In Pursuit of a Love Connection

by Shanika Patrice

  Table of Contents

  In Pursuit of a Love Connection Title Page

  1. Prologue

  2. The First Meeting

  3. The Second Visit

  4. The Aftermath

  About Shanika Patrice

  A Simple Photographer by Logan Woods

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  BONUS - Preview of "Twists and Curves" by Sandra Sinclair

  IN PURSUIT

  OF A

  LOVE CONNECTION

  With "A Simple Photographer" by Logan Woods

  Shanika Patrice

  Copyright © 2013 Steam Books Erotica & Romance

  All rights reserved. This book or any portion thereof may not be reproduced or used in any manner whatsoever without the express written permission of the author or publisher except for the use of brief quotations in critical articles or reviews.

  1. Prologue

  “Why me?” Gabby asked aloud, to no one in particular, as she sat on the toilet stall, going through her smartphone, looking for his email.

  She had just arrived to work that morning against her better judgment. Gabby had had an upset stomach the night before and barely managed to get three hours of sleep. She knew it was her nerves because she had been unable to locate him for the past few days.

  “Him” happened to be her boyfriend of the past six months, who lived in the next state over in Michigan. His name was Lamont and he was her first ever online love connection. The last time she spoke to Lamont, he announced that he had gotten a job offer on the west coast that paid a significant amount more than he was making and would give him the chance to step into a management role in hospitality. Gabby was thrilled to hear the news, and figured this was an opportunity that he should definitely take.

  “You really want me to go?” Lamont had asked

  “Of course, babe. This is awesome news. And then after I graduate in the spring I can fly out to you there and we’ll start our lives being Californians together,” Gabby had responded excitedly.

  “OK.”

  Gabby thought he would have been thrilled that she encouraged him to take this opportunity, as well as offer to pack up her life and relocate to meet with him after he got settled and she graduated with her Bachelor’s degree. Besides, they had been discussing a life together and plans for what they wanted in their relationship. Neither had children and they only had themselves to worry about. They ended their phone conversation on a high note that evening with Lamont having expressed his love, as always, before hanging up.

  That was the last time Gabby heard from him, though, and it was almost a week later. If she remembered correctly, Lamont was supposed to have made a decision about the new position by the beginning of this week. She thought he would have at least told her something by now.

  When Gabby tried to call him, he would not answer and so far he had not responded to any of her voicemails. By this point they were no longer communicating online, but she attempted to try to connect with him without any luck.

  Now she was beginning to worry.

  That night, she decided to call the hotel where he currently worked. Gabby was told that Lamont no longer worked there. What was going on? It was as if Lamont was avoiding her, but why?

  Gabby began to panic as the thought crossed her mind that he may be hurt. She began to shuffle through her papers and notebooks next to her laptop, remembering she had written down the telephone numbers that Lamont would call her from—numbers that he said belonged to different family members since he roamed from place to place.

  Gabby found the list of numbers and at first she was a little hesitant to be calling these numbers of relatives she had not yet met. Although Gabby had met Lamont’s mother and grandmother, he was never available when she called them looking for him the past few days.

  These particular numbers belonged to cousins, according to Lamont. Gabby decided to try the one that she had labeled as ‘Rita’, since this was the cousin she remembered Lamont talking about the most.

  When she heard the female voice on the other end of the line answering, “Hello?” Gabby nervously asked to speak to Lamont.

  There was a brief pause, which made Gabby a little nervous, but then her stomach did flips as she heard the female voice start shouting Lamont’s name in the background. He was there.

  “Hello?”

  “Lamont, this is Gabby—is everything OK?”

  “Oh, hey baby!” That’s when Gabby started hearing commotion in the background for a few seconds until Lamont obviously stepped outside away from the noise.

  “How did you find me here?” Lamont asked, puzzled.

  “Well, you’ve called me from this number a few times before; for whatever reason I felt the need to write down these numbers, just in case I needed to reach you but couldn’t. And it actually came in handy. This is your cousin’s number, right?” Gabby asked suspiciously as she began to wonder if the female was maybe a chick Lamont had on the side.

  Or was she, herself, in fact the side chick?

  “Yea, this is my cousin Rita’s number but she’s a little high strung. She’s had to change her phone number a few times before after being in some bad relationships so she was just a little thrown off by your call and hearing this strange voice on the other line.”

  “Well please tell her sorry for me. I was just worried, babe. I haven’t heard from you in over a week; you haven’t returned my calls and then I found out you are no longer working at the hotel. So I take it you took the job offer?”

  “Yeah, I did,” Lamont said. Silence.

  “OK,” Gabby said and became silent herself. Lamont was acting very weird. “When were you planning on telling me? When do you have to be in California?

  “I leave tomorrow night.”

  Gabby was stunned. She had it in her mind that she would at least get to see him one more time before he headed out to California, preferably with him coming to Ohio to see her.

  “So, you’re not going to get a chance to come here to see me or meet my family before you leave? And if I had not called you, would you have called me before you left for Cali?”

