Betrayal

The second Neal called, I knew something was wrong. I could hear it in his voice. He told me to come over, that he needed me. I stole some poor old lady's taxi in my rush. I felt horrible for doing it, but at the moment, all that mattered was Neal. Immediately, I thought something happened to Kate. That was the only thing that could affect him in any way.

I ran up the steps leading to his apartment. I stood on my tippy toes to get the key from above the door frame, quickly unlocking the door and running in. I dropped the key to the floor, closing the door behind me. "Neal?" I called. "Neal, where are you?"

"In here." He answered. I turned into the living room, stopping. He was on the ground, shirtless, doing pull-up after pull-up. He was sweating like crazy. He seemed angry, broken. I didn't know what to say. I watched him, waiting for him to stop, to catch his breath.

"Neal, please, stop." I said after a full 10 minutes of his nonstop work out. "You're pushing yourself too far-"

"I don't care." He grunted, lifting himself up, falling back down. "It doesn't matter." I sat beside him, cross legged on the floor.

"What happened?" I asked. He picked up his pace, doing multiple pull-ups in a matter of seconds. I pushed his shoulders, stopping him from going down. He huffed, leaning on his elbows, glaring up at me. "What happened?" I repeated. He looked to the ceiling as he flopped on his back.

"Peter was right." He said, laughing coldly. "He was right all along."

"About what?" I bit my lip. What was he talking about?

"Kate." He hissed. "She's been against me since day one." His eyes slipped closed. "She sure had me fooled."

"Oh, Neal..." I whispered. "I-I'm sorry." I reached out, touching his strong shoulder. His eyes opened slowly, and drifted to look at me. I gasped as tears brimmed his eyes.

"How could she do this to me?" He said, voice cracking as a tear fell from his eye. He pushed himself up, sitting, and rubbed the tears away. "I'm so stupid."

"No, you're not." I shook my head. "She's just...just..." I looked for the right word. "A cold hearted bitch." I scowled. He looked at me, eyebrow raised.

"You never did like her." He frowned. "I should of listened to you, Michelle." I shrugged.

"You should have." I nodded. "I'm always right, after all." He chuckled before sighing, looking at the ground.

"I just can't believe it." He shook his head. "She betrayed me. I loved her." I ran my hand through his hair, smiling softly.

"She's not worth any of this." I touched his face. He looked at me. "Not worth your tears, your hate, your pain." He watched my every move as I crawled into his lap like I used to when we were young. I buried my face in his shoulder, taking in a deep breath. He wrapped his bare arms around me, pulling me flush against his bare chest. I bit my lip to prevent my smirk from showing. He'd been working out a lot lately and it showed.

We sat there, in each other arms, for a long while. At some point, Neal lied down, bringing me on top of him. He dozed off about 10 minutes ago. I ran my fingers down his chest, sighing lightly.

"That tickles." He mumbled. I looked up at him, grinning.

"You're still ticklish?"

"Very." He answered, closing his eyes. "Let me sleep."

"Get in bed. You shouldn't sleep on the floor." I sat up.

"No." He groaned. "I don't wanna get up." He tried pulling me back down. I stood, kicking him.

"Come on, Nealy. Get up. Up, up." I poked his stomach, grinning as his lips twitched. "I'll tickle you." I threatened.

"Fine." He sat up, stretching. "Can you carry me?"

"I don't think so." I rolled my eyes, pulling him up. He towered over me. I flashed him a smile, turning. He pulled me back, against his warm body. I froze.

"Michelle?" He murmured.

"Hm?"

"Thank you." He kissed my shoulder, making his way up, from my neck to the corner of my mouth. "For everything." He kissed me fully. I nearly melted against him, wrapping my arms around his neck. "I love you." He mumbled against my lips.

"I love you, too."