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DITW 10-18: Flight
🕑 Added 2023-06-18 01:00:03 +0000 UTCHe looked at Devlin, jaw clenched. “There. Does this make you fucking happy?”
Devlin frowned, squinted, leaning away like he needed glasses, looking down and trying to make out in the dim of his living room whether he’d worn them. He looked to Josh, a small smirk to one side. “Are those the panties?”
“They are,” he said with a measure of defiance, hoping in some way seeing a man humiliated but standing straight might show Devlin how ashamed he should be, making the request at all. “Does it make you happy?”
Devlin put up his hands like he didn’t know what to say, but his eyes showed a certain delight.
“I did what you wanted. I wore them. And you’ve got nothing to say?”
“I just don’t get it,” Devlin said, shaking his head like he was trying to break free from the moment. “You surprised me.”
“Surprised you how? You told me to. You said I had to. And that I had to show you.”
“Yeah, but I’ve got no leverage now. I showed you the photo already. I could see if I said show me before I show you the picture you came to see, but you saw it already. Do you just want to show me?”
“No, I don’t want to show you! You made me show you,” he said, fumbling to get his zipper up.
“Josh, you could have got out of here without doing that.”
“Then why even fucking tell me to do that at all?” He popped his button in place again. This was like standing naked by the ocean at night and each wave that hit you opened a door to a closed room in your brain and splashed around, stirring up all the times someone humiliated you. Devlin in the locker room. Devlin and his buddies and their cruel taunts.
Devlin turned away, and in the moment before he did, Josh could see he was amused, could see that look of mirth Devlin would get when he dominated other kids in the school. He took a step away before turning around again. “I guess like I wanted proof of life. You know? Wanted to know you had stakes in the game.”
“This isn’t a game, Devlin. It’s my life. We’re not in high school anymore. None of this is funny.”
“Who’s laughing?” That amusement had disappeared from his expression. Now he looked cold. “I wanted you to prove you were invested.”
“You wanted to humiliate me.”
“You choose to be humiliated. If you owned it, you wouldn’t be.”
“Fucking psychobabble,” he muttered.
“If you opened your jeans up and said look at my hard cock in these satin panties because this shit turns me on, no one could take that from you.”
“You’re humiliating me now while you’re saying I shouldn’t be humiliated. You fucking talk in circles.”
“And you’re a rigid prick. You know that?”
“I didn’t wear Kimmy’s underwear because it turns me on, so why the fuck would I own that? I don’t own it. That’s you. Why don’t you own that you’re a miserable manipulator who is interfering with my marriage?”
“This is the rigid prick part. Right here. I’m not interfering. I was minding my own business, and I didn’t manipulate a single thing. My manipulations, as you call them, are for your benefit. I’ve been nice to you—”
“Sending me pictures of my wife, telling me to come tonight wearing the panties I found? That you hid for me to find. Are you crazy?”
“Why don’t you work with me instead of against me? Ask yourself that. If I ask you to wear panties, call me out on it and say no. Say you won’t do that.”
“I grew up with you, Devlin. Stop gaslighting me. And saying no is working against you, not with you. Plus, if I say I won’t, and I don’t, you’ll make me suffer. You’ll make me suffer twice as much. That’s why I wore them.”
Devlin said nothing for a little while, like he was contemplating what he just heard. Calmer, he said, “Would Kimmy approve of you wearing them?”
“What do you think?”
“I think you should take them off. I don’t think you should have showed me. I didn’t even ask.”
“You fucking told me to wear them.”
“Don’t do it if you don’t want to. That’s what I’m saying. Stand up to me.”
“That’s never worked before.”
Devlin nodded, squeezed his nose, eyeing him. He rubbed his brow, then ran his large hand down his face. “Life is chaos, Josh. Everything is chaos. All around, up and down. That’s why you don’t see it—see what’s at stake here and how you can clean up. That’s why you resist it. You have this existential understanding of order that’s let you down, and now your boat’s got a leak and you’re hanging on to a lifesaver of an idea you thought kept you safe before. But it’s just like that boat that let you down already, put you in those big waves, where it’s cold and foreboding and you know you’ll never see shore again. But there is a shore, man. You know there is one, you just have to have faith.”
Josh shook his head, disbelieving the nonsense Devlin spouted with conviction. Kimmy had told him how he did this. “I don’t even know what you’re saying, Devlin.”
