Chadwick Johnson happens to be looking for fun, and fun is what he gets after meeting PJ, except its not what he had been expecting.
Find out what happens as the drama unfolds between these two. Especially when PJ decides to follow Chad back to a home she dreads.
Is this all worth it? Or they are both in for a rude awakening.
Chapter 1
“NEVER ever treat any woman like this,” Peggy James screamed with all the fury of a woman scorned and tried to kick the man already groaning on the ground, except this time he deflected her foot swiftly.
“You’re mad lady,” the man hollered back and flinched when PJ glared at him.
That made her even more furious, her mad? He was the mad one for assuming that she was a hooker and wanted to get it on with her in an alley.
A few insults followed as the man stared at her in horror while he remained lying on the ground and his hand covered where her heeled feet were likely to land again, if she decided otherwise.
PJ leaned forward and the man cowered.
Good for him, PJ thought before taking the jacket he had flung on the rail in the heat of the moment. That was before her senses came back and she realized that she was repeating the same mistake over and over again, by letting a man treat her like a floozy.
She was tired of it all. It was time she took charge of her life and this handsome man who thought she was demented could go to hell as far as she was concerned.
“I think I deserve this,” she hissed, holding up the jacket before she turned to hail a cab.
Chad was too stunned to stop her as PJ the demented woman, got into the cab. Sweet mother Mary, he would never have believed that such women existed.
He knew he could have defended himself and not cowered and let her treat him horribly, but his protective male instincts fostered by his forefathers had come to the forefront.
No man was ever allowed to lay a finger on a woman.
Chad groaned in pain from his tender nuts and stood up, glad at the fact that the mad woman was gone. Hopefully he would never ever encounter her. He groaned again as he took a step to the parking lot where he had left his car, not in the mood at all to call his cousin and ask for assistance. The cousin who managed to trick him into all this drama!
He swore under his breath when he got to his car and was reaching forth to the pocket of his non-existent jacket. Luckily PJ had left his pants on, but his keys, phone and wallet were gone.
His house was just a few blocks away, hence he decided to walk. Better yet, he could take in the sights of the nightlife of New York whilst at it.
The more steps he took towards his house, he found himself laughing at the thought of the mad woman. He had been pissed at first by her reaction but now as he thought about it, he saw the hilarity of it all.
“You should go out a little more Chad and forget what’s her name?” his cousin brother had advised at his house a few hours ago before his life became such a sorry mess.
His young sister and brother-in-law appeared to agree on that. He should have read the signs then that his day had been doomed from the start, especially when his young sister was agreeing to what his crazy cousin was suggesting.
“There are a lot of fish in the pond, waiting to be plucked out,” Jeremy had added while Chad looked at his womanizing cousin in horror.
“Please man, don’t let us down and be taken down by a mere slip of a woman.”
Well, that mere slip of a woman happened to have been his love. They had dated for almost a year and he had popped the question a week ago, thinking she wanted the same thing like him, except Cherise had other ideas.
She had looked around the well decorated room that had been made for just that occasion, glanced at his family and friends who were eagerly waiting to hear her reply, just as he was, looked deeply into his eyes before she whispered in regret, “I am sorry Chad but I can’t marry you.”
His jaw dropped since he wasn’t expecting that reply while his eyes almost popped out of their sockets.
“Ok, ok the party is over,” his young bulldozer of a sister hollered before she ushered everyone out. Chad was still stunned, frozen on the spot while trying to process what had just happened.
“I thought we had it good,” he whined like a woman, hating it the more as he rose from his kneeling position. “We have been dating for a year now and marriage is the next best thing to all this.”
“Listen,” Cherise held his hands and smiled. “You are a good guy Chad and I love you but…” she chewed at her bottom lip. Nothing good was about to come out, Chad just knew it because every time when a woman said they loved you with a but slotted in, it actually meant the worst was yet to come.
“But I don’t think you are ready for such a commitment.”
Huh, could the woman hear herself? There he had been, holding out an engagement ring to her and she thought he wasn’t ready.
“I mean your finances are not yet set baby. You still live with your sister and brother-in-law and to top it all off, I will have to travel to the back of beyond and maybe live there too.”
What is wrong with that,” he frowned.
“Well Chad this is home to me, I can’t go and live in Africa away from civilization.”
Good grief, did Cherise just diss his nationality then. She had always known from the moment they met that one day he would have to go back to his home.
The American dream my foot, this was all a fluke, he thought as he saw his girlfriend for the first time on what she really was.
She must have enjoyed parading him around as her ‘African boyfriend’. Suddenly it all seemed to make sense, on how she would proudly introduce him to her friends and remark, “Chad is from Safe Haven.” Then they would nod pretending to know before she added, “Africa.”
He should have realized then why she was always proud to parade him around, except he was madly in love with her and brushed it aside. Now come to think of it Cherise was such a snob.
