ktmorrison
patreon
DITW 12-12: Beata Beatrix
🕑 Added 2023-12-24 15:04:34 +0000 UTCJosh’s stomach roiled and churned with the acid of hate and disgust and humiliation. The barbs, the jabs, the sheer arrogance from the most hated man in his history book. The craziest thing: even though Devlin had his dick out, the thing that angered him the most was some sort of barely-understood insult launched Kimmy’s way. The indignation and offense Kimmy showed on her beautiful face provoked some shining, valorous part of his psyche to urge his protection, his defense of the woman who’d been cheating on him. It was wild and unexpected.
He was sure whatever Devlin said had some sort of spark of truth (the image of Kimmy and Devlin in bed came to him, the two engaged in post-coital pillow talk, Kimmy saying how she wanted a home version of the fleshy implement that delivered such illicit pleasure, eyes turned down to watch her long finger trace a line up its underside), and that Devlin wielded the creative barb now to bash Kimmy, to put Kimmy on her heels, to get her reeling. And that was fucking exciting. He wanted to protect her, yet the desire to see her sullied, for Devlin to diminish her, was electrifying. It aroused him as well.
And that’s why he didn’t leap to her defense, merely waited to hear her response.
Kimmy’s look of disgust changed to perplexity, an expression of incomprehension. Like, what the fuck are you even talking about? It seemed contrived. She did buy a replica of Devlin’s cock. Had she masturbated with it in their own bed sometime?
His eyes settled on Devlin’s penis hanging out of his fly. It was huge. As huge as ever. It had begun to thicken at the base, and the semi-engorgement hoisted the still-flaccid end upward, but drooping, the sagging end soft and fleshy, nodding along with Devlin’s movements.
Kimmy’s eyes downturned to Devlin’s huge penis, bowing out of his fly, stiffening, but gravity urging its heft downward still. The sight of her regarding this thing that struck fear in Josh’s own heart riled even more excitement from him. It was hard to bear. His wife’s eyes rested on another man’s massive endowment and looked unbothered. Of course, she’d seen it before. She’d seen it in Cayman. Devlin had shown it off right in front of Josh—how had he ever imagined nothing had gone further between Devlin and Kimmy behind his back?—but Kimmy’s lack of curiosity or surprise or indignation cemented the truth he’d denied for so long: Kimmy had plenty of experience with Devlin’s manhood. This display was old-hat for his wife. Last fucking week in this very room he’d slapped it against her bare thigh. She’d told him that. Told him straight out.
This was why he was here. To play it out. To find something in this sinful betrayal he could hold close to his chest and call his won. To take back something these two had stolen from him.
Kimmy said, “I don’t play with toys.”
Devlin took off his suit jacket and tossed it on a nearby chair and began undoing his cufflinks. “Depends what you call a toy.” His eyes shifted toward josh and he smiled to one side.
Kimmy’s brow lowered. “Can we do what we’re here for without your dramatic flair. Do you think anyone appreciates it?”
“I do it for me,” Devlin said, dropping the cufflinks into his pocket and unbuttoning his shirt. “It’s entertaining.”
Josh said, “I don’t like the way this is going. Okay? Why do you two have to fight?”
Kimmy rubbed her jaw, wanting to say more but restraining herself. Devlin chuckled to himself, shirt fully unbuttoned now, his muscular torso displayed between the open curtains of his unbuttoned dress shirt. He faced Kimmy. “I’m not looking for a fight.”
Kimmy’s expression was plain, stolid. It was the expression of the Kimmy who scared him sometimes. “I’m not either.”
Devlin said, “Why are we here?” He looked toward Josh. “Why are we here, Josh?”
He stayed firm. “Because I want you to be.”
Devlin smiled and faced Kimmy again, amused, eyebrows high; his eyes were lively and his face depicted the phrase: see, I told you.
How many times had Devlin tempted Kimmy with the notion that her husband had wanted this all along? Devlin was the one who’d planted this seed whose roots choked off his sanity; that ate all the nutrients and minerals his brain needed to maintain healthy, rational thought. Devlin was the one who’d encouraged the seed to grow. Devlin planted his business card in the front hall. Devlin had texted him those taunts.
Now Josh chuckled, disbelieving his own blindness. It was willful. Whatever grew in his mind turned to hot lusty sunlight, turned away from reality’s darkness, all to ensure he would witness this event unfolding before him; watch the seed bloom its juicy, sinful fruit.
