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DITW 13-9: Ambrosial Fragrance
🕑 Added 2024-02-22 03:18:43 +0000 UTCJosh sneered at her. “You think it’s that easy to control me? You have no respect for me at all.”
“Tell me why your dick is so hard then, Josh?” She palmed his cock, wanting him to surrender, needing his resolve broken, needing his passion ignited into a lustful inferno.
“You must be so happy my dick gets hard when you’re so fucking evil. Because you are evil.”
She retreated. Let his dick go, lay back on the bed, and closed her eyes. Josh stayed over her. “I don’t want to control you.”
“You want me to give in, to fuck you, to forget it all and abandon everything you’ve done to me.”
She nodded. “I’m so terrible. What a bad person I am.”
With her eyes closed, it was hard to read Josh, but he said nothing. She listened to him breathe.
“I’m so terrible I’d do anything for you. I’m so terrible I’d do anything to have you back. I’m so fucking terrible, all I want is for us to be together at the end of all of this.”
“And you get everything. You get your affair, you get my absolution... What else do you want? I guess you still want to work for Devlin, too? Want me to believe nothing will ever happen again?”
Now she opened her eyes, tilted down her chin so she could see him. She could spin new tales, give him a sales pitch that would sway him. He wouldn’t believe her—or at least, certainly not trust her. And there was so much more bad he would see in her.
“You offered absolution. I would do anything to have it. I showed you. That was a show, Josh. That was a show I put on for you. I know you won’t believe me, but I hoped you would like it. I sure didn’t.”
“You squirted.”
She clucked her tongue, closed her eyes and let her head drop. “Don’t be gross.”
More silence. Then Josh said, “He taught you or something, didn’t he? It wasn’t me. You made me think it was me.”
“I wanted it to be you.”
“I don’t ever want to see you squirt again. That’s yours, that’s his.”
She scooted back and sat up. “Josh, I don’t want to talk about squirting or sick things. Please. Okay? Please, tell me what I can do to make it better. To apologize, to convince you that I hated my time with him.” She rolled her eyes, knowing Josh would only think of the pleasure she’d shown today, the ways her body reacted to Devlin’s skills. “You’re my husband. I betrayed you, I know. I know it. When I found out some of this turned you on, I used it. I used it to soothe the bad things I did.”
“You used it to keep doing the bad things you did.” Josh’s stare was serious.
They looked into each other’s eyes for a long while and Josh didn’t bend, didn’t look away. He was wide awake now. She looked down first. She said, “Do you think I love you? Or do you think that’s a lie, too?”
Josh sighed, pulled away, but didn’t leave. He sat on the bed beside her, his back facing her.
“I do love you, Josh. How can I prove it?”
He didn’t answer, only put his head in his hands. It was a time machine shunt to the awful mire of her trip to Rome. The first time she’d ever thought he might leave her because of something she’d done. Something she knew was wrong, something she couldn’t stop herself from doing. She looked at his handsome cheek, his cute ear, the way his new haircut swept around his ear shape. His hands looked good, his neck. He looked nothing like the man she’d married. They’d been kids at their wedding. They didn’t think they were kids, but they were. Anyone who could see them now would see the difference.
She said to his buried face, “It was only for the money. Is that what you want to hear?”
He huffed a defeated breath. “Not the first time,” he said, looking up and out their bedroom window, his expression sad and lost. Then he regarded her. “When was the first time? What did you do at Tiffany’s?”
She looked down. “We didn’t have sex.”
“Are you lying?”
She shook her head no. “Almost. But no.”
He asked her again. “Kimmy, are you lying? Look at me.”
She looked up, restraining irritation at his disbelief. “I did not have sex with him at Tiffany’s. I almost did.”
His eyes narrowed with scrutiny. “Then what did you do?”
“I told you. We fought. I wanted to claw his eyes out. I really don’t like him. And then we... I don’t know, we, like, ended up messing around.”
Josh made a disgusted sound and looked away. “And he didn’t get his dick in you?”
Saying no would be so easy. She said, “A little. But not all the way.”
“Fuck’s sake,” Josh hissed, got up and walked to the window.
She said, “We tried, but I didn’t want that to happen. I guess... I guess my body did, but...”
“You know he came into my tent to tell me he did that? Did it right away. I was still drunk. He put his dick in my hand.”
Her mouth slimmed. She’d been so dumb to think she had control over Devlin. Though she had it at one time, he was a deceptive animal who loved trouble.
“He asked me if I could smell your pussy on it.”
Her stomach turned over, knowing how cruel that was, how awful. The torment it would provoke.
“I told myself I’d dreamt it. Kimmy wouldn’t mess around with Devlin. I must have dreamt it. But no, my wife did mess around with him. Messed around with a guy who only fucked her because she was married to me.”
As far as insults went, that one was light and only a fraction of what she deserved. She let it go.
She said, “They got us.”
“What do you mean?”
She said, “It was both of them. Devlin and Amy.”
Josh shrugged, eyes still cast out over the autumn tree line beyond their apartment. “Maybe.”
“You said it was Amy who texted you.”
“I don’t know it was.”
“I believe it. You’re not the only one who was bullied.”
He regarded her over his shoulder, eyes pinched with disdain. “When? This summer?”
“In high school, Josh.”
“Amy bullied you?”
She didn’t like the tone of his voice, the arrogant questioning, as if she was making this up. Now it was her standing up, moving past him, going to the closet. Josh followed her, standing in the doorway while she took off her jacket and unbuttoned her shirt. Since Josh said nothing, she spoke. “You’re not the only one with trauma, Josh. I wish it were only you, and maybe the rest of the world could make it better, but all of us suffer in our own ways.”
“Even Devlin? You and him talk in bed when you’re done fucking?”
Head cocking side to side as she pulled out her earrings, she said, “That’s your big fear? That after we had sex we made fun of you? It’s so specific.”
“That’s what bullies do.”
“So you’re just taunting me?” She turned, topless, only wearing pants and regarded him. His eyes darted over her bared skin, but his face remained grim. She said, “Amy was cruel. Amy taunted me. Made fun of me. Did it in ways I explained away, but then in later years I remembered it all differently. Realized some of those things she said were at my expense. That, yeah, behind my back, she might have made fun of me with the other girls. I was the unwitting butt of some of her jokes.”
“You’re saying it like that’s just life and I need to get over it.”
“Get over it or don’t, Josh. You looked a lot better throwing a chair at Devlin than laying in bed and asking me to fantasize with you that I’m in love with his cock.”
Josh pinched the bridge of his nose like he was disgusted with her, done with her cruelty. “You don’t think I’m a man.”
“No, I think you’re a man,” she said. “I think I like it better when you stand up for yourself. I know I liked it when you came in the suite today and said do it with him like you wanted me to. If you’d have been honest with yourself, maybe we could have all avoided what happened today.”
“Then when the fuck would I have thrown a chair at Devlin? Don’t try to manipulate me.”
She rested an arm on the top of their closet dresser and leaned closer. “In your dream, the one in the tent, at Tiffany’s...? Devlin put his cock in your hand...”
Josh grumbled, flinching from the insinuation. That he’d let it happen, that he hadn’t ripped his giant dick off. That maybe his wife even thought her husband enjoyed holding his bully’s cock. His eyes flashed, and he said, “There weren’t any chairs to throw at him in the tent.”
“And you were drunk,” she said. “And Amy whispered instructions in your ear. Oh, and Devlin’s always had it in for you, and that’s been in your head since high school. You’re just a Manchurian Candidate. None of this is because of you.”
Josh flinched and looked away and for the very first time, she thought she might have got through to him.
