb and not in contention our esteemed word wright was obliged to have our villain slain in a hail of insubstantial bullets... And who knows, set it up right, and Kimmy's own insecurities could make Josh's business trip(s) to Rome uncomfortable for her... and there is also the pregnancy, and as Steve Mc pointed out her ill-considered dalliance with the mother of Meyer's daughter... I'm sure we can leave all that along with the sex and accompanying angst in KT's extremely capable hands. That was not meant to be a double-entendre. Our job is to converse and, when unavoidable, bicker!

Bill F Protagoras

Im not saying i think whats about to happen will last just that there is a path for kimmy to seemingly take control over the situation. However temporary a fix that might be. I think kimmy has zero interest in other guys than Devlin. Bill i think part of what Josh is doing in his mind is struggling to own his fantasies of submission without actually submitting. And yes, as Devlin has made clear he wants Joshs submission to be direct and unequivocal. Devlin has always seen Josh as a prize of equal value to kimmy. There are lots of realistic paths for this story to move down. Im just saying that, none of them, right now, at this point can be ones where Josh walks away, not yet, anyway. So if he doesnt walk, then, one way, or another, kimmy has him.

CSH

Only a theory, but what if Josh's erotic visions are a form of relief through conscious fantasy like masturbation. Isn't Kimmy's obsessive compulsive behaviour doomed to cause a breakdown of whatever they are half-assing around with. I am not attempting to suggest a solution merely describing the situation. Literature enables us to live through the problems of life without being broken by them. I'm just pointing out that this isn't the Story of O, where fantasy is carried out in privileged isolation, this story is taking place in Toronto albeit a fictional one. Even Kimmy's own professed goals and ambitions require that she pull herself together. Her sex life is threatening to spurt out of the cracks she is making in what was once an ordinary life. Which will be great fun in one way but a sudden lapse into absurdity or tragedy. I note with trepidation 'cause who knows where we might be headed, that Kimmy seemingly is'nt having sex with a fairly large majority of the characters in the book... I don't see this as a team sport where we are cheering on a competition between our favourites. This is a realistic novel in a world where fantasy teases and dwells within our privacy and imagination... and if not we keep it in homes, hospitals, or amongst the unsightly homeless! Most importantly, we should all remember that time is still moving at a really slow pace in the novel for now. The tripod of the story has had a big knee-trembling day. While I for one am really hyped... PS We all know the diabolical intellect of Devlin is not going to let events transpire without expert meddling on his part.

Bill F Protagoras

Ohhhh, that's an interesting take, Bill. I hadn't thought that far. Devlin had friends; Devlin wasn't the only one who bullied Josh. What if they begin to cuckold Josh too? After all, IF Kimmy does consolidate her power over Josh, like any good villain she'll want to exercise that power. Right? A very intelligent woman, the very pinnacle of beauty, with an appetite for men, a "sugar daddy" lover named Devlin, and a husband she can talk into anything? You're right, Bill, there's a much bigger world for her. Is a woman like that really going to be content with just one good lover (Devlin)? As for Devlin and that homoerotic connection, it hadn't occurred to me that that story angle might be taken further, but you're right, it could. Though I imagine you used "romance" tongue in cheek. Might Kimmy persuade Josh to "be a man", face his darkest fears, and slay his greatest demon by...submitting to him? The path of non-resistance, maybe: "Josh, I know you're afraid. But trust me, this is for the best. You need this. You've always needed this. It's always been right in front of you. The only way out is through, my love. Surrender to him. It's OK. Aren't you tired of always swimming upstream, Josh?"

Pete

Other people always ruin shit. No doubt they will go around telling lies and uncomfortable truths. Kimmy can still make a play to keep both men and to emerge in control. Josh is angry distrustful and wary but still likely addicted to his kink. A lot of that anger might get turned inward, with kimmy’s help of course. If we will have more books, and we dont go in this direction, where do we go i wonder?

CSH

I also feel like Sophie represents his holy grail of starting a family with Kimmy. And Kimmys medling with Hyun could perhaps taint the image in Josh’s head. I agree your assesment of Jess and another thing that made me loath, I rarely feel such thing, Jess was the intimate secrets she shared with Tyler and but not with her husband. Secrets Tyler eventually threw in Petes face like wet rag. For me that shows such a disrespect towards a partner you are sharing your life with.

Karl

That’s why I think Jess is KT least likable heroine. The way she kicked Pete out of his home for Tyler. All while their kids were in the background observing. There might be some long term harm for those boys. Also Jess and Tyler couldn’t keep their hands off each other even when the boys were upstairs. What if one of them wandered downstairs and saw them in the act. Jess didn’t give a damn about those kids. Pete should have filed for full custody of his boys. Lucky for Jess, Pete was too much of a nice guy.

Andrew Mellein

So you foresee Josh socializing with Devlin's other dupes in the future, maybe he will get into being cuckolded by them... ah the nostalgia! Do you see the point I'm trying to make. Kimmy might even persuade Josh to enter into that homoerotic romance that Devlin has been been harbouring the need for ever since High School...

Bill F Protagoras

And yet other people exist outside the web that 'she who must be obeyed' is weaving around her victim. People who may not be partial to Kimmy's toxicity, and not just for Josh's sake!

Bill F Protagoras

The tautology of ritualized sex... the punishment fits the crime because it IS the crime and it's own expiation! Yet it could also be seen as a staycation in tartarus pushing the same rock up the same hill day after day. Punishing hard labour. Just a thought.

Bill F Protagoras

Hi L_S, “What if I hurt you the way you hurt me?” Kimmy closed her eyes, nodded her chin down, acknowledging the harm she’d delivered, and he said, “You’re the one throwing chairs.” As you see he did ask her, but she gave no reply. Every time she stays silent or changes the subject she is exercising her right not incriminate herself, which is a sign of guilt and/or shame... Josh must realize this. Though he may play the fool, he is far from stupid. He is a match for Kimmy, if he breaks out of the lovelorn stupor he has fallen into. Action speaks louder than words... he has to 'throw another chair' or he will simply become a prop in Kimmy's ritualized victimization... when you break the rules you are no longer playing the game. While Kimmy is playing she is safe... fuck everybody else! And she will if she can get away with it...