Kimmy said to Devlin, “And why are you here?”
Devlin handled his growing cock a moment before stuffing it back into the fly and hiding it away. It bulged out his pant leg. He stepped closer to Kimmy.
“I was summoned.”
She scoffed, turning to look at Josh.
“I didn’t tell him to be here.”
Kimmy regarded Devlin. “It was you?”
“I sent Josh a save the date.”
Kimmy wasn’t amused. “Why?”
Devlin touched her undone hair, touched her cheek with the backs of his fingers. Kimmy moved her face away but Devlin pursued her, saying, “Strength doesn’t exist without weakness. I’ve told you that. I didn’t appear out of a vacuum. Weakness conjures me.”
Kimmy shook her head, mouth quirked to one side, showing her cynicism. Devlin held her neck. “Josh,” he said without looking Josh’s way, “ask her again. Tell her what you want from her.”
“She knows.”
Kimmy nodded, turning up her chin. “I know what he wants.”
“Then why are we still talking?”
He pulled her closer by the back of her neck, and Kimmy’s hands disappeared inside his unbuttoned shirt. Her hands were on Devlin’s bare torso. Feeling his muscle. Feeling his masculine body.
Josh shifted, and though his temples pounded, the desire ballooned inside him, and he wanted to see more and more and more and worse and worse and worse. His palms came together between his knees in the style of prayer, and he put his weight forward, rocking, feeling his hardness squeezed by the cut of his tailored pants. Kimmy had said in front of the tailor she knew on which side Devlin dressed.
Kimmy watched her own hands on Devlin’s hard chest, pushing his shirt wider to expose more hard flesh, flecked with manly hair. “Then Josh is in charge,” she said.
Devlin didn’t deny it, only laughed a small sound in his throat.
Kimmy knew her husband’s game, was that it? Knew her husband could only find solace by reframing his position; changing himself from victim to an enabler instead. A facilitator. If he could convince himself he believed it, he might just survive this ordeal.
Devlin held Kimmy’s neck still, now thumbing her delicate jawline. “I think we all have our own hand in it. All of us need the other.”
Kimmy dragged her nails down Devlin’s chest, settling on his waistband. She slipped her long fingers underneath his silk bracers and slid them up to his chest again. “So much philosophizing for something so base.”
“I’m offended you don’t see the art in all of this,” Devlin said, thumb still jaw-stroking.
“Art used to matter when it sought beauty,” Kimmy said, slipping the braces over Devlin’s broad, muscular shoulders. The straps fell to his thighs.
Devlin’s thumb pad stroked higher, to a point just below Kimmy’s eye, resting on the point of her cheekbone. “I think we’re going to show Josh a lot of beauty. You don’t?”
Kimmy shook her head no, lips pursing. “I think it’s going to be crass, brutal. Ugly.”
“Stop,” Devlin said, enjoying it. “You’re turning me on.”
“That is what you like. Chaos. Destruction. You’re a man who pretends to build because that’s how you get close enough to set it all on fire.”
Devlin cocked his head, looking into Kimmy’s eyes. “I think Josh wants us to be nice to each other, and here you are casting aspersions again.”
“You’re right,” Kimmy said, amused by it all, like she knew she could get the better of Devlin if she wanted. And Devlin knew it, too. Josh was convinced of it. Devlin could say things that would embarrass Kimmy in front of Josh, and that worried her, but it was because she’d done things she was ashamed of. Shame showed she cared. But they were things he knew now in his heart that had really happened. And knew that despite all the betrayal, she would do whatever it took to please him. To really please him. To make things right. To make things better. If he could elaborate on that perspective, it was possible that he could find the art, the beauty in his wife’s witchcraft. But nothing came to him now, no rousing crescendo of love, no swelling violins to announce his epiphany; only an understanding that his wife was not the woman he thought he knew. She was capable of things he couldn’t imagine, capable of atrocity and meanness, and he wouldn’t want her cruelty truly aimed his way. Her cruelty, when she wielded it against him, was done for his affection, for his pleasure; but also to establish a new role in their marriage. What was once a shared road trip had become a toad’s wild ride of horror, traveling too fast with the heat cranked and all the windows rolled up; he wasn’t a driver, a copilot or a navigator, he was along for the ride, sitting in the back seat holding on for dear life while Kimmy worked the pedals and took the wheel and decided what they would listen to on the stereo.