She said, “Amy thinks it’s funny to fuck with me. Devlin thinks it’s funny to fuck with you. Amy probably did whisper something in your ear. But you’re not hypnotized. You’re not dosed with LSD or something. It turned you on. I don’t hate that it turned you on, Josh. I hate that you pretend it didn’t. I hate how you think I’m the only person responsible for it getting this far.”
Josh stared at her; he tried to menace her, then his eyes would cloud with doubt. He looked away; he tried it all over again. His defenses had crumbled. His outer wall had been breached. The first dawning light shine through to his bailey, lighting her advancing army from behind.
She undid her waistband clasp and brushed past him. “If you’ll excuse me, someone offered me a way out this afternoon, a way to bring us back together, and now I have to wash a disgusting man off my skin.”
In the bathroom, she ran the faucet and waited. Josh didn’t show. But she was committed to the shower now. She unzipped her pants.
Josh appeared in the doorway. She let her pants drop and stepped out of them. Naked now, no underwear. Josh watched her, expression morose, cheeks hollowed, brow low and heavy.
“I would do anything for you, Josh. I know you don’t believe me. If you think about it, you’ll see.”
He breathed, watched, breathed. He said, “You betrayed me.”
She bowed her head, apologetic. She’d already apologized. She stepped into the tub and left the sliding door open. The water was scalding hot; it burned her skin. Her face went under and she ran it over her hair, letting the tangles go heavy and drape on her shoulders. In the space of the opened door, she saw Josh’s shirt drop beside the bath mat, followed by the movements of his shadow that told her he was getting undressed.
Comments
Bill F Protagoras
"Though Josh wouldn't see this, I think her strength mostly stems from the realization that she only has one path forward, faltering isn't an option nor is apologizing a winning strategy." I agree her strategy of not contesting questions of malfeasance or attempting to justify herself is a typical tactic for the strategy you are suggesting. Where my opinion differs is that because of things she has said in cryptic conversations with Josh in the presence of Devlin, and thoughts in her head, I think there is a fair possibility that Devlin may not know everything there is to know... this is speculation and guesswork on my part. I have theories but they are mere speculation.
L_S87
Yeah, anyone who dislikes Kimmy and wants her to get her comeuppance, i totally get it. There has been a number of times I've voiced wanting the same. I still vacillate from wanting her to crash and burn and feel a lot of pain to hoping they work it out. That mostly stems from her actions in this and the last book where I'm 100% sure she loves Josh, she's just horrible at showing it. Her definition of love and devotion makes sense in her head, but it's wildly different then what most of us would consider logical or right. Josh sees it too, which is why he's so hacked off at her. She's gone through way too much effort not to have a tremendous amount of love for him. But how do you handle it when someone you love and who loves you isn't good for you because their actions are often toxic and in Kimmy's case, selfish. It's why I think Josh was here when she got back. He wanted this confrontation. He wanted contrition, remorse, an apology. He sort of gets that, but not in any way he wanted or was expecting. So now he's got to decide if he can live with this version of Kimmy who does detestable things, can he trust her, is it worth the effort? Part of me thinks him packing her shit was just a ploy to see how she'd react. Her defiance in the face of all this clearly irks the hell out of him. It also makes it hard to not see her side of it, given how adamant she is on her course. Though Josh wouldn't see this, I think her strength mostly stems from the realization that she only has one path forward, faltering isn't an option nor is apologizing a winning strategy. All those lead to the end that she told Devlin was occurring. It makes her come off as objectionable and horrid, but I can't fault her for feeling like it's her only winning strategy, because it probably is.
Bill F Protagoras
This may be an important clue... your guess is as good as mine!
Bill F Protagoras
Emma Bovary got what she got because it was based on a true story... just as her 'lover' and her husband got away with metaphorical murder for the same reason... the novel was an attempt at autopsy!
Bill F Protagoras
I don't see that timeline not in the version we have been given.
Andrew Mellein
I still want to see what got her into that argument with Devlin at Tiffany’s that led to this whole series!
Bill F Protagoras
I feel the same way... but I do want it to follow a path on which light is shed... Which I have always seen happen in KT's work before... even in a comedy like Summer Swap!
Bill F Protagoras
I know you don't hate Kimmy, but like me you have serious ethical reservations about her atrocious behaviour and its consequences... you are not tied by tropes or societal prejudices... I believe this from what I have read of yours...
Bill F Protagoras
I think, especially from what she has been saying recently, she is hiding an important key to her behaviour which might go towards satisfying my own need to know what made her personality change so drastically But I am not one of those who believe to know all is to forgive all. I believe forgiveness is a good thing but to forget the knowledge you have acquired is the beginning of a dangerous road. The works that this one most resembles, for me are Madame Bovary, or Anna Karenin, because in most of the novels by this author naughty women pay a high price because these are works of serious jeopardy... the rest of you can see DITW as you wish... I want to see the truth behind the curtain... whatever it may be... I think Kimmy has got herself into a trap, maybe of her own devising maybe not... it's not over until the fat lady sings...
L_S87
Kimmy with a few tweaks is perfect for Josh. As we've all noted in various posts, her greatest sin an outlandish level of selfishness. Her lies, her manipulation, her cheating... Everything revolves around outcomes she finds beneficial. Even her comments about doing these things for Josh are disingenuous because we know from past books she didn't, she simply rewrites history when it benefits her. If you could tone that part of her personality down yet keep the dominant parts that Josh loves, I think they'd be fine. But that isn't this story, nor is it who she is. She craves the control that betraying Josh and manipulating this scenario give her. We all saw how hacked off she was about Amy and Devlin and it had nothing to do with them hurting Josh, it was about them tricking her.
L_S87
I don't hate Kimmy, I just hate that she's so damn selfish that she took a perfect opportunity and screwed it up chasing what made her feel wicked. Then again, her feeling and acting so awful is what started Josh down this road, and without that she would never have figured out he liked it. So if she was a "good" wife, would they have ever figured any of this out? No excuse for Kimmy's behavior, but there is a lot of truth in what she says. It's just so jumbled up with lies and manipulation it's hard for Josh, or us, to find any sort of trust in her actions. As with those lines you referenced, Kimmy spends a lot of time saying what she thinks Josh wants to hear which makes it hard to trust if she really believes what she says.
Bill F Protagoras
"Only because she loved Josh deeply; had loved him that way since college. The subterfuge was only necessary because she loved him. That didn’t make it okay. She knew that." "He shook his head, disgusted with her. Disgusted with himself. “Were you guys laughing at me?” “No, Josh, I would never laugh at you, why would you even say that?” “Sometimes I think Amy hates me.” “She doesn’t, Josh.” Just two last pieces of irony from Temptations for all those who so cordially hate Kimmy for reinventing the past. Evidence that there was once a different Kimmy but of course you probably think she was lying to herself. If that's the case perhaps we are all lying to ourselves all the time... How would we ever know? That was not a rhetorical question...
Andrew Mellein
It is indeed!
Bill F Protagoras
"Karina had a work deadline and a lunch with the parents of the new guy she’d been dating since January and she’d worried about it. Karina’d almost skipped the reunion and the party at Tiffany’s altogether, but since going to Tiffany’s had been all Karina’s idea, once Josh and she had agreed to it, Karina knew it would be bad manners to be the one to back out." As I told you Karina appears to have guy... I think there may be further info... but this should give you food for thought...
Bill F Protagoras
“You went behind my back, Josh. You went behind my back and ruined everything.” What was this everything Josh ruined... the planned perfect menage that she and her co-conspirator Devlin had thrown together, or some entrepreneurial sabotage that her ambitious boss has roped her into... or some shadier patriarchal shenanigans... or just the downfall of a marriage she is no longer complicit in
Bill F Protagoras
Yet, Maggie wants her Max and eat him too?