Cherise smiled at his sister who had been unashamedly listening in on their conversation, wearing a broad smile on her face which was evident for all to see on how she had never liked her brother’s girlfriend while Chad’s heart broke into a million pieces. She smiled with that apologetic slant of her mouth before she nodded and left.
That young sister who had a wolfish grin on her face was the very same a week later suggesting that he moved on, more vocal in encouraging him to go out and sow his wild oats. She totally understood and would not tell their dear old dad what he was up to in a foreign land.
So, with their ill spoken advice on a Friday night, he finally went out.
As usual his cousin walked into the bar, forty-five minutes later and found him nursing a drink. He was dressed in a brown fur coat and gold necklaces on his neck.
“You know what you look like,” he asked Jeremy with a furrowed brow, staring at the pimp known as his cousin brother and got his answer from the grin Jeremy produced that revealed his gold teeth.
“Well, cuz, unlike you I have to use my pocket and not looks to get the girl.”
Chad rolled his eyes, using the pocket and looking like a pimp were two different things, he thought and watched Jeremy at work, smiling at the ladies as those who loved bling walked towards him.
Jeremy was more than willing to splurge his money on them.
Handsome pocket, Jeremy mouthed, winked before he walked out of sight with two scantily dressed girls almost half his age. Chad could as well imagine his uncle turning in his grave at what had become of Jeremy in America.
***
“UNBREAK my heeeaaaart; say you will loooove me again. Undo this huuurt you caused when you walked out of the door,” PJ sang as tears slid down her beautiful face. Her voice cracked at the last note and her friend Barb was heard hollering, “That’s it, you need to get out and stop moping around about that loser Tony.”
“Don’t you dare call him a loser,” she defended.
“Then what is he?”
“He is innocent in all this, Shaz is at fault. She seduced him. ”
“Can you even hear yourself? Shaz seduced him just like the other women did right. Poor Tony he is always forced to be in the company of light skirts,” Barb snorted before she pushed her towards the bathroom to get ready for their night out of carousing, as single, young available women.
“I give up on love,” PJ said when she came out of the bathroom and let her friend select a dress for her. What she longed for the most was to curl up in bed and weep further for her lost love, but Barb was having none of it. She settled for indifference instead and let Barb take the lead in this, no matter how outrageous what Barb might suggest sounded.
“Twelve years later and you still act in the same way you did when you first came to the city,” Barb looked at her with a frown before she threw a black dress at her.
“Wear that,” she advised. PJ took the dress and wore it. She pulled at it and asked, “Where is the other half?”
Her friend giggled. “Remember, you promised to let me take the lead in this an hour ago, before you went down the pity party lane and started singing to Toni Braxton.”
“I might have, but I didn’t mean that you turned me into a hooker.”
“There is a difference between a slutty look and a sexy one. I get why Tony was snagged by Shaz, you have let yourself go.”
PJ glared at her friend for even saying that out loud. Barb pretended not to have noticed the glare but rather wore a red dress that showed off her curvy figure before she settled down on the bed and started applying her makeup.
“Once we are out there in the club, hook up with a handsome guy; make sure he is loaded too.”
PJ snorted, “Geez Barb, I wonder how that could be accomplished, should I ask for his bank details the moment he says hi.”
Barb rolled her eyes, “I am serious though, handsome and loaded is what you need,” she advised then turned to face her. “Why cry in a poky little flat like ours after being ditched by a man. Imagine if you got involved with a rich guy, when he ditched you at least you would be left weeping in a mansion than be back here stuck with your former roommate again.”
“There is nothing wrong with this place and neither is Tony’s place or his finances.”
“There definitely is, for starters Tony doesn’t deserve you and you worsened your plight by moving in with him. He had it pretty good since his money was his while you paid for everything.”
With the way Barb was laying it out thick, PJ felt like a doormat.
“If I were your girlfriend, I would be painting the town red and saying good riddance to bad rubbish,” she finished and resumed with the last touches of her make up before she stood up.
PJ huffed; it was so like Barb to turn her four-year relationship with Tony into nothing but a pile of ash.
“You know what, I get it. Let’s just go and party,” PJ ground out before she literally fled from her ever honest friend.
Chapter 2
THEY managed to get into the latest trending club and PJ was shocked at the spectacle that Barb made of herself, twerking like no man’s business.
“PJ, I didn’t expect to see you here,” a voice that she knew so well spoke from behind her back. She had left Barb dancing with a guy she came across on the dance floor and was now waiting for her drink. She was feeling parched from all the dancing she had done so she could forget about you know who.
Whirling around, as she had suspected Tony was standing right behind her with his hands in his pockets. She nearly drooled. He looked so handsome. Why is it that she had a weakness for the tall, broody types that spelt mystery?
Not forgetting who had the audacity to cheat on her whilst she was mourning her mom’s death.
She sighed and was brought to mother earth when Shaz, her number one enemy at the moment wrapped her claws around Tony.
