Chapter 14: Brad

I feel like I’m walking on pins and needles all day long. Tonight is the night when I’m taking Jenny over to my own place and I cannot wait to let her in on my whole life.

Even old Rawlins is walking all over the house to make sure that everything is ready. I told him that I’m bringing a special lady over tonight and I think he can tell that this is not just another bimbo.

“Is there anything special you would like me to prepare you for dinner?” Rawlins asks just before I leave to go and fetch Jenny.

“I’m not really sure… Why don’t you just surprise us and prepare something really delicious?” I say and he nods his head.

“I will do that sir, and I can assure you that it will be a dinner which your special lady friend will never forget in her entire life!”

I nod my head gratefully and walk outside to where my Harley is waiting. I kickstart it into life and then drive off to Jenny’s office. I really enjoy the trip and I keep thinking of how exciting this really is. Even though I’ve had women at my own place before, I’ve never had anyone like Jenny over there and this feels almost like a housewarming or something. I’m really looking forward to showing her each room in my house and making love with her all over the place. I know that old Rawlins will quietly leave after serving us dinner. He knows that I need some privacy and that there will probably be a lot of sexual gymnastics after dinner.

I stop in front of Jenny’s office and walk inside with a lightness in my tread which betrays my excited energy. I walk over to Jenny’s office and peer inside… but there’s no one there. I figure that she’s probably sitting in Stacy’s office, discussing some kind of business, so I immediately walk down the corridor door to go and see if she is there.

“Hi there, I’m sorry to disturb you young lady, but I was just wondering if I can speak to Jenny?” I say with a big smile. Stacy looks up and I can immediately tell from the expression on her face that something is a mess.

“I’m afraid Jenny isn’t here,” she simply says and doesn’t even get up from her chair to greet me.

“Can you tell me where she is?” I ask hopefully.

“I’m afraid I don’t know exactly where she is, although she did mention that she was going to head in the general direction of Pasadena,” Stacy says and I suddenly find myself wondering what the hell is going on.

“Why did she leave without even telling me about it? I know you probably don’t know this, but tonight was supposed to be a very special night and I was planning on taking Jenny over to my place for the very first time!”

Stacy looks at me for a moment, almost as if she’s trying to decide whether she should tell me something. Then she motions for me to sit down.

“I guess you deserve to know the truth,” Stacy says and I immediately get the feeling that she’s about to tell me something really bad, “earlier one of your biker friends came around here and really insulted Jenny so badly that she decided to go on a road trip just to get away from all of this.”

“What the hell! Who was the guy… What was his name?” I ask, feeling incredibly angry all of a sudden, “If I find out who the hell this so-called biker friend of mine is I’m going to rip his head right off his goddamn body!”

“I’m afraid he didn’t say what his name was and I’m not entirely sure what he said to Jenny… All I know is that I found her crying in her office after he left and she was so shaken up by the whole experience that she decided to go on a road trip just to get away from everything.”

I sit there for a moment, trying to stop my mind from racing in a thousand different directions at the same time. I have no idea which one of my biker friends from the motorcycle club might’ve done something stupid like this… Or if it even was one of the members of the LA dragons. Perhaps this guy was just pretending to know me and, for all I know, you might be some kind of stalker or something.

“Okay, thank you for telling me. I guess I’ll just have to call her and make sure that she’s okay,” I say after thinking about it some more.

“I’m afraid you’re not going to have much luck trying to phone her… I don’t think she took her cell phone with her. I’ve been trying to call her myself and all I’m getting is her answering service,” Stacy says with a hopeless expression on her face.

“Then how the hell am I going to find her?” I exclaim, “what kind of car is she driving?”

“The magazine has been doing so well that she bought herself a brand-new BMW… A bright blue one with a sunroof,” Stacy says and I realize that, even though there are probably plenty of bright blue BMW’s with sunroofs on the road, at least it’s a point of departure.

“Well, I guess there’s nothing else for me to do than to head in the general direction of Pasadena and start looking for this bright blue BMW,” I say and get up from my chair. Stacy nods her head and I thank her one last time before rushing outside and getting on my Harley. I have no time to lose and the sooner I get on the road the better. Who knows where Jenny might head off after she gets tired of Pasadena and the surrounding areas?

I start driving down the highway in the direction of Pasadena and send up a silent prayer that I might be able to locate Jenny by some kind of miracle. I really need to talk to her and find out what the hell has just happened! I feel absolutely certain that this is just a misunderstanding and that a simple conversation with Jenny will set things straight again.

Seeing as I have no idea where to start looking for Jenny, I decide to stop at a small town, just a couple of clicks out of Pasadena.

I stop at a roadside bar and go inside. I know it’s not the kind of place where Jenny would normally hangout, but I’m hoping that someone may have seen her around.