Bill F Protagoras
Not a serious suggestion, just an interesting one.
Bill F Protagoras
Kimmy “I can’t believe I could do this to Josh.” Amy “Don’t blame yourself.” Kimmy “Who else am I going to blame?” Amy “I don’t know,” (Kimmy) She let it go, said nothing. It was her fault, there was no one else to blame. Dark Roast, Temptations. I missed out a couple of lines... but this was Kimmy right then.
Andrew Mellein
Bill did you have an early look at KT’s next chapter🤣🤣
JL23
My own personal thought is that the ending of Maggie was written before KT ever had a real thought to write a Keely series. So I personally don't look at what Max says in the last chapter of Maggie about Keely as absolute Canon at this point, since KT hadn't really plotted a thorough back story for her and her relationship with Max at the point it was written. If we get more Keely chapters, we'll find out. There are ways to get there from a narrative standpoint. The Max we see in Keely has pretty much given up on the idea he'll be with Maggie again, until the Marriott scene. Maybe being in a foursome with her brings back some of those feelings/hopes. But also, the Keely at the end of Maggie is much more comfortable and understanding of Max's relationship with Maggie than she is in the Keely books. Of course we see her starting to get comfortable with her role and importance to the relationship by the end of Book 2. But seeing their relationship play out in "Keely" makes me feel better about the strength of their relationship and that Max isn't just pining away constantly for Maggie.
Andrew Mellein
After rereading the books up to Caymen. I want this marriage to end. Kimmy is a selfish person. Her and Josh are not connected as a couple should. I can see Josh never trusting Kimmy again. And the baby and Hyun are not going to help matters!
L_S87
I like this idea, Bill. Possible even if not likely to be probable. Josh has never struck me as the type to be as coldly calculating as Kimmy. Then again, he could prove me wrong, because he wasn't the chair throwing type either, until he was. The fact he was waiting for Kimmy at all tells me he wanted this conversation and this option. Which probably means he wanted to keep her. He just wanted to vent on how horrible this was for her to do it, and it's likely pissing him off that she's showing so little contrition. Could be wrong, if course. Not even sure which way I want this to go, very conflicted.
L_S87
I agree with you, JL. That's why I always found the end of Maggie to be so dissatisfying and a bit confusing. Max's actions would make sense if he'd just met Keely, their relationship was somewhat fresh and she was still working her way into his life. But the first two Keely books contradict this notion, so I'm left kind of wondering why Max would still be SO hung up on Maggie when the 2nd Keely book shows he's mostly already moved on from a romantic standpoint. The ending of Maggie doesn't leave enough room to explain, which is why I was so excited when KT said she was going to write the next Keely book last summer, before she seems to have changed her mind. Was hoping it would provide insight into what feels like a mistake with the limited info we have, but was likely planned because KT's great at obfuscation. I feel like Cole is a person trapped by bad decisions based on developing feelings he never thought would take him to the place he's at, so he's balancing his love of both Maggie and Max with the knowledge that he stole his best friends girl and somehow that friend doesn't hate him for it, so he does everything he can for Max to keep that friendship stable because losing it would mean so much more than losing your best friend normally would.
JL23
I can see some of what you’re saying about Cole. But the last Keely mini chapter from his perspective gave me some sympathy for his position in that threesome: no matter what he does, a part of his soon to be wife will always love another man, and wear his ring next to her heart. That can’t be easy to deal with. And I can see a part of Maggie’s attraction to Cole being he “fit in” her world more than Max. I’ve grown to look at the Maggie series as young adults learning who are they are, who they want to be, and what they want, and discovering the answers aren’t as simple as they thought. Mostly thanks to the Keely books I see it as a happy ending for all involved. The last Maggie chapter had me feeling sad for Max, cause it felt like that although Keely seemed great, and he loved her, he still viewed her as a consolation prize in a lot of his mind. Learning more about Keely you see how perfect she is for him, and how she gives him so much more than Maggie could.
Bill F Protagoras
He gets in the shower patiently ignoring his 'wife'... goes over to Meyer's and suitably tailoring his version of the story, tells how Kimmy has been cheating on him with his high school bully since the High School Reunion... He will see a look pass from Quinn to Meyer which will make it clear his bad news is not a total surprise. Sophie will not be present otherwise Josh would not have spoken so openly. What I mean is getting into the shower doesn't need to have any symbolic weight. But I catch your drift...
Andrew Mellein
I wonder when the next chapter is coming out? I want to see if Josh gets into the shower or not?
Bill F Protagoras
“I admitted it, Josh. I admit it all. I fucked him. I did it behind your back. I did it before I knew you wanted it. I kept doing it after I knew it turned you on.” For Kimmy her affair exists in a realm that ignores cause and effect, something Thomas Aquinas might have cooked up to absolve her so she doesn't need to rely on Josh for his forgiveness. Not that she finds him reliable for anything else nowadays. Except for an intangible indeterminate something she calls 'love.' A hard vacuum inside her that perhaps scares her more than Devlin's hardness can satisfy... in terms of physical love, every word she utters makes it sound like a special favour she does for her husband, a titular honour... Although recently she is trying to persuade him to share, or even accept the reality of the vicarious humiliation she assigns to him... her tactics only seem to reaffirm her isolation, maybe she actually hates herself! What better reason for embarking on a 'clandestine' relationship with Devlin, the man she openly reviles... her addiction, her weakness, the source of a constant round of humiliating punishment... world without end! A personal hell, but with recursive climaxes! A compelling reason for someone to feel themselves a traitor, or betrayed! An animal would gnaw its own limb off to escape the iron unyielding grip of such a trap.
Donkatsu
JL, Agree about Finn, I think he was never more than fling material, and for him Libby was another notch on the gun barrel, but it was all in good fun, and no children or animals were harmed during the production. I beg to differ about Cole. He changed after they visited RI and he saw the potential for him with Maggie's family. He knew Max was not going to join Martin's firm, sonny boy was certainly not going to take it over, and Maggie was tiring of Max's antics to some degree. Maggie also, and this was perhaps the most important part, stopped seeing Max as a peer. He was one of those flyover country people - bright alright, but not otherwise up to snuff, not clubbable, don't you know. She needed someone who was "worthy of her." That left two lanes open for Cole to move in - personal and professional. And he did, initially ingratiating himself with the dragon lady, Carol, for the OK to throw over Max and then on to Martin for the post-HLS career. Kind of an Eddie Haskell with brains and manners. It does not hurt that Maggie has some sort of daddy thing going on and Cole fit that role a lot better than Max did. With the brother out of the way, the coast becomes clear for Cole to move in and take over Martin's capital assets firm (not certain just what kind of outfit it was - hedge, private equity, debt financing, M&A) after some polite interval. If Cole fucks up then Carol steps in and exiles him to Hong Kong, without Maggie and the grandkids. We had, at the time, a great deal of highly useful, erudite, and meaningful speculation and discussion about Cole's potential future in HKG, to say nothing of Carol's past in Hong Kong's Suzy Wong era.
Andrew Mellein
See, I love Johnny as a character. I like how he's in a bad place and needs Charlie to basically bale him out by screwing Reza. I like the angst of the character and how he has to create that video game and get rid of the tentacles of Reza on Charlie. Plus Reza always goes back on his deals with Johnny because he's trying to win over Charlie. I think I see the series as a story of redemption and basically an erotic hero's journey. With Johnny being the knight, Reza the dragon, and Charlie the damsel. But we still have to see the ending (Lol!)
