Swallowed (Devoured #2) (2 page)

Julianna slunk in her seat in the back row and watched
Kirk at the front of the room. He seemed distracted. At least that was the only
reasonable explanation for why he hadn’t noticed her right away, not that she
wanted him to.

She was disguised in an inconspicuous white button
down shirt and some thick rimmed non-prescription glasses she liked to wear for
fun. Her attempt to blend in was working a charm.

Though Kirk was as clean shaven and buttoned up as
ever, he seemed different than she remembered him. He looked more tired now. His
eyes looked dark and fried as if he’d been up all night watching infomercials.

Perhaps his weariness was a result of his
professorial position being more demanding than he’d anticipated. Or perhaps
married life just didn’t suit him.

She’d clocked the modest gold wedding band from a
mile away so she knew he went through with it. She pictured his wife at home in
an apron, ready to pop out a bunch of babies they made in the missionary
position. If she hadn’t already gotten started.

She was glad that he was married. It meant that
either his wife didn’t really care what he got up to or that more likely, he
had kept what happened between them a secret. She hoped it was the latter. She
liked secrets. It turned her on to think his feelings for her were hidden and
guarded inside him.

And of course, the other good thing about him
keeping her a secret was that he was capable of doing it, which meant that he
was capable of doing it again. It was just a matter of whether he was willing.
Of course, if he got away with it the first time, why wouldn’t he be? The
keeping of secrets was a slippery slope.

Julianna twisted her ankles around each other in
anticipation. The moment she was waiting for had finally arrived. It was time for
her to erase the stern frown that seemed cemented on his face.

Kirk turned and looked over the heads of his
students for what seemed like the first time the whole session.

“Alright,” he said. “One thing you’ll come to know
about me is that as long as the work gets done well, I’m not really worried
about how long it takes. So I’m going to let you out early today, but next week
the pressures on.”

Feet shifted and chairs scratched against the floor.

“But first…” He raised his voice. “I think we should
go around and just introduce ourselves quickly. I know you’re all graduate
students so I’m not going to force you to do a bunch of juvenile icebreakers
like some of your other psychology professors-”

The students laughed.

“But I do think we should be on a first name basis
since we’ll be working together a lot going forward. So how about just sharing your
name, where you’re from, and how you ended up in this class. Who’d like to
start?”

Julianna raised her hand.

“Yes. The woman at the back. Go ahead.”

She stood up slowly and smiled at him.

Kirk’s face went white.

She slid off her glasses and hung them in the
neckline of her shirt.

“Hi everyone.” She kept her elbow at her side and gave
a small wave. “I’m Julianna. I’m from Amery originally, and I actually went to
undergrad here. But now I’m on a semester exchange from Emhurst. And what
else?” She rolled her eyes up towards the ceiling and flipped her hair behind
her shoulders. “Oh right, and I’m in this class because I’ve had Professor Kirk
before.” She locked her eyes on him. “And I found him to be very good.”

Kirk swallowed. For a moment, he said nothing. It
was as if he had sudden amnesia.

The woman to the left of Julianna raised her hand.
“Should I go next?”

Kirk cleared his throat. “Yes. Please. Go ahead.”

Julianna had to admit that although Kirk hadn’t had
the happy reaction she’d hoped for, she did think he already looked a little
more awake.

She watched him as he pretended to listen to the
other students. He reminded her of a lost puppy that she just wanted to pet until
he rolled over and exposed himself. She imagined it wouldn’t take much time.

When the other students finished introducing
themselves, Kirk reminded them again about the section of their text book they
were supposed to read and dismissed them.

Julianna collected her things and made her way to
the front of the room. By the time she reached his desk, all the other students
had left.

She held her books in front of her with both hands, letting
her gold necklace dangle in her cleavage. “It’s nice to see you again.”

Kirk was leaning against the desk in front of her.
He looked at her like she was a ghost.

“Why are you here?” he asked.

