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Chapter 12

She came down in a breath-taking dress- all long and velvety- in black, slit to the thigh and hugging her every curve. Her famous breasts were cupped by the moulded neckline and he feasted his gaze there, reminding himself tonight was about talking and nothing else.

"You're the most beautiful woman I know." He complimented, taking her hand so she could pirouette for his eyes only, her girlish smile over her shoulder drawing him in as he wrapped his arms around her from behind and kissed her bared neck.

"It's a beautiful dress." She commented, twisting in his arms to press her hands onto his chest. "You look handsome, too, Reverend."

"Stop calling me that, you know it drives me insane," he complained, bending to kiss her lips, lingering over the moment.

"You look good in a suit," she decided, his smart black suit and white shirt complemented with a black tie.

He squinted. "Stop trying to distract me. Let's go eat." He suggested, taking her hand and leading her out.

Gabi smiled beautifully at everyone she met, seated by Troy at their table and looking up to the waiter to order her wine.

"Hey, I know you…" The waiter frowned, making Gabi blush as she realised that yes, indeed, he was a former client.

"Erm…"

"Oh." The waiter closed his mouth and flicked a look to Troy as he worked out just how he knew her and then he took himself away with their drinks orders, leaving Gabi to look around her nervously. Who else knew, she wondered?

She watched Troy's hand venture across the table, seeking hers out and she twisted her lips as she put her hand into his palm and let him assure her.

"Nobody knows." He spoke in soft tones, seeing her panicked looks around her. "And even if they did, you're here with me and I won't let anyone make you feel any less amazing than you are."

She blinked at his touching words and looked into his eyes. "So amazing that I slept with half the city."

"It doesn't matter to me."

"It should. It would matter to me if you had done the same," she admitted, her past life coming back to haunt her just when she thought she had found peace.

"You had your reasons. It was your job," he justified.

"I call myself a child of God and I broke his cardinal rule. I was supposed to be pure for my partner." She worried, her eyes flicking up as a different waiter delivered their drinks.

"Your heart is pure." Troy responded, leaning forward across the table once the waiter had left to allow them more time to order. "So is your soul."

"But not my body," she added bitterly, twisting from the seat to dash for the ladies restroom, leaving Troy to watch after her, pained by her memories and her confidence crisis.

He rose from his seat, quickly paying for the drinks bill before he followed after her and waited patiently beside the restroom door, blushing each time a woman came in or out and looked at him strangely.

Finally she emerged; all sleek raven hair and glowing tanned skin, a sight that made him want to hug her very gently into his body alone, without the red of her eyes and nose from her crying. He didn't stop his protective urge to hold her.

"I love every part of you," he assured into her ear, feeling her hug him back around his middle, pressing her cheek to his chest.

"I know and it makes you the most amazing guy I know," she repeated his earlier compliment back at him.

"Let's go home." He suggested as she looked up at him and she nodded.

/

Two pizzas later, their outfits discarded for softer shorts and tee tops, they both curled together on the sofa and embraced, Troy keen to resolve Gabi's issues.

"Is there anything I can do to help?" He wondered.

"How about damning me to the Gods?" She wondered, buried in his chest.

"There's something I thought of back in the restaurant but I don't know if you'd want to do it…" he ventured.

She looked up, biting her lower lip. "What is it?"

"Have you thought about being re-baptised? Born again?" He wondered.

Gabi looked up at him and blinked. "I can really do that?"

"Yeah," he nodded encouragingly. "Like starting over…"

"And you could do it?"

"I'd ask my good friend Patrick," he smiled.

"Wow, I could really be…pure, almost." She conceded.

"It might help the way you feel," he assured.

"Then I'll do it." She decided, looking to him for his reaction.

He flicked his eyes between hers. "Are you sure?"

"Yes. Absolutely."

"Then I'll speak to Patrick tomorrow." He nodded.

She curled into his chest and sighed out. "We can be together, then. For real."

"I know," he kissed her hair.

/

It was magical, the feeling of having her in his arms again. Them being here, like this, somehow held so much more…meaning now that they had made a pact to be together, properly.

His little quiet space had never been the same without her, now that she had been here and he smiled as he tightened his hold on her small body, his memories of them printed in every room.

Her making breakfast in his kitchen. Him checking on her in the spare room, in the early days. The garden they both tended. And here, on this sofa, their embraces just like this one, only now he didn't have to feel bad about it anymore.

Her hair swamped him. And her, too, such was the thickness and unruliness of it and he couldn't help the affectionate smile that curved his lips as she wriggled against his chest sleepily, finally battling her mane from her face to squint at him.

"You look smug," she accused.

"No, just happy." He amended.