Bill F Protagoras

Andrew, I do think it has that potential. Even if Josh isn't fully "on board." Kimmy is the Alpha in their relationship. And they both know it. To me, one of the best aspects of DITW is Kimmy's character development. In contrast to Josh, who (excepting book 13) remains relatively stuck/stagnant throughout, Kimmy reaches, tries, fails, learns, grows, and evolves continually. She's a MUCH stronger woman in Book 13 than she was in Book 1. She's learned so much about herself, Josh, Devlin, and Hyun. She's tried and tested manipulating them all; found what works, and what doesn't, and then refined it. In terms of self-knowledge and awareness, she denied her sadistic nature at first, but now she fully accepts and acknowledges it (to Josh, even). Will she go even further, and more deeply embrace it? (Perhaps that's a very spicy spinoff series) In short, if Kimmy is bent on more manipulation, I think this time she may be a force to be reckoned with. IF she wants Josh as her cuckold, I think the odds are she'll get exactly that.

Pete

So do you think it has the potential to move from an adultry series into a hotwife series? What about Hyun and Devlin’s unborn spawn? I guess if Josh loves humiliation and is on board.

Andrew Mellein

I cant seeing her just stop. More likely she will be blatant and open with Josh now. Not hiding her affair anymore, instead throwing it in his face. Then more of the hate filled sex with her loving husband.

CSH

Yes, being cruel to him while loving him, so inflicting harm on oneself as a way to pay for how guilty you feel for having become adict beyond control to the sexual blis of paroxistics marathons of priapic love.

Rocambole50

I can’t wait for the next chapter! I want to read Kimmys POV. Is she really done with Devlin and is remorseful for her actions or is she trying to rope Josh’s kink into another round with her boss? Kimmy is almost an unreliable narrator in that way as her actions say one thing and her thoughts say another. She is an enigma wrapped in a riddle! She is playing to Josh’s masculine ego saying Devlin is a nobody and I made you a man but does she really believe that!

Andrew Mellein

And a borehole is much smaller in diameter than a production well. The borehole also generally produces a "core" cylindrical sample for further examination - not sure if we want to follow that one all the way in the current non-oil and gas context.

Donkatsu

If Josh does not go ballistic on Kimmy about her fling with Hyun you can bet your butt Meyer will! And Meyer was the one defending Kimmy from Josh’s accurate assessment of her infidelity behind his back. He’s going to ape shit. Once that comes out I don’t see how Josh can remain in a marriage with Kimmy!

Andrew Mellein

I agree, the possible harm to Sophie is unforgivable. The whole Hyun affair is Kimmy’s biggest error of judgment. Whatever she does with Devlin she can twist it to be something erotic to manipulate Josh with. But Hyun and especially Sophie?! Josh will go ballistic, there’s no comeback from hurting Sophie in anyway. And Meyer who is important for Josh too. Kimmy is digging her grave with this affair.

Karl

Kimmy is making a lot of short term wins in this relationship but I don’t think shes thinking long term and I think that’s going to cost her!

Andrew Mellein

Of course, you're from Texas... always open to enlightenment as long as it's not of a religious nature. Ironically life's too short! Loving your contributions! Good, to finally meet someone who is as new to this game as I am. As someone who has adopted the name Protagoras on this forum it irks me that Kimmy, who I still have a crush on, seems to consider Devlin's to be the measure of all dicks that are and are not... Doubtless there are others that are longer and thicker that could core Kimmy like a forbidden fruit... my puzzle is what knowledge could she possibly have gained which would make her risk alienating everyone who once formed part of her life, because of compulsive behaviour... any clues that are not tautologies? You can take your 'like' off if you want as I have changed tenor of my reply considerably.

Bill F Protagoras

I wish KT would pick up Landlord again! Maybe writing concurrently to DITW. But I imagine both stories are too similar (dark and angsty) and she’s writing Summer Swing so we will have to wait awhile before Johnny can finally get his cock cage removed🤣🤣

Andrew Mellein

Your point about Sophie is horribly valid and I am ashamed I subsumed it in my theory that Hyun would drop Kimmy immediately. But of course the damage has already been done... thanks for pointing this out, perhaps I'll think things through a bit better next time. It also shows how terrible Kimmy's transmogrification has become. And shit yeah! I wouldn't want to be in Kimmy's fashionable shoes when Meyer finds out. Liked your take on Kimmy's selective amnesia. My theory was callous and invalid because consequence for everyone involved was not extended to a vulnerable child, as the father of a daughter myself I should've been more considerate.

Bill F Protagoras

The borehole is also a much smaller diameter.

Steve McCarty

All theories created equal until the truth is revealed.

Steve McCarty

So sad to think if Kimmy needs to go outside her marriage for human contact and affection.

Karl

Borehole... it has taken me till now to find a possible relevant theory about this title... it might be because of what I've read since then so here it is... "a deep core sample into the most ancient and fragile depths of a man’s psyche." In the end, is it this for both of them, the inescapable truth that Josh's dick can never get as close to Kimmy's cervix as Devlin can. And even though neither should blame the other for genetic circumstances, they each blame the other for recognizing this insuperable circumstance. And the consensus is Josh should... and does feel it worse. Or is it?

Bill F Protagoras

Whats the point of loving cruelty without a victim..i mean ..a husband to be cruel to?

CSH

"Perhaps Kimmy loved betrayal more than she loved him. Maybe she loved wickedness more than she loved him. Maybe he proved the perfect partner for a woman who adored cruelty." Precisely.

Rocambole50

The pregnancy bombshell is the one I want to see her handle the most. The longer she waits to rip that band aid off, the harder it's going to be to convince Josh to be OK with that. Honestly I don't know how she convinces him in any way. I have no doubt it will turn him on though (even if he hates that it does) so likely she'll try to use that. She could try to spin continuing to work for Devlin as part of a plan for revenge. But her first attempt to justify the job to Josh, she went right to the money and building a better life for them. But I also don't see how Josh can trust her going to that office everyday.

