Chapter 25 - Gone Forever(1)

A ticklish feeling on the side of her neck is what woke Valerie up, smiling she reached cautiously for Gabriel opening her eyes to see him smiling down at her, his hand gently wrapped around her wrist. He moved it up and kissed her pulse, then released her and leaned in, pressing a soft kiss to the corner of her mouth.

"Morning." She whispered, feeling sluggish.

He chuckled, cupping her face in his big hands, "Go back to sleep."

She smiled, "I would have been sleeping peacefully if someone didn't decide to tease me." She arched her back, a chuckle leaving her lips, "Need some help with that?" She asked, feeling his arousal.

His hands wandered over her legs, gripping her thighs and spreading them. Her eyes gleamed mischievously when she felt him settle between her thighs, his arousal pressing against her.

"I'll do all the work." He told her.

"Then I can go back to sleep?" She asked jokingly.

He leaned in, nuzzling her neck while his soft laughter reached her ears. It was a peaceful morning with light teasing and slow sex. She enjoyed it more than their rushed and rather rough night where they didn't take much time to explore each other's bodies. Though it was also something she quite enjoyed. But this morning it felt like she was closer to him. His warmth washing over her while his hands moved gently over her body. She felt loved, neither one of them used their words, but it wasn't needed when they used their bodies. Afterwards she did fell asleep again, gentle words of Gabriel telling her to rest reaching her before she drifted away.

Valerie rolled to her side, the sound of her phone ringing constantly waking her from her slumber. She felt like a mess, she was sure she looked like it too. Despite that a grin still spread across her face. Opening her eyes she leaned over the edge of the bed, in search of her clutch. She groaned realizing she had to get out of bed in order to answer her phone. Her eyes shot to the empty spot beside her. Gabriel was already up, she could hear water running in the distance, so she assumed the man was taking a shower. Reaching for her dress she slipped it over her head clumsily. Rolling out of bed she walked across the room and grabbed her clutch, reaching inside to grab her damn phone. She was surprised to see Rachel's ID, it was rather early for her sister to call. She figured the woman was still sleeping after their exciting night out. Without stalling a second longer Valerie answered, heading back to bed and slipping under the messy sheets.

"Rachel?"

"Took you almost an hour to answer the phone." Rachel muttered, sounding rather displeased with her.

"Give me a break, I was sleeping."

"Gabriel must have kept you up all night then."

Valerie's cheeks heated, her eyes unintentionally flickering to the closed bathroom door, "Shut up." She lowered her gaze again, gliding her fingers over the soft fabric of the gray colored sheets, "What's wrong?"

"Ethan went home with me last night."

Valerie frowned, "That's a good thing, right? That's what we want."

Rachel let out a hollow laugh, it made chills run down her spine. She didn't dare to speak up, letting Rachel continue whatever she wanted to say. Jumping to conclusions couldn't be a good thing. Valerie pulled the sheets higher, unconsciously needing the comfort of the warmth the sheets provided.

"We had a great time last night, then he got up early this morning to make us breakfast." She could hear it in her sister's voice, Rachel was impressed by Ethan and his kindness, "We ate breakfast together on your couch. We talked and joked around when he got a call." Rachel inhaled deeply and when she spoke again Valerie heard her sister's voice crack, "I think it was his ex. He sounded very annoyed at first, then he cut her off and apologized to me for leaving early. He left without looking back, looking agitated."

"That's unlike him." Valerie whispered, "It must be her."

"Who?"

Valerie trailed her eyes to the bathroom door, swallowing when she took in the sight of her boyfriend's half naked body.

"Oh, just talking to my sister." She then focused on her phone, "I'll come home soon, we'll talk then, okay?"

"Sure."

Valerie ended the call and stuffed it back in her clutch, placing it upon Gabriel's bedside table.

"That sounded serious." Gabriel moved to his walk-in closet, "Everything okay?"

Valerie knew Gabriel would catch her on a lie since he caught part of her conversation with Rachel. There was no point in hiding what happened last night, she was sure Ethan would inform him about his nightly activities sooner or later.

"Ethan went home with Rachel last night."

It was silent for a while before he spoke again, sounding distant and rather cold, "Did he now?" She watched as he appeared again, pants half done and no shirt on. Gabriel never played fair, "So what about last night upset your sister? It can't be that Ethan wasn't to her liking, they had been all over each other since the day they met."

He noticed, he never let it show so she figured they all hid it pretty well. It scared her how observant Gabriel actually was.

Valerie tightened her grip on the sheets, hating how small her voice sounded as she answered Gabriel, "Rachel was just flustered by Ethan leaving after getting a disturbed phone call. I assume it might be Tiffany."

She watched the movements of Gabriel dressing himself still, the clench of his jaw letting her know he didn't like the sound of that. Since Gabriel dared to hide things from her and act so cold toward her after they shared a passionate night together, she let go of all the warmth she had felt that morning and also slipped on her impassive mask.

"You think that I don't notice these things, but whenever Tiffany is involved you behave differently." She narrowed her eyes on her boyfriend when he dared to glare at her, "Ethan didn't share much with me, but I'm smart enough to figure things out on my own." She dropped the sheets and climbed out of bed, noticing how Gabriel's eyes took in her as she closed the distance between them, "I thought I'd be okay with whatever is going on between Tiffany and you because I was certain you'd never betray Ethan's friendship. But today-"

She held up her hands when he wanted to touch her. He dropped his hands, looking like she stabbed him right in the heart by rejecting his touch.

"Today I feel like I was wrong about that." She moved her eyes away from him, "I'm going to take a shower and after that I'm heading home."

He grabbed her wrist when she moved past him to head into the bathroom.

