Chapter 17: Jenny

I know that I’ve never been so happy in my life and the fact that it’s all because of a man is the greatest surprise of it all. Even though I would never have expected it, Brad turns out to be the most romantic person I have ever known in my life and he treats me like a real lady. The original way we met has now long been forgotten and we have started a brand-new relationship, almost from scratch.

Stacy is, perhaps, the happiest of the two of us about the fact that I finally met the man of my dreams and I often tease her that she will be next. I’m not entirely sure whether she even has a boyfriend, although she assures me that she’s not lonely.

The magazine is doing really well and Stacy and I hear of a competition for local online magazines in California and decide to submit our entry. The idea of the competition is to identify the magazine that best represents the area and its tourist attractions.

“I think we should enter one of the articles you wrote about the restaurants in San Marino for the competition,” Stacy says and I find myself in perfect agreement with her. The work I did in San Marino were some of my best culinary articles and I get the feeling that we have the chance of doing really well in the competition with it. Stacy and I decide on one particular article, the one I wrote about the hidden little sushi restaurant which Brad showed me, and we send it off to the judges.

I soon forget about the ugly incident we had at the office when the biker showed up and insulted me. The security guard is really trustworthy and, on top of that, Brad shows up at random intervals to come in and check on me while I’m at work. Not only does this deter any would be stalkers, it also makes me feel very special and we often sit around in the boardroom having coffee and laughing. Stacy joins us and she keeps telling us that we make the most beautiful couple she’s ever seen in her life.

Because of the growth of the magazine, I soon have to hire new photographers and bloggers to help me write new articles. Stacy and I even start discussing the possibility of getting correspondents overseas to do some write-ups about foreign restaurants and I get the feeling that this magazine is soon going to burst out of its seams, the way it is growing. One day, Stacy and I sit in the boardroom and we discuss the general direction we want to take with the business.

“I never imagined that this magazine would grow to the point where we start thinking about branching out internationally… do you think this is the way we should be looking for the future?” I ask.

“I have to be perfectly honest with you that I never imagined it either, but if that’s the way things are naturally progressing I think we should just go with it,” Stacy says.

“The reason why I think it’s important that we discussed all of this is the fact that a much larger organization, especially an international one, will demand a far greater number of staff and a lot of additional logistical considerations. Are you ready for that?”

“I guess you’re right… I never thought about it that way, but I must say I enjoy having so many other people around here working with us. It really makes it feel like a happy workplace… almost something like a festive group of journalists or something!”

“I think what we should do is wait for the outcome of this competition and then we will really be able to judge the quality of our magazine. If we do well in the competition, I will have far more confidence in branching out internationally,” I say and Stacy nods her head.

“I think that’s a great way of looking at it. At this point we can’t really tell exactly how we stack up against the competition and if we don’t really shine in the competition then we will know we need to ratchet up our quality… On the other hand, if we do really well, then sky’s the limit and then I think we should just continue branching out and exploring all possibilities for expansion.”

The next couple of weeks are really crazy and we work very hard on our next issue. Stacy gets a lot of new advertisers and everyone pulls their weight with the articles, so that we end up with almost twice the output we achieved for the previous issue. Even Brad gets in on the action and makes some suggestions about the layout of the magazine. It turns out he has quite an eye for that kind of thing and I find myself surprised, once again, at ease artistic talents. He often plays me songs on his guitar and he has promised to have a special evening at his house one night where he will entertain me with a full show of guitar music. I really look forward to it and keep telling him that he should take his music much more seriously. I get the feeling that he can be really good and I know that he needs something like that in his life to really excite him. He has lots of people taking care of the international chain of hotels he inherited from his dad and I get the feeling that music can become something he ends up doing professionally.

“Can I have a talk with you in the boardroom?” Stacy says one day as she appears magically in my office door.

“Why? Is something wrong?” I asked, slightly concerned.

“Just meet me in the boardroom in two minutes!” Stacy says with a smile and I wonder what the hell is going on. I close my laptop and walk over to the boardroom. Stacy is already seated at the table and everyone else gets up as I walk in. I don’t recognize any of these people and I wonder why Stacy has called them all together in the boardroom without telling me about it.

“Congratulations Jenny! We are the judges from the online magazine competition and we are here to tell you that your magazine has won!” an elderly gentleman with a white beard says and shakes my hand warmly. Everyone else around the table starts clapping and take turns congratulating Stacy and myself on winning the competition.