JL23

I agree with the guilt thing and punishing herself and especially sabotaging herself. Hyun on the other hand is an attempt to have at least some human contact, especially as it gives her an in with Sophie. I also think she misses the friends Josh shared with her, but she knows they would catch on to how she has changed and would interfere. I think the sex with Hyun has a strong element of affection. The problem for Kimmy is that in terms of family Hyun (Her name means 'worthy') is quite traditional, and sexually she seems to be closeted. As for Kimmy's family they may be part of her 'problem'. Also they will of course support Kimmy, but they seem to like Josh so if they discover she is bullying him they will not be well pleased. Those are some of my theories don't let me interfere with yours.

Bill F Protagoras

I’m entertaining the idea of Kimmy sabotaging herself with her actions. Sure her actions are selfish and cruel, but also extremely dangerous for her relationships to her loved ones. If Kimmy doesn’t feel she deserves love, she hides behind this knew role of a hotshot power lawyer capable of anything, but what if deep down she’s punishing herself by kindling every important bridge and waiting for them to burn. But what is she punishing herself for? Perhaps the cheating at Tiffany’s set off a series of guilt and regret ridden events that pushed and drove Kimmy deeper in to her madness. Regret for not living up to her potential before Devlin showed up, guilty for enjoying what she feels she has been missing out on. Maybe that guilt drives her to do horrible things. Maybe she wants to drive Josh to be her accomplish to relief some of the guit, or maybe to punish Josh for just being there and blaming him for letting her waste her years. Maybe Hyun just happened to be another victim of Kimmys sexual amok run, another way for her to hurt herself and everyone around her.

Karl

I agree L_S. Very good point about Charlie, it was extremely droll what a jealous twist she got her knickers in about someone on line. It was sweet, because Jonny really does deserve the shit she has given him. Although she should, ironically, thank him because his complicity in her being virtually bartered into slavery has resulted in her becoming her own woman, and a formidable one at that. Perhaps KT's most admirable creation!

Bill F Protagoras

Bill mentioned Kimmy "...taunting and belittling ..." Josh about his penis outside Hyun's apartment. Kimmy has been brilliant at times both in long term strategy and shorter term tactics. This was neither, this was childish reflexive panic, a child with their hand in the cookie jar replying " that dress makes you look fat". Kimmy has lied to herself on several occasions but they were laughable and perfunctory... no kissing, always use condoms, just this one time at this swanky hotel and so on. She is also locking away actions and events that she does not want to admit to... One fact that she has sequestered is the inexplicable lie she told Hyun about her drinking and the other, of course is the affair with Hyun. This affair is one of the two elephants in the shower and please let's be succinct and accurate this is not a casual "just physical" fling, this is a potential traumatic harm to Sophie, the six year old niece of Josh and Kimmy. This is Kimmy's blackest sin and the most searing dialogue will be Meyer confronting Kimmy with her monstrous betrayal.

Steve McCarty

“Are you thinking of it now? Are you thinking of him?” “No,” Kimmy said, pinned to the wall and letting her husband take out the frustration she’d loaded on him in over-laden heavy haulage. 'Something she and her transport-biz lover had to work out together, determine the logistics of how poor Josh could manage such tonnage without breaking an axle.' “He fucked your ass?” Doesn't that sound like conspiracy to you?

Bill F Protagoras

A like mind at last! I wish that was a compliment!

Bill F Protagoras

This chapter was so amazing. One of the best so far. I said something a couple chapters back, that maybe Kimmy and Josh stay together to team up to take Devlin down. She could keep working for him under the guise of tricking him, including still seducing him occasionally using the excuse that it’s part of their game together. It will take a lot to convince Josh for her to keep working for Stone. Saying “it’s just for the money for our future together,” isn’t going to work on Josh anymore. Josh will need to believe that he’s in control of this. In reality, Kimmy will be the one in control of everyone, until, of course, her pregnancy is revealed. I can’t wait to see how KT figures that into the story. As it stands, it would be unbelievable for Josh to stay with Kimmy while she’s still working for Devlin. He acquiesces a hell of a lot to Kimmy, but working for Stone is a no go, unless there’s something in it for him. I will be shocked if Kimmy agrees to cut all ties with Devlin and her job

Kat

Remember too we don't get stream of consciousness, we only get bits of Josh's thoughts... we never get his overviews, or fleeting long term plans. We are never really in a first person narrative. KT preserves the mystery of ad hoc reality eg as happens frequently in Cherry B someone thinks something then does the opposite... it's a blessing and a curse but it's how we are. In fact, KT, has made this a signature move, I have read a lot of authors but none springs to mind who uses it so consistently, and to such effect! It's another thing that makes her work so outstanding.

Bill F Protagoras

Devlin was right because even a stopped clock is right twice a day, or for those with a 24hr clock once!

Bill F Protagoras

Andrew you didn't read my first post for this chapter did you... Karl did! And is she cheating him even now... depriving him of his fantasy of innocence... complicit at last in his own home in what was once the penetralia of a marriage now a branch of a sordid business. A Brokerage. Brought to him by his slavery to what? Was it any longer his wife... Was it any longer love? Or just addiction... unjust addiction. 'Is Kimmy right is this what he really wants, but doesn't really know it... welcome back to hell! A fiscal island paradise!' A plaintive threnody for what once was... See above for Cayman anal in Ajax...

Bill F Protagoras

To Karl who agrees with Andrew... Now there is an opportunity to discover why Kimmy from a swotty hard working Asian girl who chose Josh to set up a home and a family with, became a driven workaholic, and more importantly, Alexander Trocchi, Pain Mistress obsessed with pushing her chosen mate into a state not of angst but, instead, of helpless anguish. This original plan that was voted on of a man who fantasizes that his bully was fucking his wife then discovers she really is... left our beloved author a lot of leeway. Most importantly why this monstrous situation came about, it would be most unlike KT to simply slavishly follow some tropes without a back story. I believe this magnificent lengthy novel is already strewn with clues as to how our babes got into the woods that led Kimmy to the Stone business made of candy where she wants to shove her hubby/peer into the Brokerage oven, a sacrifice in the devil's mystery play hell mouth furnace. A real life fairy tale was set up at the behest of Patreon participants, it's not surprising that an HEA temptation has been set up! The problem is, or for deviants the treat is, that KT Morrison writes ad hoc realism laced with genuine sexual fantasy not the bad fairy tale dross favoured by an expanding market and the Big A. And that predicament is what you, my dear Karl, are expounding in your posting... right now. Very now, at this opportune moment, asking the right questions... as are many others! We gave KT our mandate to run with her story so we better keep up... that's what we signed up for that's our Crossroad's bargain...