“You know why,” she said, letting her head fall to
the side. “Because I want to be a professor.”

He placed his palms firmly on the desk like anchors.
“Why are you in my class?”

“Because I want to learn from the best.” She shifted
her weight. “Is that so wrong?”

“Julianna.” He fixed his eyes on her. “I’m married
now.”

“Congratulations.”

“Do you understand what that means?”

“Sure I understand, but I don’t see what it has to
do with me.”

“What I’m trying to say is that I only want you to
stay in this class if you can respect that.” He looked back and forth between
her almond eyes.

“Can you respect that I’m equally concerned with my
own reputation and priorities?”

He pursed his lips. “Yes.”

“Good,” she said.

“Good.”

“Now I have a question about the assignment,” she
said, noticing that he still smelled like spearmint.

“Sure.” He straightened up, as if he were inflated
by his own relief.

“I started to read some of the text already-“

“Great.”

She smiled. “And I was thinking about you while I
was reading-”

His eyebrows came together.

She leaned in close. “And now some of my pages are
sticking together.”

He swallowed and clenched his jaw.

“And I was just wondering…” She leaned in to whisper
in his ear so he would be able to feel the heat coming off her breath. “Do you
ever think of me like that?” She hovered there, letting the words sink in.

He was frozen in place.

She stepped back and looked down at the bulge in the
front of his pants and then back up to his eyes.

“Thanks, Kirk,” she said. “That’s all I wanted to
know.”

Kirk’s head was spinning. He had been spending so
much time and energy trying to fix his wife and heal his marriage that he
genuinely thought things couldn’t get any worse.

But they had.

His biggest mistake had come back to haunt him and
was going to continue to haunt him all semester. He feared for what she wanted
this time. And that was his fault. The precedent he’d set was that when it came
to him, she could have anything she wanted. He’d risked everything to give her
what she asked for.

And she looked better than ever. Her dress sense had
matured, but her face was still younger and deceptively more innocent than she actually
was. When she stood in front of him, he thought the buttons on her shirt were going
to pop off from the strain of trying to hold her heavy tits, the same ones he’d
squeezed in the car the day she seduced him, the same ones he’d imagined
fucking so many times.

No woman like that had ever given him the time of
day. She was like a Playboy bunny posing as a graduate student, revealing her
true intentions to him alone. Even her smell was intoxicating. Like warm
vanilla. And he was sure her skin would taste just as sweet.

He shook his head in shame. She made him feel
greedy. Horny. Insane. How could he be so selfish as to think of his “needs” at
a time like this? When Madeline was hurting like she was?

God was obviously testing him. Madeline was nearly
catatonic. If he got away with it before, he was sure he could get away with it
again. It would be too easy to give in to her.

His pent up sexual energy was like an animal
outgrowing its cage. He needed help. He needed to find some strength outside
himself to help him resist temptation.

He pushed the small curtain to the side, sat down in
the confession box, and wrung his hands together.

The priest cleared his throat.

Kirk took a deep breath in through his nose. His jaw
was clenched.

“Go ahead,” the priest said. “I’m listening.”

Kirk kept his eyes down on his hands. “Bless me
father for I have sinned. It’s been many years since my last confession.”

“May God the father of all mercies help you make a
good confession.”

“Father I am feeling tempted to commit adultery. There
is a woman from my past who has just come back into my life.” Kirk swallowed.
“To make matters worse, my wife is unwell at this time and the quality of our
marriage is suffering.”

The priest sighed. “Well, suffering is the third
ring of marriage.”

“I’m sorry?”

“It comes right after the engagement ring and the
wedding ring.”

“Oh.”

“It’s just a joke, my son.”

“Oh.”

“Sorry.”

“That’s okay.” Kirk scratched his head. “But father-”

“Yes?”

“I really don’t want to be unfaithful to my wife.
Please tell me what to do.”

“You have not acted on your temptation at this point?”