  “Yeah, I was going to call you, but I knew I wasn’t going to get to see you beforehand. I was trying to figure out how to tell you that. Plus, there’s more we need to discuss,” Lamont said.

  “What is it?” Gabby asked, beginning to get a bad feeling on top of her other bad feelings.

  “I’m thinking we need to end things. You have school and your family here. Me, I have this new opportunity out west. This long distance thing has been getting to me, anyway, and with me moving further out I know I don’t want to do it anymore. Please understand.”

  Gabby was beyond pissed as she listened to Lamont, more so because she was the one making this long-distance thing work between them since she had been making the trips to see him. Every time Lamont was planning to come visit her, something would come up. One time it was money; the next time it was car trouble. Finally, Gabby just volunteered to drive the six hours to see him, and from there it was always her making the trips.

  “So, you weren’t planning to call me. You were going to wait until you got there and then give me the news? How could you do this to us? All of our plans and I told you I would move out there once I was done with school.”

  “I know but…I don’t know. Let me just think about things for a bit, get everything packed up, and prepare for this flight. I promise I’ll call you before I leave tomorrow. Maybe we can make this work. I gotta get off my cousin’s phone, baby. I’ll talk to you later.”

  Lamont ended the call without giving Gabby another chance to comment. She knew what was next, but she did not want to believe that he could be s
o insensitive about her feelings like this.

  Now it was the next day and here she was at work in the bathroom stall early in the morning, wondering when she was going to hear from Lamont. Months ago, Gabby would have never thought she’d be going through this with him.

  2. The First Meeting

  When Gabrielle Sims, Gabby for short, first came across Lamont Weaver online in a chatroom, she was instantly drawn to his poetic flow. Gabby was surprised to learn that Lamont was new to online dating, as well as a possible long distance relationship. Gabby lived about six hours away from Lamont in Ohio, while Lamont lived in a small suburb in Michigan.

  They sent instant messages to each other for hours upon that first online interaction. Before the week was over they had exchanged phone numbers and Lamont made the first move, calling her on a Monday night. Although they both had to get up early to go to work, they didn’t care; they stayed on the phone for over six hours leaving themselves with only about one hour to get any kind of sleep before they each had to arise and begin their day. These lengthy conversations would continue, though, as they learned more about each other and their previous relationships. Love was in the air and they went along with it.

  While Gabby had traveled and been to quite a few places, Lamont had never been outside of Michigan before and was looking forward to his first trip out of the state to visit this woman he was beginning to fall for. Before it had even reached a month of knowing one another, Lamont suggested that they finally meet.

  He suggested that he would come visit her in Akron, Ohio, where she had been living for the past five years, and he would make a reservation at a nearby hotel. He planned to bring his best friend with him, a guy he referred to as “Pretty Floyd”, so he asked that Gabby find a friend, too, and they could double date.

  Gabby thought this was a good idea with this being their first meeting, but now she had to find a friend who would be open to the idea.

  “Laverne, I have a favor to ask you,” Gabby said as she entered the office the next day bright and early.

  Laverne worked with her at the nonprofit agency Gabby managed. From that first day Laverne welcomed her to the agency in her assistant role, Gabby knew that they would hit it off. Little did she know, though, that Laverne would end up becoming one of her best girlfriends who would always have her back, inside and outside the workplace.

  “Sure, Boss Lady, what is it?” Laverne said with a smirk as she continued looking at the computer monitor.

  “I told you not to call me that! But anyway, what are you doing this weekend? I may have someone for you to meet—a double date sort of thing.”

  “Date!” Laverne stopped working to look up at Gabby. “Your online man is coming to town this weekend?”

  Gabby had filled Laverne in on meeting Lamont. As a matter of fact, it was because of Laverne’s urging that she tried going online to meet people in the first place.

  “Yes ma’am, and he’s bringing his best friend with him. They’re going to stay at the Comfort Inn West. Him and I are going to meet up Friday, but Saturday we were thinking we double date so his friend could get out and about and have a good time, too. Who knows, maybe we both can come out of this with Michigan men.”

  “I am in. Thanks for thinking of me, Gabby,” Laverne said with excitement.

  Laverne was the eternal romantic who, after experiencing one bad relationship after another, was determined to keep all options and methods open for meeting people. At the moment, though, she was in between mates and thinking that maybe venturing outside of her comfort zone for a love connection might be just what she needed.

  “Let’s do lunch downstairs at the café, and I’ll bring my iPad and show you what Floyd looks like. Lamont sent me pictures and he does live up to the name “Pretty Floyd,” Gabby said with a smile.

  “Not Pretty Floyd! That sounds like a pimp name!” Laverne responded.

  This made Gabby laugh because she had to agree, it did.

  “Girl, I got your back. If he was a pimp I would have no part of this setup. Don’t worry, but we’ll continue this later.”

  ~ ~ ~

  By the end of the workday, Laverne had been introduced to Pretty Floyd via social media, and the ladies were excited and planning outfits for the weekend.