Bill F Protagoras

I’m surprised Josh hasn’t called Karina. Karina was pretty mad about Kimmy and Devlin fooling around at the party. And Kimmy pretty much lied to her. What would it take for Josh to call her up to go out for drinks and vent that Kimmy cheated on him. I think she has some potential in the story.

Andrew Mellein

I see your point, JL, just not sure I agree with it. Kimmy strikes me as the type that would HATE Josh doing to her what she did to him. In a controlled environment, I think she'd love it. Having Josh and Hyun sully themselves together at her direction? She'd love that l. Josh going behind her back? Especially with someone she knows? I think she'd be livid. I reminded of Charlie and Jonny from Landlord. Charlie had an absolute fit over Jonny talking to the Israeli woman. Why? Because I think she knows what she's doing isn't particularly fair and is scared Jonny would leave her for enjoying it so much. So she's hypersensitive to the mere possibility Jonny may flirt or have thoughts of getting out of this horrible situation she's clearly enjoying. Likewise I think Kimmy would see the same issues. Losing Josh scares the shit out of her, hence her efforts here. Losing Josh to another woman? Hell no.

L_S87

I agree with Andrew, and I feel that the same distance would do wonders for Kimmy too. A break from both Josh and Devlin. I feel like Kimmy has a lot of issues to deal with in the past, the same as Josh. There has to be a more complex reason for her to keep wanting to get dicked down by Devlin than a big dick big pleasure theme. She's basically self-sabotaging her marriage while claiming she loves her husband. I think she's too blinded by the chance to shine given by Devlin to do any reflective soul-searching. She loves to be in the spotlight for a change, and she's good, really good. And I don't know if there's actual regret she'd have towards Josh because of her past if she feels like she's been held back by her past life situation. Would she blame Josh for it, subconsciously perhaps? Perhaps one of the reasons she puts Josh through hell continuously? And her unresolved issues keep her in this loop where she wants to have it all even though it is heading to destruction.

Karl

He talks here about how Kimmy doesn't love him the same way that he loves her. You could read that multiple ways, but what I feel like he's saying there is his perception that while he kind of hates having his dark desires, Kimmy loves having hers. So him cheating on her with Amy (or even Karina) wouldn't hurt her, maybe she'd even be turned on by it. What he doesn't say is there is a way to hurt her, it's for him to leave and never look back. But he can't bring himself to do that.

JL23

I was hoping for dialog on this. In Cayman Kimmy started saying it's us, Devlin is a tool to ramp Josh up there. He knows now she said it after giving up her ass, and now she is saying it again. He should know by now she is setting him up for what comes next.

Chris K

The apartment? That's where he found the panties, however I don't think he knows that Kimmy has a key, or how often she was there.

Chris K

Yes L_S, How would you feel? is basically an appeal to the Golden Rule! Maybe it's because Kimmy is quite brazen that she has a special status!

Bill F Protagoras

Is the title a callback to when Josh went to Hell in Caymen and Kimmy was getting her butt exposed to Devlins big rod!

Andrew Mellein

Maybe he just gave his fact finding ruse an extension to let Kimmy show some remorse of her own free will... if so... or could even be, if NO... Josh seems a more gregarious person when he's away from Kimmy. While she... seemed quite manic as the scene closed!

Bill F Protagoras

In all honesty, Josh should take a month long break from Kimmy. Find out what he wants in life and see if he still loves her. Meet other women, have a good time. I don’t know if it would serve the story. But it would get him out of that toxic environment.

Andrew Mellein

Indeed, it would. I would love to see Kimmys reaction! Karina seems more of a fit for Josh when I reread the first four books. Except for Josh’s kink I don’t know why he’s still in the apartment with her after everything she’s said and done. I guess she has way of pulling him with her words and that was a reason he split to Meyers. It seems like Kimmy partially has him where she wants him except for anything with Devlin.

Andrew Mellein

I think Kimmy might've gone over the top with her final rant... Josh had just reclaimed his own free will by saying he had thrown the chair... she may have protested too much and claimed too much credit for herself... he loves her, but he is not her homunculus! And her turn of phrase was a tad sociopathic!

Bill F Protagoras

I know Josh isn't inclined to be as ruthless and manipulative as Kimmy, so that's probably part of it. But given the number of zingers he's thrown her way, including implying she's a whore, which certainly pissed her off, you'd think he'd have thrown this one out there too. Yeah, mostly I want to see Kimmy's reaction as she gets massively twisted up over it, but also to see how Josh would view such a thing. He's certainly angry enough to say it. Then again, maybe he's not because part of him is contemplating it as payback. Kimmy would certainly deserve it. You would like this Andrew: *Josh tosses a pair of panties on the bed* "Those belong to Karina, in case you were wondering." Hell, he wouldn't actually have to do it, just go to the store, buy a pair and see what happens. That would be glorious.

L_S87

Maybe getting Devlin sacked from his dad’s company. I just don’t see how he trusts Kimmy no matter what spell she weaves to allow her to work there.

Andrew Mellein

It’s mentioned what if he got revenge with Amy but he put it aside. Josh has mentioned dating girls before Kimmy. And she was insanely jealous! Yeah I am surprised he hasn’t done it yet!

Andrew Mellein

Tbh, there's a lot of weak arguments and hypocrisies of Kimmy's that Josh lets slip by unchallenged or only lightly challenged, a lot of stronger positions he could take that he doesn't. And she takes every advantage of that.