“Josh, I’m telling you, your life and everything you love depends on it: there is order here.” He gestured toward the TV and the lurid picture of Kimmy with her legs spread open like a woman who needed to get fucked. “You don’t see it, don’t see your role in it, but it’s right out in front of you, and you just got to reach out and put your hand around it. When you hold it, you’ll feel its strength, and you’ll know it’ll help you back to shore.”
He took a deep breath and let it out. “What happens when I’m on shore?”
“A man who can survive what you’re going through, a man who can make it back through all that wind and waves and black, scary night, a man who can swim knowing there are monsters out there who can swallow him in one gulp, and some who’ll bite him in two, three, four, maybe a hundred pieces, well, when that man makes it to shore, feels sand under his feet, the land will be his.”
Josh raised his eyebrows, aloof, saying, “He’ll walk on it like a king.”
Devlin’s smile crumpled. “You think it’s a joke. I get it, I don’t blame you. I want you to think about it. I mean, really sit and think. You’re rejecting it because you’re a man who only sees the chaos.”
“It is chaos. Everything is chaos. You just said it.”
“Put it in order, Josh. That’s all we want. Men, I mean. We want order. We want stability.”
Josh scoffed and walked away, turning his back on Devlin and shaking his head. “What’s stable about this? Tell me what you see as stable.” His heart grew heavy knowing the thing he would say next. “You put your fucking fingers in my wife.” Inside Kimmy.
“A man who wears panties to my apartment tonight instead of bringing a machete knows exactly what’s stable about this. You’re just afraid to admit it.”
Now Josh had reached a dead end, had wandered down a box canyon and had come to its terminus with riders on his tail. He turned around to regard Devlin, out of excuses, but still afraid to say it. “Tell me.”
“You and Kimmy ran a game on me in Cayman. Both of you want this if you’re going to lay games like that. I heard you guys together. You wanted me to. I heard you fucking her. You guys knew I was waiting for you. Knew I could hear you. So, look. We can make it happen.”
“What happen?”
“Your wildest dreams, Josh.”
“I don’t know what that means,” he said, but his heart was pounding.
“Sure you don’t. That’s all right. You and I both know something was going on between you and Kimmy, and I was a third wheel. Third wheel on a tricycle, though, my friend.” He showed Josh a wry raising of an eyebrow. “Maybe even the big wheel out front.”
“I’m not even sure what you’re saying. What are you saying?”
“I like you, and I’m not saying anything you don’t want to hear. You’ve played me along the way, put me where you want me. Why are you so afraid to commit?”
“Commit to what?”
“Getting what you want.”
“Just say it.”
Devlin stared at him with steady confidence. “You want to watch me with her. You want to watch me with Kimmy. It excites you; the idea thrills you. You hide from it. You skulk around with shame, when what you want is pure and, really, unsurprising. You know that Kimmy wants it, too.”
“She doesn’t. She plays the games for me. It’s me.”
Devlin chuckled. “Kimmy wants it more than you do.”
His stomach went loose and squirrelly and he felt the strong need to have a seat. Instead, he stood upright, wobbling a little, but intact. “Did she say that?”
Devlin fixed his posture, more serious and judicial. “That’s something you should ask your wife. Ask Kimmy what she wants. She still works for me. She didn’t run too far away.”
That was true. And he was afraid to confront her over it. He was afraid she would say no again, that she wanted the money and the job.
“Ask her and she might tell you. There’s no reason to be afraid.”
Now he looked at Devlin with wild disbelief. No reason to be afraid?
Devlin said, “There isn’t, Josh. If you cross this threshold, only amazing things await you. And you know that. That’s why you’re here.”
Devlin studied him a long while as he stood numbed and muddled, lost in a cottony fog, knowing there was nothing to search for because he knew what it was and where to find it. As much as he hated Devlin’s words, why had he come here tonight? Why on earth would he have complied with such an insane request?
Because you wanted this.
Deep down, you’ve always wanted this.
Devlin could see Josh’s mind working, his expression lightening, dipping a little to meet Josh eye to eye. “What if I’m making up stories right now? What if I fingered Kimmy the other day like I told you, but it was just the way I finger her most days of the week? What if part of the reason Kimmy took this job with me was so she could get out of the house and have an affair with me?
