Romance: My First Time With The Tycoon

by Ally Nelson

  “I guess if you don’t have tenure the school doesn’t really care about you.” She walked the rest of the way home thinking of what she could do to get a cash flow coming in.

  ****

  When Alicia got home, she wasn’t surprised to see an eviction notice on her two-bedroom apartment door. She had saved up enough to pay majority of her utility bills, but she was only able to give the landlord half of the rent.

  “These people are so money hungry, I told them I’d have the money as soon as my unemployment check comes.” Alicia ripped up the noticed and threw it into the garbage. She literally pleaded with her landlord and told him of her current predicament. He assured her that he understood what she was going through and was going to give her a little more time to come up with the money. So why did she come home just to find that notice on her door? Alicia got a big glass out of the cupboard and poured some orange juice into it. She then broke the seal of the vodka and poured it into the glass.

  “Things will be alright,” Alicia took a deep breath and swallowed the liquid. She was just going through a rough patch. She was doing all that she needed to do and now she had to be a little patient. After she drained the glass, she poured another mixture of vodka and orange juice. “Just keep trying,” she said again and drunk the contents of her glass. After a few glasses, she was starting to feel a little light headed. Alicia got up and went into her bedroom and grabbed her laptop. “Time to see what new postings are up” Once the laptop started up, she quickly went to a few sites that she went on to search and apply for jobs. She scrolled through the list of places hiring in her area and noticed that majority of the listings she either applied to, or emailed the company regarding the posting.

  “I’ll just check on another site,” typing in another name in her search engine, she scrolled through the list of jobs and it was the same result as before. All of the listings that were on the site she had already applied to. She slammed the laptop closed and lied down on her bed. Her head was spinning from the alcohol and she found herself to be pretty hungry. She didn’t get up though, feeling too lazy to cook anything she just lied there and let the warm tears fall down her face. Everything was going well in her life before this happened. She had to sacrifice a lot of things when she got laid off in order to have food and the basic necessities.

  Alicia was hoping that the alcohol would make her feel a little better, but it had appeared to have done the opposite. She was feeling worse than how she was feeling before she started drinking. “Just try to think positive Alicia.” She told herself and her eyelids began to get heavy. She didn’t take off her clothes or even wipe off her make-up; she simply allowed sleep to overtake her because she truly believed that she’d feel better with sleep.

  When Alicia woke up the next morning, she had a splitting headache. “Ugh, drinking didn’t help me at all.” Alicia said and got out of bed. She was surprised to see that she was still wearing the suit that she had been wearing yesterday when she was job hunting. Sighing, she took off her clothes and made her way into the bathroom. She turned on the tub and began filling it with water adding lavender, rosemary, and some more oils into the water. The oils had a soothing and relaxing effect and she needed all the relaxation she could get. She made the water as hot as she could stand it and lowered her body into it.

  “Ah” she moaned as the hot water caressed her sore skin. She leaned her head back against the wall and closed her eyes. She wanted to start this day optimistic and possibly have it end on a positive note as well. She grabbed her towel, dipped it in the oily water, and placed it over her face. She was sure she looked like she had been hit by a train. These oils would make her skin softer and it’ll reduce some of the puffiness she knew she had around her eyes. She stayed in the tub for thirty minutes and decided to get out once the water began to get cold. Alicia looked at her voluptuous body in the mirror.

  “I definitely could have done that waitressing job,” she spat out. She wasn’t the skinniest woman in the world, but she was thick and she knew that guys liked that. She had a lot to offer the restaurant and she knew that she would have gotten a lot of tips. She would’ve felt awkward if one of her former student’s parents came in and saw her working there, but she needed a job and they should know that times were rough when teachers were being laid off left and right. Alicia dried off her body and wrapped the towel securely around her. She went back into her bedroom and picked her laptop up off of the floor. She looked at the job posting sites that she looked at last night and noticed that they hadn’t posted anything new. She sighed and just as she was about to shut down her laptop, a classified ad caught her eye.