But his eyes narrowed on a distant glimmer: a very distinct truth materialized on the roadway, something shocking. Devlin held a small measure of fear for his lawyer who he sometimes fucked behind her husband’s back. Like maybe he’d thought he controlled Kimmy at one time but now he feared she’d slipped her lead.
Kimmy smiled as if to herself and watched Devlin’s chest bared as she guided his fine dress shirt over his big shoulders. Devlin worked the dress shirt off his arms behind his back as kimmy’s fingertips explored his chest and ribs. Devlin was a fine masculine specimen; a truly powerful male build with humps of bulging muscle.
When the shirt was off, Devlin guided Kimmy back and eased her shirt off as well. Josh fixated on the swollen knot of her nipple being tested by the edge of her bra trying to close over her breast but stuck on that nipple like it was a doorstop. Both parties were topless, hands touching one another, Kimmy standing tall in her heels, Devlin unclasping her bra behind her back. Once the bra was off her smoothed his palms over her small breasts, going over both bursting nipples, and Kimmy’s expression showed a silent sighing of relief, as if his touch soothed some of the ache in her breasts, the flesh swollen with desire.
Josh sat straighter again, his thighs closing hard and squeezing on his own aching desire, his cock flexing and twitching as he watched the man who sullied his school days enjoying the one most amazing thing in his life he could call his own.
One thing was sure: if he were to ever have fantasized a scenario like this, he would never have imagined it at lunchtime on a Monday.
Comments
Pete
"Her cruelty, when she wielded it against him, was done for his affection, for his pleasure; but also to establish a new role in their marriage." Great observation by Josh. He acknowledges that Kimmy is establishing a new role for herself in their marriage. And thereby, a new role for himself as well.
Bill F Protagoras
Also wouldn't it just be like Devlin to revel in the thought of people stretching themselves on their very own knock off of his greatest achievement!
Bill F Protagoras
Devlin just lets his mouth run and lets it out... they all need the other... whoever had Josh wear the offending flowery underwear might chuckle now at Stone's gymslip... he admits his need of Josh... Adolescence, you can't leave it behind... well some people can't...
Bill F Protagoras
“This little thing has caused so much trouble. This little thing has made our lives so difficult.” What terrible belief hiding in Kimmy's skull made her spew this rotten accusation at that time at that Josh? With her newfound deeper admiration and friendship for Hyun has she relegated Josh to a lower rank in her heart... a nuisance and an obligation...
Bill F Protagoras
Been under the weather... but managed to re-read the story up to date... So have been composing worst case scenarios without much hope... 'cause it's making only the shyest of appearances recently...
Bill F Protagoras
Is Evil Kimmy going to demean herself with an abject show of her fealty to Mammon? Is she going to pay lip service to his fiendish venal delights? Is the man she loved... the man she has inadvertently made into her creature, going to see her as she fears she is... behind the borrowed Satanic Majesty? How many light years is she from home? What will she be when her Josh recognises how abjectly her abasement has her stoop for someone who turns his stomach and reviles his reason...
Bill F Protagoras
What is Amy's bitter secret?
Bill F Protagoras
There's also learning the hard way... often the privilege of those who least appreciate it... No one has fought harder for victory from defeat than Josh wrestling to pin down the duplicitous angel inside the demon that the Devlin has smuggled inside the Waters' home... all along he's known the overgrown bully's sick obsession with himself while his faithless wife turned a hypocritical self serving blind eye... her master's rival the sleekit timorous one... that causes a tremor in his big cowering evil hairy breast... the sly warrior in the wooden horse... the hapless wanderer favourite of Athena whose wife is besieged by profligate suitors ruining his home... can he, a helpless beggar, lead a last ditch Hail Mary to relieve the starving citadel... to reveal the fata morgan that once was HIS wife's heart and 'his' heart too? Is seeing believing... is Devlin a Water's doppelganger wilfully blinded by self hatred? His persona not just orbiting his ithyphallic totem but occulted by it... behind it?
Bill F Protagoras
Kimmy's hubris is like a repeat cycle in her psyche she thinks its work is done but then it's back again... her strength is beautiful as a ranked phalanx with a pushing tactic assimilated from the enemy trying to pierce a Josh or a Hyun by a combination of force and stamina worthy of a boss... maybe she needs the tactics of an Iron Duke not the loyalty and dash of an Emperor's Marshals... or even to fight the little war of attrition of those too weak to win outright... but too strong of heart to give in... those who can admit sometimes when the fact we're staring defeat in the face lends us all the courage we're ever gonna get... And sometimes we have to push the enemy out of our own inner fortress... Sometimes you have to say no with the courage of your own convictions and sneer at the "victor..."
