The Bad Boy Next Door

Pete got out of the bed, the sheet wrapped around his waist. He touched her arm. "Jo…"

"Get your hand off me."

Pete's arm dropped to his side. "I can explain. Just let me talk."

"Nothing you say right now is going to make this better."

"I realize that. I don't expect… I just need you to hear me out."

Jo crossed her arms over her chest. "Fine."

"I didn't mean for it to get like this. It's just, something was missing between us, Jo. You know it was. There's never been a real burning passion in our love life. I'm not saying it was bad, it's just, well, it wasn't everything it could be. You always held back with me. You never gave me everything you have."

"So this is my fault?" Jo asked bitterly.

"It isn't your fault. It's mine. I feel like hell for what I've put you through. But
these girls…"

"Whores, Pete."

Pete sighed. "They made me feel something, Jo."

Jo started a little at that. She didn't like it, but she could understand. After all, she'd gone to Frank for the same thing. But the way Pete had done it… "I can't. I can't hear this."

"You need to hear this."

"Fine. Fine! Tell me about your whores. Tell me what on earth they were giving you that I can't."

"Passion, Jo. They'd lose themselves in the moment, doing things I'd never dreamed of."

"For money, Pete. All they wanted was your money."

"For our whole marriage, Jo, I kept waiting for you to really give yourself to me. I know you had loved a man like that before. I remember how you'd talk about him, about Ashley…"

Jo took a step back. "Don't you dare bring Ashley into this."

"Why not? He shadowed every second of our marriage!"

"He did not! Dammit, Pete, I'll admit I loved Ashley once, but that was a long time ago."

"No. I could see the look in your eyes every time you talked about him. And the way you looked at him when he came back into town… You never looked at me that way. Not once."

"I've given you everything that I have. I've given you my heart, my body and soul!"

"You say that, but I don't feel it. I just don't feel it."

"Well, whose fault is that? Because I'm telling you this is it, this is me. This is the package. And if it's so deficient that you need to get your kicks elsewhere, then we really have a problem."

"Jo…our marriage means a lot to me. It does. I love you."

Jo looked into his eyes. He said he loved her, but there was nothing reflected there. Not the way there had been when Frank had said the same words. "I don't love you. Not anymore."

"Jo, please. We can work this out, make things better. We can…go to therapy."

"No. I don't want to work it out." Jo looked away, finally admitting what she'd known a long time. "This marriage has been dead for a while now, Pete. It's time we just bury it."

"Jo…"

"No." Jo took his hand, dropping something into the palm and giving it a squeeze. She walked away, and Pete looked down to see what it was.

Her rings.