One Wild Night

"It\'s Jeff," he informed her and then chuckled at something Jeff said.

"I believe she has forgiven you. But you\'ll have to confirm for yourself when you see her," Bryan said and then paused as he listened to Jeff again.

"Alright, sure. I will try to see if I can convince Samantha to prepare some for you both," Bryan said before hanging up.

"Jeff sent his apologies, and Mia sent her love," Bryan said as he scrolled through his phone for Samantha\'s contact.

Sonia smiled at the mention of Mia, "Is she living with Jeff?" Sonia asked as she went to sit beside Bryan.

"Yeah. Didn\'t I mention that they will both be sharing Tom\'s apartment? I mean the one beside Lucy\'s apartment," Bryan said as he dialed the number, and Sonia shook her head.

"Maybe you did, and I forgot. Is everything alright?" Sonia asked curiously since the tone of the conversation from Bryan\'s end had been serious when she walked in.

"Give me a second," Bryan told Sonia when Samantha received his call, and he quickly requested for her to pack a meal for Mia and Jeff.

Once he was done, he faced her again. "Everything is okay. Jeff called to report the expected issues following the interview. Paul had been breathing fire initially but seeing how the agency\'s stocks keep plummeting. He is now wanting to reconcile. Unfortunately, he can\'t get through to me anymore, so he is bothering Jeff and Mia," Bryan said with a sigh.

Jeff had started buying out as many of the shares as he could get the moment the stock began to fall. Bryan had done his best by trying to warn Paul that Tom was involved and he was a little fish in the ocean filled with sharks, but Paul had not paid heed to his advice. Now Paul was going to lose Golden Star, and he would have no one to blame but himself.

"Do you feel bad about it?" Sonia asked as she studied his expression.

"No, I don\'t. His greed and ego put him in this situation, not me. Derek, on the other hand, is threatening to take Jeff to court for using him and tarnishing his image in that manner. And there are a couple of calls from producers and companies who want to meet with me to discuss movie roles and endorsement deals," Bryan summarized, and Sonia smiled.

"It\'s all good. I know you can handle all of it," Sonia said confidently, and Bryan nodded.

"Yeah."

"So we are going to see them?" Sonia asked, and Bryan looked at her with an unreadable expression.

"I\'m going to see them, but you are welcome to go with me if you want to," he said, and Sonia rolled her eyes.

"Did you have to say it that way? Sounds like I\'m actually not welcome to come with you," she said, and Bryan shook his head.

"No. That is me saying I can\'t dictate for you or us. I\'m leaving you to make the decision to come with me on your own. You could have made other plans to hang out with Lucy or Jade or even to write," Bryan said, and Sonia sighed.

"Alright. I\'ve heard you, and I\'m coming with you. I don\'t think I have other plans. I\'m not sure I will be setting eyes on Lucy today. She already made it clear she belonged to Tom for the whole of the day. The house will be boring without you. Jade is busy. Candace and Jamal should have left for Harry\'s by now. And your parents and the Perrys are busy with their own stuff. So you see? You are stuck with me, my dearest boyfriend," Sonia said with a grin as she placed both hands on his cheeks and pulled them together to make a funny face.

Bryan chuckled, "I guess this is one reason people go into relationships. They want someone who will be with them when all their friends are too busy to hang out," Bryan said dryly, and Sonia shook her head.

"No, I don\'t agree. Or maybe I agree, but only partially. We go into relationships because we want our own person. Someone who can fulfill some, if not all, of our emotional needs. Someone we click with both physically and emotionally. Someone who I expect to cuddle me and kiss my shoulder or neck or forehead or knuckles whenever we make physical contact," Sonia said as she stood from where she was seated and sat on his thigh, making Bryan laugh.

"Like this?" he asked as he kissed her shoulder.

"Yeah. Someone whose presence makes our eyes light up. Sometimes you get tired of just fucking and want someone you can make love with. Someone who makes us feel at home like you make me feel," Sonia said as she gazed into Bryan\'s eyes, and he held her gaze.

"Do I really make you feel that way?"