He stepped back, wounded and shocked by the change in direction. “Fuck you.”
Devlin snuffled a laugh, seeing the humor in it, throwing up his hands and saying, “It could be true. Maybe if you sneak your hand between all the cushions in my apartment, you’ll snag a pair of your wife’s panties, her bras, used condoms... If we used condoms.”
The idea they’d been sneaking around behind his back punched him in the belly and he exhaled through his nose. The thought of Kimmy and Devlin in this very apartment, on the couch where he’d found the panties, and Kimmy naked and getting fucked hard without a condom, pinched at his core, squeezed his soul. The hurt brought a strange delight.
Devlin pointed to the TV. “See this picture? Come look at it again. Let’s look at it.” They took a step toward it, both of them looking at Kimmy’s naked pussy, wet and shiny. “What if I have a hundred photos of Kimmy like this one? What if I have thousands? What if I told you there were videos?”
His heart rate spiked into space. “There are?”
“I’m making a point, Josh. What if there were videos of me fucking Kimmy, and you could watch them and listen to her sounds, listen to her get it deep and hard? I bet you’d love to hear what she sounds like.”
His heart galloped out of control and his pulse raced so hard his hearing grew murky and distant. “No...”
“Josh, this is my point. Look within”—he touched a tented hand to Josh’s chest—“When I tell you the worst thing imaginable, you’ve already explored it in your own mind. You’re ready for it. And, when I sent you this picture, you didn’t call some ethics board like you said, didn’t call a lawyer. Fuck, you didn’t even show up here with a gang of your buddies, you came here wearing the panties I told you to wear. Isn’t it obvious to you yet what you want? Why can’t you see it?”
Devlin wasn’t wrong. He was a bully and a manipulative thug, but the things he said weren’t wrong. He’d called Meyer and told him to cover for him, and he’d come here tonight wearing Kimmy’s panties, all to see a better photo of his wife compromised by his tormentor. They should be enemies, but Devlin wasn’t lying about the secret desires that darkened Josh’s doorstep. He swallowed and licked his lips, his mouth dry.
Devlin put his strong grip on Josh’s shoulder. “Right? You see it now. Think about it.”
Josh shrugged his shoulder away, and then stepped back, the whole while disregarding Devlin’s gaze, and looking instead to the screen and the photo of the woman he loved with her legs opened for another man. He’d really put his fingers inside her. Why didn’t that enrage him more? He was angry, but angry at himself. He’d wanted all of this from the beginning, and he’d teased Kimmy to the point she’d succumbed to his game. And that surrender to his desires left her somewhere on her back, on a pallet of something, her legs wide open, her pussy wet, Devlin Stone taking photographs.
Devlin turned to look at the photo as well. “What if Kimmy likes it deep?”
Josh hissed in air at the shock of the words, like water thrown in his face.
Devlin half faced him. “I could tell you that. I could tell you she has a pocket, it’s like a coin purse, folded over behind her cervix, squished over her uterus, and when I fuck her deep, like maybe three times a week, I get in that spot.” He went nearer to the TV and touched the image of naked Kimmy, touching her pussy, stroking the finger point higher to above where her skirt hooped her waist. “Kimmy doesn’t like it when I bump her cervix, but if I tilt those skinny hips the right way, I glide right by, and the head of my cock fills that coin purse”—he circled Kimmy’s tummy with a finger—“stretches it out, and boy when I do, Kimmy comes like never before, her feet go like”—he put up his hands in trembling fists, posing like a horse trying to box—“and then, look out, because Kimmy Chang’s a squirter.”
Josh exhaled shaky breath through his pouted lips. His eyes had gone to wide circles and his heart was a rapid drumbeat.
It was true. Kimmy did do that. It sounded so real. And she wasn’t always one.
One what, Josh?
Say it... A squirter.
That was new. It was new, and it started after she began working for Devlin Stone.
Devlin crossed his arms, all matter of fact now, saying, “Women never want every inch, ninety-nine point-nine percent want only half of it. Kimmy’s that point-one percent.” He rumbled a small laugh, then dropped a hand and squeezed his enormous bulge. With it in his hand, Josh could make out the clear shape of it under the fabric, the flared rim of his cock head, even the veins. “So when she comes on my cock, its buried in her all the way, our pubic bones grinding, and her squirt patters up to my chin, sprinkling in my chest hairs, and man, the way her pussy quivers on me in that moment? . . . I’ve never had a pussy as good as Kimmy’s.”