  “Looking for a mail order bride, must be in between the ages of twenty-five and thirty. Must be a BBW, dress well, and know how to cook.” Alicia looked at the ad I sighed. Who would respond to something like this? She looked at the benefits that the person would get. “$1,000 a week, room and board, and would be under the same health insurance as the client.” She thought that was good benefits, but there was no way she was going to do that. She looked to see if any teaching jobs had been posted and was surprised to hear banging on her front door.

  “Who could that be,” Alicia got up and opened her door not knowing that her life was going to be changed at that moment.

  Chapter Two

  “I can’t believe that you actually posted an ad like that.” Donald said as he and his brother Daniel had lunch together. Daniel shrugged his shoulders.

  “Hey man, I don’t be saying nothing to you with all those women you have coming in and out of your house. I’m just trying to find one.” Daniel said as he picked at his eggs.

  “Look, whoever answers this is clearly desperate and a prostitute.” Donald said quietly as a waitress walked passed them. “Plus you’re going to move the woman in your house. What happens if she’s a serial killer?”

  “I’ll run a background check on all the women that I am interested in.” Donald threw his hands in the air in disbelief.

  “You’re treating this like you’re hiring a new employee.” Daniel owned an advertising firm and for only being thirty-two years old, he was pretty successful. “Are you going to check her for diseases too? Because I know you’re going to sleep with her.” Daniel sighed and drunk the rest of his coffee.

  “You act like I’m going to pound her as soon as I see her.” Daniel said and wiped his mouth with a napkin. “I’m not doing this for sex, I’m doing this because I’m lonely and I don’t have enough time to date people.” Donald thought the whole mail order bride idea was crazy. He didn’t even know where Daniel got this idea from.

  “You didn’t answer my question,” Donald said and folded his arms. “You’re going to get her tested right? Regardless of what you’re saying now you’re going to eventually sleep together.”

  “Yes for crying out loud.” Daniel barked out. Donald was quite persistent when it came to Daniel’s love life. Daniel was older than Donald by two years, but Donald acted like he was the oldest. “I’m too old for the lectures; I don’t even know why I told you.” Donald ran his hands through his spiky hair.

  “Stop acting childish and I won’t lecture you.” Donald responded. Daniel glared at Donald and called the waitress over.

  “Can we get our bill now?” the tone of his voice changed from angry to gentlemanly. The waitress blushed and smiled at him.

  “Of course, I’ll be right back.” The waitress walked away in a hurry.

  “What about her?” Donald asked pointing his head at the waitress. “She’s cute and she obviously wants to talk to you.” Daniel shook his head.

  “It’s just not that easy for me Donald.” Daniel said. It wasn’t like Daniel was a bad looking guy. He was six-foot-two and very lean. He and Donald was Brazilian and Daniel had dark hair and grey eyes. Donald was almost identical to his older brother, the only difference being that he had sandy brown hair with dark brown eyes. Daniel was constantly hit on by beautiful woman, but he didn’t have enough time to
date them. The mail order bride way of meeting a woman seemed like a good idea to him. She’d be living with him in his four-bedroom house so he didn’t have to rush and get off of work in order to pick her up for a date. Daniel was perfectly willing to buy someone’s companionship since it’ll take majority of the “hard work” out of dating.

  “Whatever man,” Donald said and watched as the waitress walked back over to them with the bill in her hand.

  “I got this.” Daniel said and picked up the bill. He placed three twenty dollar bills on the table and got up.

  “The food wasn’t that expensive was it?” Donald asked alarmed at the amount of money Daniel put down.

  “No I just gave her a forty-dollar tip.” Donald sighed. Daniel was the wealthier of the two men, but Donald had a good income coming in as well. He was the manager of a small sales company and he thought he did a pretty good job when it came to an income. However, he couldn’t see himself paying sixty dollars for a twenty-dollar meal.

