or the longest time that your music is your greatest talent and I can think of nothing better than attending your music show with your wonderful lady friend!”
I find myself thinking that Rawlins is actually the best friend I have. I know I share a lot of other things with my fellow bikers in the motorcycle club, but Rawlins has been the one who has been there with me through thick and thin. He’s the one who used to frown upon my meaningless relationships with all of those airhead women and he has also been the one who encouraged me when I started seeing Jenny. Jenny and I decide to take a ride on my bike and Rawlins promises that he will prepare some delightful snacks and drinks for the evening’s entertainment. We take a long ride out to the field where we made love under the tree and, just to celebrate old times, we do it all over again. I discover that I’ve started thinking of our lovemaking is just that… making love, and not just having sex. Every time we join our naked bodies together in a passionate embrace, it is as if we come away from it as a stronger unit… stronger together as one.
We finally get back on the Harley and drive home to where Rawlins has already laid out a table with snacks and drinks.
I end up playing all of the songs I know to a great applause from Jenny and Rawlins. They enjoy it so much that I play through my entire repertoire of songs twice and, they probably enjoy it even more the second time.
Later that evening Jenny and I retire to the upstairs bedroom and I shake Rawlins’s hand before Jenny and I make our way up the stairs.
“I want to tell you that you are not only my butler, Rawlins,” I say and look him straight in the eye, “you are also my best friend!”
“Thank you sir… Brad,… I mean sir,” Rawlins stutters and I burst out laughing and slap him on his back.
“You can call me whatever you like Rawlins,” I say and he nods his head with a smile before walking off to his own room.
Jenny and I go upstairs and get naked… it isn’t long before we are at it again just like two sex-crazed minxes. We make love all night long and finally fall asleep in each other’s arms.
“What are we going to do for Valentine’s Day?” Jenny asks me the next morning when we wakes up.
“Valentine’s Day? When is that?” I ask, surprised.
“Today is Valentine’s Day, silly!” Jenny says and gives me a kiss on my lips. I think about it for a moment and I suddenly know exactly what I want to do to celebrate this special day with Jenny.
“I think I will go and do some shopping for us and then I will come and pick you up at the office later… that is, if you are planning on going into the office?”
Jenny thinks about it for a moment and then nods her head. “Yes, I think I should get back to the office and just make sure everything is still on track. Stacy and I have decided that we are going to go international with our online magazine after we won that competition.”
“You won a competition? You never even told me about it!” I say, “that’s just one more thing to celebrate tonight!”
Jenny looks really excited about my idea and a little while later I drop her off at the office with a promise to pick her up around 5 o’clock that same afternoon. Then I get back on my bike and head off to town to go and do some all-important shopping. I have a big surprise for Jenny tonight, as I’m going to take her to the old family mansion where we used to live when my father was still alive. I inherited it, together with his international hotel chain, and it is just standing empty at the moment. The place is, however, well looked after and I’m sure she will really enjoy seeing it.
I glance up at the sky and it is clear and blue as far as the eye can see… I find myself thinking that all of the stormy clouds in my life have disappeared forever and it is all thanks to Jenny… the incredible girl I met that night at the virgin auction. I guess we all ended up facing some of the consequences of that reckless night… with Ronald Johnson attacking her at the nightclub that way, but it was thankfully all in the past now and I am ready to confidently go into the future with Jenny walking by my side… or driving with me on the back of my Harley.
Chapter 19: Jenny
It feels really good to be back at work and Stacy and I spend most of the day discussing our plans for the future. We decide that we will soon take a trip together to various countries and open up new offices everywhere. We now have more than four thousand paid subscribers and many powerful companies advertising in our magazine, with the result that money is really not much of a consideration anymore.
“I’m just glad everything has worked out so well and that we survived the terrible scare we had at the nightclub the other day,” Stacy says when we wrap up our discussion about the future expansion of the magazine.
“I guess it really is true what they say… all’s well that ends well,” I say with a happy smile. We go over to the kitchen and make ourselves a large pot of tea and then go back into the boardroom to take a break.
“There is something I’ve been meaning to ask you,” I say very carefully while we sit there having hot tea, “do you actually have a man in your life?”
Stacy looks at me for a moment and then a secretive smile spreads across her attractive facial features. “Let’s just say that I’m working on it and that I have a very specific plan in that regard,” she says.
“Would you care to elaborate on that? Just exactly what is this plan that you have?” I ask, all curious.
“I know we share everything, but I would prefer to keep this specific plan a secret till later… but you will be the first one to know when it actually works out!” she says with a twinkle in her eye. I decide not to push her further on the issue and know that she will tell me when she’s ready to. I just really hope that she will also be as lucky as I have been to find a guy like Brad. She works so hard every day and I cannot bear the thought of her not having someone there to love her and hold her at night…especially on Valentine’s day.
We go back to work, but I find it hard to concentrate. I really look forward to Brad’s surprise and I cannot imagine what it might be. I wonder if he’s going to play me some more music on his guitar… or if he’s perhaps going to take me to a special restaurant for dinner. When the clock ticks over to 5 PM I shut my laptop and say goodbye to Stacy. She assures me that she has plans for the evening and I rush outside to go and see where Brad is. I expect him to be waiting there for me next to his art, but I see no one.
“Do you need me to wait around here for a while?” The security guard asks when he sees that I’m looking around for someone.
“Yes, I would actually appreciate that,” I say and we stand around there for another ten minutes or so and shoot the breeze while I’m waiting for Brad. The security guard tells me that he’s also planning something special for himself and his wife that evening and I find myself wondering if my own evening is actually going to work out… What if Brad got caught up somewhere? I feel fairly certain that he won’t let me down without a good reason, but I’m not entirely sure whether he perhaps has to take care of some kind of business with his international hotel chain from time to time. Whatever the reason for his delay, I only get his answering service when I tried to call him and the longer he stays away the more I start feeling worried that something might have happened to him. What if he had an accident on his bike… Or what if that crazy biker friend of his broke out of jail and attacked him? A thousand insane thoughts suddenly rush through my mind and I tell myself just to stay calm.
I find myself thinking back to what happened after the guy came to threaten me at my office. I totally lost at that time and I’m determined not to act the same way again. Whatever the reason for the fact that Brad is not here to pick me up, I trust him now and I’m not going to doubt him for even a second. I think of the last couple of days we spent together and realize that we have a very strong bond and I tell myself that nothing is going to come between us again from this point on.
Just when am about to really start panicking, I hear the familiar sound of Brad’s Harley Davidson and when I look up I see him driving up at high speed towards me.