Bill F Protagoras
Even the Good Book must submit to the grubby mitts of the printer's devil.
Mike Monroe
Great chapter KT...love hearing all the opinions..Mine will for Josh to turn the tables somehow on the both of them in the end somehow. I can't see how he could be with her after this when the whole truth is laid bare..How could any self respecting person do it. I still believe Josh was manipulated to get here. He is not the usual cuck...this was not his fantasy...As far as he believe he was in his perfect marriage with his best friend....bur over time people will show you who they really are ..believe them when they do!
Bill F Protagoras
Kimmy is at the centre of the story because before it began she had become the omphalos, the familiar centre of her and Josh's youthful enterprise... whenever they are alone and seek surcease from fret suspicion and past grief or grievance they snugly fit together like yin and yang hugging, or the calming ritual of the Tao-Te Ching... and make themselves a choice target for the jealousy, spite and cruelty of those who choose bottomless greed... who only want to be on the side that's 'winning.' What they have at stake might as well be invisible to Devlin because he would never recognize true power if it spat in his eye... Which makes him their curse... Of course, the stone omphalos of Delphi looks not totally unlike the gnarly head of a cock... go figure Kimmy Waters né Kimberley Chang! Remember Kimmy a careless move could turn Josh into a caricature... and the rest of your own life a mockery...
CSH
Sexual submissive. We’ve seen Josh be more aggressive and more successful at work for example.
RCH
Happy Boxing Day! Things have settled down enough that I just got around to reading this chapter. Things are coming to a head! Wow, lots of insightful observations from everyone. Josh's reaction in the aftermath of this will be interesting. Will he be able to live with it or is he going to feel disgusted by it or embrace it? Great writing KT.
Bill F Protagoras
Thank you, I really appreciate your, wow... The muse of my muse is my muse. It just happened with the image you planted in my head. And how the progress of this chapter, amongst other things, made me feel... thanks to your inspiration... That's why I'm here
KT Morrison
wow!
Bill F Protagoras
Only a coward claims dominance on the backs of the weak... to submit is not to be a submissive, a submissive is a creature of the imagination, giving way is a tactic in life's battles... if you sit by the river long enough you will see a lot of debris...
Bill F Protagoras
Kimmy will never be slave to anyone but the one she freely gives herself to, if or when she pleases. But her flaw is that in earning pride in her own accomplishments, she has mislaid the dignity we owe to others....
Bill F Protagoras
Can we believe Kimmy's theory that by changing into an enabler, a facilitator, a broker, Josh could survive this ordeal by becoming what would be Devlin's pimp, just a lower rung on Stone's cuckolds' ladder of submission, or hierarchy of needless cruelty, or cruelty Devlin needs to salve his pride. If it is Kimmy's thought at all. Will the crippled couple earn it's vindication by tripping the upstart Devlin's heels... for in the lowest deep, a lower deep still threatening to devour him opens wide? And witches come from old chaos and Mother Night..
Bill F Protagoras
There's a sexshop on Devlin's territory perhaps the owner is grateful for his patronage... perhaps he is the owner.
Bill F Protagoras
And knew that despite all the betrayal, she would do whatever it took to please him. To really please him. To make things right. To make things better. If he could elaborate on that perspective, it was possible that he could find the art, the beauty in his wife’s witchcraft.
Bill F Protagoras
he watched the man who sullied his school days enjoying the one most amazing thing in his life he could call his own...
Bill F Protagoras
Devlin frequently holds the scruff of Kimmy's neck as though he were a terrier and she his prey... but is it not she who draws his beastly hands, the bearer of La Vita Nuova? The renovated alpha bitch now the stronger will, drawing his weaker mind in with the supernatural suction of a Charybdis, her irresistible draw overcoming his vaunted power, toying with and vanquishing the overestimated renown of his 'mighty' cudgel bringing his dominion low for the sake of her fleeting pleasuring... while Joshua's horn crows like a cockerel and the walls come tumbling down and someone's post-coital bliss sours to regret... this is my fevered dream... and favoured firming resolution. Victory from the jaws of defeat... I know... I know... the course of true love ne'er did run true... on the coast of Illyria, a sea change, Gaspar, Melchior, and Balthasar lead their groaning retinue, camels, gifts and all... trudge over 'damp' sand only pausing to enquire of a bedraggled but beguiling young lad about any likely cribs hereabouts... looks like they've lost their way...