  “So have you gotten many applications?” Donald asked as they walked out of Josie’s diner. Daniel nodded.

  “I interviewed some women, but they weren’t too interesting.” Daniel stopped walking and turned to look at Donald. “You should look into finding a mail order bride too; maybe you won’t be as promiscuous as you are now.” Donald laughed.

  “Please, I don’t need that because I am not as lonely as you.” Donald started walking again.

  “Let’s make it a little competition then,” Donald stopped walking and turned and looked at Daniel. He always was the competitive type and he enjoyed beating others at their own games.

  “I’m listening,” he said and folded his arms.

  “Since you think this is just some joke, I bet you two grand that if you order a mail order bride, you will find the relationship to be a similar experience as having a normal girlfriend.”

  “Deal,” Donald said and shook Daniel’s hand. Two thousand dollars was a lot of money and he could definitely use it. Plus, Donald thought there would be no chance that he’d look at a woman that he purchased as being a real girlfriend. He actually felt bad for his brother, losing two grand wasn’t some pocket change. “I look forward to taking your money.” Daniel smiled and let go of his brother’s hand.

  “I’m serious now.” Daniel said as the two of them walked towards Daniel’s 2009 Ford Focus.

  “So am I,” Donald said grinning. “When am I not serious when it comes to making money?” Daniel shook his head. His younger brother has always been greedy when it came to money, but Daniel did a lot of research on mail order brides. He was sure that his brother would fall for one just like he was sure that he would as well. “So how does this work?” Daniel pulled out his phone and brought up an app that specialized in making ads for mail order brides online.

  “Well for now you can help me interview some of my women,” Daniel said as he navigated through the website while Donald looked on. “It’s pretty simple. You make an account, tell them what type of woman interests you, and they pretty much write your requirements in a more professional manner.”

  “You’re paying the woman $1,000 a week plus room and board?” Donald asked in shock when he read through Daniel’s ad. Daniel closed the app and put his phone back in his pocket.

  “You weren’t supposed to read all of that.” Daniel said and turned his attention to pulling out of the parking lot.

  “You better sleep with whoever this woman is as soon as she moves into your house for that type of money.” Donald couldn’t believe that Daniel would pay that high for a woman. Donald would be lying if he said that the website didn’t intrigue him. He wasn’t a huge fan of meeting people online, but he could see the potential of building a relationship from it. Besides unlike Daniel, he was definitely planning on sleeping with any woman that he picked. He didn’t care about the romance side of it, he liked playing the field and taking woman as they came. He’d just treat the woman that he picked as one of his many conquests. “So when’s your next interview?”

  “I’m still going through the women who applied. I read their profiles and look at their picture first before I make a decision to pick a woman.” Daniel said as he eased his car on the expressway.

  “Let me check them out,” Donald said and held out his hand.

  “Why?” Daniel retorted. His brother was nosy and he honestly didn’t want him snooping through his phone.

  “I’m trying to help you out,” Donald said irritated. “If I’m going to help you in your interviews let me help pick out the women too. You’re pretty lame so I know what type of woman to choose for you.” Daniel held up his middle finger and Donald grinned. He thought about Donald’s request and thought that it would only be fair to let Donald help him choose the women as well.

  “Alright, but don’t go looking in my phone.”

  “Grow up I’m not a kid.” Donald said. Daniel grabbed his phone out of his pocket and gave it to Donald.

  “The app is the one with the pink shoe logo,” Donald chuckled.

  “Only you would have something like this on your phone as a man,” Daniel glared at Donald briefly from the corner of his eye. He wasn’t going to let him get to him so he just decided to concentrate on the road and to find a woman who he feels could satisfy him quickly.

  Chapter Three

  “I thought you were going to give me to the end of the month to come up with the remainder of the rent?” Alicia asked once her landlord handed her another eviction notice.