Andrew Mellein
I actually liked Caymen and KT’s other college series (Name escapes me) better than the Maggie and Keely series. I never bought Max and Keely together. I also didn’t like how Cole stole Maggie from Max and then was set up with Keely (Basically Cole’s past sex fling) I never bought Max would still be friends with Cole after that! So those series are not my favorites of the KT verse. My top favorites are: 1. Landlord 2. Six Weeks in Winter 3. Devil in the Waters 4. Happy Endings 5. Cherry Blossoms 6. Learning Lessons 7. Cayman Proxy 8. Obsessed 9. KTs other college based series 10. Chelsea hates Libby!
JL23
You may not like Cole (or how he stole Maggie from Max) but he seems like he’s a good partner for Maggie. He’s far from perfect, but he’s not the one dimensional guy with a big “whopper.” We never saw quite enough of him, but Finn from “Chelsea Hates Libby” also seemed more than just a villain out to steal the wife. That’s another story where I’d love to see a few more chapters (and see if Ben/Libby went off the rails), but maybe it ended in a good place where the couple is a team chasing their kinks together.
JL23
With Keely/Max, while there were machinations to put them together (and it was Maggie more than Cole), they both found out about it immediately and didn’t officially get together until they run into each other a few months later. They develop their own relationship outside of any plotting by Maggie. They’re still my favorite. I don’t really love Jonny as a character, honestly I’m not really rooting for him to keep Charlie. I don’t think we know enough about Karina, she doesn’t seem like the type who’d be into Josh’s kinks though. I think there have been hints she’s interested in Josh as more than a friend (maybe?) but I see her in the same boat as the woman Geoff starts seeing right after breaking it off with Nia (can’t remember her name at the moment). Nice woman, would be a stable partner for Josh…but ultimately not someone he’d be interested in. And he’d probably break her heart unintentionally.
Donkatsu
We love Keely- fast, fun, and sweet. Keely would know that oft-times it is the big head that accompanies the whopper that causes most of the problems. Have we met a KT bull who is a good long term prospect for a nice girl? Max is truly in the sweet spot for this sort of thing, assuming one wants to be in the midst of this sort of thing.
Andrew Mellein
Another character named Keely made an appearance in the Cayman Proxy! Maybe it’s the same character and it is the KT multiverse🤣🤣🤣
JL23
Maybe over the next 10 chapters Josh will find his version of Keely, who’s seen enough big dicks (or “whoppers” to use her term) to not be enthralled with them (cause sometimes it’s a nightmare between your legs if you’re not feeling up for it). Someone who will have sex with a whopper cause it’s fun and cause Josh wants it. Keely is my favorite all time character in the KT verse and it’s not particularly close. My vote for after DITW is for a few more “Keely” chapters.
Bill F Protagoras
The title of the work is The Devil in the Waters, a good reason for any of us to use the word evil.
Bill F Protagoras
I second all your sentiments Karl.
Bill F Protagoras
Good to see you back again... and would I be right in saying you haven't lost any of your cynicism?
Andrew Mellein
Your right Bill! Six Weeks is less darker than KT's other works. Maybe because Bill wouldn't mind if his wife Janey had a little fun! While with Landlord you don't know what devious schemes Reza has to inflict on poor Charlie and Johnny!
Rocambole50
Ok, so I see we go for a happy end. KT characters love each other with such force that we all finish loving them and being happy to see them coming back from Tartarus, alive. Perhaps with some scars, certainly older and less innocent, but alive, together and loving each other, the only measures of success for a couple.
Bill F Protagoras
I love Six Weeks too... but Landlord is more angsty! From the quality of what has already been written of Six Weeks and its peculiar subtleties I suspect KT has her own affection for it, so you needn't worry about it remaining unattended for too long! I too hope not anyway...
Andrew Mellein
Thats how I found out about the series because it was hard to find. I immediately fell in love with the writing. And then I scoured for bk 2 and couldn’t find it. Luckily I joined paetron and Ream and asked KT if she could put up the Six Weeks books because they were missing. She graciously did! I also loved reading: Caymen, Obsession, and Landlord. Three other series that are hard to find! That 2nd book ends in a cliffhanger! What do you think is going to happen? I could see Maceo and the daughter getting together! causing a four way love triangle with Janey, Maceo, John and the Daughter! Just writing about I kinda want KT to pick this series up next!🤞🤞
Andrew Mellein
I hope Kimmy gets some kind of punishment for the awful choices she made. Like an Emma Bovary but less harsh🤣🤣 I hope she realizes in the end, that lying and going behind her husbands back was not the way to go!
Karl
I want this to never end, just endless sweet torture and sexual manipulation. I can’t get enough of Kimmy and Josh and their dynamic. This has been the most intense and well written erotic novel I have read so far and I know how empty I’ll feel when it comes to an end we have to say goodbye to Kimmy and Josh.
Steve McCarty
Chris, a google search will lead you to a free bookfrom.net archive for the first book. https://archive.bookfrom.net/kt-morrison/519686-snowscape_six_weeks_in_winter_book_1.html
Chris K
I haven't read it at all! I mean it's not on Amazon, goodreads, or smashwords. It's on ream, but why pay for that when I'm here? C'mon KT! Organize this shit! Lol 😆
Andrew Mellein
I know! I want KT to pick up that series up as well! I remember reading the first book and being totally blown away. I love how KT built the small town world of that one. And this young hunky Italian stud staying with this older married couple. I could totally see Janie doing the deed with Maceo and then her hubby lets her be a hot wife with the stud and watches them do it. Maybe a threesome! Basically I could see hubby be a lot less judgmental than Josh from DITW. Hopefully that one is coming soon!
Chris K
Six Weeks sounds great. Too bad I can't read it anywhere!
Steve McCarty
Six Weeks for me. John is the best of KT's husbands and I love the dog, Sheba. Janie is losing her head over a hunk her son's age. Small town judgement will be harsh and the emotional toll for our esteemed author will be high. I am not wishing dread and angst upon KT, I am postulating why this series has not been continued.
Bill F Protagoras
I hope you get your wish...
Kat
Omg, Andrew, SS as an X-rated Friends. I love it! 😆
Andrew Mellein
I reckon KT will pick up on Landlord next? I cant wait for that! Remember when KT did a poll I think, it was four years ago where we could vote for which series she would continue to write for. I think Landlord was number one and Six Weeks was number two (this was before Devil in the Waters). Very exciting!
Kat
You make a good point, L_S87, that I hadn’t considered. In Kimmy’s own warped way, she is telling Josh the truth that she would do anything for him, anything for him to forgive her, including manipulating the facts and stretching the truth. Nothing matters to her right now except keeping Josh. Compared to all the horrible things she’s omitting from her “truth” she feels justified in what she’s doing. She wants to preserve Josh and make him happy. If she lays it all out there, neither of those things will happen. It just seems cold to me. The warmth from their relationship is gone, and I don’t know if they can ever get that back. Kimmy’s afraid to approach him, hug him, etc., but she’s going to need to do something more than just say to him that she regrets what she did. It seems insincere. JL23, I agree that Kimmy is in some denial about how much she dislikes Devlin. Maybe she can quit him sexually, but she definitely enjoys being with him, and being seen with him out in public. She also loves her job. I would be shocked if she leaves her job. That will be a sticking point for Josh. He’s not going to go for her working for Devlin and seeing him every day again. The only way this might work is if they concoct a plan to take Devlin down. That way Kimmy can keep her job, and Josh can feel in control of the situation. In this scenario, Kimmy could even seduce Devlin again under the guise of using it as revenge, etc. Who knows what KT’s going to come up with, but I’m dying to find out.