Devlin’s malevolent eyes fell on Josh’s now, and his smile looked twisted. But there was a challenge in his expression: am I lying or is what I’m saying true?
He wanted it to be true. He wanted the unknowing to be over. The purgatory of suspicion and fantasy was killing him and he just wanted it to be true, so it would end. It would be better than another day of torturous conjecture.
He tried to swallow again, but it was difficult. He choked, cleared his throat. “Why would you say something so awful?” His voice was a coffin’s creak. “How could you think it’s okay to talk about my wife like that?”
Devlin’s expression changed to sympathetic, head leaning to one side. “Show me again.”
“What?”
“Show me again. Show me those panties.”
“No.”
“Show me, Josh. I’m trying to make a point here.”
Josh made no move to unzip his denim again and Devlin smiled with calm patience, but then taking matters into his own hands and unbuttoning Josh’s jeans. He said, “May I?”
Josh said nothing, allowed Devlin to unbutton and unzip him. “Now pull your fly open and show me. You know it, you can just admit it. Or show me and prove I’m wrong.”
He said in a robotic monotone, like another person speaking nearby, “What do you want to see?”
“Part your fly, Josh. Show me the panties.”
His hands were autonomous things, moving to obey his bully’s command. He parted the fly and showed Devlin, both of them looking at what he revealed. His cock was hard and humping out his wife’s skimpy panties. The ones Devlin had stripped from her thighs before he finger fucked her. Before he put his fingers in Kimmy and then later made Josh smell them. He closed his eyes, his mind swirling, his breathing smooth but rapid.
Devlin tugged the panties waistband and his eyes snapped open. “Show it to me.”
They looked at each other, then down, and Josh thumbed out the waistband, his much smaller cock freed, ticking from left pointing to straight up, the naked tip shimmering with pre-come.
“I told you a man’s worst nightmare and you’re hard as a rock. You should see the energy in your eyes. Don’t hate me. Don’t hate what we do. Let it go, let it happen, get what you want. Kimmy and I are waiting for you to catch up.”
He shook his head, and in frantic tugs, pushed his erection back into the panties and jerked up his zipper. He turned away, his mind racing, the fight-or-flight right now screaming fuck it, flee, flee, flee!
Behind him, Devlin said, “So you have to figure something out, Josh. You’ve got homework. You have to think, ‘Is Devlin fucking with me?’ . . . And you have to think why. Why would Devlin do anything? If anything I said tonight is true, why the fuck would I say it? You, Josh, box your dreams away, when I’m telling you, if you held your head up and looked where you were going, you might actually get there. You’re the one who is wrecking this for yourself, but you’re wrecking it for Kimmy. And for me, too.”
“I gotta get the fuck out of here,” he said, heading for the door, Devlin following him. As he shoved his feet back into his shoes, he looked up to see Devlin with his arms folded, leaning against the wall.
Josh said, “Is that shit you said true?”
Devlin shrugged a shoulder. “Look in your heart and tell me if it would matter.”
“Of course it would matter,” he said, thinking of Kimmy and Devlin fucking three times a week in this apartment. “What the fuck is wrong with you?”
“You know you want this. You can’t even say no anymore. You’re holding up these weak placards with ‘It matters’ written on it in Sharpie, you even got the little exclamation point, but you’re just a man with a broken-down limo waiting at the airport, holding up your weak sign and hoping you’ll find someone in the crowd who cares. Nobody cares, Josh. Hold that sign up all day. Hold it as high as you can. It matters, it doesn’t matter. There’s no one to judge you, make you feel small, hurt you. Get what you want, man. Get what you want.”
His eyes darted from Devlin and all around the man’s apartment. “I have to go. I’m going.” He opened the door and stepped into the hall.
Devlin said after him, “You knew it was happening and you did nothing, Josh. You explained it away because deep down, you wanted it to be true. Now you know it is. What are you going to do, run away?”