"I don't know what you think you know, but nothing ever happened between Tiffany and I."

She spun around and faced him, "Say that to my face."

She folded her arms across her chest and waited. He held her gaze, but didn't speak up. After a minute or so he actually tore his gaze away, looking as guilty as ever.

She sighed, "Don't ever tell Ethan the truth, the hurt I feel right now is nothing compared to the hurt he'll feel when you tell him about your betrayal."

She turned around and headed into the bathroom, locking the door behind her. Pushing away from the door she smiled through the tears. She had known from the start that Gabriel messed around with Tiffany. She had a small light of hope within her that she was wrong about Gabriel. He confirming that suspicion which always simmered within hurt like hell. Not wanting to show Gabriel her weakness she cried underneath the rays of water which felt cold against her skin even though it was the perfect temperature. She let it all out before she'd face anyone again. By then she'd be able to pretend nothing hurt her.

***

Valerie tried to forget about her conversation which lasted only a second after she walked out of the bathroom, her hair wet while she wore last night's dress. Gabriel insisted she'd take his car, his driver had standing orders to take her wherever she wanted. Not wanting to give in because of her pride Valerie called a cab and left his penthouse without looking back. She was certain in that moment Gabriel could relate more to Rachel than he ever imagined.

Gripping her clutch like her life depended on it Valerie left the cab, paying the driver and heading upstairs as fast as her heels would take her. Strolling into her apartment after Rachel let her in she was greeted by the smell of pancakes. Rachel was cooking, one of the few skills her sister had perfected. Rachel didn't know how to keep a job, her sister however did know how to cook a perfect meal. Kicking her heels off Valerie sauntered into the kitchen and met Rachel's concerned gaze.

"You don't look happy." Rachel stated.

"I feel upset." Valerie sighed, "I want to cry and eat pancakes at the same time." She leaned into Rachel, who gave her the support she needed, "I questioned Gabriel about Tiffany this morning and I confirmed things I already knew from the start."

"Yet it still hurts." Rachel gently made her look at her, "Let's forget about it for now and eat pancakes. Those men and their shared woman can wait."

Valerie weakly smiled, "I hate her guts, especially since she made me like her."

Rachel gave her a gentle pat against the shoulder, "It will be okay, I could tell that he cares about you, a lot. I'm sure things got heated and you couldn't talk about it."

"I didn't let him talk about it." Valerie admitted quietly.

Rachel smiled, "It's fine, breakfast is ready let's sit down and eat."

They prepared plates filled with pancakes and different kind of berries. Valerie drizzled syrup onto her pancakes quite generously, needing the sweetness to comfort her. Sitting on her living room couch Valerie turned on the TV and quietly ate her pancakes. They didn't talk about anything, quietly they enjoyed each other's presence, trying to forget about their problems with men. Rachel stayed calm which made Valerie see reason as well. While Rachel did the dishes and cleaned the kitchen Valerie decided to change, getting rid of the dress which reminded her of the good and the bad times, a dress which already held so many memories. She left her bedroom door ajar and slipped out of her dress, wearing comfortable clothes while she pulled her hair up in a bun. Finally being able to let go of her anger she reached into her clutch and checked her phone. She had tons of messages and missed calls from Gabriel. He was worried about her, but kept his distance because he knew she needed time to calm down. He wanted to talk, just the two of them.

"Gabriel?" Rachel asked, peeking inside her room.

Smiling Valerie gestured to Rachel to come in, "Yeah, he wants to meet up after dinner."

Rachel sat beside her, "You should go."

"I will."

"Good." Rachel took in the mess Valerie had left on the bedroom floor, "That dress didn't do anything to you, you know."

Valerie got up and started to clean up, "I'm being lazy today." She admitted to her sister, "I do know it's not the dress' fault, it's my own. I shouldn't have let this get to me, I already knew about everything-"

"You can't keep saying that, we both know you started to date him seriously. He must have felt that too, it's Gabriel who needs to tell you to the truth about that woman."

Valerie tossed her clothes from last night in the hamper and joined her sister again, finding it comfortable and fun to talk to her sister like Rachel was her best friend. It was what she wanted, having a sister to rely on and talk to about everything which was on her mind. She wasn't quite there yet, but she had a feeling things between them would change. Rachel would have her back.

"Okay, let's hang out on the couch and do nothing." Rachel suggested.

"Ice cream?"

Rachel laughed, "Sorry, I checked already. You don't have anything good, I mean I get living healthy but it's okay to indulge at times."

Valerie lowered her gaze, ashamed of the reasons why she had nothing good in her fridge.

"I don't have anything good, because it's been busy at work. All I do is eat a quick meal, head to bed or hang out with Gabriel on my couch."

Rachel raised an eyebrow at her, "Seriously?"

"We had hot coco when mom came over." Valerie met her gaze again, "White chocolate with a splash of peppermint."

Rachel's lips curled up to a smirk, "Is that a suggestion?"

Valerie got to her feet and moved to the bathroom, making sure she wouldn't look like she had a rough night when going out in public. She did her eyebrows, put on a rose colored matt lipstick and spritzed on some perfume. She joined Rachel again who flashed her a mocking smile. Ignoring that Valerie moved to the topic at hand, sweets.

"Let's go out and eat sweets until it hurts."

Rachel tossed her clutch to her, "Well, we'll see about that."

They went out to a fancy coffee place which served premium desserts. She ordered a chocolate fudge cake and caramel iced coffee with whipped cream, she went all out while Rachel went for a mint tea and a slice of lemon cheese cake. They talked about everything except their experiences with men who were involved in a complicated relationship. It reminded her of the peaceful early morning she had with Gabriel before everything fell apart. She longed to go back to that.