【 𝑠𝑖𝑛𝑔, 𝑙𝑖𝑡𝑡𝑙𝑒 𝑏𝑖𝑟𝑑 ✧ rave & rev. 】ⁿˢᶠʷ

[Rave]

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J A M E S K    I    N    G  ​ He pulled Melissa's chair out for her like a good husband. Sat down. Folded his hands. But his eyes—his eyes kept darting, unwilling, back to Christina. Her lips. Her throat. The exact spot where he'd left marks she probably covered with makeup. She was quiet for a beat, and then came the chirp of her voice. He tried to swallow the tension rising in his throat. "We've been… keeping busy," James said, but his voice was hoarse, and Melissa quickly jumped in to smooth it over. "We've both been working so much, honestly. James is out of the house most nights! And the weather's been awful, right? So it's nice to get out of the house, see everyone. This smells amazing, by the way." She beamed at Christina and her mother, oblivious, well intentioned. James stared down at his hands. He knew what was coming. He could feel it brewing across the table. Christina's smile was far too sweet now—something syrupy with poison underneath. And then she turned. Asking him how lucky he was to have such a wife. He blinked. It took him a moment to register the words because her tone wasn't right. It was mock praise, dipped in acid. And the way she looked at him afterward—like she was daring him to say the wrong thing, or maybe say nothing at all—that nearly undid him in anger, frustration, yearning for that bitch of a niece sitting opposite him. James cleared his throat. "Yeah," he said quickly, eyes flicking to Melissa. "She's the best thing that ever happened to me." Venom for venom. His hand sliding over visibly, unsubtly, to slide along Melissa's thigh and clasp at the inner. But Christina wasn't finished. The pregnancy comment...It hit like a gunshot under the table. James flinched internally, but his face stayed blank. Barely. He felt Melissa's hand tense in his, subtle but sharp, like a reflex she hadn't had time to smother. Her laugh came too quickly. "God, no," Melissa said, with a tight smile. "Still just the two of us." James looked down, jaw clenched so hard it hurt. He felt Christina watching him, saw her smirk curled behind the fake innocence. She knew. Of course she did. The question had been a scalpel, and she was the kind of girl who knew where to cut. She knew about the years of false starts. About the failed tests. About the quiet nights where Melissa cried in the bathroom and didn't think he could hear her. She knew James had always wanted a child—had imagined it. Needed it, in ways he hadn't even understood until he realized it might never happen. All that fatherly energy had transferred to Christina herself as they raised her. He was the daddy where her own was absent, because he had always wanted a child. It was a secret that wasn't a good one. Most everyone knew. He knew she knew. And now? Now, that longing had twisted into something darker. Because the image in his head wasn't of Melissa anymore. It was Christina. Bare and breathless, clutching him, ruined and radiant. And for one horrible, treacherous moment, James wondered what it would be like to fill her again—not just with heat and guilt, but with something permanent. Something that couldn't be undone. "We're happy just the way we are, aren't we baby?" He kept a side eye on Christina as he leaned over to the side, pressing his lips to the corner of Melissa's lips for a kiss to unwind the tension Christina had caused in her, and in him. Cruelly, he'd rip his gaze from Christina completely as he did so, visibly running his hand up and along Melissa's thigh in 'comforting' rubs, perhaps almost inappropriately so, since they drew a quiet blush from the older woman's cheeks. "Mm...yes. Exactly." Melissa almost drifted off in bliss at the moment. It was the most affection James had given her in months. Only then, did he part, facing forward again, legs parting slightly under the table and reached forward enough to press the curve of his foot into Christina's own, almost in silent threat. "What about you darling?" He stared Christina down again, brow slowly rising. "How's your love life going. Bringing anyone special over for Christmas this year?" ​

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