Comments
CSH
Yes, that’s true. He does crave it disrespect. Looking over this again, you are correct. I guess what I am questioning is Devlin’s assertion that by accepting his fate, and that he likes being cucked, Josh can gain power and then what I would consider a form of self-respect from the situation. Perhaps it is self-acceptance rather than self-respect. It’s this statement: “You choose to be humiliated. If you owned it, you wouldn’t be” But Josh has fetishized his humiliation - if Devlin is correct then after acceptance, he won’t be humiliated anymore. But if he were not humiliated he would not get the thrill he does. Therefore, he needs the humiliation. I guess my point is that Josh can accept that he gets off on all this, and agree to be a willing participant, but that won’t make it easier for him. He must still think of it as shameful and wrong in order to actually gain the sexual thrill from all of it. Therefore he will remain humiliated even if he accepts that he enjoys it and wants it. Plus, Kimmy and Devlin will know it is the humiliation that drives Josh and they will need to constantly up the ante to keep him as an active participant, (or victim?).
Pete
Ohhh, Tracey!! I love it. You did, my friend. You dared to say it: Devlin the good guy. Wow! I imagine we'll learn in the final book the answer to the question posed in the very first chapter of Book 1: Did Josh truly ask Devlin to fuck Kimmy? And if Josh did actually do that, how does that shift our perceptions of Devlin, Josh, and Kimmy?
Pete
Well said. And I do wonder about the last part. Respect. I didn't see that he'd gain respect by humiliating himself in this chapter, but I trust you. That said, does Josh "want" respect? We may believe it to be foundational in "most" relationships, but doesn't Josh dream of being disrespected? He gets off on being disrespected, I think. He seems to crave it.
Bill H.
I doubt Josh could even handle watching Devlin & Kimmy. He almost passed out at the thought that Devlin fingered her. Too bad that Devlin didn't have a video of him and Kimmy f*cking to show Josh. Then, all of Josh's questions would be answered.
RCH
I don't find Josh's behavior so hard to believe. Josh has got a PTSD reaction to Devlin. He submits to survive. It's a survival habit learned when he was younger. Don't fight back submit and survive. Panties is just him going along to get along. Not knowing what happened before Friday with Kimmy, Devlin and Josh. Do you guys remember the movie "Platoon" or was it "Full Metal Jacket? The was a character in that movie that jacked off all the time because of the stress of combat. Josh is falling into this mode. It's becoming and addiction to deal with the stress. He could as well start drinking to excess or drugs etc.
RCH
OK, so Kimmy has her fling with Plastic Man but we're in the dark about who and what happened to at the apartment after she tries to hide. We're assuming it's Devlin but maybe someone else?
HTO
Kimmy and Devlin have been working Josh all along. Over the 3.5 years we have been reading, I have sometimes suspected they collaborated. I'm beginning to suspect again! Much must have happened off stage since Tuesday as so much has happened with this triad over the 9 weeks since Tiffany's party. It's getting very interesting...
L_S87
I'm okay with the villains winning, if that's how this ends up going (far from my preferred "happier" ending, but life isn't always just or fair), i just don't like the whole "washed over" part. Because that's somewhat how this feels, to me. I get Devlin here. It's 100% a masterful performance on his part and the way KT writes him. It's SO believable, and fits his character so well. We still don't know his motivations (which i hope we get at some point because i find it hard to believe his full motivation is just Kimmy sex 3 times a week and bullying Josh. There's no end game there.) but given how he's acted to this point, this is 100% peak Devlin. Ultimately, KT will show us her vision for these characters, and i just have to show faith that it'll make sense once it's over. (Right now i feel like there's a massive number of plot holes waiting to be filled, so there's potential for any number of crazy things to happen)
Wess
I’m having a harder time accepting Josh with taking all the responsibility. Especially now that he knows what Kimmy and Devlin did. And Kimmy enjoyed doing it. As she put it, right under his nose. She went from sweet to sadistic - and he liked that? Even if he got off on it. But then the guy was slapping himself in the face during Devlin’s psychobabble. Kind of hard to relate to that kind of character. I feel sad for him. But I have enjoyed Devlin and Kimmy. Even when they were using Josh as a punching bag. Got a love the dark characters. Tasty writing KT
Tracey52
The part where Devlin describes his sex with Kimmy in anatomical detail is just about the hottest thing I’ve ever read. The whole chapter is masterful in its structure. Kt could be a KC in a court. I buy how Josh could turn this around to be his fault and be convinced or indeed realise this is what he wanted/deserves. Classic introspective self loathing by someone being abused from his teenage years to now. Josh is his own bully now and submissive to Devlin. Devlin is straight from the Old Testament and perfectly named.