Kat
I want another book, and I’m not joking. Lol Even with all the bad behaviour, I’ve become attached to Kimmy and Josh, and can’t wait to find out what’s going to be with them. 10 more chapters isn’t enough for me. :)
Andrew Mellein
Deep down she’s infatuated with Devlin the way he dresses, the way he carrys himself, the way he has sex, heck even the way he’s bully. ( Kimmy now acts like one and encourages Josh to be one) Kimmy says Josh is lying about himself but I think she is as well.
Andrew Mellein
SS is a comedy like Friends compared to this dark horror show masterpiece but I love them both!
Andrew Mellein
I like it!
Andrew Mellein
I reread the first couple books and Karina would have been the right mate for Josh. Only this last chapter did I really want their marriage to work but Kimmy did too many bad things and lies don’t help!
Andrew Mellein
But Jess was pretty awful though🤣 Kicking her husband out of his own house to be with her lover. Her kids must have been affected in some way! Although I love reading about her and Pete’s hellish journey into hotwifing!
Donkatsu
Guess I will have to weigh in here. My remarks were prompted by Glaucon's speculations about berets and Gitanes, and I cannot unsee Kimmy morphed into Pepe le Pew. I don't think of KT's space as a zone of contention. I had plenty of that when I ran a blog on "serious" subjects for several years. It help one grow a thick skin, that's for sure. Bill, I think we all appreciate your commentary that brings in new trains of thought and some expert literary commentary. I will be the first to admit that I had to look a few things up on multiple occasions. It did not occur to me that my remarks would wound anyone in the discussion board and for that I am sorry. Samuel Johnson said it best: Read over your compositions and whenever you meet with a passage which you think is particularly fine, strike it out." FWIW, I fool around with math, spent a lifetime creating simulation models and the like. However, I have relatives who are actually good at math and am acutely aware of what I do not know in that department; my sister probably tells her friends that I "can't do math".
Bill F Protagoras
Thank you for your well intentioned remarks...
Bill F Protagoras
I didn't think you had insulted anyone... The problem is mine... and Donkastu's. It isn't even really a problem for me, I'm aware of the vastness of 'my' ignorance...
KT Morrison
Well, I will propose that there is much going on that I'm unfamiliar with, and if I have insulted anyone, I apologize. I've done so with ignorance, not arrogance.
Bill F Protagoras
"After all, isn't deconstructionism just the "Physics for Poets" version of quantum theory for those who cannot do math or probability theory..." The total innocence of it all is self evident and I have not over-estimated your own acute perception. Donkastu is certainly the right one to be casting stones. I had no beef with Glaucon's original post... but I am pleased to know where we stand... Especially the sharp witted Donkastu... The unexpected answer to the rhetorical question for those mired in ignorance and self-satisfaction is "no, it isn't!" Just as no offense was intended none is taken... all the bogus scientific and literary theory produced was obviously a fun poke at Kimmy, I'm glad you enjoyed yourselves. Once bitten twice shy... or should that be third time. No, the third time's the charm... must be all those sensibilities clouding my judgement. I'm renowned for my sensitivity...
L_S87
All of us fall into this trap. This is a great place for discourse, but as with any written medium, it lacks the audible and visual cues one receives through normal verbal discourse that helps you decipher a person's intentions with what they are saying. I'm just as guilty as anyone else of falling into that trap when someone posts something that I see as directed at me, even though it likely isn't. We get upset and throw that verbal chair, and like Josh, the consequences become a cloud of doubt afterward. KT does an *amazing* job with her writing, but ... It is SO thought provoking and emotional that it has a natural consequence of creating attachment to personal feelings or notions on how you view the characters and writing. Thus conflict and disagreements can arise. No one should ever tell us how we're allowed to feel or interpret things. What I can say is we should all feel so lucky as to have found someone as amazing as KT to tell us these stories she imagines and let that bring us together rather than pull us apart through disagreements. I have had a number of times I've made comments questioning KT's writing, whether her choices for characters or how she portrays things. And sometimes I pose those questions in a poor and inappropriate way that I later regret. KT is a great example to us all of how she chooses to respond, or not, when these issues arise. Certainly I've seen a number of authors who go full nuclear when people make such comments. KT never does, and I'm grateful for that. As I am for her wonderful stories. Well, this one isn't wonderful, just wonderfully written. DITW is a factory of emotional carnage. The things is creates and manufacturers are awful, but riveting. No wonder it creates such a variance in responses from us, the readers. I can't wait for the end so we can all have a discourse on this wild ride and how we each view the ending, good or bad.
L_S87
NO. I want another book. This is too amazing to end. Joking. Or am I? Probably helps that SS adds a nice light and airy counterpoint to how deep, dark and devilish this series is.
L_S87
As I said, I'm confounded on this. I would love an HEA, but at the same time feel Kimmy does not come close to deserving it. Yet Josh does. But how can he, or we the readers, trust Kimmy? It's VERY hard to parse what Kimmy truly feels vs what she says to keep Josh under her thumb. Her actions are just as cloudy in recent books, making it easy to put ourselves in the same position as Josh at wondering how much weight one should put on the treachery Kimmy showed in the first books vs how she acts now, so laser focused on Josh. I sometimes feel like we push so hard against Kimmy that we lose sight that a moderate Kimmy would be perfect for Josh, so should we wish for her demise when she might be just the perfect thing for him, once past these issues? But how do you trust this fickle woman to actually be moderate in her actions? Confounding! KT will show us, can't wait to find out.
KT Morrison
I think around 10.
KT Morrison
I found Glaucon’s caricature of a prospective Kimmy as a Pink-Pantheresque Parisian post-modernist from the fifties amusing. I don’t find postmodernism amusing, nor am I deriding postmodernism by finding the caricature amusing. I didn’t think for one second the post had any reference to you as an individual. A cartoonish postmodern French woman would be an unassailable and slippery opponent if they were a cheating wife, and therefore Kimmy would adopt such a persona if this affair attenuated to such a point where she had exhausted every other gaslighting excuse (Like what's left if Josh finds Devlin’s errant seed cast on their wedding photo?). It’s absurd, and that’s what makes it funny. Donkatsu expounded on the idea, adding to the absurdity by polishing the cartoon with careful and unnecessary reflection. The unnecessariness is absurd, and adds to the fun. I don’t believe anyone involved had any idea you would be offended because none of us know you or know your sensibilities, and I don’t believe the parody was aimed at you—it was aimed at Kimmy’s character and her unyielding attachment to winning. If you extracted your belief you were the intended target of this parody, can you see any humor in poor Josh wanting the truth about whether his wife cheated again and only facing postmodern/deconstructionist returned questions? If he isn’t getting answers now, imagine if Kimmy deconstructed reality.
Bill F Protagoras
How many chapters do you reckon are left in DITW, KT?
Bill F Protagoras
JL23
Yeah, I can definitely see her trying to talk Josh into getting revenge on Devlin/Amy. But I don’t know if Josh is as comfortable with the chair throwing as she might think. Mostly, I sense he’s tired and done with everything. And for me, he can gain power over Devlin by simply refusing to play anymore. Would have to imagine there haven’t been a lot of people who simply said no to Devlin Stone. As for Kimmy, you are right on her awareness of what she’s done and her level of blame. But I still think she’s in denial over her feelings for Devlin. It’s not that she’s lying per se when she says she hates him. I think overall she does, but there are clearly a few things she likes about him. She doesn’t like Josh being crude about it, but she can’t deny she liked the sex, liked it before Josh was ever really a thought in her mind (beyond a guilty one). But there are other parts of Devlin’s personality she’s intrigued and attracted by (and is trying to channel some of those qualities into Josh), she would probably do much better if she simply conceded this rather than constantly overplaying how much she hates him.
