Swallowed (Devoured #2) by Hazel Kelly Page B

hello?”
    “Whatever, bitch.”
    “Drive safe, skank.”
    Julianna rolled the window up and honked at Sam who
stood waving in the driveway as she drove away.
    “Sam, Sam, Sam,” she said. “You know me too well.”

Kirk
     
     
    Kirk opened the door and found the house as quiet as
he expected it would be. He put his shoes off to the side of the welcome mat
and didn’t bother to announce that he was home. It wouldn’t make any
difference. He didn’t check the kitchen to see what was cooking for dinner. Madeline
hadn’t made a hot meal in months.
    He’d become accustomed to eating Hungry Man’s and
bringing her soup every night. As far as he could tell, she wasn’t eating
anything else. 
    He trudged up the stairs, ignoring the wedding
pictures on the staircase wall. They just made him sad now. He didn’t like
being reminded of how happy they had been before all this.
    The wedding day had been a dream. Everything went
perfectly and Madeline wasn’t a bridezilla about a single detail. She took care
of everything with her typical charm and enthusiasm. And the wedding night had
been one of the most beautiful of his entire life.
    When the time came to consummate their relationship,
she overcame her nerves and put her trust in him. The fact that she’d actually
enjoyed herself the first time filled him with a sense of incomparable pride. She
was worth the wait.
    But now the pep from his cheerleader’s step was
gone, and all her cheer with it.
    He stopped at the top of the stairs and took a deep
breath.  When he pushed the bedroom door open, she was laying in bed in the
fetal position staring straight ahead with a clump of tissues in her hand.
    “Hi, honey.”
    “Hi,” she said without looking at him. “How was your
day?”
    Kirk walked to the bedside and sat down beside her.
He brushed some unwashed hair from her pale face. “Fine. How are you feeling?”
    “What do you think?” She turned her eyes towards
him.
    He almost thought he sensed some contempt.
    “Did you get up today?”
    “What for?” she asked. “To take care of our baby?”
    Kirk winced. “Honey, please.”
    She rubbed an eye with the back of her wrist.
    “You used to get up and do all kinds of things.
Remember?” He took the empty glass off the bedside table and walked to the
bathroom to fill it with water before returning to sit on the edge of the bed. 
    She didn’t scoot over to make more room.
    “Have you thought about going down to the shop to
help out?” he asked. “Just for an afternoon? To get out of the house?”
    “I don’t have any business at the shop. What good am
I going to do there? I can’t even look after something in my own stomach.”
    “C’mon, now. That’s just silly.”
    Kirk crawled behind her to be the big spoon, staying
on top of the covers. Every day he held her and tried to make it better.
Nothing worked. It was wearing him out.
    He smelled her hair. At least she smelled like herself.
    “Do you want to make love?” he whispered.
    “No. I don’t want to make love.”
    “Do you think you’ll ever want to make love again?”
he asked, knowing he couldn’t make things any worse than they were.
    She kept facing forward. “Do you think you’ll ever
want to stop being such a jerk?”
    Kirk sighed, relaxing into the pillows.
    She straightened her legs and rolled over to face
him.
    He could tell then that if she’d gotten up at any
point, it hadn’t been to brush her teeth.
    “Can’t you just try and understand how I’m hurting
for two seconds?” Her wet eyes looked back and forth between his and her voice
trembled. “I can’t go through this again. I can’t.”
    “I could wear a condom. We don’t have to try again
right away.” He put his hand over her fist full of crumpled tissues. “Not until
you’re ready.”
    Madeline swallowed and pursed her lips.
    “I just want to make love to my wife. I miss you. I
miss your soft skin, your warm body.”
    “I’m sorry, but all I can think