"You think it's funny that my hair has a life of its own?" She asked.

"I think it's the most awesome thing in the world I got to wake up with you in my arms," he brushed a thumb down her cheek.

Good grief, man, Gabi sighed inwardly. Do you even know how sexy you are?

"That's a very sweet thing to say," she smiled slowly, leaning forward to kiss him just as sweetly.

"I still can't believe it." He smiled bemusedly.

"We still have a lot to consider," she reminded him reproachfully, her heart beating hard at both his declarations of emotion and her fear of what was yet to come.

"You know what?" He asked, kissing her briefly. "Let's worry about that later. Right now, I'm getting used to the idea of us doing this, with no interruptions…"

"You're tempting fate…" She warned him with a big smile.

"I guess I can do that," he returned confidently, resulting in another long kiss that left him breathless, interrupted by the knocking of the front door.

"What did I tell you?" Gabi touched his nose cutely with a knowing smile.

"You told me I would be punished for thinking about anything other than kissing," he lied, thinking this is actually what he had told himself to keep his body in check.

She rolled over to free him, hugging the sofa cushion to her body self consciously, then upon hearing the formal voice at the door, snuck into the bedroom in the wing to get dressed, hoping her worries weren't about to come true.

/

"Ah, Troy…" Priest Richmond looked uncomfortable as he trailed in and it had been a long time since Troy had seen his sorrowful look.

"Come in, Priest," he addressed the senior clergy correctly, leading him through to the small office he owned.

"The church has had reports that you're living in sin with a woman of the night…" Thomas got right down to business as he sat opposite Troy in the large leather chair.

"Have they now?" Troy pursed his lips and nodded slowly. "And who did these reports come from?"

"They were anonymous. But the Bishop knows. And he has asked me to remedy the matter immediately."

"And by remedy you mean…?" Troy questioned, flicking a look under his dark lashes to the older man.

"She has to go, Troy. You can't be seen to be living with a loose woman." He outlined.

"A loose woman?" Troy laughed lightly, then nodded and smirked as he quickly realised one of his congregation must have dobbed him in.

"Troy…"

"She's my partner, Priest. It's not as simple as living together or asking her to leave." He explained honestly.

"You have to choose, Troy. They won't agree to a marriage." Priest Richmond assured.

"Despite how I feel?" Troy challenged, hurt by this disregard.

"She has to go. That's all I've been told."

"Even if I have to go with her…" Troy shook his head in bewilderment.

"The church doesn't want to lose you." Priest Richmond assured. "We expect you

to do the right thing." He said as he stood.

"And what is the right thing?" Troy called as the man made for the door. "Denying love?"

"If she wasn't a prostitute, it might have been different." Thomas sighed, not looking at his young charge.

"She gave it up. She gave up sex to be with me." Troy added.

Thomas nodded. "I don't doubt your feelings, Troy. But there will be consequences if she stays."

Troy screwed up his face as he felt the guilt weigh heavily on his chest, not knowing which way to turn. What was he meant to do?

He'd denied her already and he'd nearly lost her. And now his winning speech had inspired a disgruntled member of his clan to report him for living with an ex-street walker.

He couldn't win, no matter what he chose. Church without Gabi? Impossible. Gabi without church? It didn't compute.

His life without his faith was non-existent.

Or was it?

He had to make a decision and make it fast. Only this was life and death stuff. He couldn't decide that quickly. It just wasn't human.

But something inside snapped.

The hell with it! If they wanted to throw him out, then let them. He may as well go down in flames. Troy Bolton was not a man to be removed lightly. And Reverend Bolton didn't exist when he stormed into his annexe with his temper fraying.

/

"#God only knows where I'd be without you..#" Gabriella sang along to the radio, kneading the bread dough ready to prove it on the warming oven beside her.

"Gabi!" She heard Troy call her name and she twisted in surprise at his raised voice, something she wasn't accustomed to.

"In here!" She called back, quickly wiping the flour from her hands and pressing the back of her thumb to her forehead to brush back a tendril of escaped hair.

Troy appeared at the doorway; his face concentrated on something as he strode in and cupped her face, pausing only briefly before he kissed her mouth with the longing need he felt inside. "I want to make love to you."

Gabi didn't know what had suddenly made him feel this way but she didn't really care either as his mouth came down on hers again with fast passion she hadn't expected from him.

Troy had been gentle and tender and oh-so-sensual so far and this tensed, muscled forceful version of himself was surprisingly erotic.

She moaned into his kiss, flicked her tongue to signal her agreement and pressed her small body up against his, dressed only in a tank and her denim shorts, grateful for the thin layers as she rubbed against his shorts and t-shirted body.