Andrew Mellein
I think the lies will be too much for Josh especially Hyun and the baby. I think in the end he will get with Karina but dont hold me on that!
Donkatsu
KT, you have an opportunity to create an entirely new genre of erotic storytelling. Glaucon has shown the value of entertaining French post-modernist/deconstructionist thought in the search for a way out of the Josh/Kimmy duel to the death. In addition to this PoMo theme, note that the rage in sci fi these days is some sort of quantum entanglement back story. So, Kimmy can be evil/angel, mother/motherfucker, friend/betrayer in different quantum realities. Interacting in entirely opposite ways with various versions of Josh, Hyun, Devlin, Amy, Karina, etc. When these opposing realities cross over into one another the PoMo gaslighting can really take off. After all, isn't deconstructionism just the "Physics for Poets" version of quantum theory for those who cannot do math or probability theory? Agree with Glaucon on the value of the beret to a successful PoMo argument. A lit Gitane dangling from the corner of a lower lip will be important as well.
JL23
"She'd been so dumb to think she had control over Devlin. Though she had it at one time, he was a deceptive animal who loved trouble." Should the word "though" be "thought" there, she thought she had control over him but now realizes she never did. If the word is supposed to be "though" feels like Kimmy is contradicting herself in her own mind. If she was dumb to think she had control over Devlin, why would she believe she ever had it at any point of this whole affair?
Steve McCarty
I liked the symmetry of the reunion scenario proposed after the previous chapter. Please allow me to offer my musings. Josh decamps to Italy and throws himself into his work. Rapid promotions follow and he marries a 'knockout', has a beautiful, well behaved child and is poached by a Canadian firm to fill an executive position. Kimmy has moved on from the Stones, still achieving professionally but desperately unhappy raising the sociopathic demon child, let's call him 'fucking prick' the third. Kimmy is alone and isolated as Meyer threatened Hyun with legal action if she continued seeing Kimmy. Kimmy learns that Josh is back in Canada and is soon stalking Josh and his stunning family burning with jealousy and lust. Kimmy soon is trying to insert herself into Josh's family much as Devlin stomped all over Josh and Kimmy's once happy home.
CSH
Hadn't thought of it. I hope it’s wrong but yeah you might be right.
L_S87
To be fair to Kimmy, I think she knows she's 95% to blame. Her strategy here isn't altruistic or an attempt to rewrite the truth in her own mind, she simply knows that fully accepting blame has her out on her ass. She gains nothing by accepting full responsibility, she only loses that which she has finally determined she shouldn't have risked and can't live without. So in a real way, she's telling the truth about doing *anything* for Josh. That includes manipulating the shit out of him to keep their marriage intact because she's not just saying she's willing to do things *for* Josh, but anything to keep him. Yes, she's lying about the absolution. She didn't do that for Josh, she did that because she thought it would let her have everything she wanted, Devlin's dick included. That didn't pan out, so now different strategy, because Kimmy is nothing if not adaptable. Ultimately, I think she would happily give up Devlin to keep Josh. But that doesn't mean she won't try to do everything in her power to manipulate Josh so that she has to give up as little as possible. Even better if she can parlay that into another opportunity to be with that "disgusting" man again. Though I also have a sneaking suspicion that part of Kimmy's plan to reel Josh in once she gets him past the tipping point is to foster partnership and trust by conspiring to bully and trick Devlin and Amy as payback. Something I know would hook Josh. He liked the feeling a bit too much from throwing that chair. It was liberating and Kimmy knows it. That's why she keeps bringing it up.
Andrew Mellein
That's an excellent point JL23! Maybe Josh is not getting into the shower with Kimmy but is symbolically discarding the suit that she bought him! He wants all traces of anything she bought him through her job with Devlin gone. He is not going to be controlled by her.
L_S87
This is interesting. And confounding. While Kimmy still shows masterclass levels of manipulation, she's using a shitload of truth to do it, while admitting what her real goal is. Do, or say, anything to keep them together. Given her level of effort, it's kind of hard to deny that. Then again, when her demeaning sex talk didn't get him to capitulate, she shifted strategies that ultimately ended in the same place, just in the shower instead of the bed. The sarcastic "I'm terrible" bit was not the right strategy, imo, because she did too much wrong to imply she has no fault or isn't a terrible person. Her change in strategy to use truth against Josh and then finally make him see her point is what might ultimately get her what she wants. The challenge is that no amount of truth on Josh being culpable for wanting some of these things comes close to excusing her actions. She's trying to imply that their sins are equal, while knowing they aren't. She knows how wrong she was, but accepting Josh's accusations as reality doesn't get her what she wants, hence the lies of omission mixed with truth. Her real challenge isn't getting Josh into the shower, or even getting him to admit culpability. She acts as if that's the goal, but her true challenge is getting him to trust her again. Their relationship won't survive her going to work with Devlin every day while he has her betrayal and lies in his head, completely lacking trust in her. I'm not sure how she wins this when they're this far apart and she still has multiple other bombshells to drop that she must, *must*, tell him as any more lies will be instant death. Josh is only here because there is a very fragile balance between his anger at betrayal being balanced by his love and acknowledgement that she is at least somewhat right. That balance is destroyed if he finds more lies. Not sure how Kimmy will navigate that.
KT Morrison
Oh wow, I love this so much
Steve McCarty
I am encouraged that Josh did not reflexively pounce on Kimmy for a revenge/grudge 'pounding' and for more truths from Kimmy even if secrets remain unsaid. Perhaps our struggling couple can carve out a path forward but there is trouble ahead. I hope that Josh and Kimmy can show each other respect and kindness while creating a slightly bittersweet but overall positive memory of what could be their last sexual encounter. I am feeling just a little sad and intend to go singalong with the Manhattans 'Kiss and say Goodbye.'
Bill F Protagoras
I want her to reverse the status quo so that the whole obstreperous litter of boars see how it's done with panache not seamy self congratulation in the exclusive boys' club... but maybe not permanently ruin Josh's life in the process.
JL23
One scenario where he may not be getting in the shower: that suit is really a symbol of the man Kimmy wants him to be, of what he deems is her manipulation of him. He could be taking it off and throwing it on the floor next to the shower to symbolize he's done being that person. Not sure that's likely, but possible.
Bill F Protagoras
On those points you and I are in full agreement and I know you do admire KT vocally I tend just to put more emphasis on aesthetics and mimetics of execution than morality, though I share many of your ethical concerns. It's like just as, I am delighted by Devlin as a character, but as a human being I find him loathsome, there are two Kimmy's but they merge in my mind, because as Kimmy is a woman I don't see why she ought to be stigmatized for behaviour which would in a man be trivialized or even admired. I admire her and am hoping for a convincing excuse to forgive her, I am fickle, but if KT deems it preferable to follow another course I'll almost certainly will still love her. Many people forget because of the denouement of the novel that there was a relatively brief time when Nia was total heartless and indifferent to Geoff... but she really did suffer inside for her behaviour.
CSH
And it is highly realistic to have a smart, ambitious woman manipulate a man with kinky sex to get something she desperately wants. Especially if she believes (knows) that he likes it. I would really like to see her, effectively get her way. Perhaps not entirely but for all intents and purposes.
Glaucon
You absolutely can! We all can! I am enjoying the story quite a bit and think it's very well written. I think KT should be proud and I have pretty consistently lavished praise on these works. I think it can be true that Kimmy is well written and also perhaps treats her husband very poorly in a way that's worthy of discussion since that's ultimately a major theme of the book.