Glaucon

I will say, through all of this conversation between Josh and Kimmy, the one thing I find very odd is that Josh has never put the shoe on the other foot. Everyone in this scenario always asks "How would you feel if I did the same thing to you?" I find it odd and interesting that Josh has never brought up to Kimmy how she would feel if he betrayed her with someone she knew. How angry and mortified would Kimmy be at such an occurrence? Sure, she contemplated sullying Josh and Hyun together, but that was a passing fancy, one she would always be on control of. I think always in control Kimmy would loath it. Josh would know this, so I wonder why he hasn't made that comparison.

L_S87

Totally agree Kat. This doesn't work if she just keeps doing it like none of this happened. She has to make a convincing sales pitch that doesn't include her fucking Devlin and allows Josh to believe this only happens at his behest. Money isn't good enough. She's used that excuse before. It needs to include a way for Josh to get one over on Devlin. Something of equal measure with Devlin screwing his wife and her enjoying it behind Josh's back.

L_S87

Yeah, Andrew, I don’t know how continuing to work for Devlin is going to happen now. I could totally see Josh going crazy following her around not trusting anything she says or does, while still working for Devlin. It wouldn’t be consistent with the character for him to just go along with it.

Kat

She’s a piece of work. And she would also talk about it to Devlin during sex! Double A!

Andrew Mellein

I forgot did Josh ever find Devlin and Kimmys sexpad?

Andrew Mellein

Yep. Does her repeated drumming of the "you should thank me for cheating on you because it's given you strength" actually work at some point or does Josh push back on this assertion like he has for the past few chapters? Every time she does this, he gets pissed off, but he's having thoughts and a minimal level of acceptance that he didn't previously. Ultimately, I think Josh wants contrition and an affirmation that she screwed up and will change her actions to include him. But she's not giving that, or not completely and with the caveats that what she did wasn't that awful because the ends justify the means. So who knows if Josh gives in or not.

L_S87

I really don't want to believe it but it now appears I have been deceiving myself, just because she is a strong beautiful woman usurping a male role, albeit an ugly one, it doesn't give her license to crush a man because he loves her not wisely but too well. Josh really shouldn't take this lying down or any other compromising position that encourages her obdurate cruelty. But we will see what we shall see... Josh may have overcompensated for love of Kimmy Waters but he is not in an isolation chamber...

Bill F Protagoras

The poiny about this not being rational is very true. Josh struggles, even within this chapter, between doing what he wants, what he thinks he should do and what a "normal" person would do. I don't think Josh's anger is really at her for sleeping with someone else, but for that someone else being Devlin, and doing it behind his back. That's the betrayal. It's not the cheating, it's how she did it that pisses him off. Which is ultimately why he struggles with this so much, because he knows Kimmy is right in so many ways, yet he feels adamant that he must get his point across that he won't let Kimmy keep betraying him and taking advantage of him for her own wicked enjoyment. Which puts him in a losing position, because Kimmy has already figured out he's not leaving, so now their just negotiating the why and how of him staying and what concessions she has to give to get what she wants. Ultimately, I think all Josh really wants is the truth. If he could trust Kimmy to always include him he'd be fine with most of what she does. The lack of trust is what's killing him. She's selfish and he can't trust her to think of him first. That's what she's got to fight.

L_S87

Love this observation, JL. Well, not for what it means for Josh, but how astute and likely accurate it is. The only real question isn't t that this is her strategy, it's pretty clear that it is, but only what her plan is for this strategy if it works. Is she truly changed? Has Josh's anger made her truly desire to change her approach and actually be truthful, treat this as a partnership where they both get something they need rather that her twisting everything to her own advantage. I just don't know. I feel like that's part of why we needed the extra books. Can Kimmy truly be trusted to change her approach? Her manipulation says no, but her thoughts sometimes make me think yes. There's a middle ground her where Kimmy can get what she wants from Josh and Devlin without grinding Josh into dust. I just don't know if she's truly committed to that approach. We're here because she could have done that and chose not to. So does Josh's vitriol cause her to rethink that or just get more creative with how she betrays him?

L_S87

Plot armor

Karl

Kimmy is A-grade abuser, no question about it

Karl

So this is the real dilemma isnt it?

CSH

Kimmy's constant references to Josh's manhood and to improving him are really insulting. It's like asking the neighbour when they stopped beating their wife, if you have no grounds to think they ever have. If she is so convinced he is so deficient, because what she says could be construed as far beyond giving her sexual satisfaction. I have obviously misunderstood his character perhaps he is a masochist, because Kimmy appears to have replaced softcore BDSM with actual harassment!

Bill F Protagoras

Yeah ilike that idea as well.

CSH

Always lots of possibilities but I suspect the one you mention was the one KT had to foreclose at least in the immediate future in order to continue the story. It would have been the most realistic i suspect.

CSH

A great question and point! I do believe Kimmy loves him, but it's not healthy or conducive to happiness in it's current form. So the answer is, it only matters however much the recipient allows it to. Josh has historically allowed an abundance. We'll see how much that changes with his newfound defiance.

L_S87

If I can interpret her motivations (and that's always dangerous for anyone not just Josh), she's trying to piece back together her plan to be the sexual beacon on the shore that both Josh and Devlin are rowing towards. With Josh, he's incredibly turned on by the fantasy of his wife and his bully, but he cannot take the reality. Mostly cause of Devlin and his taunts, and how he lets that affect him. So Kimmy is trying her version of "the Devil only has power over you if you give him power." If Josh can accept his desires and submit to them while giving Devlin no power to hurt him, then Josh has the power. He's using Devlin to get what he wants and in the end, it's Devlin that's the chump being used by both of them. That's why she's always saying Devlin is a nobody, he doesn't matter. She wants to give Josh power (or the illusion of it) over Devlin. Of course, I think what she really craves is power over both of them. And if she can get Josh to not be impacted by Devlin's taunts, then maybe she gets that power. Devlin can do his worst, as long as Josh perceives they're in it together, against Devlin, it won't matter. Same with staying in the job...hey, we're using him for his money and to build a better life for ourselves. Problem would be Devlin, and actually getting him to submit to it. That's why I kind of fear this is something of a con they're both playing on him to get him back in the mud with them. Or she's going to run a similar game on Devlin to try and make him think he's in control.

JL23

Irrefutable!