“No,” Kirk lied. “Not yet. I mean, that’s why I’m
here. I want God to give me strength to resist my urges so I can be a good
man.”

“Does your wife know about the other woman?”

“No.”

“Good.”

“Good?”

“Yes,” the priest said. “I think this matter is best
kept between you and God.”

“Okay.”

“Unless you really want to experience Hell on Earth.”

Kirk’s eyebrows came together. Was the priest making
another joke?

“Also,” Kirk continued, “my wife’s depression is
causing a strain in our marriage. She is not- um- expressing her love for me as
she used to, and I’m worried that I am starting to resent her.”

“I see.”

“What can I do?” Kirk asked. “Obviously, I love my
wife and I don’t want her to hurt anymore, but I’m not getting the attention
from her that I need.”

“Patience is a virtue, my son.”

“I know.”

“And you vowed to love your wife through sickness
and in health, did you not?”

“I did.”

“So it is clear what you must do.”

“It is?”

“Yes. Listen carefully,” the priest said. “It is
imperative that you don’t overcomplicate this situation.”

“Agreed.”

“You must channel the lustful energy you have for
this temptress constructively. Use it to give your wife the extra care that she
needs from you at this time.”

“Okay.”

“This strategy is sure to reap the greatest rewards
for both you and your marriage.”

“Okay.”

“Being true to her will give you the strength you
need to hold strong to what is right and good in her eyes and the eyes of God.”

“Okay.”

“And I suggest you use regular prayer to remind
yourself of the promises you’ve made to both your wife and to God.”

“Yes, father.”

“Do you have a favorite prayer, my son?”

“The Our Father,” Kirk said, assuming that by
“favorite” the priest meant “memorized.”

“Perfect,” the priest said. “Well, just pray to God
when you need extra guidance, and he will give you the help that you require.”

“Thank you, father.”

“May God give you pardon and peace, and I absolve
you from your sins, in the name of the Father, and of the Son, and of the Holy
Spirit.”

“Amen.”

“May God Bless you.”

Kirk ducked his head on the way out of the
confessional booth and ran his hand over his head. He knew he should hurry home
to begin his penance of taking care of Madeline with renewed commitment, but he
decided to sit for a few minutes and enjoy the lightness he felt from his first
confession in so many years.

He slid onto the smooth seat of a pew and leaned back
against the polished wood.

Jesus hung on the cross above the altar, trickles of
dried blood painted on his hands. Kirk wondered what Jesus would do if Julianna
were trying to seduce him. His first thought was that even Jesus wouldn’t be
able to resist committing sins of the flesh with her if she set her sights on
seducing him.

But he quickly dismissed that notion. After all,
Jesus had big priorities and superhuman goals. Surely his commitment to
spreading God’s message and delivering humanity from its sins took up all his
time. And Jesus had greater self-control and a more exacting moral compass than
Kirk. Plus, people threw themselves at Jesus all the time so it wouldn’t have
been nearly as special or out of the ordinary.

Then again, a lot of those people were lepers and
untouchables and social pariahs that would have made Julianna’s beauty stand
out even more. It seemed like, even for Jesus, it would take a miracle to
resist Julianna’s charms. Then again, performing miracles was one of the things
Jesus did best. He could have done it. He could have eluded her, and if
necessary, surely God would’ve given him some extra help if he needed it.

But then what hope was there for Kirk? He was just a
mortal man, the son of a mortal man. He didn’t have such impressive aspirations.
He’d never been anywhere near a miracle and his moral compass was decidedly
flawed. All he wanted was a secure career and a wife who loved him, with not
just words, but actions, too.

The priest had fed him some easy answers and had
given him some decent advice on the whole, but his confession hadn’t changed
the fact that Kirk was facing the most impossible situation he could think of,
a situation that had plagued man since the beginning of time. 

Kirk was naked in the Garden of Eden and he wasn’t
alone. In one hand he had a shiny, juicy apple that made his mouth water, and
in the other, he had a greedy snake that he couldn’t trust.