Bill F Protagoras
That's not how absolution works... it's not like Joss's humiliation, it's a transaction, Josh must grant absolution. Otherwise it's just one of the myriad forms of protestant hogwash. Next thing she'll be receiving forgiveness from an atheist!
Bill F Protagoras
JL23
And what is Devlin's role in all this? They can't trust him, but would the game mean anything to either of them if he wasn't involved? She definitely sees her absolution in the fact that Josh is turned on (and also him being turned on amped the excitement up for her). But she hasn't come to terms in her own mind of her actions. If they started the game together, maybe her reasoning would hold greater water. But she started it on her own and then ret-conned in her own mind that Josh's desires were driving this all along.
Glaucon
Josh: “Kimmy, is this Devlin’s cum on our wedding photos? I thought we were done with this!” Kimmy, wearing a beret and striped shirt, smoking a cigarette as she gazes out the window into the rain: “What is cum, really? What does it even mean? Is anything real?”
CSH
My employment if the phrase Evil Kimmy is largely tongue in cheek by the way. And Josh needs a pretty girl to push him around a bit. Lol. I really appreciate KT bringing us a smart aggressive female character.
CSH
Didnt catch this till you mentioned it now!
Glaucon
I've never implied she was, nor do I think "evil" is a useful term in what is ultimately an erotic/romantic drama novel. I think there’s a wide territory of toxicity and red flags that fall well short of “evil” (which for me is a pretty high bar, but that’s a different and more philosophical discussion entirely) but are still horrible things to do to a loved one, any number of which could easily justify cutting a person out of your life. It’s not as if I think she should go to jail or anything, but on the moral scale of romantic dramas, inasmuch as it matters, I think she’s done some pretty bad stuff! I think the implicit fascination with a binary of good or bad and that’s it (which Kimmy has a preoccupation with in her time with Hyun) isn’t helpful and often is used by people to justify their own bad action (I can’t have done anything that bad, I’m a good person, etc.). Anyway, there is room in this narrative that by the end of it, it’s totally possible to be a story read by some people as the tale of a regrettable affair with flawed but perhaps well-meaning people and the difficult path to reconciliation, and for some it’s an erotic horror about gaslighting someone that loved and trusted her into accepting some pretty horrible treatment that, in the moment, was done with borderline contempt regarding how it might affect him. Basically, I don’t think she’s “evil” per se, but I think she’s done a lot of shit (more than once) that for a lot of people would be unforgivable in the context of a romantic relationship of love and trust.
Andrew Mellein
Is Kimmy going to finally tell Josh that he sucked up Devlin's spunk out of her vagina? (LOL!) Just when I'm beginning to forgive Kimmy I go read an earlier book and I'm reminded what a horrible toxic person she is and how her marriage does no to be saved.
JL23
Her point that no one forced Josh to be turned on about the idea of her cheating is a valid one. But she also wants to put (IMO) a higher level of importance/blame on that for the situation they are now in. Its irrelevant to the central question of her betrayal, one I wish Josh would ask her directly: "If you never found out I was turned on by this, would you still be cheating on me with him behind my back?" I think we all know what the answer is, but I'd like to see if she'd admit it, either to him directly, or even to herself. Cause while Josh may be lying to himself about things, she is definitely lying to herself about this. Her spin that yes, she betrayed Josh initially, but it's his fault she got them in deeper with Devlin cause he was turned on has some truth, but it's mostly just spin to make her feel better (and look better to Josh). Bottom line is she would still be sneaking around behind his back with Devlin regardless, provided he didn't try to blow it up by taunting Josh.
Bill F Protagoras
I reread it before I spoke on it... Milton's voice, like your own, even makes the unpalatable (Goddy) bits easier to swallow. In your case the unholy mouthfuls become amusing or at least cathartic. You certainly just nuanced the fuck out of that.
Glaucon
We can all have our own reading of the text and characters. I can see the tortured Kimmy angle, sacrificing herself to create the one timeline where she and Josh can remain whole together after her betrayals (she's been selling the narrative to herself long enough), but it's all too self-serving for me to buy, and her internal experiences of situational guilt give the lie to it on my reading.
KT Morrison
hahaha
KT Morrison
Thank you! I'm going with defense (I'm All-American now) ha ha
KT Morrison
Thus while God spake, ambrosial fragrance fill'd All Heav'n, and in the blessed Spirits elect Sense of new joy ineffable diffus'd: Beyond compare the Son of God was seen Most glorious, in him all his Father shon Substantially express'd, and in his face Divine compassion visibly appeerd, Love without end, and without measure Grace, Which uttering thus he to his Father spake.
Donkatsu
Well said, Glaucon. BTW, my spell check wants to change your name to an eye disease.
Donkatsu
The key for Kimmy at this point is to not make it too, too obvious to Josh that he has been bested by a true master. He needs to feel that he has made his point and that Kimmy is at least a bit contrite. It will really help if she squirts in the next chapter when they are fucking. Game, set, match Kimmy!
Donkatsu
Treachery is often indirect. Many weapons are in Kimmy's quiver (quim?), not the least of which is eau d'epouse.
Bill F Protagoras
"The water was scalding hot; it burned her skin." It would be a shame to have to explain why this plain description is so good, and evidence of the author's unpretentious genius.
Glaucon
“Dammit Josh, you can’t be mad I gambled away our life savings, because sometimes you liked pretending we were old timey river boat gamblers when we fuck.”
Bill F Protagoras
"Josh appeared in the doorway. She let her pants drop and stepped out of them. Naked now, no underwear." A deft KT brushstroke! A flash of married domesticity lost.
Bill F Protagoras
“If you’ll excuse me, someone offered me a way out this afternoon, a way to bring us back together, and now I have to wash a disgusting man off my skin.” Point and touché to Kimmy, only she would take a blade to a tennis match!
Bill F Protagoras
"His defenses had crumbled. His outer wall had been breached. The first dawning light shine through to his bailey, lighting her advancing army from behind." Kimmy's Hail Mary... Sharpe would be so proud of her! As I am of you... but error alert... Shouldn't it be... The first dawning light shines/shined/ shone through... dealer's choice... maybe 'defences' too!
Bill F Protagoras
Ambrosial Fragrance... maybe the divine Miltonic fragrance of a redemptive Kimmy reminded me of all that whiff of eau de venus and kitty double entendre from To Celia. I doubt that that particular smell was used as an aid to memory in Proust's masterwork as he wasn't really a pussy man I have been lead to believe. I only read Swann's Way in the European Novel Course, but I have heard precis of the masterwork on Monthy Python... PS Donkatsu seems you were a bit too quick off the mark in putting dear John behind us.
Bill F Protagoras
"You’re just a Manchurian Candidate. None of this is because of you.” Shit! I missed that one with my Invasion of the Body Snatchers! We're not both trying to suggest the Waters are fellow travellers, are we? Nah, we're just condemning witch hunts! Ooh, ooh, and Josh the patsy!
Bill F Protagoras
“That’s your big fear? That after we had sex we made fun of you? It’s so specific.” “That’s what bullies do.” Point to Josh, isn't that Tracey? Fine analogy, you knocked that one out of the court!
Bill F Protagoras
To Kimmy, Drink to me only with thine eyes, And I will pledge with mine; Or leave a kiss but in the cup, And I'll not look for wine. The thirst that from the soul doth rise Doth ask a drink divine; But might I of Jove's nectar sup, I would not change for thine. I sent thee late a rosy wreath, Not so much honoring thee As giving it a hope, that there It could not withered be. But thou thereon didst only breathe, And sent'st it back to me; Since when it grows, and smells, I swear, Not of itself, but thee. With special thanks to Ben Jonson who actually wrote "To Celia" and with that final couplet revealed himself to be a lover of lady's musk! Perhaps he wasn't adverse to oral pleasures either! The growing and the smelling of woman is a bit suggestive too... Probably all in my mind...