Bill F Protagoras

He dipped at the knees, his body wanting to brutalize her more than his mind did; wanting to degrade her, "wanting to pull down her fancy attire" and show her all she was worth underneath wasn’t much at all What "attire" was she wearing in the shower?

Bill F Protagoras

How much does it matter that a person says they love you, if they repeatedly cause you profound pain and don't really care? Especially if it was basically just for fun?

Glaucon

Hyun is the only one who knows about the pregnancy. Maybe it’s through her. Once her part in the story is revealed.

Andrew Mellein

Yes! how is that going to look to Josh in the morning when she does go to work, after everything that happened. Josh was totally not down for her working for Devlin because he knew an affair was imminent. And now that it happened I don’t see how any Kimmy lie is going to make him feel better. Nothing short of Josh following around her office I don’t see how she is going to be able to go back to work at Devlins but we will see.

Andrew Mellein

Kimmy at her best! Great chapter, KT. Josh needs to feel like a real man to take in the pregnancy news. He also needs to believe he has some degree of control in order for Kimmy to continue to lubricate the wheels of international commerce at Stone Brokerage. The money, power, prestige, and clothes angles are clearly quite important to her. Whether Kimmy continues her dalliance with Devlin is obviously up to KT. However, at this point, Kimmy seems to be setting up Josh to accept one of those "This time it's different" outcomes. "Sure, I cheated on you, did lots of things to humiliate you, talked you down, had a LOT of fun in the process. But now that you've manned-up this will truly become OUR game, Josh. We have that miserable schlep, Devlin, in the palm of our hands, and we can make him suffer emotionally the way you wounded him with the chair." And if you believe that one, Josh-baby, she has a bridge, about 400 miles SSE of here that could be yours . . . . .

Donkatsu

Damn I missed the behind-the-scenes notes

Glaucon

Your ideas are great... but things aren't going to develop rationally. Granting Josh anal and aggravating him is a great ploy. On one level he is going to feel he is taking her roughly and on another he is going to even up with his bully. Consciously he knows he can never catch up on Kimmy's betrayal this is why he is allowing himself to fall for Kimmy's garbled tangle of cause and effect from the previous chapter. In this one she seems to me at her worst, or as she would see it, at her best. She is inscrutable and unscrupulous. Did she ever seem like this with Devlin? Not in my book... she was really after tremendous sex so it was easy to give him responses that satisfied him. He could bestride the so called professional and what to him is the pornographic privacy, what enables him to lord it over every thing as far as he can see. Which I suspect is not too far. I am not contradicting what you say. I am looking at other aspects... We are seeing the thoughtful Josh at the moment, but I think he is well aware that if he retreats within his borders his wife is going to feel a lot more nervous. Kimmy is used to controlling rooms, but when something is outside her spaces she jangles. Perhaps that was why she was so vicious about his diminutive troublemaking prick when he was snooping outside Hyun's. That was real humiliation not a sultry crooning tease. Kimmy has painted herself into a corner with prodigious gouts of Devlin's ejaculate. For many things Devlin is a liability, but for the present her free flag is nailed to his big fat mast, and she has a commitment to him which he will flaunt in Josh's face.

Bill F Protagoras

Yeah, she has to have an angle for that. She can't say I did all this for you, I helped you stand up to him after my betrayal and then go back to work like today never happened and Josh's trust isn't broken. She needs a reason beyond, I'm doing this for us for the money. She fucked Devlin too many times, and is now admitting it, for that statement to fly anymore. I'm thinking her best bet is to try the partnership angle again, tell Josh it's real this time, and that she's going to use her place to fuck Devlin over and the easiest way to do that is from inside. Not sure how Josh trusts that. Maybe that's where the mysterious PI comes into play.

L_S87

I think Kimmy could twist that to be she's only taking the assholes money and it's a perfect place to be in order to get back at him and Amy for doing this to them. Whether Josh believes that or not is another thing entirely.

L_S87

And you know she’s not gonna leave her job. Josh really got himself into a bind here. It’s only going to end badly for him.

Andrew Mellein

Also is Kimmy returning to Devlins company in the morning? I don’t see how that’s possible even after everything she’s told Josh. I think if Kimmy wants Josh back she has to cut all ties with Devlin out of her life and I don’t see how that’s a possibility. Josh just doesn’t trust her anymore. We will see!

Andrew Mellein

Maybe it's a bit of both? I think ultimately her goal is to do or say whatever she has to in order to keep Josh, because awful as she can be, she does love him. She's invested too much effort for it to be anything else in my opinion. And yeah, the downside to Josh giving in, or at least staying with conditions, is that Devlin looks right in his statements. The question is, what does Kimmy do with that knowledge? Because why he might be right that Josh needs Kimmy and won't leave her, he was wrong about pretty much everything else in how Josh would react to this. I think a lot hinges on her belief that Josh standing up to Devlin was a beneficial outcome to this mess. If she wants that Josh, conspiring with Devlin is death, but conspiring against him is a great way to get back into Josh's good graces.

L_S87

Nope! Thank you. That first line was a note to myself regarding pacing. It's out now.

KT Morrison

Kimmy figured out the angle and is now fully committed to pushing the idea that Devlin is nothing, means nothing in the end, and that she gave Josh his “manhood” by forcing him to stand up to his bully finally and see that he has no power over him. Does she truly believe that, or is it a game, to justify her actions and most importantly to get Josh to stay and be OK with her continuing them? It’s always difficult to read Kimmy’s motivations when we’re seeing things from Josh’s POV because he isn’t a reliable narrator for what’s she’s thinking. Which he fully admits in this chapter. Also, he’s perceptive enough to fear she “fattening him up” for the ultimate kill, at her hands. Given we are getting at least another book now, I’m no longer convinced this isn’t part of a plan her and Devlin cooked up in the hotel room to reel Josh back in. A lot of what Devlin said about Josh is proving to be prophetic. He can’t bring himself to leave Kimmy, as much as he hates her right now, he still needs her.

