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Is It Worth It

Chapter 3

As the guy's started filtering out of the locker room, it was kind of comical to watch. They all seemed to pause and stare at me in shock, when they saw me. Than would shake their self's out of their state of shock. I would get the odd smile and wave after that. Avery thankfully stood by my side the whole time.

"There's my favorite girl in the whole wide world," Matt announced loudly, as he came out of the locker room.

Bypassing Avery, even though she was standing next to me and headed straight for me. Sweeping me off my feet, in a huge bear hug. He swung me around in a huge circle and planted a loud wet kiss on my cheek. I couldn't help but laugh out loudly at his antic's. Matt and Avery had been such good friends to James and I the past couple of years and had helped with the transition when they had both been traded. As soon as my feet hit solid ground again I couldn't help the smile that formed on my face, as I stepped back from him and wiped at my cheek.

"Hey you love my kisses," Matt pouted, at the same time that Avery said with the same pout, "I thought I was your favorite girl."

"Hey Matty and in your dreams," I laughed.

"We'll let you keep thinking that," Matt laughed, wrapping his arms around Avery and sending me a wink.

"Your an ass," Avery pouted, fighting the smile trying to pop up and smacking in the chest.

"Well don't tell Talon, but your my favoritest girl," Matt chuckled, causing the others in the room to chuckle also.

"Thats more like it," Avery replied, leaning against Matt.

"You two are so weird," I muttered, good naturedly.

"Thats why you lurve us," Matt and Avery replied at the same time, with matching cheeky grins.

"Does James know you were going to be here?" Matt asked suddenly, his glance shooting worriedly behind me.

I knew who he was looking at and wasn't even going to acknowledge her possibly being down there.

"No. His parents kind of just showed up on the door step before the game," I answered quietly, knowing his parents were nearby.

"Hey Talon," Sidney said, coming up to us.

"Hey Sid," I replied, returning the hug he was now giving me. "Your out of the locker room early."

"Yeah they weren't very interested in speaking with me tonight," Sid replied, with a slight chuckle.

"I bet your happy about that," I replied, stepping back from him.

"Yeah," Sid replied, with a smile.

Looking at him I could actually see the releif in his eyes that the reporters weren't hounding him for once. Peter and Deb came up next to us all than and started talking with both Matt and Sid.

"Oh shit," Matt suddenly muttered, his eyes darting over my shoulders.

"Go.... Go.... Go," Sid and Matt both said at the same time, all of us giving them confused looks.

One of them gripped my shoulders and turned me and gently pushed me forward. I noticed that James had now came out of the locker room. As I slowly started walking towards him out of the corner of my eye I could see the girl making her way towards him. Though James gaze landed on me first I could see the smile on his face, but the confusion in his eyes.

"Hey," I said, reaching James first.

"Hey," James replied.

"Nice goal tonight," I told him.

"Yeah it felt good," he replied, rubbing the back of his neck.

[i]'God could this be anymore awkward. When did talking to him become so weird?'[/i] I asked myself.

"So ummmm not that I'm not happy that your here or anything. But what are you doing here?" he asked.

"Your parents showed up at the house," I replied, looking up into his eyes.

"Shit....." he muttered, "Shit...... Shit..... Shit...."

"James baby that was such a good game and I'm so glad you scored," came a whiny pitched voice, pushing right past me and launching themself into James arms.

I stepped back as this girl plastered herself against James body and wrapped her arms around his neck. I was thankful though that James arms hung loosely at his sides. I dared to glance around the family room and saw that several of the other guys and the wives and girlfriends were shooting daggers, both at James and this girl.

[i]'God could this be anymore embarrassesing?'[/i] I wondered to myself. I didn't even dare look at his parents. I didn't want to see the looks on their faces.

"James Neal what is this?" I heard Deb ask, from right behind me. I could hear Deb trying to contain her anger.

"Uhhhhh hey mom...... Dad..... What are you guy's doing here?" James asked, slightly pushing the girl away from him.

"We came to see our son and [b]his wife[/b]. And to watch your game," Deb responded, emphasising the word 'his wife'.

I couldn't help but hang my head in shame. I really didn't want to find out this way. I wasn't really sure who on the team know. I knew for sure that the girls knew, and that Matt, Sid, and Kris knew. Since we had been friends with Matt, and Sid and Kris had become good friends, also the Dupuis'. But the rest of the team I wasn't sure if they realized what had been happening. I wasn't sure if the girls had shared with their men what was going on. I didn't want the guy's to hate James. James was a good guy. We had just hit a rough patch in our relationship. But right now all I could feel was the tension in the family room, it was starting to become suffocating as the room seemed to become smaller and smaller. Obviously this girl didn't feel the storm brewing in the room as she turned around from James and smiled at what I assumed was his parents.

