It was the weekend after The Prince and I slept together for the first time. We had been friends for many months but just took our relationship to the next level.

I went to work that Saturday excited and happy. The Prince had invited me to a barbecue and for the first time I was about to meet some of his friends. I made sure I had a babysitter for my kids that weekend. It had been a long time since I socialized.

That morning I picked out one of my cutest sun dresses and made sure my makeup and hair were perfect. I assumed I wouldn’t have much time to get ready after work, and I wanted to make a good first impression.

The night before we had discussed our date. “What should I bring?” I asked, “I can stop at the store and make a side dish, maybe a dip?”

“No, please, you don’t bring anything. I will purchase meats from a market that has food from my country. The best meats, you will love them.”

“Are you sure, I don’t mind?”

“Please, I will bring the meats. Don’t spend your money.”

He was such a gentleman, that Prince!

I floated through my work day, and took my last appointment at 3:00 pm so I would be done early. Although Saturday was usually my busiest day, I decided to cut it short to spend more time with my Princy Poo.

After I finished my last client I sent him a text.

“Just finished work. I have to clean up and then I’ll head out. What time are we meeting?”

“I’m not sure yet,” he replied.

“Okay, I’ll head home, text me when you know.”

An hour later I was back at my apartment and still hadn’t heard from him. I went ahead and took a quick shower and touched up my makeup and hair.

It was now close to 6:00 pm and I was starving.

“Hey, I hadn’t heard back from you. Do you have a time yet?”

About thirty minutes later a text came through.

“I’m sorry, but my friends told me they had some Bad News to share with me today. I came alone, they didn’t want more company. They live near you, I may have them drop me off there later when the barbecue is over.”

“Okay,” I replied.

I was in shock. Up until this point The Prince had always been consistent with plans. What was he hiding? Was this a “normal” way to treat a woman where he was from?

I pondered the situation for a bit as I opened up a can of Spagettios for dinner. I slipped out of my cute dress and into my pajamas.

I wanted to cuss him out, but I refrained. Instead I put on some bad TV but I just couldn’t get into it. I don’t know if it was the stress, or just my body, but for the first time that year my heart went into atrial fibrillation. I’d suffered with a heart condition for the past few years, but thought I was getting better after I had stopped drinking and lost about 50lbs. Apparently I wasn’t.

A few hours had passed, and my thinking got the best of me. I was feeling physically sick and emotionally drained. I don’t know what it was about The Prince’s energy, but ever since I met him, I could sense a heavy weight, almost like a black cloud around me. That should have been a sign.

I decided to speak up, and sent him a text.

“What you did tonight was really rude and I won’t tolerate being treated like that.”

“What was rude? My friends had bad news, I told you. What’s the problem?”

“The problem is that you made plans with me and then you canceled last minute,” I said.

He didn’t respond. A half hour later I sent another text.

“What bad news did they tell you?”

“They weren’t able to get their green cards renewed and they may have to leave the country. They planned this barbecue to say goodbye to me. It’s a very sad day.”

“I’m sorry to hear that. What time did you plan to come by?”

He didn’t respond.

“You know what? Fuck you!” I said with a middle finger emoji.

“Serously? You are saying that to me?”

“That’s right! Want me to say it again?” I asked.

“You don’t speak to me like that. I told you, my friends had a problem. I may see you later.”

It was close to eleven when I texted him again.

“Just letting you know, I’m really not feeling great. I’m in a-fib. It’s getting late and I’m almost ready for bed.”

After midnight a text finally came in. “Sorry for you. I just got home. Sleep well.”

I was still awake and had been waiting on him all night when I received it. It sent me over the edge.

“What the fuck? Are you serious? I’ve been waiting for you! You said you were coming here. “

“You told me you were sick so I went home. I was just down the street, my friend could have dropped me off there.”

“I thought that was the plan!” I sent back.

“You said you were going to bed, now you change your mind?”

I wasn’t sure what was going on. Was it was a game, a text miscommunication or a language barrier.

“I never said don’t come over. I was waiting for you to text me a time and I was letting you know it was getting late. I was hoping you would stay with me. When my heart acts like this, it’s scary. I don’t want to be alone.”

“Now you want me to come over? After I’m already home? Are you serious?”

Giving him the benefit of the doubt and feeling scared about my condition, I replied, “Yes, please. I’m really scared.”

“Fine. I will call Uber.”

It was around one in the morning when he appeared at my door. I let him in and reached for a hug.

“Nah, don’t touch me. I will sleep on your couch because you are scared, but that is it.”

His hauty attitude caught me off guard. Until that day, I had never seen his side of him.

Then something happened that I had never done before. I started crying! That’s right, I balled up in tears right in front of someone.

My show emotions set him off further.

“What? Now you are crying? You are trying to manipulate me!”

“No… I was waiting for you all night, I don’t feel good, I’m scared. I just want you next to me.”

“That is bullshit! That is what you women do. You use fake tears to try to manipulate men. I shouldn’t have come here. I’m leaving.”

I watched in horror as The Prince opened my front door and stormed out, slamming it behind him.

I went into my bedroom, crawled into bed and continued my weap fest.

A few minutes later, he came back inside. “Hey,” he said.

“I’m in here.”

He walked towards the bedroom. “You are still playing games?”

“I’m really upset. I’m emotionally drained. My heart is fucked, I can’t help it. I’m sorry. Will you just come here?”

“No, I already told you, I will sleep on the couch only. I came back to see if you would be done, but you aren’t.”