Bill F Protagoras
I was summoned... Speak of the devil. And he'll appear... Weakness conjures me.
Bill F Protagoras
Kimmy boldly arches her back centre stage
Bill F Protagoras
Lizzie Siddall was one of the favourite models of the Pre-Raphaelite Brotherhood. She portentously featured as dead Ophelia and also the Lady of Shallot, Dante Gabriel Rossetti painted her as the other Dante's Beatrice many times though perhaps most famously as Blessed Beatrice, they had a rocky marriage as Rossetti was a bit of a ladies' man. She was sickly and addicted to laudnum, even so she painted and wrote herself... She gave birth to a stillborn child and after depression and possible neuralgia died of illness and her drug (or medicine) of choice. There was some speculation about the causes of her death, one being suicide. Whatever... Rossetti wrote a poem called "Without You" which you would never confuse with Nilsen's song... nevertheless, I would never consider him as good a poet as a painter, or as good a poet as his sister Christina! I think you might now see why KT has my vitals in her grip. Beatrice, Juliet to Dante's ageing Romeo, was of course the one who sent Virgil to guide Dante on to his eventual educational tryst with her in the giddy higher reaches of the Comedy Divine... where we are assuredly not bound.
CSH
Good enough. Hope it’s going well for you. Enjoy seeing your family.
JamesIsAsleep
This was really interesting
Bill F Protagoras
One being I will be extremely pissed off... Hope you're havin' a good Navidad!
Bill F Protagoras
How much more ill omened could it get for me and Josh, in this chapter where my beloved couple begin to struggle against their malignant sadistic satan... against the backdrop of two bereft historical Dantes evoked by paintings worth much more than a thousand words. Beatrice Portinari, star-crossed daughter of a banker and beloved of our prime Dante and his lifelong object of adulterous obsessive love... which is possibly the greatest, known, real life example of courtly love in history. Ironically, as a youth l remember seeing Henry Holiday's painting of Beatrice and Dante at the Walker Art Gallery often, Beatrice babe among babes and Dante with just a dab of voyeuristic dirty old man. The blood of slaves, and cotton granted me, ironically free access to Pre-Raphaelite models' pulchitrude. Alas, no internet porn then... but plenty of Victorian porn round Merseyside and Port Sunlight's Lady Lever Museum. My daughter just got up so you're gonna have to wait for another ridiculously short resume of Dante the painter's tragic relationship with his model and wife, Elizabeth Siddal... Later, Kimmy-haters...
CSH
I don’t see an end in sight unless she just cuts it off after this scene. Gotta hope that doesn’t happen for a whole variety of reasons.
CSH
This has always been Kimmy’s story first and foremost. The transformation of the marriage of Josh and Kimmy, yes, but I agree, Kimmy was the catalyst all along. I would imagine even Devlin could accept that and claim he was merely ripping aside the veil to reveal the true, dominant Kimmy. He also could claim he was trying to reveal to Kimmy Josh’s true, hidden nature as a sexual submissive. I’d also remind you of Kimmy’s thought that the only way to claim her place as the equal of Amy and Devlin was to break Josh, a view that she has reconciled in her mind with her desire to protect Josh from Devlin.
Andrew Mellein
I think that KT is slowly hinting the baby to be Josh’s although there is no mention of that predicament in this chapter. I wonder how many chapters KT will need to finish this book and series. There is still a lot to delve into this story such as Hyun, baby, private investigator and all the loose ends! And we still have not got through this steamy scene yet! I still love it! Merry Christmas KT!
Kat
Josh seems to be accepting of what is happening in front of him. He’s also finally putting the pieces together and admitting what we all know. Kimmy has been cheating on him with Devlin, and it started well before the Caymans. While I was disappointed to have Devlin’s replica remark glossed over, I am interested in hearing Kimmy’s thoughts. Hopefully the next chapter will be in her voice. I like hearing her perspective the most, because I think she’s the one driving the story forward. We’ve spent a lot of time discussing Josh, and his feelings, needs and kinks, but Kimmy is the heart of the story. She is the Devil in the Waters. Devlin may have “planted the seed” in Josh’s mind, but he would have no impact here if Kimmy hadn’t fooled around with him at the party, and continued to do so throughout the story. She may think Josh is in charge here, only because she is trying to keep Josh from leaving her. This is Kimmy’s thing to lose.