"You must be James' parents. I'm so sorry I didn't realize it earlier. I'm Ashleigh," this girl Ashleigh, said with a large smile and held out her hand.

I dared to glance at Deb and Peter and saw them both with frowns on their usually smiling faces. I saw them both look Ashleigh over and stop at her slightly protruding stomache. I could also see disappointment in Peter's eyes. Peter's gaze landed on me and I looked back down at the ground. Both of the Neal's ignored Ashleigh's outstretched hand.

"James I think we all need to have a talk," Peter said sternly.

"Mr and Mrs's. Neal I think thats a great idea. But I don't think this is the time or place," Sid interupted, putting an arm around my shoulder's.

I looked up at him and sent a silent 'Thank you' look. He gave me a sympathetic smile and nodded.

"Your right Sid. We should discuss this privately," Peter replied.

"Oh James can I come to. I would love to get this chance to get to know your parents and let them get to know me," Ashleigh responded happily.

[i]'Jesus is she just retarded or just plain stupid? Does she not realize his wife is standing right here?'[/i] I asked myself. I could see steam coming from Avery and Carole-Lyne Dupuis' ears.

"No you can't come with them..... You..... You..... I can't even use the word I want for you with the little ears in here. He needs to go home and talk with his parents and [b]wife[/b] and have this discussion. Or did you not understand that he was married when slept with him?" Avery spat angrily.

"What?" Ashleigh asked, looking dumbfounded.

"Come on hunny lets go. Before I smack a pregnant bitch," Avery spat again, wrapping her arm around my shoulders.

Avery couldn't lead me from that room fast enough. I could still hear Deb yelling at James as we walked down the hallway towards the parking lot. As soon as we hit the outside I took a deep breath of the cool night air.

"Are you going to be ok?" Avery asked worriedly.

"Well its out in the open now. Not much I can do about it now, is there?" I asked sadly.

"I'm sorry hun," Avery said, with tear's in her own eyes.

"Don't be sad for me Av," I replied.

"I'm not sad for you Talon. And don't you dare tell me I feel sorry for you, because I don't. I'm pissed off for you. Just like you should be. I hate that James has done this to you, to your marriage. Because I know how much you both love each other. I've known it for a long time, I saw the love you had for each other in Dallas. I'm pissed at James Neal and so are a lot of other people on this team. We've all been holding it together for your sake. But James needs to realize how many of the guy's want to beat his ass for doing this to you," Avery stated firmly.

I leaned back on the wall that we were standing by and stared at my friend, after her little rant. I knew how passionate Avery could be about things. But I didn't realize until that moment how passionate her and other's felt about what was happening until that moment. I knew all the girls and the guy's were just extended family to everybody, but I realized right than how much everybody cared.

"Feel better now?" I asked, with a small smile.

"No," she huffed, crossing her arms across her chest.

"She's been wanting to get that off her chest for awhile," Matt chuckled, coming over to us and wrapping an arm around her shoulders.

"I can tell," I responded.

"Oh shut it both of you," Avery huffed.

"I think what she's trying to tell you Talon, is that we all care about you and if you need a place to stay for awhile than your more than welcome to come stay with us," Matt told me.

"Your more than welcome to come stay with any of us," Sid said, walking up to our group with the Dupuis'.

"Thanks guys. I appreciate it," I responded.

"I just don't know if I can deal with the wrath of Pete and Deb," I sighed, running my hands over my face. Looking over at the door I could see James and his parents walking outside.

"I don't think their mad at you Talon. I think their mad at James," Sid replied.

"Well they shouldn't be mad at just James. They should be mad at me too. Maybe I pushed him into cheating on me," I said sadly.

"Don't..... Don't you dare blame yourself Tal," Avery said sternly, gripping my shoulders and making me look at her.

"Are you ready to go?" James asked, walking over to our group. Only looking at me and nobody else in the group.

"Yeah," I answered.

"Well lets go than," he sighed.

"Night guy's," I told, everybody standing there.

"Night Talon," they all responded.

"Talon don't forget you can call me at any time," Avery said, as Matt lead her away.

James and I headed towards where his parents were standing. Deb had her arms crossed and a pissed off look on her face.

"Alright I guess we'll meet you at our house?" James said, but it came out more of a question.

"Talon hunny you can ride with us if you want," Peter said gently.

"She'll ride with me," James replied.

"Don't answer for your wife James," Deb snapped.

"Its fine. I'll ride with James," I answered, looking at the ground.

"Are you sure hunny?" Peter asked me.

"Yeah," I answered, with a nod.

"Alright we'll see you at the house," Peter said, as he lead his wife to their rental.