He turned around and gave her a kiss. After the long kiss, Shaz acted surprised like she was now noticing that PJ was there.
“Aw, hi PJ fancy seeing you here.”
The nerve of the woman, pretending like she hadn’t noticed me standing near Tony. PJ smiled at the same time wishing she could murder someone.
“Be a darling and order a drink for me honey,” Shaz said to Tony before she turned to PJ.
Tony smiled and left the two ladies alone.
He has turned into a puppy that could be told to ‘fetch’ by dear old Shaz and do just that, PJ thought.
“So how have you been?”
A glass of her favorite martini was slid on the counter towards where she stood. PJ reached out to it and gulped it down immediately before she brightly answered, “Just great,” and flicked her finger to the beat.
She wasn’t in the mood to make small talk with her former friend. When she was done downing out the contents of her drink, she slid the glass back to the bartender who winked at her before she turned and started walking away.
She hollered, “It has been nice seeing you again Shaz, I see Barb calling out to me on the dance floor.”
“PJ wait,” her former friend said and touched the sleeve of her dress. PJ looked at her hand and Shaz pulled it back after seeing the glare.
“I am sorry about what happened. Tony loves me and I love him,” Shaz said.
“What do you need me for then if you are so in love with each other, hmm?” she furiously asked.
Shaz wrapped her arms around herself in a protective manner before she answered, “We never intended to hurt you. We resisted the growing attraction for a while but it was futile. I was hoping PJ that in due time, you will find it in your heart to forgive us and once we move past the hurdle we can be friends again.”
PJ was lost for words. Was Shaz really serious about this? What sort of sick joke was this? Her becoming friends again with the woman who had betrayed her and taken her man, the girl had some nerve.
She clapped her hands instead. “Bravo to you. That was a nice speech there and for a second I nearly believed it to be coming from the bottom of your heart except you don’t have one. Kudos to you, you deserve an award for this,” as she spoke, her voice raised a notch higher.
“PJ you’re causing a scene,” Shaz said while her eyes ran around the club.
“Why wouldn’t I cause a scene, tell me and don’t you dare touch me with those filthy hands of yours,” she warned before walking a step further towards the dance floor.
“Listen everybody, this floozy right here,” she shouted and pointed at her former friend. “Stole my man and she has the audacity to want to still be friends with me huh!” she chuckled in disbelief. She could feel a few glances glued at her from the spectacle she was making of herself, but she was beyond caring.
“PJ!” Shaz managed to say and looked at her resolutely. PJ knew that look ever since they were kids in that Shaz would have made up her mind on something. Shaz shook her head then trudged on with what she wanted to say, “You will understand once you meet the one.”
“And you think Tony wasn’t the one for me.”
Shaz nodded.
“What makes you think that,” PJ yelled. She was already panting with her hand curled in a fist, resisting the urge to slap her former friend.
“Five times, that’s how many times Tony has left and come back to me. And you think you are the one for him, stop kidding yourself Shaz,” PJ angrily said.
“This time it’s different.”
PJ looked at her in disbelief.
“We are engaged PJ,” Shaz muttered under her breath.
PJ could feel her heart shutter into a million pieces in that instant. Four years and that was the payment she got from being the loyal girlfriend to Tony.
She had stayed with him, cooked and tended to his every need and now he was engaged to her best friend.
She looked at her former friend who was staring at her with pity evident in her eyes and she hated Shaz the more. She hated the fact that Shaz had succeeded where she had failed, to make Tony commit to their relationship.
PJ had tried everything to no avail until finally she resigned herself to being just the girlfriend. She should have listened to her mom who had always advised her never to give it out easily. If a man had the cow at hand and was milking it, what was the use of buying it?
How she suddenly missed her mom.
She continued staring at Shaz. They had been friends ever since they were kids and a man had managed to tear that friendship apart. Shaz smiled at her horrified expression and to PJ it was another stab to her. She was rather enjoying this after all like Barb had insinuated before.
That’s it; PJ thought and furiously lunged at Shaz. She was tired of being the civil one in all this and acting all mature while Tony and Shaz had fun even after breaking her heart. Enough was enough.
“PJ,” a voice drifted from further away, bringing her back to the present. Everything was the same. People dancing and shouting, Tony walking away to get a drink for his lady and PJ not at all the lunatic she had felt she was.
She gulped down, shocked at having such a vivid imagination, but this PJ did not fight over a man, she was civilized. Her mother’s genes were at the forefront when it came to matters of the heart.
Shaz turned to face her after noticing that Tony was further away and wouldn’t hear what she had to say.
“You’re looking good PJ,” she commented and flicked her hair with her finger. The glint of the ring on the finger could not be mistaken. “So do you,” PJ swallowed hard, suppressing the emotions before she excused herself and walked away. Her daydream hadn’t been far-fetched after all.
Yvonne Sibanda 