his getting a handjob, like she'd done to Bill, would be as bad. That was such a passive act. She couldn't imagine Ethan being with someone else. Still and all, she felt like she had to tell him the whole thing. It would always be something between them if she weren't completely honest now. Melanie was right about that.
"There is more," she said tentatively.
Ethan sighed. Did he really want to hear it? Did he want to hear his wife tell him she slept with another man? He didn't know if he could take it.
"Tell me all of it. It's better to just get everything out now, but I can't promise how I am going to react," he said.
"I know. I know I've been terrible.” Kyra couldn't stop the tears.
"Don't start kicking yourself now. Let's just see if we can deal with this.” He took her hand. He could never stand to see her cry, and as mad as he was his, first instinct was to comfort her.
So Kyra told him—about going up to the hotel room with Bill, and about jerking him off. "I couldn't sleep with him. I just couldn't do that, because I love you,” she said.
She told Ethan that she gave Bill the hand job out of some twisted guilt. She did not quite tell her husband all of it, though. She did not tell him that she touched herself while she played with Bill's cock. She was sure Ethan would think she was a total slut to act that way. She also did not tell him how turned on she was when she did it. There was no reason for him to know that. This was not the time to get into her secret desires. When she finished confessing, she buried her face in her hands to hide her tears and he pulled her into his arms. How can he be so tender? She wondered.
Ethan was relieved. She didn't fuck this other guy! She went to the precipice and could not do it. That told him there was still hope for their marriage. Kyra had not thrown their vows completely out the window. All she did was jerk the guy off, which was bad, but it did feed into Ethan's own guilt about what he had been doing. As she sobbed in his arms he knew he was going to have to make a confession of his own.
"Honey, it's okay. We can fix this. Please stop crying. I love you," he said as he stroked her hair and rocked her in his arms.
"It's not okay. What I did was not okay," she said, sniffling and wiping tears from her eyes. She could not believe how he was taking this. And she couldn’t help but notice that being in his arms felt so nice. Maybe there is hope for us, she thought. In that moment, she loved him more than ever.
Ethan held Kyra until she stopped crying, then handed her a tissue and got some water from the bathroom. He sat beside her on the bed again, but kept some distance. It was his turn to come clean. She was only just pulling herself together and he didn't want to be too close if she lost it again.
"Kyra, you shouldn't feel so bad about this. It was wrong, yeah, but it was not all you. There are things we have to work on in this marriage. And besides,” he paused. “You're not the only one who's been unfaithful."
The word unfaithful stung so much that it took a second for her to process what he had just said. She wasn't the only one! What had Ethan done? Oh God , she thought and held her stomach. She thought she was going to be sick. This was just all too much. It had to be that whore Judy who works in HR at Ethan's office, she was sure of it. The woman was practically falling out of her dress at the Christmas party last year and, Kyra was sure she was coming on to Ethan.
"It's not like what you just told me, but I haven't stuck to my vows either. I'm sorry."
"Who is she?” Kyra asked, voice dripping with venom. She'd gone from sorrow to anger in the blink of an eye.
"It’s not like that. Please let me explain.” Ethan thought she was going to throw something at him. Her arms were across her chest and her eyes were narrowed, like she was trying to hurt him just by looking at him. It made Ethan angry. After what she had just confessed, how could she