James and I both got in his truck. I leaned my forehead against the cool glass of the window and shut my eyes, as James started the truck and drove off. The ride was silent, except for the sound of the radio playing some song quietly. James tried to hold my hand at some point during the drive, but I pulled it away. I heard him sigh when I pulled it away. The ride home tonight seemed to take forever. When we finally reached the house I opened my eyes and went to get out, only for James to grab hold of my hand this time.

"Tal," James said quietly.

"Not now James," I said just as quietly, not looking at him and hopping out of the truck.

I heard several vehicle doors shut behind me as I walked up to the front door and unlocked it. Walking inside I heard our dog running towards me.

"Hey boy," I said, patting the top of his head. "Want to go outside?"

I got a wild tail wag in response and turn to go back outside. Only to run into a solid chest.

"Where are you going?" James asked.

"I'm taking Charlie out," I replied, stepping around James.

"Where are you going hunny?" Deb asked.

"I'm just going to take Charlie outside real fast," I told her.

"Ok," Deb answered, with a nod.

I stood outside for a good ten minutes with Charlie. As soon as we went back inside and I shut the door behind me. I could hear Deb's voice yelling at James from the living room.

"WHAT WERE YOU THINKING JAMES? CHEATING ON THAT SWEET SWEET GIRL. I CAN'T BELIEVE YOU WOULD DO THAT TO HER. YOUR FATHER AND I RAISED YOU BETTER THAN THAT," Deb yelled at James.

"Mom," James sighed.

"NO DON'T YOU MOM ME," Deb snapped.

"I don't know what you want me to say," James responded.

Walking into the living room James was sitting on the recliner with his head tipped back and pinching the bridge of his nose. His parents were sitting on the opposite couch, while Deb glared over at James. I leaned against the door frame of the living room.

"Maybe we should all get some sleep and discuss this calmly tomorrow morning," I said.

"No we're going to discuss this now," Deb responded, sending me a look.

"Talon's right hunny. We should discuss this more calmly tomorrow," Peter agreed with me.

"Fine, but don't think your getting out of this discussion James," Deb replied.

"Fine," James answered, hopping up from his seat and walking over to me. "Night mom and dad."

"Night," I said, as James steared me from the room with his hand on my lower back.

We walked upstairs silently and when we both entered the room James closed the door behind us and turned on the light. Keeping my back to James I walked over to my dresser and started pulling out my night clothes.

"Did you know she was here?" I asked quietly.

"What?" he asked.

"Did you know she was in Pittsburgh?" I asked, turning towards him.

"I don't know what you want me to say Talon," James sighed.

"Fine," I replied, turning to walk into the bathroom and shutting the door and locking it soundly behind me.

I could hear James curse some words as soon as the door shut and the sound of something being slammed down. I quickly went among my business and got ready for bed. After getting ready I left the bathroom. I didn't even look to see what James was doing, but heard the bathroom door being shut again. I walked over to the bed and pulled down the sheets and grabbed a pillow and the blanket from the foot of the bed. Hearing the bathroom door opening again I turned and looked at James.

"What are you doing?" he asked.

"Here you go," I responded, handing him the blanket and pillow.

"What is this?" he asked, looking highly confused.

"You don't really think we're sleeping in the same bed do you James?" I asked, raising an eyebrow.

"Well where else am I supposed to sleep?" he asked.

"How about the floor," I answered, crossing my arms.

"I'm not sleeping on the fucking floor Talon," he replied.

"Well I'm not sleeping in the same bed James," I answered.

"Jesus fucking chirst. I'm really trying here Tal. I don't know what you want from me. You've already kicked me out of my room and make me sleep in the den. What else do you want me to do," he snapped.

"What else do I want from you? You really have to ask that James? You should really be glad I'm even letting you sleep in here tonight. I'm trying to make things seem as normal as possible for your parents sake, James. You should just be glad I haven't kicked you out of the house yet," I snapped, tear's filling my eyes.

"Fine," he snapped, throwing the pillow and blanket on the ground.

"Fine," I replied, climbing in the bed. "Make sure you turn the light off."

I turned my back towards him and heard him stomping across the room. Then the room became pitch dark when he turned the lights off. I could feel the tears rolling down my cheeks and tried to keep my sobs quiet. I laid awake that night for thirty minutes listening to James tossing and turning around on the floor. I almost broke down at one point and let him join me on the bed. I didn't want him to mess up his back on the hard floor. But didn't say anything, I had to stay strong for myself. I couldn't let him think he could get away with hurting me.

Comments

Update !!!!!!!

dreamit dreamit
12/23/13
you should update more! This is so good!!! :)
tazndkane tazndkane
6/12/13
@Sidster87~ Oh my..... I just saw your comment on here.... I actually forgot I had put this one on here too.... I should probably put up the other chapters!!!! hahahah

But thanks, I'm glad you like it!!!!
What a great story, can't wait for more.
Sidster87 Sidster87
4/18/13