"Troy," she whispered as she ran her fingers into his hair when he parted their mouths and dropped his lips to her neck just as quickly.

"I love you," he husked against her skin, his hands driving down her sides and cupping her backside in his more gentle hands, bringing her close to his aching heat and wanting to be deep inside her.

"I love you too," she assured confusedly as she ran her hands down his arms and then back up, finally choosing to grasp his tee hem to lift his top off. He stood, panting out harsh breaths as she uncovered him and her gaze enjoyed his torso before her hands did.

She let her fingers cover every inch as they kissed again, harder, more desperately than before and she smiled as he flattened his hands to her back, pausing copying her undressing of him.

She lifted her arms and waited, watching as he peeled the small garment off, leaving her to stand in her bra, her skin itching with hot need as his eyes flicked over her before his mouth tasted, not missing one part of her as he dipped his head to reach.

"Oh," she whimpered as his thumbs brushed up over her ribs toward her breasts and she pushed them forward, for his hands, her generous mounds barely held by her underwear due to their unrealistic size. He swallowed, cupping her with beautiful care, kissing the over spilling flesh while his thumbs brushed, brushed and grazed to bring her peaks tight against the cotton of her bra.

She unfastened the thing when his fingers fumbled and she couldn't help kissing him with a sweet smile of affection at his inexperience in all of this, but when he closed his mouth over her, she didn't know that he hadn't done this before because his lips were so hot, so pleasurable, she thought she might melt there and then and she almost did, held up only by his strong arms bound around her waist as her knees went.

"You are beautiful," he assured, flicking his dark-edged eyes over her face, taking her swollen mouth in a possessive kiss once more, leaving her ruined to his touch as she struggled to regain composure.

He quickly lifted her and walked her though to his bedroom meters away, putting her to her feet beside the bed.

Without speaking, she put her hands to his shorts band and kept his gaze, pushing down the material to leave his boxers only. Her hands soon cupped his behind with a devilish smile before they ran around, finding what they were looking for and drawing a needy groan from his throat.

"I want you, so much," he nuzzled her ear and kissed down her neck as her hands undressed him completely and he stood, proud and throbbing in her hands while she touched.

"This is the first time I've ever made love," she told him, licking her lips nervously, knowing how to do everything to please him but not knowing how to share herself.

"Me too," he cupped her face and kissed her mouth more tenderly than before, drawing long, slow kisses until he backed her to the bed and then climbed on the surface with her, resting above her body as she opened her thighs to him.

"Why now?" She couldn't help but wonder as he lay between her thighs, just touching, just kissing to please his curiosity. She watched as he peeled away her shorts and panties all in one, his kisses going down her belly to her hip.

"I couldn't wait another moment to show you how I feel," he said honestly, flicking a look up to her unsurely as he brushed the backs of his fingers up her inner thigh suggestively. "Do you want me to touch, first?"

Gabi arched at his words, grasping his shoulders and rubbing every inch of her soft torso against his burning hot, hard one as she did so, her bouncy mounds pressed tight against his muscled pectorals.

"Kiss me," she asked and he did, he kissed her for long, excruciating moments while his fingers still teased her intimacy, only sliding in when she bucked for more, his lips pressing into her nipple and his tongue flicking there with insistence she couldn't take.

"Troy," she begged, her dark eyes asking for what their bodies both wanted, but he didn't seem ready to give into.

"I don't want to rush this," he murmured, pressing his lips down the centre line of her body and over her flat belly. "I don't want to remember this as…" His mouth was distracted by her belly button and she cupped his head as he flicked his tongue there, so close to her throbbing intimacy now that she felt like touching herself to end her torture.

"A quick shag?" She supplied, casting her head back when he dipped those last few inches and flicked his tongue inside her. "How do you..?" she wondered of his skill.

"No sex means I get to do everything but," he explained as he kissed her intimately, bringing her to heights she didn't know she could reach, her body taut and humming with need for his final onslaught.

"Please," she swallowed a noise of satisfaction, feeling him hard against her thigh. "Please make me yours," she asked.

He crawled up her body and stroked her hair back, nudging between her thighs to part them further, leaning on his strong arms as he looked into her eyes and bit his lip, ready but nervously unsure.

"I…"

She smiled and wrapped her thigh around his, giving him perfect access to her body and he touched her face in silent gratitude, bucking into her with little finesse and care.

Gabi bit her lower lip against the small shot of pain from his inexpertise and met his eyes quickly to assure him as he kissed her mouth, then her chest to apologise.

"I'm sorry," he husked; his body tight with need but his heart pounding at the thought of having hurt her.

"Its okay, Troy," she stroked his hair back and shifted, feeling him inside of her, squeezing against him and sighing as he sank deeper, his breaths short and tight from his restraint.

