Chapter 25 Connection

Diane steps from her bathroom wraps her towel around her and sat on the bed beside her sleeping daughter. It was after two and her party had come to end an hour ago and the driver that Gabriel had hired took them all home and now she was feeling refresh, well at least her body was but her mind was troubled.

In a few hours, she would be Gabriel's wife. This handsome prince had fallen in love with her. Would she really be able to meet all his expectations? She wonders as she slides a box from under her bed and opens it. She begins to take out cards after cards with the name of places that he had taken her for lunch or just to hang out. Places like the Dragon Bowl, Hotel Four Seasons, and The CHILITOES. Gracious and that was only to name a few.

Not to mention the places he took her when he asks her to accompany him to business meetings where they usually end up having lunch. Like on extravagant Yachts and in luxurious hotels where they order food that cost as much as she used to make in a month. Needless to say, she always felt awkward but tried very hard not to show it. Would she always feel like that? She wonders.

But on the other hand, he wasn't always about business and lunches the man also knows how to have fun, like when he took her and her family to Mystic Mountain, Dolphin Cove, and many other fun places but the place she saw him act most like a teenage boy was Cool Running's, Water Park. So much so that by the end of the day he was so exhausted they all had to book into a hotel because he couldn't drive home.

She smiles when she remembered how he had shown up at her home more than once with red roses and FERRERO ROCHER chocolate collection and he always bought the one with forty-eight which was his favorites and it wasn't for any grand occasion; it was just to say, I love you or thinking of you. How was she to live up to all these grand gestures of love? Sometimes it was all so much not that she would tell him that.

Her sisters said that she shouldn't try to change him but surely she could bring him down just a notch so that he doesn't look as if he was going to a photo shoot every time he leaves the house. She looks up and her eyes caught the pictures on her wall and she remembers when she had caught him running his fingers over the one with her, her sisters, and mother. There was a deep sadness on his face, even though he hides it well, she knew it had something to do with his family that he had lost, he was still grieving for them and she wasn't sure how to help him deal with their deaths.

She got up, pulls the towel, and looks at her naked body in the mirror. She had a lot more curve than she did a few months ago and that was because she was currently working out with him four times a week. He often told her that he loves her body. She knew that heavy sexual petting was wrong as a Christian but on the other hand she was glad that they were familiar with each other's body because they will be having sex for the first time tomorrow night and if she was being honest, she couldn't wait because if touching him makes his body trembles like that beneath her fingers then he was sure to go crazy with pleasure when he penetrates her. She wasn't sure how or why this intensely passionate guy came into her life or how he came to be hers but one thing was for sure, she couldn't wait to be his wife.

It was almost four am when he and his friends drove through his gate and up his driveway. They were heading inside when Mike asks. "Hey Prince, you didn't answer our question. Why have you waited so long to bed this girl, other than the fact that she's a Christian?" Gabriel enters his living room and flops down on one of his sofas.

"Her being a Christian is a big part of why I haven't forced the issue of sex with her not to mention that I am also now a Christian but the fact that her will power is strong enough for her to say no to me and stick with it, amazes me." He said taking off his shirt, the one Diane had bought for him. The fact that it was a gift from her makes him love it more than any other piece of clothes in his closet and if he could he would wear it everywhere. He thought with a smile.

"No is not a word I have ever heard from a woman before and certainly not pertaining to sex and for her to go so far with me sexually and still refused to let me penetrate her shows me just how strong her self control is and it just makes me respect her even more." He said biting his lips. "So you fell in love with her and decided to wait for marriage because she said no to you?" Justin asks emerging from the kitchen with four bottles of water in his hands which he gave to each one of them and keeps one for himself.

"Oh man, well not really but that was a big part of it but from the moment I met her and her hand touch mine there was an instant connection unlike I have ever felt before with anyone else and at first I thought it was my imagination but then it only got stronger and stronger until I couldn't fight it anymore. I mean the girl only has to look at me with those beautiful brown eyes and I become hard with sexual need." He said running his fingers through his hair.

"And the fact that every time she says my name my heart skips a beat speaks volumes. Another part of it was the fact that I had been with so many women that I thought taking a break from sex wasn't such a bad idea, I look at it as a cleansing period in my life, kind of like fasting from sex which is going to make our wedding night even more special." He said then burst out laughing at the funny look on his friend's faces.

"Neva in my wildest dreams did I eva think dat there was a woman out there dat could a mek you fast from sex," Marlon said laughing. "Neither did I but I can tell you this, as experienced as I am in bed, that girl has definitely thought me a few things, speaking of which, you guys chill here for a while, I'm going to call my wife to be." He said getting up and heads up the stairs and taking out his phone dials her number, she answers on the second ring.

