My Arranged Marriage to Sidney Crosby

Disclaimer: Only own my characters and the plot. Sidney Crosby and the rest of the Pittsburgh Penguins belong to Mario Lemieux.

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Chapter Twenty-Four, Part Two
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Sidney remained quiet but started to rub my arm.

I took another shaky breath, “Well anyways Eric had wanted to hang out with me, but Dan,” another shaky breath, “Daniel wouldn’t allow it and, and Eric got mad. They got into a huge fight. And I mean huge. Eric was so beaten up and Daniel was probably worse, much worse, because Eric had been working out a lot for hockey then. But anyways for about two or so months Eric was trying to convince me to leave Dan, but I couldn’t do it.”

“Was he still beating you up?” Sidney asked me in a low voice close to a whisper.

I could only nod my head in response, “But one night it got so bad and I couldn’t do it anymore. I didn’t know how many bones I had broken that I was ignoring- I didn’t even know if I had broken-”

“You mean any bones Daniel had broken.” Sidney angrily said and his grip on my tightened a bit more.

“Yes, but I knew I couldn’t do it anymore so I told him that I knew he had been cheating on me, and by then most people knew, and that I couldn’t keep pretending that our relationship was perfect. Or that he was perfect. I told him I thought it was time for us to go our separate ways,” I laughed nervously, “He didn’t like that. He was calling me names and tried to hit me, but Eric showed up suddenly and stopped him. Obviously it wasn’t that easy to get rid of him, but with Eric around and a restraining order it kept him away from me. Eric was really the only guy I trusted and at times I didn’t always trust him fully because I thought every single guy was like Daniel in some type of way.”

I looked up at Sidney who was looking straight ahead. I could tell he was mad.

“But Sid,” I said and reached my hand up to his cheek so he would look at me, “You’ve made me realize that not all guys are that way. And of course over the years I’ve grown better with hanging out with guys because of everything Eric has done for me to help me out. And when I had been dating Daniel, I realized our fights were so much different. When you and I would argue and fight you would never hit me and I knew you would never even think about hurting me. That was another reason why I ended it and I’m so glad that I did, because who knows where and what I would have been doing now.” I smiled up at him and Sid smiled down at me, but it didn’t reach his eyes.

“Why have you hidden this from everyone?”

“Because I didn’t want them to know how weak I was.”

“You aren’t weak Jess. In fact, you are one of the strongest girls I have ever met before in my life. But, I do have one question.” He told me.

“What would that be?” I bit my lip.

“Did he beat you after the incident with Eric?”

“I mean, it was worse than how he normally hit me.”

“Jess.” He sternly said.

“He beat the hell out of me until I was crying and pretty much covered in my blood.” I whispered.

“And you still stayed with him?”

“I couldn’t just up and leave him.”

“You could’ve done just that after the first time he hit you!”

“Sidney, the only thing that matters now is that I’m not with him anymore.”

“Thank god for that,” He quietly said and continued to look down at me, “Actually there’s one more question.”

I remained quiet, waiting for Sidney to ask me.

“Did you guys, you know… do it?”

“What?” but then it dawned on me and I looked away from him, “Yea. We did.”

“Did he force you?”

“No.”

“Oh.”

I looked at him and started to take my hand away from his cheek, but he held it in place. I looked into his eyes and saw him lean down towards me.

“I’m happy that you’re with me now instead of that jerk.” He told me before he kissed me.

Sidney and I entered his house, but once we were inside our lips reattached and he searched the wall, trying to find the light switch. I didn’t know why he wanted to turn the lights on, seeing as we wouldn’t be staying downstairs for much longer, so I grabbed his hand and tried to guide him towards the stairs. He picked me up and I wrapped my legs around his waist as he started up the stairs still kissing me when we heard someone clear their throat and turn the lights on. We stopped kissing and looked towards the place where we had heard the sound and saw Mr. Crosby standing there.

Sidney suddenly put me down, “Hey dad.”

Mr. Crosby rolled his eyes and turned his back, walking into the living room. Sidney and I followed him after giving each other a look. When we were in the living room I saw Mrs. Crosby had just woken up.

“Take a seat, both of you.” Mr. Crosby told us.

Sidney and I looked at each other before I walked over and sat in the chair and Sidney sat next to his mother.

“What is it?” I asked after awhile.

“We need to start planning this wedding.” Mrs. Crosby said.

“But we haven’t even been engaged very long.” I said.

“You two have technically been engaged for years!” she laughed, “But sweetie, we need to start deciding on the basics for the wedding. This is going to be a long process and it can start to be stressful. I just want to help you guys out so it doesn’t get too out of hand or anything.” She continued.

I remained silent. It was still shocking to me that I was going to get married, but to actually talk about wedding plans- I didn’t think I was ready for that yet.

“I need to get her a ring first.” Sidney said suddenly.

“You haven’t gotten her a ring yet?” Mr. Crosby asked him.

“No, I haven’t had the chance.”

“Sid, we can’t wait for a ring- we have to start planning now.” Mrs. Crosby told him.

“Well, can we start tomorrow? It’s getting late,” Sidney said, “We can start working on the wedding plans tomorrow.”

Mrs. Crosby sighed, “Alright, but we have to start tomorrow. Now go up to bed, the both of you.”

I slowly stood up and started to head up to bed, after saying goodnight to Sid’s parents. I was headed into my room to change into something to wear to bed when I felt someone- that someone being Sidney, pull me into them.

“You aren’t going anywhere this time.” He said and started to kiss my neck.

I reached my hand up behind to tangle my fingers into Sidney’s hair.