JL23

This is one of those reasons I felt 10 chapters wasn't enough. Kimmy is going to hold in to those revelations until she thinks she can use them to draw Josh in. Telling him know would just increase the divide between them, allowing his anger to grow. She needs to use those horrible revelations as seeds to build trust rather than division. "I hate you!" Josh would just hate her more, and may be pushed to leave. "I love you but hate that you betrayed me and lied to me," Josh can be tempered with truth. Kimmy wraps him around her finger with this, "it's always been us, never me and Devlin" scheme and fosters that feeling of partnership Josh craved, that he thought he had when it was a game, and she can use these revelations to show she actually means it this time. "No one knows about Hyun but you, she didn't want me to tell you but we're partners, no more lying." "I'm pregnant, I'm sure it's yours, but I never told Devlin because he doesn't deserve to know because we're partners, he's just my insignificant boss." Whatever she comes up with, she would only reveal this truth to gain an advantage. Revealing it now loses her any advantage and only costs her. I think she would only tell him now if he somehow forced it out of her and she thought the truth was better than lying and getting found out later.

L_S87

Wow. What a chapter. I hate it for Josh due to how torn his thoughts are, yet love it for us seeing his thoughts, how right, and wrong, Kimmy is about his motivations. It feels like his decision isn't about whether he should leave or not, but how he should approach staying. He wants more control, less apathy, a situation that lead to Kimmy thinking she could do what she wanted and not care about the consequences. (She knows that's what she did, which is why she didn't refute that statement, only that she doesn't care about him at all). Josh is stuck. He can't trust her, but he doesn't want to leave her because of love and the knowledge that if you set aside the betrayal, much of what she says is right. It's why her actions here are so smart and yet revolting. She's finally giving him the truth of things that happened and then manipulating why they happened, bending the truth to her will. I will note that Josh has it wrong, and I'm not sure about why he would think she betrayed him for love. She never implied that. She admits betraying him, but then kept doing it for love because she figured out he liked it. Two different things. Of course the latter is a lie. She kept doing it because she enjoyed it even more when she got to play both sides, not just one. It allowed her to release her guilt. I'm not sure where they go from here. Josh isn't anywhere close to trusting her and her arguments have softened his stance but have not convinced him to give in. For Josh to capitulate now feels off, so I'm wondering what happens. An uneasy truce? A reprieve to give Kimmy time to prove herself? Taking credit for Josh pitching that chair as if that's why she betrayed him isn't going to do her any favors, I think. Though Josh may realize that through her cloud of manipulation she does have a point that this is a silver lining. He stood up to Devlin. Not for her, but for himself. So can he stand up to Kimmy too? Demand an equal partnership, not this manipulative hell she's created?

L_S87

I feel like there's a 3rd option there where Josh pulls himself up and walks away, but it's unlikely. His confusion at being pulled in two different directions doesn't seem to lead towards freedom, but rather whether he succumbs to her wiles and let's her run everything or if he tries to exert more control like he has the last few chapters, not accepting Kimmy at face value on any of her assertions. If Josh had wanted out, he'd have not stayed to have this discussion. Which is why Kimmy thinks she has the upper hand.

L_S87

Do you think Kimmy is more likely to tell factual truths to Josh about the past events now? She seems to be when pushed although she is not forthcoming on her own. Problem is Josh doesn’t know the correct questions to ask. How does he know to ask are you pregnant? Maybe that might come to him but did you sleep with Hyun is unlikely.

Tracey52

My hero... I delight in your confusion... you asked for it... I see you are already enjoying it... And in 10 short episodes we could have all been asking ourselves... How could a heap of mutilated corpses that high have even come about in a battle in a field over whether Kimmy deserves to exist in the company of decent human beings?

Bill F Protagoras

I think what with all the shit that's always flying a message on wassap would be the most tactful way to break the happy news... that or on a beach in Normandy on D-day! Otherwise I can't imagine when, perhaps when the baby is able to scurry to safety.

Bill F Protagoras

"Thinks about that.And he pictured it:" should be... "Thinks about that. And he pictured it:" Perhaps Tracey means the shift from the present narrative to the past but that seems to work to me...

Bill F Protagoras

Oh, yes now you've made her really frightening, KT. “You threw it, Josh. And then you saw him. That’s who he is. He’s a fucking nobody. It’s you and me. We’re the real people. He’s a nothing. I freed you. I gave you manhood.” They are the real people... the others they're all just strutters on a stage. And isn't that what the oldest tricks in the oldest trade, no judgement, have always handed over... but not for free, or for freedom. "That this was all a dream, that he was still inside the tent outside of Tiffany’s cottage, and he was still drunk, and soon he’d wake, taught the lessons of some ghost of summer future." Oh, that's where it was, in my back pocket all this time!

Bill F Protagoras

“I showed you his true form. Aren’t you going to thank me?” Stephen King it-girl, or just sheer diabolical?

Bill F Protagoras

"But the revelations aroused him through the celestial light bathing his wife’s wickedness." Apocalyptic, by another john no doubt. Business is all about clients...

Bill F Protagoras

“You just wanted to get what you wanted, and you didn’t care about me at all.” “I cared about you, Josh. Don’t make up things that aren’t true.” “That’s your fucking job, right?” Business as usual.

Bill F Protagoras

"She gasped, “Yeah,” and he hated the instant click of hydraulic turnout switches in his ears, two enormous railway tracks heading different directions lining up again, ready to send their loaded freight train to the registered destination." Stone Brokerage doing the business in Josh's head.

Bill F Protagoras

"That sounded like more harm to him than to Kimmy. He had nothing. Nothing but suffering. It would be so easy to let go, let his grip on this cliff-side precipice release, find freedom splattered on the ground below..." A feeling unfortunately easy to feel but much much harder to realize. Life's the only game in town.

Bill F Protagoras

"And she didn’t love him from the same angle he loved her." The higher lower analogy from our simian ancestry or something new coined in Josh's imagination? Or is this just the logistics of affectionately fucking someone in the arse, sorry to reduce everything to lowest common denominator. The child is father to the man. Even if the the child is a girl? Or the man a woman? (The Bible must've been dictated by Jehovah it's got patriarchy scrawled over it).

