Read Swallowed (Devoured #2) for Free Online

you.”
    Silence.
    “I was teaching a class today when she called.”
    Madeline ripped off another hunk of bread.
    “Are you listening to me?”
    “Yeah.”
    “Will you call her?”
    Madeline shrugged. “Maybe tomorrow. If I’m up for
it.”
    “She’s worried about you.” Kirk leaned his forearms
on the bed next to where her knees were under the covers. “Everybody’s worried
about you.”
    Madeline barely managed a shrug.
    “Look.” Kirk swallowed. “You have to pick yourself
up. You have to start living again. You’re wasting your youth.”
    Madeline looked at him with a blank face.
    “You have to stop acting like you’re the only woman
on the planet who’s ever had a miscarriage.”
    “You don’t get to tell me what to do.”
    “That’s where you’re wrong.”
    “Excuse me?”
    “When you had a grip on your life, I had no right to
tell you what to do,” he said, “but you’ve completely lost touch. You don’t
even take care of yourself anymore.”
    Madeline leaned back against her pillow and crossed
her arms like she was considering a hunger strike. “You don’t know anything.”
    “I know you feel like you’ve lost a child, but I
feel like I’ve gained one!” Kirk stood up and began pacing the room.
    “Sit down. You’re making me nervous.”
    “ I’m making you nervous!” Kirk said.
“Can you even hear yourself?”
    “Please sit down.”
    “Nervous is wondering if your wife is depressed
every day. Nervous is wondering if she’s going to hurt herself or walk into
traffic because she’s catatonic.”
    Madeline whimpered again. “Please, Kirk.”
    Kirk kept waving his hands in the air. “Nervous is
worrying about whether your wife is feeding herself properly during the day,
wondering when the last time was that she took a shower!”
    “You’re scaring me.”
    “Good! I hope you’re scared! I hope your heart is
fucking pounding.”
    “Watch your mouth!” Madeline’s eyes were wide as she
pushed herself back against the headboard.
    “Really?! Is my swearing upsetting you?” Kirk asked
from the end of the bed. “How much swearing do you think it would take for you
to get as upset with me as I am with you? Days of nothing but four letter words
on end?! Maybe weeks?!”
    Madeline banged her fists down at her side. “Please
stop yelling!”
    “I don’t think I can.” He raised his hands in the
air. “I’m too excited to see you express some emotion for a change. As far as
I’m concerned, anger’s a big fucking improvement. At least I know you can still
feel something!”
    Madeline’s frowning lower lip quivered. “I can’t do
this.”
    Kirk stood still for a moment and the volume of his
voice dropped down again. “Well that makes two of us.” He sat down at the end
of his side of the bed. “I’m so glad we finally agree on something.”
    Her face was still shocked.
    “Cause this isn’t a marriage, Madeline. This isn’t
what I signed up for.” He pulled at the hair on the back of his head. “I
babysit kids all day at work. The last thing I want to do when I get home is
babysit some more.”
    “What do you expect me to do?”
    Her face was full of pain and it tore his heart.
    “I want you to go talk to someone,” he said. “A
professional.”
    She stared at him.
    “I’ll even go with you if you want, but you have to
do something or we aren’t going to get through this.” He put his hand on the
covers over her foot.
    She scooted it away.
    Kirk’s shoulders collapsed. “I need you to listen to
me carefully, Madeline.”
    She crossed her arms.
    “This is your husband speaking.” Kirk paused to choose
his words. “You are going to talk to a professional about what you’re going
through, and you are going to stop dragging everyone into your despairing sink
hole. You’re going to start holding yourself accountable for your own mental
health.”
    She pushed some blond hair out of her face.
    “Do you understand what I’m saying?”
    “Is that some