Kat
Ha ha this made me laugh. The alert dropped for me when I was with my kid. 😂
JamesIsAsleep
I like how the end of this segment mirrored my thoughts as I'm getting alerts that this dropped while I'm working on preparing meals for my extended family. It certainly wouldn't be my ideal choice to be reading this donning an ugly Christmas sweater carrying meatballs! Nevertheless that's what happened
L_S87
I loved that part, because it actually makes sense. Its twisted, perverted logic that most would never subscribe to, but it makes sense for him. The whole "telling me hurts too much, but showing me is okay" line never made sense. It was dumb and illogical. But this. This is Josh showing that to be a lie. Neither was ever true. He knew what she would say. He just didn't want her to add to her existing web of lies, making cutting through them even more difficult. There is no "okay" or "right" in being shown this. There is only knowing what is, finding the "truth" (such as it is) and doing it on your own terms instead of being lied to yet again for the umpteenth time while finding some thrill, painful and heart wrenching, in what you've setup because you finally get to call the shots instead of these two assholes calling them for you behind your back. Or so Josh tells himself. I don't think he's going to much like the conclusions he comes to once Devlin shows him the type of woman his wife can truly be. Yes, she loves him, but she gets lost in her own wants once the fire is stoked. And those wants never end well for Josh's heart and well being. He knows she's a monster. He admits it here. But there's "knowing" and then there's *knowing*. Josh is at the former, he'll probably be broken by the time he gets to the latter.
L_S87
Yep, pretty much. She hates the asshole, yet she loves how she feels when he does things to her. You can see it at the end when she leans into him and his touch. And Josh is going to have to see that and accept it. Because he asked for it so she's going to show him what she's been "protecting" him from. How much she holds back to mitigate the impact is what will make or break Josh. That and how much of an asshole Devlin is, because Kimmy read him like a book here on what he wants out of this. Which also scares the shit out of Josh. She knows him well, much, much too well.
Donkatsu
I’m ok, you’re ok; I’m a schmuck, you’re a cuck. Seems to be the theme here. Josh has been told to assume the brace position. That only works to save him if here is no fireball. KT, thanks for this holiday treat, best wishes from here.
Tracey52
Still don’t know hoe Devlin and Josh know about the dildo?
Tracey52
Typo. This was why he was here. To play it out. To find something in this sinful betrayal he could hold close to his chest and call his won.
Bill F Protagoras
And Proserpine! Danger Bill F! Danger!
Bill F Protagoras
Oh, kudos on the pun and the doubling down on Dante... with Alighieri's very own Kimmy.
Bill F Protagoras
Brilliant... This is more a... Tell me O Muse How Josh came to revise his opinion of Mondays sort of epic tale... thanks, hope you and all our merry band have a good holiday time... with plenty of good cheer... and humbugs for them as likes the taste! My daughter will be arriving soon so I take my leave with Silent Night playing in the saviour's birth and the bloodying of the people's flag...
Bill F Protagoras
once the bra was off HE not her smoothed his
Bill F Protagoras
As I've been reading the previous books yet again I've realized you have established your own form of the Homeric metaphor... love them!
Bill F Protagoras
Merry Christmas, today is THE day in Spain... thanks for a great present though the day for presents here is Epiphany!
L_S87
I think Josh has no idea where he's going after this. He shows acceptance of what is. He acknowledges how awful Kimmy is, acknowledges all the shameful things she's done. He loves her, but he doesn't love that their marriage is no longer a partnership, that Kimmy does what she wants and only feels remorseful afterwards. That he's only included when she wants him to be. That he's only safe "somewhat" because of her guilt. She does love him, but that doesn't stop her from being awful when she wants to be. She only isn't being awful now (since Josh doesn't know about Hyun) because her love is telling her their marriage is on a precipice and she still values that marriage and Josh's love. A precarious place to be. Because now he's trapped. If she treats Devlin like this, how will she treat Josh if he spurns her and leaves? She'd crush him. So Josh takes what he can, as KT so masterfully states near the end. Takes what little power he has to control what he can and eek what little enjoyment he can out of this awful situation these two monsters have placed him in. Worse because he still loves one of them, horrible as she is. Gonna get a lot worse before it (maybe) gets better.
Bill F Protagoras
close to his chest and call his own... not won I presume