“Hi there sir, can I get you something to drink?” the barman asks in a friendly tone of voice.

“No thanks, I’m just looking for someone,” I say and suddenly realized that I haven’t even brought a picture of Jenny with me to show to anyone.

“Sure, what is this person’s name?” the barman asks.

“Her name is Jenny and she is, I guess, about five foot seven inches tall… with long blonde hair and emerald green eyes,” I say and look at the barman hopefully. He thinks about it for a moment and then shakes his head.

“Nope, I’m pretty sure I would have remembered if I’d seen someone by that description,” he says and I thank him before leaving the bar again. I repeat the same procedure at a couple of businesses in the small town, but have no luck. I have no idea what exactly Jenny’s plans are on this impromptu road trip of hers, but I figure she will probably end up visiting some restaurants and write some articles about their food, so I visit the only large restaurant in town and ask around if anyone has seen a girl by Jenny’s description. The manager and all of the waiters assure me that there has been no one like that around and I thank them before leaving again.

“My dear Jenny… where on earth have you disappeared to?” I whisper to myself as I get back on my Harley. It is getting pretty late, so I book myself in at a guesthouse and decide to spend the night there. I haven’t brought any extra clothes with me, so I just drape my jeans and my shirt over a chair in the room and take a shower before heading for bed. I figure I’ll just buy myself new clothes if these ones start to really smell. I don’t have time to worry about looking for a laundromat or anything like that and I quickly fall asleep as my head hits the pillow. I guess all of the worries and inquiries have made me quite tired. I wake up early the next morning, feeling refreshed and ready to start looking for Jenny again.

I book out of the guesthouse and decide to leave the small town and head further down the road. Just as I am driving past the last couple of buildings in town I notice a small motel and decide to stop there and ask whether anyone has seen Jenny. I realize it’s a longshot, but I figure I have nothing to lose and no other concrete plans anyway.

“Hi there, I’m sorry to disturb you so early in the morning with such a strange enquiry, but I was wondering if you may have seen a beautiful blonde girl with bright green eyes around here lately?” I ask the receptionist and expect her to look at me as if I’ve lost my mind. But, instead, a light of recognition suddenly shines across her face and she nods her head excitedly.

“Yes, I actually have! She spent the night here and you’ve just missed her by about half an hour!” the receptionist says and continues to describe the car in which Jenny left that same morning. She tells me that it was a light blue BMW and I immediately know that the gods have finally smiled upon me and given me a break. I give the receptionist a hundred dollar bill to thank her for her help and she looks at me with wide eyes.

“Thank you so much for your help!” I say excitedly and jump on the back of my Harley before racing down the road in the direction of San Marino, where the receptionist saw Jenny driving off to. I’m not entirely certain how fast Jenny will be driving, but I have every hope of catching up to her on the highway.

I spend about an hour driving as fast as I can down the highway, and then realize that this is making no sense. There are plenty of places where Jenny might have turned in to take a look at some local attractions, such as a number of road houses and guesthouses along the way. The simple act of speeding down the highway as fast as I can isn’t necessarily going to ensure that I catch up to Jenny… the fact is, I might have already passed her if she’s decided to stop somewhere along the highway to write the article about something interesting she’s seen.

I pull off from the road and to take a little rest and just clear my mind. I think about it for a moment and then realize that the best thing I can do is to simply head for San Marino and hope to catch up with Jenny over there. If she’s decided to stop along the way and write some articles about various places, I have absolutely no way of knowing where to find her and my only hope is to wait for her in San Marino. I figure that she will eventually at least stop there to take a rest or sleep over for the night. I also know that San Marino has a couple of really nice restaurants and I feel fairly certain that Jenny will, at the very least, stop by one of them to write an article about their food. I get the feeling that Jenny’s road trip, even though it probably started out as a means of trying to get away from that bastard biker who visited with her at her office, will eventually probably evolve into something more of a working vacation.

I get back on my bike and start driving down the highway in a more relaxed fashion. I decide that I might as well try to enjoy this trip for what it is and not simply race along at blind speed without stopping to smell the flowers, so to speak. At around noon I stop at a roadhouse and get myself a really nice bacon and egg sandwich, which I wash down with a soda. I suddenly wish that Jenny could’ve been here by my side. I just know that she would have loved to take a trip like this with me on the back of my Harley and I make a mental note to do something like this with her when we’ve finally managed to sort out this mess.

After my roadside lunch, I get back on my Harley and cover the final distance of sixty miles to San Marino without stopping again. I arrived in San Marino later that same afternoon and immediately start going around to the local restaurants to ask whether anyone has seen Jenny. I have no luck and eventually book myself in at a luxurious guesthouse to spend the night. Tomorrow is another day and I remain hopeful that I will soon be reunited with the most gorgeous and wonderful girl I’ve ever known in my entire life.