Mike Monroe
I see all points ..but I agree with you mostly and it may be me as well .but I don't see how Josh could just let himself fall for this. Based on his reaction of just a hint of what has happen especially after who Devlin represents to him...You don't just be okay with the worst thing that a husband could experience in marriage as a wife cheating with the bully of your nightmares and be good with it..Period!!! This is unforgivable. Again all hell should have been brought down on Delvin and Kimmy in some measure. But of course it will just be washed over . The villains will win and poor Josh will suffer or just be go along with it because there is no other woman in the world besides Kimmy and just be good with the scraps of leftovers. Either way I am here for it! This is why I love KT stories all the angst and for me the emotional anger it provides. Horror movies at its best!!
L_S87
True, and potentially a big mistake on the viewpoint I have taken with this. I just struggle to see how this scenario survives given Devlin's denouncement against Josh's assertion that this is all about his darkness, Kimmy did this for him and Devlin refuting that statement by saying Kimmy is doing this for herself (which we know to be true, even if Josh doesn't). Josh has literally talked himself into believing Kimmy is only a victim, that this is all his fault. Devlin's narrative completely refutes that thought process for Josh. Which naturally leads a person to the conclusion that they are completely in the dark about their significant others motivations and also leads to the conclusion they've been being lied to. A lot. Which we know every other word out of Kimmy's mouth has been a lie for months. How does a relationship survive that knowledge? How does love survive it? The obvious answer is that it doesn't. But then how does Josh stay and give Devlin (and Kimmy) what they want? A man absolutely livid about a pair of panties and treating his wife like crap for two weeks doesn't. In my opinion. Which is where all my confusion comes in and why I hope the next few chapters will shed light on this. Perhaps I'm reading too much into everything and pushing my own point of view or desired outcome too hard and it's blinding me to what's going on. Wouldn't be the first time.
CSH
I get where you are coming from. I just never really saw this as a love story, more a cautionary tale about the dangers of indulging in sexual obsessions. I don’t think there is a happy ending here. At least not in a traditional sense. Just adding one thing here: if we set the underwear incident aside, Devlin is asking Josh exactly what you are pointing out - if Josh is so absolutely against this, why did he show up at Devlin’s door like that? Why is he acting in this submissive way? He should have brought his buddies to kick his ass, or force Kimmy to quit and sue Devlin, or file a labor complaint. Instead he asks to see dirty pictures of his wife. Devlin’s answer is that Josh is ready and has been ready for a while, Kimmy just can’t bring herself to get him over the line, so Devlin forced the issue.
L_S87
For me, this feels like Josh is a square peg being jammed into a round hole. He's a square peg that was slowly having his edges shaved by his wife to get him where she wanted, not necessarily where he wanted. And his edges, for me, hadn't been shaved enough to fit Kimmy's ultimate fantasy. Kimmy saw that when Josh started treating her so poorly, so she stopped. (Then maybe started again, but not the game, just sex with Devlin that she craves) Josh not fitting the scenario, yet, is why he reacted the way he did. With enough time I think Kimmy maybe could have gotten him there, I just scratch my head on how someone says X, repeatedly, time and time again, and also backs it up through action over the last two weeks (not to mention all the times he acted negatively in the books before that) suddenly be okay with their most hated enemy telling them they're acting wrong, and then having Josh agree, if only on the inside. I could see Josh agreeing to this for Kimmy at some point, because he loves her so much, I just struggle with him doing it for Devlin. Maybe that's the point? He'll go home to Kimmy, she'll (FINALLY) tell him the truth of when this all started, and how it was for her, not him, and he'll be so broken that it just all falls into place. I will say, part of why this confuses me so much is that I ultimately thought, based on a comment I read KT make one time (not on Patreon) that this would be a story of love for Kimmy and Josh. This feels like as far from that as you can get right now. To be clear, I don't suddenly hate the series. I'm not picking up my marbles and leaving in a hissy fit like Chey, I'm just confused and hoping the next few chapters will provide clarity that makes sense to me.