Bill F Protagoras

Oh man, what a chapter. This is the first time I’m actually hating Kimmy and wanting Josh to leave that 7k suit on the floor and to leave Kimmy alone in the shower. I feel like Kimmy is so high on her own supply that the high horse she’s been riding has od’d already. I get Josh, but man, this time he should just shake that spell she has on him and take distance to show her that her bullshit doesn’t work anymore. Would Kimmy’s facade crumble if Josh just left, would she be scared of him leaving her (I feel like she is so sure of herself atm and sure she has Josh wrapped around her finger) would she stop her game and come clean, really meet Josh on equal terms? Probably not, but would love to see Kimmy suffer even a little bit, having that crack in that armor showing that fear and doubtX and for Josh to have some sort of cheap, temporary and false victory. I’m getting more and more confused what’s Kimmy’s end game. I get she wants Josh to forgive her sins (or just him submitting to the situation) but her route going there is so twisted. Is it getting Josh to own his fantasies and Being confident about them? Josh taking charge of the situation, regaining his manhood? I don’t see how confident and in charge Josh fits with this manipulating domme Kimmy. So Josh’s manhood should fit Kimmys agenda and Josh should man up on her terms? I’m as confused as Josh. Maybe it’d be better for Josh and I to let Kimmy run the show. Nevertheless, if Kimmy keeps playing her game like this, I have a hard time seeing a happy ending for the two of them. But man what a masochistic high this is.

Karl

“No,” Kimmy said, pinned to the wall and letting her husband take out the frustration she’d loaded on him in over-laden heavy haulage. Something she and her transport-biz lover had to work out together, determine the logistics of how poor Josh could manage such tonnage without breaking an axle." The smoking woman still conspires... The clown still has some laughs left. "Evil comes to him who owns me!" And, yes, Josh the wheels were turning about the lover she recently hinted dire retribution to... perhaps her bark is worse than her bite.

Bill F Protagoras

Nice suggestion if KT is amenable...

Bill F Protagoras

"A handsome asshole with a giant dick?" Pennywise lives on in the sewer system of Josh's mind. Everything floats...

Bill F Protagoras

"His cock squeaked and slipped, getting deeper inside her. “Did he ever fuck your ass?” “Oh, Josh, don’t—you’re disgusting.” “Disgusting because I want to know? He did, didn’t he? You’re so fucking rotten.” Is this the new status quo? Nasty nothings in each others ears...

Bill F Protagoras

"Endured the gravest sexual macabre." Morbo? An attractive young woman, when picking up her younger brother's report, after I told her he was likeable and always managed to give the appearance of an inoffensive lack of interest in English which didn't stop him from learning... smiled at me and said, Me decia que tienes morbo! Then off she went. I checked my understanding with one of the secretaries who was an old pupil, and wondered on exactly whose account I was checked out... 1. (curiosidad malsana) · morbid fascination ; 2. (coloquial) (atractivo sexual) · sin traducción directa ; 3. (medicina) · disease. When I later asked the pupil for clarification he impishly shrugged and laughed... and said in Spanish... Who knows Bill? I didn't know if I should feel flattered or judged! In a way that has no English translation, but is morbid. I decided pragmatically to feel flattered... Was it perhaps the gravest sexual macabre? Or morbid fascination... a Goth perfume! I hope it wasn't an on the fly medical diagnosis.

Bill F Protagoras

Yes! Thanks for the scene, accepting the challenge of your fandom and Kimmy, thank you for not letting Josh disengage. Please keep on fighting for your man!

Steve McCarty

Most amazing scene ever. I hope kt when this is completed that you release the first version as an outtake. I think it will generate an awesome discussion.

Tracey52

"Between his legs his cock stood upright, eager for satisfaction." Seeking satisfaction as in a duel...

Bill F Protagoras

"a naked and beautiful woman who could never harm a fly." Psycho... mother or son or recent guest? There isn't even a choice... thanks Alf!

Bill F Protagoras

Is the second last paragraph correct?

Tracey52

“You’re the one throwing chairs.” Chairs or thrones?

Bill F Protagoras

“A mind not to be changed by place or time. Can make a heav'n of hell, a hell of heav'n.” Whose mind? Whose choice and why? What did you change, KT, if not, very skilfully, everything? Amen.

Bill F Protagoras

It didn't have to be a symbolic moment in the shower, a place of cleansing become a devil's, no, a Devlin's baptism, making Josh totally complicit in his own betrayal. This is the titular moment... THE devil in the waters, Kimmy redolent with her absent boss's fake power. His absurd absence recreating Cayman in Ajax, so through the transports of 'anal' Kimmy, already made a woman through the baneful ill grace of a plutocrat's violation, helps Josh complete his rite of passage in her second-helping back-entry as she officiates in his 'manhood.' Amazing grace... sweetly communing with his cheating wife! And is she cheating him even now... depriving him of his fantasy of innocence... complicit at last in his own home in what was once the penetralia of a marriage now a branch of a sordid business. A Brokerage. Brought to him by his slavery to what? Was it any longer his wife... Was it any longer love? Or just addiction... unjust addiction. Is Kimmy right is this what he really wants, but doesn't really know it... welcome back to hell! A fiscal island paradise! A plaintive threnody for what once was...

Bill F Protagoras

I forgot that Kimmy had anal sex In Cayman with Delvin. I just reread that chapter this morning. So imagine my surprise where this chapter highlights that incident. I love how Josh is having grudge anal sex with her but he is still disgusted by the lies. I wonder what was changed from when it was only going to be ten chapters. I assume the baby reveal but who knows.

Andrew Mellein

Hmm. So where are we headed now? I really liked this line: “It would be so easy to let go, let his grip on this cliff-side precipice release, find freedom splattered on the ground below...” sums up Josh’s dilemma well. That line also sums up the divisions in your fanbase, lol. Between those cheering Josh on and hoping Kimmy will reach down and pull him up and those happy to see him release his grip right after kimmy stomps hard on his hands. You have set yourself a fine line to walk here I suspect. Thanks for taking on the challenge.

CSH

"I gave you manhood". I think Josh giving in to naked Kimmy just lost him credibility to that claim.

Chris K


More Creators