“I thought it would be a nice surprise for you to hear it this way… I got a phone call earlier and they told me that the judges wanted to meet with you to tell you in person that we are the winners!” Stacy says with a broad grin on her pretty face. Someone opens a bottle of champagne and soon we have a full-blown celebration going in the boardroom. I invite the rest of the staff and everyone is over the moon with our achievement.

“I guess this answers the question you and I were discussing the other day about going international,” I say and Stacy nods her head excitedly.

“Yes! I don’t think we need to wonder about it any longer and we should just take whatever steps are necessary to start branching out!”

The rest of the day turns into a permanent festival at work and I can tell that we’re not really going to get much more work done. I give everyone the rest of the day off and Stacy and I end up in my office, drinking more champagne and discussing our plans for the future. Brad calls and tells me that he is very proud of me and that we will celebrate my achievement properly when he gets back from a short road trip with his biker friends. I insisted that he should go with them, even though he was reluctant to leave me alone. I told Brad that the security guard is taking really good care of security around the office and that he could rest assured that I would be safe while he was gone. I don’t want him to end up neglecting his friends and later on resenting about it, so I told him that he should still do the odd road trip with his motorcycle club.

“Brad will only be back tomorrow, so I think us two girls should go out tonight and paint this town red!” I say as I drain my champagne glass.

“Sounds like a plan to me!” Stacy says and pours us the last champagne from the bottle. We are both far too tipsy to drive, so we take a taxi cab back to Stacy’s apartment and decide that we will both just touch up our makeup and then take another cab into town.

“Where should we go?” Stacy asks.

“I heard there’s a new club open on the platinum mile and apparently the music is very good. Why don’t we just go there?” I suggest. Stacy agrees that it’s a good idea and half an hour later we catch another taxi in front of her apartment. We take a ride down to the new club and when we get there we see that there is a massive queue of people waiting in front. Fortunately, the bouncer notices us and waves us to the front of the queue. He lifts up the red rope and tells us that we can go in without waiting in the queue. We feel just like royalty and I wonder if the evening can get any better than this.

“It feels as if the entire universe is opening up in front of us,” Stacy remarks as we manage to find an open table near the bar.

“It certainly does feel that way… Isn’t it strange how all the good things seem to come all at once?” I say and wave at a waiter nearby. He quickly walks over to our table and we order ourselves some exotic cocktails to continue our celebration.

“I really think we should have something to eat, just to offset the massive amounts of alcohol we have been drinking all day!” Stacy suggests and we end up ordering a platter with expensive snacks. There’s caviar, blue cheese, salmon and fruit which will provide us with enough energy to go all night long. After a while we decide to go dancing and, even though we didn’t really spend much time making ourselves pretty, we soon have a large circle of male admirers who try to move in on our personal space to dance with us. I just ignore them, but I see that Stacy is really enjoying the attention and I find myself wondering, once again, whether she has a steady boyfriend or not. If she does, she’s keeping it very quiet. I feel almost certain that there isn’t someone in her life… after all, we share absolutely everything and if she had a man I would certainly have known about it.

After a while we go back to our table and have some more drinks and snacks. I look at my phone and see that I have two missed calls, both from Brad. I quickly call him back, but there is so much noise inside the nightclub that I can’t hear a word he’s saying.

“I love you!” I shout into my cell phone and then end the call. I quickly write Brad a text to tell him that I couldn’t hear him above all the noise and that he should text me what he wants to say to me. I sit there anxiously, waiting for Brad’s reply… But then I drop the phone out of my hand as I see someone standing right next to our table. It suddenly feels as if my heart has been clutched in an icy grip by some invisible hand… I look up at the massive biker who came to my office a couple of weeks ago to insult and threaten me.

“I see that the two of you are having quite the time out here tonight,” he says in a rough voice and I can tell that he’s been drinking a lot.

“Listen, I don’t want any trouble and I suggest you just leave!” Stacy says but the biker shoves her so hard with his hand that she falls off her chair. I look around frantically for a bouncer, but the place is so full and there is so much going on that no one even notices the altercation we’re having with this violent man.

“I think you’d better leave us alone!” I shout at the top of my voice, “my boyfriend will soon be here and then he’ll teach you a lesson!”

“You mean Brad? As far as I know he’s out on a little road trip with his biker buddies so I am not expecting him anytime soon,” the filthy biker says and grabs me by the arm. His grip is like a vice and, even though I try my best to escape from it, he very easily pulls me away with him as he starts walking towards the entrance of the club.