"Yes, you do, baby. And that\'s why you are stuck with me," Sonia assured him, and Bryan grinned.

"You are stuck with me too," Bryan said, and then he kissed her.

"I was going to ask, is Lucy the only friend you have? I\'ve never heard you talk about anyone else," Bryan asked after he broke the kiss.

"Not anymore. I have Jade and Candace now, while Lu remains my best friend. Although before now, I had other acquaintances, yeah. But Lucy used to be like my only friend. I was her only friend too," Sonia explained, and Bryan nodded.

"What about you? Is Matt your only friend?" She asked, and Bryan shook his head.

"No. I used to have a lot of friends, but because of my career, I couldn\'t always keep up. It\'s easier to be friends with Matt because we share the same career," Bryan explained and then glanced at the wall clock.

"I should probably go see Jade now concerning Derek\'s lawsuit threat," Bryan said as he attempted to rise, but Sonia held him back.

"Derek is not going to do anything. He\'s merely barking, so let\'s not give him any more attention than we have already..."

"And what if he goes ahead to do it?" Bryan asked, and Sonia shrugged.

"Then I hope you don\'t mind others seeing the nude pictures he sent to you \'cause I\'m going to sue him for that," Sonia said, and Bryan shook his head.

"Nah. I don\'t want that. Not because I\'m ashamed or anything. I just don\'t want your business out there more than it is already. I won\'t let things get to that extent," Bryan said, and Sonia sighed.

"Alright. But you have to wait a bit before meeting Jade. She is distracted right now. Her mind is filled with thoughts of Harry, and they\'re probably still talking over the phone right now, or she might be getting ready to go over to see him. He sent her flowers and chocolates just to say good morning. It was so beautiful and heartwarming to see her speechless after fuming only minutes before," Sonia said with a grin, and Bryan chuckled.

"Flowers and chocolates?"

"Yep. And a handwritten note. It was such an old-fashioned and sweet gesture. We were all touched. By we, I mean your mom and Janet included," Sonia said, and Bryan made a mental note to do that for her sometime in the future.

"I see. Let\'s get ready to leave, then. I can talk to her on our way out," Bryan said, and they both rose and helped each other undress before going in to shower.

They were still in the shower when Bryan\'s phone started ringing, and Bryan quickly finished up and left Sonia in the shower to get his phone.

Bryan quickly covered up in his bathrobe before reaching for his phone, and he received the call immediately he saw that it was Matt.

"What\'s up, man?" Bryan asked as he sat back on the bed.

"Read you showed up like a fool with flowers to surprise Sony but ended up getting surprised," Matt said in amusement, and Bryan chuckled.

"It\'s good to see you\'ve finally learned how to use your phone, dumbass," Bryan fired back.

"Seeing how lively you sound, I take it you and Sonia are cool now. You\'re no longer sulking like an idiot," Matt taunted.

"You\'re such a bastard. How was your date last night?" Bryan asked when he recalled that Matt had mentioned something about a date the previous day.

"Man, I don\'t want to talk about it," Matt said with a groan, and that piqued Bryan\'s curiosity even more.

"Did something happen?" Bryan asked with a grin, eager to hear it so he could taunt Matt.

"Not exactly. I found out she is a weightlifter," Matt said in a tone that made Bryan sputter with laughter.

"That was not supposed to be funny," Bryan said as he tried to compose himself while Sonia, who had just stepped out of the shower, looked at him with interest, wondering who was on the phone.

"Well, it isn\'t. I\'m just not cut out for being with someone that could sweep me off my feet literally," Matt said dryly, and Bryan chuckled as he watched Sonia move around as she dressed up.

"Can you believe she asked how much I weighed? She kept going on and on about how people never believed she was a weight lifter because of her physique, and she even joked about lifting me from the restaurant door to my car at the end of our date," Matt said, and Bryan laughed harder.

"Well, look on the bright side. On your wedding day, you get to try something different. The bride can lift the groom bridal style," Bryan said with laughter, and Matt found himself chuckling too.