  Unfortunately, by the time Gabby ended her nighttime phone call with Lamont that evening, he announced that Floyd could not get out of work and that he would not be able to come because Floyd was the one driving him there to to visit. Gabby was disappointed because she had gotten her hopes up and was ready to meet her handsome, dark chocolate prince whose picture she looked at each night before going to sleep.

  “Gabby, what do you think about coming here to see me in Michigan? I’m right outside of Detroit—there’s so much here to do. And with me working at a hotel, I can get you a free room for the weekend,” Lamont suggested.

  “You know, I would love to get away, actually. You sure you’d be able to get a room for me without any problems?” Gabby asked.

  “Oh yeah, I got this, baby. I just hope you don’t mind coming to see me first. It’s not what I planned, but I really want to see you.”

  “And I want to see you, too. So yes, I will be there Friday night.”

  ~ ~ ~

  Gabby and Lamont decided that they wanted their time together in the hotel room to themselves, meaning no double dates for this first-time meeting. When Gabby went to work the next day and broke the news to Laverne, she understood.

  “As a matter of fact, maybe you’ll get to meet him while you’re there and tell me if Pretty Floyd is worth meeting. He’s pretty alright but the pretty ones are the ones you need to look out for,” Laverne said.

  “Thanks for not being too disappointed,” Gabby said.

  “Girl, of course not. You just be safe and when you get there please let me know. And have a good time.”

  Gabby was somewhat nervous about taking this next step with meeting Lamont face-to-face, but she was ready to meet her poetic prince in person. Not to mention their last few conversations had become quite heated, intimately, and she was curious to see if Lamont could follow through on his sexual favors he promised her. The pictures and views of Lamont were only from the head down to about his waist. Gabby could tell that this dark, chocolate man was in good shape physically from what she could see, but that did not necessarily give her an idea of how things looked in the penis department.

  As far as her own looks, Gabby was a beautiful, curvy milk chocolate brown woman with long flowing straight hair that she wore in a Chinese bob style. She was initially embarrassed about sharing too much of herself with Lamont because of self-esteem issues she had developed from previous relationships with superficial assholes all about physical features and wanting the skinny girls. After her first webcam conversation with Lamont, and how he seemed to respond positively to what he saw in her, she entered into this developing relationship feeling more secure and on cloud nine.

  Gabby decided to leave work early that Friday afternoon so she could get a head start on the road before after-work traffic hit. She planned to make it to Lamont before it got dark.

  When the time had come to hit the road, Gabby plugged in her iPod and started blasting the playlist she created just for this trip with some of favorite old-school performers that sang about love, including Earth Wind and Fire, The Emotions, and The Isley Brothers, to name a few. Her mom introduced her to these soul singers, which made Gabby a bit of an old soul when it came to her musical taste and wisdom.

  The drive wasn’t anything hard for Gabby because she was always taking road trips, and was usually the one in the driver’s seat. After making one rest area stop, Gabby was in Michigan and only about 15 minutes away from the Holiday Inn that Lamont worked at. When she pulled up in the parking lot and parked, Gabby immediately texted Laverne and her mother to let them know she had made it safely.

  Gabby was very close with her mother, as if they were sisters even more than mother and daughter. Mrs
. Sims was initially concerned about Gabby making the trip alone to meet a guy she had never met in person before, but she told her daughter that she understood that times were different and maybe her online dating experience might work for her. In spite of this, Gabby still wanted to reassure her mother that she would be fine.

  As soon as she finished contacting them, Gabby excitedly got out of the car, grabbed her overnight bag out of the backseat and walked toward the entrance of the hotel. She had spoken to Lamont while she was at the rest stop and he had said he would be there in about 30 minutes, but there was a key waiting for her at the front desk, and indeed there was.

  Gabby rushed to the room on the first floor right around from the front desk and lounge area hoping to get freshened up before Lamont made it there for their first one-on-one meeting. As Gabby rushed through the door she was a nervous wreck, yet so excited about this moment. She was praying that she would not be disappointed upon meeting Lamont, whom she had already claimed as her boyfriend even though they had not even met yet.

  Lamont had told her in one of their conversations that he thought of her as his girlfriend and had even told his mother and grandmother, his two favorite people in the world, about her. That warmed Gabby’s heart, and from there she knew she was definitely a goner for Lamont Weaver.

  By the time Gabby had freshened up, changed into her sexy black-and-white wrap dress she had bought for the occasion, and reapplied her fragrance and makeup, Lamont had called and said he was coming down the hall as he had her on the phone. Gabby tried to hold her composure while she had him on the phone and walked toward the door to greet him, but she wanted to do flips, she was so anxious and excited.

  Gabby got to the door and looked through the peephole until she saw Lamont’s shadow. She wanted to get a quick peek of him, but he walked up directly to the door, not allowing her the chance. She waited for the knock before she opened the door, wanting to play it cool. After the few taps on the door, Gabby slowly opened up the door with the phone still up to her ear.