“Leave me alone you bastard!” I shout but he just keeps dragging me with him.

“You know what? I paid my full share of the seven hundred and fifty thousand dollars that night at the virgin auction and I don’t feel like I got quite enough of you at the gang bang afterwards… I was thinking we can go over to my place and have some more fun tonight!” he growls and I can tell that he’s very serious. He’s planning on raping me and perhaps even doing me serious bodily harm! He finally pushes me outside and, at last, one of the bouncers notices that I’m having a problem. He quickly rushes over, but before the bouncer can intervene I hear a beautiful, familiar voice calling out.

“Leave him to me!” Brad shouts and when I look to my left I see that he’s standing right next to the bouncer. The massive biker lets go of my arm and he looks straight at Brad with a very menacing posture.

“Ronald Johnson, I would never have taken you for a rapist and a woman abuser… But I guess we learn something new every day, don’t we?” Brad says and I can tell that he and the massive biker know each other.

“Why don’t you just cut it out! I’m sick and tired of you telling everyone in the motorcycle club what to do and I think I should remind you that I know your girlfriend reasonably well myself! Or have you forgotten…”

My attacker doesn’t get any further, as Brad moves forward at lightning speed and executes a flying kick which looks like something straight out of a martial arts movie. He connects the massive biker flush in the face with his boot and the guy goes flying through the air from the sheer force of the kick. But Brad isn’t finished with him. He rushes forward and, as the bastard would-be rapist staggers to his feet, Brad unleashes a flurry of kicks and punches on him which are so stunning and powerful that the large biker is soon bleeding from wounds all over his face and body. My hero finishes it off with a roundhouse kick which connects the large biker on his temple and sends him down for the count. Stacy appears out of the blue and kicks the biker in his ribs. It’s a bit of an overkill, but I actually feel like the bastard deserves it. After all, he was the one who knocked Stacy down inside the nightclub and it’s only fair that she gets to pay him back in kind. It’s easy to tell that the massive bastard isn’t going to get up after all of that and as I look up I see a police van pulling up with flashing lights and a siren.

Brad rushes over to my side and gives me a big smile. He pulls me close to him and I feel incredibly safe as I stand there in his arms.

“Don’t worry, everything’s going to be okay now,” he whispers in my ear and I’ve never heard a sweeter sound in my entire life.

“But how did you know what was going on? How did you get here so fast?” I ask and look at Brad with a perplexed expression.

“That’s what I was calling you about,” Brad says and looks me straight in the eye, “I was telling you that me and the other guys from the motorcycle club decided to come home early and that I’ll be coming to meet you here at the club.”

“That’s fantastic news, but how did you know we were here?” I ask, still perplexed.

“You’ve got your friend Stacy to thank for that… she texted me earlier and I asked her not to tell you I was on my way as I wanted to surprise you here tonight,” Brad says with a broad grin, “When I called you I was actually just pulling up in front of the club on my Harley and I was going to tell you that I’ll be meeting you inside in a minute.”

I looked over and see Stacy standing right next to me with a big grin on her face.

“You and your surprises, you’re going to give me a heart attack one day!” I say and give Stacy a big hug.

“Thank God Brad arrived in time and that you’re safe,” Stacy says and then the three of us all have a group hug together.

“What the hell is going on here?” the cop who pulled up earlier in his van asks as he joins our conversation. The bouncer walks up and quickly informs the cop of everything that happened.

“That bastard over there on the ground tried to abduct this girl,” the bouncer says and points his finger at me, “and then this guy over here saved her from his attack.”

Stacy also starts talking to the cop and gives him her statement. She tells him all about the way the same man had come to my office a couple of weeks earlier to insult and threaten me. She also tells the cop how the man had shoved her off her chair inside the nightclub and I can see the cop getting angrier by the minute as she continues talking to him.

“I guess we have your boyfriend to thank for the fact that you’re safe… but don’t worry, your attacker is already handcuffed in the back of my police van and I can assure you that he’s going away to jail for a very long time,” the cop says to me and when I look over at his van I see my attacker sitting there with his bloodied face, still looking dazed and confused.

Eventually, everyone who came outside to look at the debacle goes back inside the nightclub and we all decide that we’ve had enough entertainment for the evening.

“I think you should come and spend the night with me at my house,” Brad says and I nod my head gratefully. We say good night to Stacy as she gets into a cab and then I get on the back of Brad’s Harley and hold on tight to his strong body as he drives us home to his place.