by Claire Adams
“I can’t promise I’ll marry you,” I said seriously. “I don’t want you to think I’m going to be willing to marry you just because I come over there to meet you.”
Chase’s expression perked up right away.
“So, you’ll consider coming over here?”
I really had not planned to go over to America to meet the first man I talked to online. And I wasn’t really agreeing to travel yet, but I did like the idea of meeting Chase. He was handsome, rich, and funny – there wasn’t much more I could ask for in a potential husband.
“I’ve got to be crazy…but, yes, I’d consider it,” I said as I covered my eyes with one hand.
I really couldn’t believe I was considering traveling halfway across the world to meet a man I had only talked with in Skype for a few hours. Obviously, we were going to have to talk much more before I would be willing to travel.
“I’m sure you’ll want to talk it over with your family and friends first. I’d be happy to talk to them on Skype, too. I can send you anything you need, so you know I’m not some maniac.”
“We should talk some more, and I’ll think about it.”
We continued to talk throughout the day, until the dark of night had engulfed me. I was searching for a reason to say no to him. I had my ears perked up just waiting for something to sound wrong, any reason, but nothing seemed to come. Our conversation flowed effortlessly, and I enjoyed talking to Chase as if we were old friends.
I had to laugh at the thought of him being a maniac. I knew that I should have him send me something to prove he was who he said he was. That was exactly what Ana and my mother would want if they were around. But they were both gone, so I had to make the decision myself.
“Let me see your driver’s license,” I said.
Chase didn’t hesitate and held his license right up to the camera so I could look at it. I took a quick screen capture of it to save to my phone, just in case I needed it later.
Maybe it was the idea of loneliness or maybe there was a real attraction between Chase and me. There was no way to know unless I went to the States to see him. I felt a chemistry between us like I hadn’t felt with anyone else ever, and we were still an ocean apart.
“Okay, buy me a ticket and I’ll come see you,” I said suddenly.
“What? Seriously? You’re amazing. You don’t have to stay if you don’t want to. I’ll buy a round-trip ticket for you so you can go back any time you’d like. Does that sound alright to you?”
“Of course,” I couldn’t believe that I had just agreed to go meet this man that I didn’t know.
“So, how quickly can you come?”
“I’m open to coming whenever.”
“Don’t your family and friends want to talk to me?” Chase asked.
“I don’t have any. I can come any time.”
Chase’s happy expression turned sad, and I knew it was going to be very difficult to say why I was totally alone. We both just stayed quiet for a minute, and I tried to keep a smile to lighten the mood a little.
“How about in two days? I’ll get a ticket for you in the morning on Thursday. Message me your full name and date of birth, so I can get it booked. I’m sorry you don’t have anyone, Jordan.”
His words hit me in just the wrong way, and I suddenly burst into tears.
“It’s okay,” I said as my tears flowed down my face.
“Oh, I’m sorry. I shouldn’t have said anything.”
I saw the genuine sadness in his eyes, and I thought he had to be who he said he was. I couldn’t explain it, but I just didn’t feel like a scam artist type of guy would have been sad for me when I said I didn’t have anyone. A scam artist couldn’t show that much emotion or, at least, so I thought.
“Well, I have a mother and a best friend. But they are both gone. They have moved on without me. I’m left alone here now.”
“Okay. So, come here with me. We can get to know each other more, and I can take you on a date,” he said with a smile.
I felt such electricity between us, and I really did want to meet him. I hoped that there would be the same kind of electricity between us in real life. I had never met a man that I felt that attracted to in real life. Most of the men I met kind of repulsed me. My chemistry and the guy’s chemistry just never seemed to be right, not that I had a ton of experiences dating.
I knew it was because I wasn’t around any good guys. But I really didn’t think there were any good guys at all in my entire country. I was convinced all the cute, good-looking guys had left Liechtenstein and went to other countries.
“Okay,” I said as I shook my head yes. “Okay, I’ll come.”
“Really?”
“Yes.”
I started to jump up and down with excitement. It was totally out of my character to do something like that. In fact, if my mother or Ana had done the same thing, I would have lectured them for hours. But I needed to change my life, and I felt sure that there was a connection with Chase.
Life is about taking bold steps, and I took the leap and said yes to go to visit Chase. It felt invigorating to do something so out of character for me. I hadn’t felt that alive in a very long time. I wasn’t one to use drugs, but I suspected the feeling I had at that time was exactly like the high people got when they did drugs.