Donkatsu
KT and Kimmy still get a vote here. There are three days unaccounted thus far. Lots could have happened, and probably did. Who came into the apartment? What happened to the Devlin penile simulacrum? Is Devlin going to show it to Josh, along with another home movie of Kimmy in action? How long did it take Kimmy to crumble facing Devlin? Or perhaps she joined him in laughing their a$$es off at Josh’ s weakness and naivety? Lots to ponder.
CSH
In my opinion, the panties thing is the only incongruous part. Clearly, symbolic of Josh’s sexual obsession, it’s just a bit too much too fast. We don’t see enough of Josh’s fixation on Kimmy’s undies as the embodiment of her betrayal. That would need more buildup in the story somehow. I get where she’s going with it, though the point at which Josh wears them to symbolize his submission might naturally have come later. For example in the scene where she masturbates him, he could have asked her to use them to do it. He was already doing this in Italy. Other than this one anomaly though I think the scene was excellent. At some point Josh and Devlin needed to have this conversation and this was a good point for it. Josh really has always known and always wanted this. That part of Devlin’s speech is true. He shouldn’t want it of course and it’s objectively bad for him, but he is compelled to do it.
Mike Monroe
I 100 percent agree...The Josh reaction has really shocked the hell out of me. Like you said the even thought of this destroyed him. Then for him to turn around 0-60 wearing those damn panties!!! Beat himself up?? Just so damn weak . There is no way he will be respected by either of them. Why the F would he care about what Devlin wants!!!..Just so F weak!!! I hate both Devlin and Kimmy because in my opinion they have manipulated Josh from book 1 for this outcome ! There is no care about what Josh wants only what Devlin wants and by extension Kimmy. They have crushed him beyond repair!
L_S87
The dialogue her is amazing. The emotions, and the show Devlin puts on are spectacular. For me, though, it completely falls apart as it feels horribly forced. I'm scratching my head how someone can sob themselves to sleep, be dead inside, have dead eyes to Kimmy for two weeks, just suddenly be where Josh is and agreeing with Devlin, even if it's internally. He went from pissed as hell about panties to wearing them and enjoying it in a few days. Its like going from 20mph to 2000mph in the blink of an eye, and it's got me befuddled. Hopefully the next few chapters will get me back on track. While I understand why the series would be meant to go this way, there's just too many incongruous things across all the books that leave me scratching my head when it leads to this moment. Still enjoy the writing, KT, even if it leaves me off kilter.
Tracey52
Wow. I don’t really know what to say. I won’t to hate Devlin and Kimmy but Devlin could be correct. Maybe he is giving Josh what he wants and can’t admit it. You just have to believe now that Josh will come around to Devlin’s way of thinking about it. Kimmy’s actions are harder to justify. Interested to find out how kt deals with that. Can we now assume that it he been Devlin all along with the texts or are there more twists yet? Dare I say it, but Devlin the “good” guy here giving Josh what he truly wants or is it really a master ploy so that Devlin continues to get what he wants-Kimmy? Also does Kimmy know about this strategy by Devlin and perhaps even about the meeting? The missing days again.
CSH
Excellent. Remarkable that you pulled this off. It works well, with everyone staying in character perfectly. And now Kimmy. It all comes down to what Kimmy wants to tell him. I suspect he’ll believe whatever she tells him to believe. I love how you have crafted Devlin here - the whole idea that Josh can gain respect by humiliating himself is bonkers. No way are Devlin and Kimmy going to really respect him after that. Accept him yes, but respect?
RCH
Oh, wow how interesting! Devlin's a a Jedi master!
Mike Monroe
Well there it is ..the Devil told him the truth..He should be ready to commit a double homicide...but he isn't. He going to ask Kimmy .she going to lie or mix the truth...Josh will go to Rome and hide away.. Devlin was right ..Why the F. Would he wear those damn panties ..that makes him so weak..period! It is amazing how they are throwing this all back on him ..like he asked his wife to cheat on him. He is just a long line of husbands who just give his wife to much rope to hang them with. Another decent husband who get taken advantage of. The Devil and his Mistress have played this poor man to the fullest. I am team Josh but it's a losing team so far...2 strikes. This one coming with final conversation with the lying cheating wife of his.. hopefully she has enough respect to tell him the truth .but seriously doubt it! Masterful KT!! I love your writing . You have written 2 character I despise the most from all your stories I have read. I thought it was Maggie and Cole or Jen or Tyler but Devlin and Kimmy are the undoubtedly worst of the all!