I didn’t know how to respond, but it had been a long time since I cried and I couldn’t get it to stop. I remained in my bed defeated.

He stood silently in my hallway for several minutes before finally leaving for good.

I should have ended it right then and there, but I was so confused. Had I overreacted? Was I being selfish by not showing empathy for his friends? Was I right to feel entitled to his time? Was I being manipulative by crying?

All I needed was a hug, a warm body next to mine and someone to tell me I’d be all right.

A few days later he messaged me and I ignored him. I needed time to think about what had transpired. I chalked it up to miscommunication and me being selfish. Although his lack of empathy was apparent, mine had been too. He had never flaked on me before and he did have valid reason. At this point I already cared about him, and I didn’t want to lose him. I was certain we could work things out.

By the following weekend, my heart had finally returned to normal and I was missing him. So, on my way to run some arrends, I sent him a text.

“Hi,” I texted.

“Hello.”

My adrenalin kicked into full gear after receiving his reply. I wasn’t sure if he would respond to me or not.

“What are you up to today? Do you want to hang out?” I asked.

“Why?”

“Cause I miss you. It’s a beautiful day and I’d like to spend it with you.”

He didn’t answer, so after a few minutes I gave up and I left my apartment. By the time he finally responded, I was halfway done with my tasks. I encountered a second adrenaline rush upon receiving the notification.

“I’m gong to the beach. You may come.”

“How are you getting there? Should I pick you up?”

“Yes. Be here at 2:00 pm please.”

I was there on the dot. I sent him a text and waited for him to come out.

My eyes lit up upon seeing him. He opened the back door to my SUV and placed a bag inside before climbing into the passenger seat.

“How was your week?” he asked.

“It was okay. Yours?”

“Good.”

“What beach are we going to?” I asked. “I’ve been out all day, I’ll need to stop at my place first to grab my swimsuit and a towel.”

“That’s fine. We can decide when we get there.”

The Prince and I chatted the entire drive but neither of us mentioned what had happened the week before.

Once to my place, I offered him a perrier, and we stepped out onto my patio for a cigarette.

“If you wanted to, instead of the beach, we can take a boat out onto the lake here. There’s also a lagoon we can swim in, then we don’t have to fight the crowds.”

“We can rent a boat?” he asked.

“Well, just a paddle boat. I have a pass for it, we can walk over there.”

“That sounds nice, let’s do it.”

“Just give me a few minutes to get ready.” I went into my closet, and pulled out a sexy bikini I recently purchased in anticipation of spending pool time with my new man. I threw a little blue jumper over it and slipped into a pair of flip flops. Within minutes we were walking to the lake.

We talked along the way about our past, and some of our goals for our futures. Once to the lake we were given a small, green paddle boat. The Prince held my hand and helped me inside, then he climbed in next to me.

He was very tall, and his legs were much too long to operate the vessel. We both laughed as he tried to squeeze his feet onto the paddles. He had to mutate into a contortionist to operate it, but once he did we took off with warp speed.

He’s so strong ♡♡♡

We paddled ourselves under a bridge and once we hit the middle of the lake we lit cigarettes. The Prince leaned into me, looked deep into my eyes and then he finally said it.

“Would you like to talk about what happened last weekend?”

Gulp!

That mother fucker! He got me out on a boat, took me halfway across a lake, and then decided to throw the bullshit at me! It had been a trap.

“No!” I was scared shitless! There was no where for me to run. “Do you want me to jump? I will! I’ll jump for it.” I threatened.

We both laughed.

“When there is a problem, we need to discuss it. You don’t run from it.”

He was right.

I looked down into the water, it was deep. I had no other choice but to start talking, “Honestly, I don’t know what happened. I guess I was just bummed we weren’t hanging out. I had been looking forward to seeing you all day. I should have been more empathetic to your friends situation. I was being selfish, and I’m sorry.”

“Were you really that upset, when you cried? Did you mean it?” he asked.

“Yes! I don’t cry often. I never cry in front of people. I don’t know what came over me. I’m embarrassed,” I admitted.

“A friend of mine at work was telling me a story about his wife a few weeks ago. He told me that whenever they got into a fight, she would cry to manipulate him. He said she did it all the time. I thought that was what you were doing to me.”

“Oh, wow. No, not at all. I won’t do that again. I think we both need to work on our communication skills. I promise to try harder next time.”

“I didn’t leave right away. I waited there in your apartment for a long time.” He was still staring into me.

“I know,” I whispered.

“Okay. Would you like to start over? We can start from today, pretend last week never happened?”

“That would be great. Thank you,” I said. My cheeks were flushed from blushing.

After our talk, we paddled our boat back to the doc to swim in the lagoon. We placed our bags on a beach chair, and I pulled down my romper exposing my bikini for the first time.

“Wait! I’ll need a minute.” The Prince said, as I was walking to the water.

“What’s the matter?” I asked.

“I have to hide something!”

I looked over to see the Prince holding a T-shirt over his crotch. My body had just given his giant sword a wakeup call.

I giggled.

Once he had calmed himself down, we edged over to the lagoon and found a place near a small waterfall to sit down. He couldn’t keep his hands off me and I loved every second of it. We didn’t remain there long, The Prince’s sexual appetite was out of control. “Let’s go back to your place, there are too many children here!”

Within minutes we were back at my apartment, our clothes were off and remained that way the duration of the weekend.

It was perfect. Definitely one of the best times of my life.

That my friends is one of the reasons I waited out those six months for him in jail.

(BTW it’s been over a year, and the friends still live here.)

**Tu as mis le feu à mon cœur.**

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