"Hi, baby did I wake you?" He asks softly. "Not really I'm too excited to sleep." She giggled. "Babe girl I need you to promise me that when we commit ourselves to each other tomorrow that it will be forever." "I promise you baby that when I commit myself to you it is going to be forever." She repeats. "And I mean that from the bottom of my heart. She adds.

"Thank you, babe girl, have a good night I will see you tomorrow, I love you." "I love you more but babe wait, how was your bachelor's party?" She asks. "It was great, thanks to the guys." "Was there strippers there?" She asks feeling a pang of jealously. "Yes, there was one there but she was there for the guys, not me, I made it clear that I wasn't interested. She called me a faggot by the way." He laughs.

'Did she touch you?" "No, well she tried but I declined, that would be disrespectful to my wife." He states firmly. "Well, I'm not your wife yet." She mumbles. "You became my wife the moment I touch you intimately for the first time at my home that night when it was raining, but tomorrow we make it official." He said in a soft seductive voice. "You mean that?" She asks referring to what he just said. "Every word." He whispers. "I love you, babe boy." "Love you more my beautiful wife, I'll see you at the altar tomorrow okay." "Okay." She whispers and ends the call.

One more thing on the agenda, he thought walking towards the closet which held the most painful memories of his past. Taking a deep breath he slowly opens the closet door and stood looking down at the suitcase that held photos of his family. 'I can do this, I need to do this.' He told himself but still didn't make any move to open the suitcase.

And then came the pain that he had come to know so well. It starts as a dull ache; it always does until it was so strong that he always feels as if his insides were tearing out but he had to push past it this time, he had to. Feeling a bit weak he bends his knees and stoops and slowly ran his fingers along the zippers.

"God please give me the strength to do this." He pleads as he slowly opens the case and reaching inside took out a photo of him, his parents, his brother, and Alex. He felt the pain in his chest getting stronger; cold sweat beads on his forehead, he felt nauseated and his body begins to tremble so much that he had to place the photo on the ground; he then sat next to it.

Tears form in his eyes and before he could stop them they ran down his face. "I know you all can't hear me but…..oh God….this hurts." He stops and took another deep breath before continuing. "I'm getting married…phew….in a few hours and…..and ….hmm…o….mom… you would really like Diane….she's strong-willed…just like you.

A sharp pain ran across his chest which caused him to lean forward and every emotion he was currently feeling intensified by at least fifty percent. "Hmm….phew…dad….I…I….often imagine the ad…..hmm….the advice you would have giv…..hmm…..given….me…..love…her…..respect her…and….most….of all be ….patient with…her." He said between sobs as pain course through his every fiber.

"Brother…you know without…a doubt that you…would have been my best man …..Right and Alex…..oh God Alex….you….why…how could you ....betray me like this? How…I have lost you all, why God…why did you take away everyone that meant so much to me, why?" He cried as tears stream down his face.

Mike poke his head into Gabriel's room to see what was taking his friend so long but then push the door wide open and rush over to him when he saw Gabriel on the floor sobbing and shaking and whimpering. "Prince! What the hell? Prince, what is wrong? What's going on?" he asks dropping to the floor beside his friend.

"Why Mike, why is God punishing me? Why?" He cried as Mike took out his phone and call Marlon who was still downstairs. "Both of you get up here now." He said, putting his phone down he gave Gabriel a brown paper bag to breathe into as he tried to calm his friend down, he was still trying when Marlon and Justin came barging into the room. It took them a moment to recover from the shock of what they were seeing before they both rush over to him.

"What's wrong? He was fine a few minutes ago, what happened?" Justin asks as Marlon's face mirrored the same questions. Mike didn't answer he just motioned towards the picture with his head as Gabriel keep breathing into the paper bag that Mike gave him, he was so deep in distress that he couldn't even make out the voices, they all just sound muffled to him.

"What do we do now?" Mike asks with concern. "Call his doctor or better yet call Diane." Justin states. "No my youth, we caa mek she see him like this before the wedding." Marlon comments. "Look at him, will there even be a wedding?" Mike asks. "Bouy right ya now, mi not even know but come mek wi get him up off the floor," Marlon said putting his arms under Gabriel's and assists him to the bed.

"Why didn't he kill me too? Why did he leave me here to suffer? Why? God make this pain stop….. please….. make it stop" He sobs in an exhausting tone. "He can't remain like this, we have to do something.' Mike said rubbing Gabriel's shaking shoulders. "Give him two of these, sleep will help," Justin said handing Mike a bottle of sleeping pills.

"Wait, what the hell Justin? What are you doing with these, you are not thinking of hurting yourself with these, are you?" Mike asks in alarm. "No, well at first yes, but not anymore but I can tell you this, even though our pain isn't the same, sleep always helps, it's a nice escape from reality," Justin said as Mike open the bottle took out two pills and after taking the bottle of water from Marlon he put them both to Gabriel's mouth and he swallowed them without even checking to see what they were and within a few minutes, he was fast asleep.