  “I’m sorry Alicia, you’ve been a very good tenant, but either you have the rent or you don’t.” Justin Stone never intended to give Alicia any time since she kept rejecting his invitation to go out for drinks. Alicia knew that he was interested in her, but Justin was a shark who preyed on dependent women. “If you don’t have the money now, you have until Friday to get it to me.” Alicia bit her lip trying her hardest to not cry. She didn’t want to give him the satisfaction of seeing her in pain.

  “I guess I’ll start packing then,” she said defeated. She loved her apartment and hated the man who took it away from her. Whatever slim chance Justin had in regards to him taking her out, he had none now.

  “I’m sorry that it has to be this way.” Justin turned on his heels and went towards the front door. Before he opened it he looked over his shoulder. “If you don’t want to move, maybe we could work something out?” Alicia was disgusted at the methods Justin went through in order to get her. She said nothing as she walked towards the door and held it open.

  “No thanks “Alicia said. Justin gave her an angry look, but she didn’t care. She slammed the door on him as soon as his feet had crossed the threshold. “Bastard!” she called out and fell to the floor. If she didn’t find a place to stay at soon, she’d be homeless. She’d lived in Bearcreek for a few years, but she was the only one from her family who stayed there. Her closest family member, her Auntie Joyce, was 1,000 miles away from her and she honestly didn’t want to move that far away. She had some hope that she might get her job back. Alicia got up from the floor, went back into her room, and picked up her laptop. The mail order bride ad was sounding more desirable as the minutes passed her by.

  “This is disgusting though,” Alicia said as her mouse cursor lingered on the apply button. “Am I really this desperate?” Alicia was willing to do a lot of things for work, but this was something that really would show how far she fell off of the totem pole. She scrolled up the ad again and looked at the picture of the man looking for a bride. “He is attractive.” Alicia said to herself. Alicia looked through the man’s profile and saw that he was relatively successful and one thousand dollars a week was better than the zero dollars a week that she was getting. Plus, she’d have some place to stay.

  “Well that’s if he chooses me,” Alicia said again. She thought that she matched his requirements. She was intelligent, attractive, between the ages that he specified. Here’s hoping for the best, Alicia thought and hit apply. She filled out the application
and sent a picture of herself with the rest of her contact information. The website looked legit enough and she did some research on it before she sent her personal information. She completed the application and the last thing that she needed to do was to wait for a response. Hopefully she got called in for an interview at one of the other places first and started working for them soon, but it was nice to have this as a back-up. If all that failed, she had enough money to stay at a hotel for a few weeks.

  “I just need this unemployment to come through quickly.” The unemployment office was currently fighting with the school that she worked for to get money from them. She honestly didn’t know why the school was fighting so hard, she just wanted what was due to her and they knew that the school laid her off without good cause. She was a great teacher, the parents and the students loved her. Alicia got up and went into the kitchen and made herself something to eat. Today was going to be another busy day of walking around and applying for jobs.

  ****

  The day proved to be eventful for Alicia, many of the places that she visited was only accepting applications, but she did have the opportunity to interview on the spot for a bowling alley a few blocks around the corner from her house. The interview went well and it seemed promising. The pay wasn’t that good though and it was for part-time work instead of full-time.

  “Definitely not good enough to get another place.” She said as she entered her apartment. She thought that if she could get two part-time jobs she would be able to save up for a smaller apartment, but nine times out of ten the apartment might be located in a not too good area of town. Alicia sighed and walked into her bedroom to check her email. She was surprised to see an email from the guy who had the ad for the mail order bride. She opened up the email quickly:

  Hello there. Thank you for applying to my “job” I guess you would say. I must say that you seem very interesting and you’re quite beautiful as well. I would like to meet up with you tomorrow afternoon for lunch (my treat of course). I know the nature of my request is odd and that you might find it a little nerve wrecking to meet up with a stranger (I know I would), so if you’d like to meet me at a diner that I think you would enjoy, I’d be happy to reimburse you for gas. Please let me know what time works for you and I’ll give you more details to the place if you’re interested.