"Are you okay?" He checked lovingly, thumbing her temples before he kissed her sweetly.

"Love me, Troy." She commanded, letting him set the pace, helping his rhythm as his newly experiencing body struggled with all these sensations and to keep his thrusts consistent, too. He kissed, sometimes. He whispered his love to her. His hand roamed down her side and stroked her body between his delving, seeking strikes and she let herself go in those last moments.

She didn't teach him, she didn't control them, she just arched and bucked to his need; whatever it was as he drove deeply, but tenderly into her and took what he wanted; all of her, her heart and her soul and finally rocketed them into the sky, to their ecstasy where they reached together and fell in each other's arms; softly back to earth.

Troy framed himself above Gabi's small body for moments before he rolled off her with his imposing weight and then grasped her into his arms with fierce protection, kissing her hair tenderly to juxtapose his binding arms.

"You are the only one I want to love like that." He husked, overwhelmed by the intensity of their physical union.

"Me, too." She agreed, knowing it was already too late to save herself for him, but knowing she could only be with him from now on. Then she smiled as a thought came to her mind, from before. "I think I'm a lost cause on being reborn."

"I never wanted you to change, anyway," he hugged her tighter to reassure his words. "I want you as you are."

"It might change people's feeling towards us…if they knew…" She thought aloud.

"My boss already knows about us." He said then, explaining the motive behind his uncharacteristic behavior.

"What did he say?" Gabi hedged, her breath hitching in fear for this moment. The moment she knew was coming that she didn't want to face.

"That I have to ask you to leave," his voice broke as his arms crushed her tighter to him and he kissed her hair again. "I can't do that."

Gabi felt the tears trickle down her cheeks at the realization this was her fault. If she had never sold her body, if she had never sold her soul to the devil then Troy's bosses wouldn't feel this way. She could have just been a nice girl from Vegas just like Miranda from his congregation and everything would be fine.

"I'm sorry," she sobbed against his chest, loving every moment they had just shared all while she knew they couldn't share it again. Everything made sense. This was goodbye.

"No!" He squeezed her again, fighting her pain. "Don't be sorry. You are not the one asking me to choose between my soul mate and what has become my way of living," he described of his faith.

"But they're right," she whispered with tears in her eyes. "I can't stay here."

He squeezed her again and closed his eyes, his own pain sliding down his face into his hair as he imagined life without her. It wasn't possible, it couldn't be. He didn't care how she'd come to be here, or for how long, his whole being felt complete with her by his side; and now, in his bed, his heart.

"I need time to think. Will you give me that?" He begged.

"Troy, you're not honestly considering leaving?" She propped up against his chest to look into his face as if to persuade him otherwise.

"I don't know," he admitted confusedly, then touched her face with tender fingers. "But after what we just shared I don't know that I can go back without you."

Gabi pressed her lips together and felt fresh pain wash over her as she knew what she had to do. With wet tears tracking down her cheeks and a heavy ache in her heart, her chest hiccupping at withholding her sobs, she kissed him with every ounce of her love for him and climbed across him to frame his face with her hands.

"I love you," she said, leaning over to kiss him again and eventually bringing their bodies together once more; slowly, tenderly and with aching, passionate precision they each would never forget.

That they each would never repeat.

/

"Mmm," Troy smiled as he reached his arms for his missing counterpart, expecting to come into contact with a small, curvy body and finding none there.

He opened his eyes to a sleepy squint, checking that he hadn't missed and he hadn't- Gabi wasn't in the bed. He blinked sadly as he wished she were because he had been looking forward to waking up with her this morning- even more than usual.

He wanted to hold her love-sated body and kiss her swollen-tender lips. He wanted to tell her how very much she meant to him and how his decision was going to be made with her in mind; with her always in his mind.

He wanted to proclaim his love, loud and proud and show her with his body again, just how much she possessed him; and how much he wanted to possess her. With every ounce of his being. With every beat of his heart.

He rolled up, checked around the room, found no signs of his beautiful partner and he frowned, placing his feet to the floor to rise and search her out. He dragged on his boxers, cupped his manhood in memory of the night before and set about his search, checking each room of his small home, surprised to find her in none of them.

She always made breakfast he mused with a downturn of his lips, rubbing his hands over his muscled torso to comfort himself as creeping feelings began to niggle up his belly.

"Her old room," he said to himself, wondering if she had moved because she was worried about being caught but when he padded into the sunlit corridor and found the door wide open, bed freshly made and no residues to be seen, he panicked inside and went back to his abode, a fearful thought in his mind.

Nowhere. There was nothing of hers to be found. Not her clothes, her belongings or her smell, even.

She'd gone.