“Okay, send me your information and I’ll get the ticket booked through my company.”
“Okay.”
“It was really nice meeting you, Jordan. I can’t wait to meet you in person.”
“You, too, Chase.”
“Okay, I’m going to get back to work. Message me later and we can chat some more. I’d love to talk to you more about your nursing and stuff.”
“Yes, I will. Talk to you later, Chase.”
“Later, Jordan.”
When we hung up, my whole body surged with energy, and I couldn’t believe what had just happened. I was crazy excited, and I needed to run and jump as much as I could. Nothing like that had ever happened to me before. I felt like I was in the middle of a fairytale, and I had just met my prince charming.
Of course, I was leery that it could all not be real at all. But I just felt like Chase was who he said he was. If I ended up being wrong, that would totally be my fault and I knew it. I was tired of taking the hard road and tired of always doing the right thing. For once in my life, I wanted to take the easy road. I wanted to meet a man that would care for me.
My heart wanted to go meet Chase, so that’s exactly what I was going to do. I was following my heart for once, instead of my brain. Speaking of my heart, it fluttered back and forth as if I had just finished running a marathon.
I looked around my apartment and started to grab all the things I knew I would have to take with me to America. If all went well, I would never have to return home again. Or maybe, just return home to visit my mother if she decided to live there.
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 7
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 that 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.”
“Nah, man, my pops can’t know about all this. I need to keep it on the down low.”
“You’re a little too preppy to be causing trouble with Jose. I feel like you’re going to end up getting your legs broken soon.”
Marco was right. There was only so much longer that I could stretch out my payments. Sooner or later, I would run out of money and not even be able to make the payment. It was going to be necessary for me to move quickly and really start showing my father how much I could settle down. I needed Jordan to say yes to getting married.
“I know, man. I’m working on it.”
“Tonight, Jose wants to talk to you if you aren’t making a full payment. I’ll have to go see if he has time to talk right away or if you’ll need to come back later.”
“I’ll wait.”
As Marco left me in the entry room of Jose’s house, I felt like I was being watched. There most certainly were cameras all around, and I knew they were on me right then.
A young guy about my age came out of Jose’s office and walked toward me and then out the front door. He was sweating and looked extremely scared. I could only imagine that he owed Jose some money and had been given his last warning. I also imagined that Jose and I were about to have a similar conversation, I hoped that I would be able to convince him to give me some more time.
Jose Escabar was more than just a local businessman. His connections with the Mexican drug cartel made him a very dangerous man. If anyone was going to try and break into his home or steal any
thing from him, they would have to be crazy. Security cameras and other monitoring devices were everywhere. They were so well hidden that I couldn’t see them, and I had been to the house several times. But I knew the cameras were there; I could feel them watching me.
The waiting was always the hard part when I had to meet with Jose. Although our relationship had started out as friends, the second I borrowed money from him, it all changed. Our friendship had turned to him being in charge of the money and me always wanting it.
When I was around him, I felt useless and without power at all. He had the ability to knock down even the biggest amount of confidence by just looking at a man. I admired him on one level; he did know how to demand respect. I couldn’t seem to get even the smallest amount of respect from my co-workers.
“Okay, Chase, he’s ready for you,” Marco said as he stood in the doorway.
I stood up and followed him into the large study area. It was a very pretty house, and in any different circumstances, I figured that I would love a tour, but not under the circumstances that we were in at the moment. In that moment, all I could think about was getting things settled and getting out of there as soon as possible.
“Hello, Jose,” I said as I reached my hand out to shake his.
For the first time since I had known Jose, he didn’t shake my hand back. It sent fear throughout my body. As much as I wanted to believe that he thought of me differently than his other clients, that move proved that he just saw me as some guy who owed him money. I didn’t want to be that guy. I didn’t like that feeling at all.
“Chase, you’re disappointing me, boy.”
“Sorry, Jose. Money has gotten tight.”
“Do I look stupid?”
“No.”
“You live in a million dollar home and have a billionaire for a father. Money is not tight. You don’t know what that even means.”
I understood his point. It was difficult to explain how I could have such a nice home and yet not feel like I had enough money for the things I needed to pay for. But I didn’t have the money, that was all there was to it. I didn’t have cash, and cash was the only way to pay Jose back.
