Young tech firm CEO just looking to see what’s out there. I’m shy and quiet and have a hard time meeting women. Would love to chat with you. That one looked promising. I clicked the button to save his profile.
As I continued through all the profiles, one thing seemed very obvious – there were fake profiles on there. I had no doubt that some of the people who had profiles on OK Love were not legitimate people. But I hoped that I would be able to weed through them and figure out who was real and who wasn’t.
The real men seemed lonely and like they really wanted a partner. They were more than happy to email or talk on the phone to get to know their potential date. But they were not offering to buy plane tickets right away or fly you out within a week. The latter profiles made me nervous. Guys who said just message them and they would fly you to America were dangerous.
I decided to see if Ana’s guy, Gordon, still had his profile on the site. Surprisingly, I found him pretty quickly, just by searching the thirty-something guys in the Miami, Florida area. His profile seemed pretty normal. He seemed normal, and his pictures made him out to be a really handsome man. I could see how Ana fell for him.
His profile seemed pretty legitimate, although it somewhat concerned me that it said he had logged in only five minutes before. I wasn’t exactly sure why he would need to keep logging into his profile if Ana was already on her way to be with him. But who was I to judge him? Maybe he was saying his last goodbyes to other women he had talked to on there.
Still, it gave me a rotten feeling, and I worried about Ana. I always worried about Ana, though. She looked at the world through rose-colored glasses. She never thought that people were going to hurt her. She was trusting – sometimes too trusting. She fell for guys and the lies they told her all the time. I really wished she would have let me talk to Gordon via Skype before she had decided to run off with him.
I clicked the button to save his profile, too, just in case I needed to come back and check him out. I wasn’t sure if Ana had talked about me with him in any of their conversations, but I hoped he wouldn’t know who I was. If he didn’t know who I was, I could find out more from him later if she ended up going missing.
I hated that my mind kept thinking about all the horrible ways that he might not turn out to be the right guy. I really did hope that he was a good guy and would treat Ana right. I hoped she would have all the happiness with him that she could possibly have.
Reluctantly, I filled out my profile with the rest of the information Ana and I hadn’t given, and I closed my app. As much as I didn’t believe that it was possible to find a man who would be a good match for me, something deep down still had me hoping that I would be able to find him.
I decided to text some of my friends from work and see what they were doing with their night. I just couldn’t tolerate the idea of going home to an empty house and no one to talk to. My friends from work were all a little crazy, but they would be better than nothing on a lonely night.
Chapter Five
Chase
A half-day of work was better than nothing. And by three o’clock, I had to leave. There was nothing for me to do, and I really didn’t know what to do with myself. I hadn’t shown up to work on a regular basis in a very long time, and all of the jobs I used to be responsible for had been given away to other people in the office.
It did make me feel like crap that everyone always seemed so surprised when I showed up for work. It was as if they expected me to be a slacker, and when I tried to prove them otherwise, they were disappointed.
My job was mainly in managing our facility locations, but I tried to work on some marketing and social media when my father would allow it. His idea of business and mine were vastly different, though. He thought that as long as you put out a good product, there was no reason to market or advertise anything. My thought was that it was a new age, and marketing was an essential part of that new world. People used social media to find out about companies and without it, some people would never know about your organization or what it offered.
My job could have been so much cooler than what it was, if only my father would allow me to add my ideas to the business. But, he was too caught up in running the company the old way to understand the new world.
I’d had enough for one day, and as I got ready to leave the office, I called Carlos to see if he and Mathew wanted to hang out for the evening. I needed some time with them. Most evenings, their women would prevent them from coming out with me. But I hoped that for one night, they would give the guys a pass.
“Carlos, you free tonight?” I said, after I dialed his number from my parked car.
“Yeah, I could have a drink or two. But I need to get home at a decent time.”
“How’s Mathew doing? Think he’ll come out?”
“Yeah, he and his old lady are arguing. I’ll pick him up on my way over.”
“Meet you at Club Kitty around ten?”
“That’ll work.”
It felt good to have both of my guys coming out for the night. I really hated to go to the club alone. It was good for getting laid, but not so good for actually relaxing. The club was my vice; I knew it. Whenever I was stressed out, I always went there. It was kind of like my coping skill for dealing with life.
Women were a much better vice than what others had. I didn’t drink too much, and I didn’t do drugs. I liked women, and I liked spending money. So, in the grand scheme of things, those weren’t all that bad of vices to have. Women brought
much more pleasure than any substance ever could.
When I showed up at the club, around eight o’clock, I knew exactly what I wanted to do. I needed a sweet piece of ass that I could play with and blow off some steam before the guys showed up. There was no need to sit around and quietly wait for them. I could certainly keep myself busy with one of the lovely women that were in the club.
“Hey, George,” I said as I walked into an almost empty club.
“Chase, your dad has cut you off. I talked to him earlier today.”
“Oh, no worries. I’ve got my own funds. But I’ll just hold back on buying the rounds of drinks for everyone.”