Bill F Protagoras
"She clucked her tongue, closed her eyes and let her head drop. “Don’t be gross.” I just realized this isn't just irony! Every time KT has had Kimmy correct Josh in this prudish fashion recently she has been showing us that the old domesticated Kimmy is still in there sheathed in the armour of a dark amoral goddess... It isn't hypocrisy it's an oxymoron inside her personality! At last my concerns are being addressed... or is it going to be undressed in a slow luxuriating literary striptease!
Bill F Protagoras
Ever the optimist, ey, Andrew?'
Bill F Protagoras
Yep, she did... some of those little buggers could make it across the Hellespont... just the tip, or no just the tip! Immaculate conception? It couldn't be!
Bill F Protagoras
Totally with you about that suit! Actually, a few books back, wasn't Kimmy toying with the idea of a three way with Hyun, but Josh coitus interrupted it with Kimmy's dirty knickers up his sleeve. That would've involved some hardness, woodn't it?
Bill F Protagoras
Isn't it magisterial... Look! it was all there for us to see the narrative is saying... but our experience with the author is saying... look before you leap... good or bad, Kimmy is diabolically clever! What a piece of work is she! "What piece of work is a person, how noble in reason, how infinite in faculties, in form and moving how express and admirable, in action how like an angel, in apprehension how like a goddess: The beauty of the world, the paragon of animals - and yet, to me, what is this quintessence of dust? Man delights not me - nor woman neither, though by your smiling you seem to say so..."
Bill F Protagoras
Yay, C! I see you're still open to a sea change, and willing to follow on KT's Toad's wild ride... with each new dip or screaming rise, I am left breathless yet ecstatic... like getting to fuck Kimmy by proxy! A brilliant exposition on your part... flawless.
Tracey52
How good is the narrative! Bravo KT. I feel like I’m watching an erotic tennis match. My head turning side to side and watching point for point. I think Kimmy has saved a couple of match points so far.
Tracey52
Josh and Kimmy has sex when they got back from the party or the next day I think. Kimmy made sure of it.
CSH
Well, this bears pondering. Verisimilitude is a term I’ve heard applied to your writing KT and this scene is a great example of it. A very professionally done scene that seems deceptively simple but has so many nuances. Joshs’s sullen anger masks his fear and self blame. Kimmy’s calm rational professional argumentation masks her emotional panic that Josh will finally leave her. We see her probe for the right point of weakness to allow her to convince Josh. Your battle imagery belying her inner understanding of her intent. The growth and maturation of the characters as, at the crucial moment, Kimmy is wise enough to employ rational, calm discussion without vitriol. A strong case and a well constructed fact based argument to convince Josh. Not beat him or “win” the argument. She’s consciously flexing and changing her emphasis here and there to convince Josh to stay with her. I also like her attempt to portray herself and Josh as both being victims. Yet Josh has not yet really admitted his role has he? If he does, does he rebel and try to change who he is? Perhaps his getting in the shower with her is his confession. One subtle line Kimmy employs here is to imply that Josh’s kink is an integral part of who he is as a man. He should just not let it control him. He should just accept it and make it a conscious choice. The irony of course is that it is a conscious choice to suffer ongoing humiliation, supposedly without really being humiliated. Is that even possible? And isn’t all this just Devlin’s line about Josh he spun in the hotel lobby? If they reconcile do they try to leave the game behind? Or do they try to continue playing? A subtext of her argument is that Josh somehow needs it. Another, buried in there is that she wants him to need it.
Andrew Mellein
Hyun is her fall back!🤣🤣
Andrew Mellein
Josh is totally not going to throw Kimmy out! “I don’t ever want to see you squirt again, that’s yours, that’s his” Implying they still have some form of a relationship. The question I have is why does Kimmy keep gaslighting him about getting turned on? So what! She still cheated on him with his bully it doesn’t really make a difference. Josh still hates it, even if he gets hard! I still predict they don’t have sex in the shower but maybe bare their feelings more? I want the pregnancy reveal or maybe Hyun? It’s going to get uglier before it gets better!
Chris K
Hopefully Josh is just getting out of that $7000 clown suit! Be strong Josh. Kimmy changes tactics depending on the conversation she's having. Oh, and she's having a second affair that has nothing to do with getting your dick hard!
Andrew Mellein
Josh even though he is hurt still loves Kimmy. I think Kimmy loves him in her own weird way. I think she’s done with Devlin in the bedroom. I think they might be united in some kind of revenge against Devlin and Amy. I want their marriage to survive. Problem is the pregnancy and I forgot about Hyun. I just don’t see it working but who knows?
Andrew Mellein
I weirdly want their marriage to work in reading this chapter. Even though a chapter ago I wanted Josh to throw her ass out! Kimmy just has to be honest with him. Also the pregnancy better be Josh’s ( which I doubt) because I don’t see him raising Devlin’s bastard spawn. Just Kimmy cheating on Josh with Devlin would be enough to end their marriage but having his kid is something else entirely.
Kat
So, Kimmy is telling Josh (and us) what really happened at the party. Her attempts at seducing him with all the “big dick little dick” stuff seems to have not worked. If Josh ends up in the shower with her it’ll be because he wants it, not because of her. He still loves her, he can’t help it. Is Kimmy still planning to work for Devlin? I don’t see how Josh is going to go for this if she intends on being together with him. It’s not believable unless it’s for revenge or something. I’ll hand it to Kimmy, she really won’t give up on her portrayal of herself. She’s not going to accept responsibility for everything. She’ll even stoop so low as to compare her bullying from Amy to Josh’s abuse from Devlin and Rumble. She’s committed to rewriting history, that’s for sure.
Andrew Mellein
I weirdly felt for Kimmy in this chapter! When she doesn’t gaslight Josh or be evil Kimmy and actually tell the truth about how she messed up, l kinda of feel for her. She loves Josh in her own weird way and I think she realizes she fucked up by screwing Devlin. I do think she’s done with Devlin. And even though Josh is disgusted and hurting I think he still loves Kimmy. Chapter ago I woulda said it was over and that Josh should find Karina and hook up. Now I’m not so sure. If I were Josh I would tell her to quit her job and all contact of Devlin if she wanted any hope of saving their marriage. Now the big problem is the pregnancy ( which I think happened at the party) because in rereading the first couple of books when Kimmy was ovulating only Devlin stuck any part of penis in her. Josh only got a bj and she made him wear a condom before she went on the pill. How is that going to further damage their marriage? I think they are at strike two at the moment. Strike three and they are out!
JL23
Still a ways to go, but it’s important that Kimmy’s attempts to manipulate Josh into having sex to avoid the truth telling didn’t work. She’s still holding back an awful lot of truth, but at the very least she’s dropped the act. And, as much as I want her to tell him everything, that was probably not the best time to tell him “oh, by the way, I’m pregnant and there’s a non-zero chance playing just the tip with Devlin is why.” Is Josh getting in the shower with her? Probably, it does feel like she did breach some of his defenses. And there’s more than a little truth in everything she said about his desires and his tendency to act like he’s the only one who’s ever been bullied. I am pretty comfortable now from this chapter that Kimmy really is done with Devlin, or at the very least done conspiring with Devlin regarding Josh. Something tells me there is one more encounter between the 3 of them, only maybe Josh and Kimmy will actually hold the cards against the Devil.