"I\'m really not against her hobby, career, occupation, or whatever she chooses to call it. But I\'d rather be with a feminine woman. You know, someone who can rely on me for protection and who will call me to help her lift stuff and open jars or containers. That sort of thing," Matt explained.

"Yeah, I get what you mean. So how did it end? Did you let her lift you to your car?" Bryan asked in amusement and reached out to slap Sonia\'s ass playfully when she walked past him.

"Of course not! Paul called for an impromptu meeting, so we had to call it a night. I dropped her off at her apartment, but I never looked back after I drove off," Matt said, and Bryan raised a brow.

"You didn\'t kiss her goodnight or go in for coffee?" Bryan asked, and Matt chuckled.

"She offered, but I told her I was in a hurry. There was no need to lead her on," Matt said with a sigh.

"So about Paul," Matt continued.

"Paul?"

"Yep. I told you he called for a meeting last night. That brings me to the second reason I called..."

"You don\'t intend to ask me to settle with Paul, do you?" Bryan asked with disapproval.

"I would be an idiot to do so, considering all he has said and done. Paul is desperate, and everyone at the agency is worried. I\'ve received quite a number of phone calls this morning. One thing I know for sure is that Paul didn\'t expect you to do that interview or sell him out that way. You can\'t imagine the effect your action is having on the stock," Matt said, and Bryan shrugged.

"I warned him. What about you? Why don\'t you jump out of the sinking ship and join I-Global entertainment?" Bryan offered.

"I was going to get to that later. I overheard something disturbing. Something about Paul taking pictures of you and Sophia in compromising positions," Matt said, and Bryan raised a brow.

"Where did you hear that?"

"Paul\'s office. He was inside the office talking with Sophia when I arrived. It\'s the weekend, so his secretary wasn\'t around. I overheard them before I could make my presence known," Matt explained, and Bryan shook his head.

"He\'s never going to stop plotting, is he?"

"Well, I confronted him. I couldn\'t just pretend I didn\'t hear anything. I just called to be sure you had nothing with Sophia," Matt said, and Bryan smiled.

"I didn\'t. The funny thing is I suspected it. I told Sonia there was something suspicious about Sophia the last time I saw her. She was all over me, and that was weird," Bryan said, and Sonia paused to look at him.

"Well, I guess he is only trying to desperately reconcile now because you caught him. I\'m done with him."

"I\'m done too. I let him know I would be leaving Golden Star as soon as I was done with my pending assignments. I can\'t keep working with someone like him," Matt said, and Bryan laughed happily.

"I love this. I will let Jeff and the others know about this. We will be looking forward to having you here."

"I\'m beginning to look forward to that too. Give my love to Sonia. I have to go now," Matt said before hanging up.

"What was that about?" Sonia asked curiously, and Bryan told her all they had discussed.

Sonia smiled, "I\'m glad his date didn\'t work out. I want things to work out between him and Candace. And with him coming down here, I think there is a chance for them."

Bryan angled his head as he thought about it, "Oh, shit! Now he\'s going to have to deal with Harry and their dad too," Bryan said, and Sonia giggled.

"How I love Ludus," Sonia said as she picked up her phone to text Candace to let her know it didn\'t work out between Matt and his date. Although Candace didn\'t ask her for such information, and Candace denied being interested in Matt, Jade had told her about their agreement. So Candace could try again.

​ Bryan glanced at his phone when it started ringing again and raised a brow when he saw it was from Matt, "Did you forget something?"

"Yes. Please don\'t tell Sonia about my date...."

"You called too late. I already did," Bryan said apologetically.

"Can you ask her not to tell your sister or Candace about it?" Matt asked hopefully. He didn\'t want Candace to know. He had deliberately told them he was going on a date because he wanted her to know he had moved on. He would feel too embarrassed if she heard of it.

"Sure, I will. Take care," Bryan said as he hung up the call and turned to Sonia.

"You\'re not to tell.... what are you doing?" Bryan asked when he saw she wasn\'t listening.

"I just sent a text to our girls\' group to let them know Matt\'s date didn\'t work. Now Candace can try to get him," Sonia announced with a grin, and Bryan groaned inwardly.

"So what were you saying?" She asked with a wide smile.