I wrote up a “For Sale” sign and brought it downstairs to our mailbox area right away. On it, I listed all my big furniture items and very reasonable prices for them. I also dropped a note off for my landlord to say I would be leaving in two days and he could rent out the apartment.
The excitement of the moment was so great. I ran and skipped around for at least an hour as I did all these things. Then, as the adrenaline started to dissipate, I finally lay down in my bed and thought about Chase and everything going on. It was crazy to think I had just agreed to travel across the world to meet a man I didn’t know.
I was ready for a little crazy in my life though. I was ready for an adventure.
Chapter Seven
Chase
Sometimes, when I talk to a potential client, I just know they are a great person and someone I want to do business with. We might not be able to come to an agreement right away, but I can tell a good person when I see one. When I talked to Jordan, I knew she was a person I’d like to have around.
It’s not as if I can describe exactly what it is that makes me have that feeling about someone. It’s not what they look like; I’ve worked with bald old men and young hipsters. I wouldn’t say I believe in auras or mystical pathways or anything like that. But there is a chemistry between people that either works or it doesn’t. You can’t just pretend to have it. Jordan and I had it. Words were not even necessary because I could see the connection in her eyes.
Of course, the physical connection is important when men and women are involved. And wow, did I feel that between the two of us. Just looking at her, I felt my whole body react with a desire to have her. It was awesome and a little scary all at the same time. I had actually muttered the word marriage to this girl.
What was I thinking?
I didn’t know her at all. I didn’t know anything about her, really – except she was a lonely woman from a tiny country that I didn’t really know much about. She certainly didn’t look like any lonely woman I had ever seen before. She looked like the kind of girl I would go up to in a second if she was in one of the clubs I frequented. On the other hand, Jordan didn’t look like the type of girl who frequented clubs, at all.
Did knowing a lot about a woman ever really help me? Most of the women I actually dated would go on and on about their lives, and I certainly didn’t feel the same connection as I did with Jordan. Not that I went on very many real dates, though.
When Jordan and I had agreed to Skype, there was no thought in my mind that I would offer to fly her over to the United States. I simply wanted to see if she was real. But having her in front of me threw me off. Something came over me, and I just blurted it out.
She was beautiful, and I couldn’t stop looking into her eyes. The way they looked back at me made me think she could actually see right through any bullshit I might try to throw at her. It was probably the first conversation with a woman that I had been totally honest in everything I said.
I didn’t normally lie to women or anything like that. But, I often flirted and said things that I didn’t actually believe were true. Things like, “Oh, you are the prettiest girl in here.” I knew women liked to hear that stuff, and if I had to say it in order to get together with a woman, that was perfectly fine with me.
Jordan didn’t require me to say anything I didn’t feel one hundred percent to be the truth. Everything about her said that she was an honest and caring woman, and I wanted to get to know her more. It didn’t hurt that she was very easy on the eyes.
I had no intention of telling her that I might want to get married to show my father that I was responsible. But it just came out of my mouth. Honesty really hadn’t been one of my best qualities, but in the brief conversation I had with Jordan, it felt necessary. My conversation with her felt very real, and I liked that feeling. I felt more like myself than I did the entire month I had dated my last girlfriend. That really said a lot about how comfortable Jordan and I were together in just a short time.
If things didn’t work out with her, we could just do a couple of dates, and she could use her return ticket and go back home. No harm done. But maybe things would work out. She didn’t seem like the type to have casual sex, but if that was her thing and she didn’t want anything more, I could certainly accommodate her for that, as well. My life was nothing if not flexible. But I did need to start working more consistently. There was no way I could pay Jose Escabar back if I didn’t get my father to give me the company.
Flying Jordan out to see me would be useless if Escabar sent his goons after me. I couldn’t exactly take her on a date if I was missing my fingernails. I desperately hoped Escabar would be able to wait until I settled things with my father. I simply had to continue to make my payments to Escabar each month and then pay him off when I took over the company. It was going to cost me twice as much as I owed him now, but if I just made my monthly payments, everything would be fine.
The idea to go to my brothers for money was certainly on my mind. All four of them were living good lives, and I knew that if push came to shove, they would hand over their very last dime to me. But once I went to them, I was pretty much going to have to admit to my entire family how much I owed Escabar. There was no way I was going to do that, if I could avoid it. Obviously, if it came down to Escabar breaking my legs, then I would have to reach out to them.
My family still brought up a five-dollar bet I made to eat a hot tamale and how quickly I lost my money. If they knew I owed over $200,000 to Escabar, I wouldn’t live it down. And, I definitely wouldn’t get control of my father’s company. Owing that much money to a shark like Escabar was a bad decision; I knew it after the fact, and I had learned my lesson. But no one in my family would understand that. They would all think that I was just really bad at making decisions.
As I thought about Escabar, I realized it was almost time to meet up with his goons. I had to make a payment for the month or they were going to get pretty rowdy with me. Hopefully, Escabar hadn’t lost his patience and would be willing to let me make another interest only payment.
It did involve me pawning a few things that I owned and I sold off some paintings from my house. I could feel the financial crunch, and I needed to get things figured out as soon as possible.
I grabbed my things and headed out of my office at the unusual hour of five o’clock. It felt good to have put in a full day of work. Although, I had spent several hours of
my day talking to Jordan, it was still a longer workday than usual. My mind was made up and I was committed to learning what I needed to know to take over my father’s company. If he saw me at work every day and I could contribute some new and fresh ideas, hopefully he would reconsider how he felt about me taking over the company. I also knew I needed to get my life more stable, though. And hopefully, meeting Jordan would help me in that area.
***
Driving up to Jose Escabar’s house always made me nervous. Sometimes he wanted to see me in person, but most of the time, I just sat in the front room and talked to his goons. I wasn’t equipped to deal with men like him.
“Chase, I hope you’re here with a payoff tonight,” Marco said.
Marco and I actually went way back to high school. His connection with Jose had been my way into the clubs that Jose ran throughout Atlanta. Although I didn’t frequent those strip joints anymore, I did often go to private parties thrown by Escabar.
“I’ve brought a payment to get me by for now.”
“Oh, Chase. Jose is getting tired of carrying this loan. Can’t you just borrow the cash from your pops and then pay him back? It would cost you a lot less money.”