Anyone who knows me in the slightest knows that I love my wife. I've stood by her no matter what she says and does.
Or have I? Do I just hate her more for taking me for granted? Sucking the little life out of me that exists? I mean, she did fuck Kyle Pallas...that guy's so annoying, he makes Greg Bowman and JD Smack look downright tolerable. Maybe I do hate her.
Maybe it's myself that I hate, and I'm taking it out on her.

Either way...I think I'm going to fall in love again...just not with Ashlee.

"She said I don't know if I've ever been good enough
I'm a little bit rusty, and I think my head is caving in
And I don't know if I've ever been really loved
By a hand that's touched me, well I feel like something's gonna give
And I'm a little bit angry, well

This ain't over, no not here, not while I still need you around
You don't owe me, we might change
Yeah we just might feel good."

~Matchbox Twenty- "Push"~

*Drip...drip...drip...that's the sound that wakes him up. After opening his eyes to watch the rain fall, he closes them again, attempting to return to his slumber from the night before. He rolls over, placing his arm over the other body in bed...and softly whispers.*

"I love you, Ashlee..."

*Suddenly the body stirs slightly and it is not the woman we've come to know as Ashlee, but Inferna who is lying next to him. She slowly wakes up and when she opens her eyes, she looks in silent shock at her surroundings. She looks down at what she is wearing. She grimaces when she realizes that she is wearing one of Jonathan's t-shirts.*

Jonathan Storm: "I'll get up and order some breakfast in a bit, Ash..."

Inferna: *with a bit of an attitude* "I'm sure Ashlee would enjoy it, but what about me?"

*He groggily begins to wake up, rubbing his eyes, and damn near falls out of bed, when he realizes who he's slept next to.*

Jonathan Storm: "YOU?! How the hell did you get into my room?!"

*Inferna rolls her eyes at him.*

Inferna: "I don't remember. But I don't think that I want to remember."

*He puts his head in his hands and sighs. Not the usual you expect from the man most refer to as "Pop Perfection". He gets up from the floor and throws on some black basketball shorts and his "I Kicked Lance Sterling's Ass" t-shirt.*

Jonathan Storm: "Well...what do we do? I can't tell Ashlee...and we can't tell Silky either..."

Inferna: *Sounding a bit hurt* "For me to tell Silky about us, I first have to find him. He left right after he got suspended and I don't know where he is."

Jonathan Storm: "Well...I can't talk to Ashlee...I feel like I don't even recognize her anymore...I don't even recognize myself."

*Inferna looks over at him with sympathy. Then she begins to rub her temples as if she has a headache. She closes her eyes for a second and when she opens them again, her eyes almost filled with tears. But she shakes her head and tries to gain control of herself.*

Inferna: *Sarcastically* "Aren't we lucky in love, then?"

*He looks up at her...the tears have already fallen. Never seen so forlorn, someone has captured the man his friends know as Jonathan Collins, at his lowest. He says nothing, but the expression says enough...until he does speak.*

Jonathan Storm: "I...I don't know..."

Inferna: "So what are we going to do about our, um, situation?"

Jonathan Storm: "I won't tell if you won't...but I know this..."

*He looks up at her and sort of grins.*

Jonathan Storm: "I kind of like having you around...maybe because you're the first person I've talked to in ages."

*Inferna manages a small smile in spite of herself. She looks at him and their eyes lock for a second before she looks away, shyly.*

Inferna: "It does feel kind of nice to have someone around that I can talk to."

*In a strange gesture...a far cry of his animosity towards her in a previous encounter, and as recent as earlier this morning, he walks to her and sits on the bed next to her, putting his arms around her waist.*

Jonathan Storm: "Then maybe we may just need each other more than we let on."

Inferna: "Maybe."

*She rests her head on his shoulder and closes her eyes. For the first time this morning, she looks almost happy. He looks down at her...softly, almost too softly, he begins to sing...*

Jonathan Storm: "Don't fall away, and lead me to myself, don't fall away..."

*A soft smile appears on her lips and she moves a little closer to him.*

Jonathan Storm: "Do you think we made a mistake? I mean...we hardly know anything about each other."

Inferna: "I don't know. It's all very sudden."

Jonathan Storm: "But...it's just that...I thought..."

*Inferna lifts her head from his shoulder and looks at him. Her expression is unreadable. Suddenly she smiles.*

Inferna: "I'm not sure I want it to end, though."

