No Sex For The Wife, Everything For The Sister-in-law

Two years after giving birth to our daughter, my husband, the chief cardiothoracic surgeon, still had not touched me once.

Tonight, I wanted to change that.

I turned on red lights in our master bedroom and put on a tiny red bikini I had bought in secret.

Soft music played in the background, and my heart raced as the door handle finally turned.

Kaelen walked in, loosening his tie. His eyes swept over me without a flicker of desire.

"Aren't you a little too old to be wearing a bikini?"

The words cut right through me.

Before I could answer, he let out a dry scoff.

"Sorry, I meant overweight. Please put some clothes on and go look after your child."

Blood rushed to my face, hot with humiliation.

I pulled my silk robe tight around myself and stepped forward, my voice shaking.

"Kaelen, it has been two whole years. You haven't touched me since the day Rosie was concieved."

Kaelen paused, peeling off his watch and tossing it onto the dresser.

"Has it really been that long? I didn't even notice."

He gave an exhausted sigh, looking at me like I was a chore he didn't want to complete.

"Fine. If you're that desperate, remind me on our next anniversary."

"But that's eight months away,” I echoed, tears stinging my eyes.

Kaelen frowned, his tone turning sharp.

"How about you start hitting the gym instead of thinking about sex all the time? You look ridiculous."

Just then, his phone buzzed on the nightstand.

The screen flashed with Moriah's name.

Kaelen answered it in less than a second, his voice instantly filling with a tender warmth he hadn't used with me in years.

"Moriah? What's wrong?"

My sister-in-law's breathless voice came through the speaker,

"Brother-in-law, my drive is acting up again. I need you right now. How fast can you get here? Or do I go help myself at a club?"

Kaelen's pupils dilated, and he grabbed his car keys without hesitation. Panic surged through me. I lunged forward and grabbed his sleeve.

"Kaelen, no! You're my husband! You can't run off to your brother's wife every time she snaps her fingers!"

However, Kaelen shoved me hard.

My hip slammed against the wooden bed frame, and I crashed onto the carpet.

He stood over me, his face twisted in venomous fury.

"Seraphina West, if you hadn't poisoned Jude and left him a vegetable, I wouldn't have to fulfill Moriah's needs every time she calls! My brother trusted me to look after her, and I will not let her suffer because of your crime!"

He slammed the door behind him and vanished into the night.

The house fell dead silent, save for the hum of the air conditioner. Midnight came and went, and I was unable to sleep. Then one in the morning. Then two, three, four.

I sat on the edge of the bed, clutching my phone, sending text after text.

"Where are you?"

"Please come home."

"Kaelen, answer me."

Not a single message was read.

By five in the morning, my fingers were numb. I dialed his number again, expecting it to go straight to voicemail like before.

This time, the call connected.

"Kaelen?" I gasped, holding the phone against my ear.

Nobody answered me, but the line stayed open. A ragged gasp echoed through the receiver, followed by Moriah's playful, breathless giggle.

"Kaelen, slower... you're driving so deep you're going to tear me apart again..."

Kaelen's rough, heavy panting filled my ear.

"You love it when I take you hard. You took it all night last time, didn't you?"

"The nurses in the next room can hear us," Moriah whined with a wet laugh. "They'll know the chief surgeon is wearing out his brother's wife in an empty VIP ward."

"Let them hear," Kaelen groaned, the sound of skin slapping against skin loud and undeniable. "You're my brother's woman. Taking care of your body is my sacred duty."

The phone clicked off.

A cold shudder tore through my chest, freezing the air in my lungs. Nausea clawed at my throat so violently that I had to drop to my knees beside the bed, dry-heaving onto the floor.

Two years of celibacy. Two years of begging to be touched. And he was spending tonight running through condoms with his paralyzed brother's wife inside my father's hospital.

A piercing shriek suddenly ripped through the hallway.

It was Rosie.

I scrambled to my feet, wiping the tears from my cheeks, and ran straight into the nursery.

The moment I stepped inside, the heat hit me. Rosie was thrashing in her bed, her tiny chest heaving with choking breaths.

I lifted her into my arms, and her skin burned against mine.

Her lips had turned a terrifying shade of blue, and her little eyes rolled back into her head as her limbs began to jerk and convulse.

"Rosie! Baby, look at Mommy!" I cried, terror replacing every ounce of heartbreak.

I grabbed a blanket, wrapped her shivering body tight, and bolted out the front door into the early morning.

The emergency wing of St. Anthony Memorial was chaotic, but the triage nurses took one look at Rosie's seizing body and rushed her straight into pediatric intensive care.

They hooked her up to IV fluids and oxygen, barking orders to bring the fever down before brain damage set in.

I stood by the glass partition, trembling from head to toe, watching the monitors beep.

Once the head resident assured me Rosie's vitals were stabilizing, my legs carried me down the hall toward the surgical wing on pure instinct.

Kaelen's private office sat at the end of the east corridor.

I reached the frosted glass door, my hand raised to push it open, when voices inside stopped me dead.

"You should have seen her face, Dennis," Kaelen's voice drifted through the gap, thick with pride and amusement. "Moriah was glowing after the second round. She's a breath of fresh air. A real woman who knows how to treat a man."

Low and approving chuckles erupted from the men inside.

"Well, you deserve it, man," a voice replied. "Especially with what you have waiting at home."

Kaelen let out a mocking snort.

"Don't even remind me. You won't believe what she pulled last night. I walk into the bedroom, and there she is, wearing a red bikini."

Moriah's shrill giggle rang out. "No way! Seraphina actually did that? At her age?"

"I almost developed erectile dysfunction right there on the spot. Cellulite everywhere, skin sagging, and she expected me to jump her bones. I told her to put some clothes on and get to the gym."

"Man, she really has zero shame," another doctor chimed in with a greasy laugh.

I knew that voice.

It was Dr. Dennis Briggs, the senior OB-GYN who had delivered Rosie two years ago.

"How could she possibly think she's all that?" Dennis continued, his voice full of cruel mockery. "Kaelen, you're a saint for staying married to her. I delivered that kid of hers and mannnn, after that tear, we had to sew her up like an old butcher's roast."

Laughter bounced off the walls of the office.

"She's completely loose down there," Dennis added casually, sipping on something. "Trust me, brother. Thank God you have Moriah to keep you sane.

If you ever looked at Seraphina down there, you wouldn't be able to eat for the rest of your life…”