Jonathan Storm: "But doesn't he set you free? I mean, he's the reason you're here...just like I guess I wouldn't be here without Ashlee making phone calls and talking to Bisc..."

*Inferna lifts a finger and puts it to his lips to interrupt him. She smiles and leans in and kisses him softly. When the kiss ends, she looks deep into his eyes.*

Inferna: "Do you really want to talk about them, right now?"

Jonathan Storm: "No...I want to know if this the end of the road...or the beginning of something that's much more beautiful than anything I've ever known."

Inferna: "To tell you the truth, I don't know, but I'm willing to find out, if you are..."

Jonathan Storm: "I want to believe...but something inside me just won't let me. It's like...like I'm afraid...and I've never felt like this before."

Inferna: "I'm afraid, too. But I'm not going to let that stop me from finding out what we could become together."

*He looks at her...hoping for anything that could confirm his suspicions or ease his mind...and after staring at her, he kisses her again.*

Jonathan Storm: "Will you be there on Saturday? I'm facing David Zakin..."

Inferna: "I will be there. I promise you."

Jonathan Storm: "I just need....I just want to start feeling something again...I..I don't even know your name."

Inferna: *surprised* "My real name?"

*He nods.*

Jonathan Storm: "I want to know you...not some false persona the company has created."

Inferna: "It's Suzy. But it's been so long since I've been called that, it just seems weird."

Jonathan Storm: "Suzy? It's such a beautiful name. I understand though. People spend so much of their days calling me Storm, I often forget my real last name is Collins. That's me...Jonathan Daniel Collins...gone and forgotten by most everyone...even my family."

*She looks down to floor at the mention of the word, "family."*

Inferna: "Having a family is overrated, anyway. I never had one, and I turned out all right."

*Even though she chuckles, the pain is obvious in her last statement.*

Jonathan Storm: "But you didn't...you're broken just like me. I look at it all the time. From the moment I pick up my cell phone to listen to Darrin, or even when I look at Gavin or Drake, I've begun to recognize when people are in pain...and you seem to be knee deep in it."

*She goes to laugh it off, but she stops. Her expression changes to one of utter sadness.*

Inferna: "You're right. And I'm just so sick of pretending that I'm okay with everything."

Jonathan Storm: "I hate myself for hiding too...because I've had to live with the knowledge that my wife fucked my old best friend because I wasn't home...I'm sick of myself for pretending that I'm God's 'gift' to this profession. I sold my soul to become a superstar, and I'm nothing more than a processed face who can't even touch a title. I sold myself short, Suzy...and I only wound up making it worse."

Inferna: "I'm so sorry."

Jonathan Storm: "Don't be...this is the bed I made for myself."

*He gets up, and begins to pick up a cell phone from his blue jeans' pocket. In frustration, he tosses it against the wall. No rhyme or reason, he just does it, in the hopes the pain will go away. It doesn't.*

Jonathan Storm: "Does it ever stop?"

*She doesn't say a word. She just gets up and walks up to him and puts her arms around him. Finally, he gives up. In frustration, he cries...and he cries hard. Ashlee...his career...his music. Over a year of pain has built up to this...and he weeps.*

Jonathan Storm: "I don't want it anymore, Suzy...I don't want it..."

*She is at a loss for words, so she does the only thing that she can do, she holds him tighter.*

Jonathan Storm: "Don't leave me...I need you here with me."

Inferna: "I won't leave you. I'm here for you. You can trust me."

*He slowly turns around and looks at her, glimpses of red in his ice blue eyes...and holds her.*

Jonathan Storm: "That is something I'm going to have to learn all over again."

Inferna: "It'll be something we can learn together. Don't worry, I'm going to help you get through this."

Jonathan Storm: "I hope I can do the same."

Well...there you go...adultery, unfaithfulness, infidelity...call it whatever you want in your world...but I'm officially severed from Ashlee emotionally.
What about Inferna? Can I trust her? There's so much abuse in my heart and hers...it's a vicious circle that just keeps spinning.
But Zakin? That's a whole other matter. I look at him, and I see that hate returning. That hate that burned in me at Dark Horizon. That hate that, ultimately, led me to injure two men.
God, I loved that.
David, you think this matter is cut and dry? We've only just begun. You see, I'm a far cry from the man you faced only a month ago...I'm a far cry of the same man any of you know...except for Inferna...and maybe that's the key.

Welcome to my little world...in all its barren glory.