Net of Lies

Chapter 2

Chapter 2

Chad Townson, at thirty-years old is an extremely successful consultant who has lived his life on the edge, and to the fullest ever since he was a small child. He has been employed for the past six years at a very reputable business management consulting firm in St Louis, Missouri that gifts him an extremely well-earned six-figure income that has allowed him to continue to live his life on the edge and to the fullest every day.

Moreover, any experience or adventure that he could ever imagine is his for the taking if he so desires. Meeting, and entertaining beautiful women that most men could only drool over comes easy for him due to his outgoing personality, along with his strikingly handsome features.

Chad has always been a very charismatic and well put together man. Now and ever since college, women have been fighting for his undivided attention.

Standing at nearly six-feet-four-inches tall, with a body that had not changed much since his football days at Harris-Stowe University, a historically black university located in midtown St. Louis; his body was a gift from the gods.

His broad shoulders, strong arms, rock-hard chiseled chest, and firm stomach; in combination with his powerful, muscular legs and thighs made men work harder in the gym while making women ready to drop their panties at one glance.

Most people find his smooth, pecan colored skin almost mesmerizing to look at, many have said it was almost too perfect to be skin. His handsome chiseled face, which some would argue is his best asset is adorned with a perfectly defined jaw line, accented with a soft, extended goatee, which many has admitted is softer than a pile of down features.

His thick manicured eyebrows set his appearance aside from all others and when he smiled, it was almost blinding with his perfect white teeth and deep dimples.

When he looked at you with his low, piercing, green bedroom eyes, they were enough to send a chill up anyone’s spine that is within his spell. One thing that Chad never had a problem with were women, but he never thought at this point in his life he would still be fuckin’ with so many of them.

If things had gone his way, the original wedding date that was set for the previous month would have been kept and he and Courtney would already be married with a kid on the way.

It had been six months since Courtney left, and there was no indication that she was coming back. Chad could not bear to see her with another man, let alone bear the fact of knowing she was getting pleasured by someone other than him.

However, Chad did not want to interfere anymore with her life because when he did try to reconcile, she was not receptive and the last thing he wanted was to appear to try to force her to be with him.

Courtney argued that he continued to spend more time on his devices then he did with her and went on to tell him that she did not want to live like that. Sadly, for Chad, she proved that by walking away.

Chad did not deny that he spent a lot of time on social media, but he did not understand how it was causing her so much grief let alone be the reason for her unhappiness.

He could not fathom how that brought her to the point of walking away from a six-year relationship. Until she left, Chad felt like he spent quality time with his fiancé, but hindsight was a b***h.

Looking back, Chad realized how many times there were when the two were out together, that he would check his phone, or reply to a post, or simply just get lost in the online entertainment.

Never though did he ever step out on Courtney with anyone else, but for her, she felt like he was cheating on her with his phone. There would be times when she would wake up at 2am to find him online or scrolling through i********: instead of physically holding her as she lay right next to him.

The last thing Courtney wanted to do was leave Chad, she loved this man instantly when she first laid eyes on him. She fought for his attention and affection like so many other women had, but she was not going to beg him to stop his addictive behavior. She made it clear that she was not going to marry him in the state they were at.

His choice was obvious to her when he did not pull back on social media and his recreational phone usage, especially when they were together. This alternate world was more important to him than her and she knew what she had to do. This new hobby was simply something she knew she would not get used to.

In the past, they would talk about the couples that sat across from each other over dinner and not say a word. Instead, they were typing away on their devices rather than talking to who was right in front of them.

They also talked about the people that would vainly snap pictures of themselves in the middle of the sidewalks, during lunch, or while driving along in traffic to later post for everyone to see.

Both Chad and Courtney agreed that social media had become too much, and was taking over people’s minds, and to now see her future husband be caught in the trap was too much for her to bear.

“Aye nigga I see you thinking about going to the scholarship ball tomorrow night!” Chris text read as Chad walked into his elaborate office.

While reading the text, he remembered how Courtney would tease Chris about always being up to date on what was happening in the world via social media, and it was true, Chris was locked to it. He was the first to see the alerts and was always posting something every thirty minutes.

“Yeah man, I didn’t even realize it was time again,” Chad wrote back, not realizing how quickly into the new year they already were.

“Yeah man… already April of 2018! So, you already got your tickets? And what’s up with you tonight? Some of the fellas are getting together to have a few drinks later this afternoon… you down?” Chris wrote back.

“Nah dawg, I’m getting my tickets in a few, and thanks for the invite, but I got a little shorty coming through tonight, I met her this morning on a live chat, and she bout it!” Chad typed, smiling widely in the process.

“Yo, you need to be getting your woman back! Pass that one on to me lol, but on the real my nig… you need to be careful with meeting up with these random hoes! Remember man, sometimes things are not always what they seem on social media, this can be a make-believe world so just be careful,” Chris responded.

Chris and Chad were not only fraternity brothers, but the two were best friends. They met as pledges for Omega Psi Phi during their early college years and have stayed as close as brothers ever since.

Chris knew all about the situation between his two friends, he even apologized to Courtney personally for getting Chad introduced to social media.

Even though Chris was also obsessed with the platforms, one thing he never got into was the chat rooms and the random hook ups, even before he got married. He knew the dangers social media presented and was afraid his friend was going to deep into the rabbit hole and soon may not be able to find his way out.

He was afraid that Chad was losing focus of what it was that he needed to do, which was win back Courtney. Word on the street was that her and her new love interest were getting serious.

Chris ran into the couple a few times around the city, and needless to say, it was a bit awkward for both parties. Luckily for Chad, Chris was able to stay in the loop regarding Courtney’s life because of his wife Shante, who was tremendously close, and supportive of Courtney.

“First off, Shante would cut your d**k off if you ever f****d around on her,” Chad laughed.

“And as far as Courtney… man, she doin’ her thing. I can’t make her want to be back with me. She with ‘ole dude, she made her choice, I’m not running after her anymore man. And as far as these hoes and social media, I’m good, I got it under control,” Chad’s finished before putting the phone in his pocket.

♦♦♦

“Good morning, Chad, I know this is last minute, but I need your expertise on a situation that I have regarding a client,” Roger, one of his fellow consultants said as he stood outside of Chad’s office. “Sure thing come on in man, what’s the issue?”

For the next forty-five minutes, the two men discussed and strategized about what would be the best way to address a critical issue that the client was experiencing while also deliberating on how to offer the best advice for the business.

This was what Chad loved, and he was one of the best in the business as a Strategy Consultant. He mostly worked alone and had his own clients, but because he worked in a firm, it was sometimes necessary to collaborate with other consultants as well.

“I think a great idea would be, of course if you are on board, is to, let’s visit with the client so we can be absolutely sure that we are on the same page of what their needs are, and in which direction they are wanting to head,” Chad began.

“I think we have dug in pretty good, and I think you are definitely on the right path Roger,” Chad said confidently as he sat across from his colleague, who was now feeling tremendously better about the issue at hand.

“I am more than ok with that; I will set up a meeting now. Thank you, Chad, I don’t know what we would do without you here buddy!”

As Roger closed the door behind him, Chad pulled out his phone to see who was desperately trying to contact him for the past hour.

“I have not heard from you today sexy, are we still on for tonight?” The text read, reminding Chad of his fling for the night.

As Chad read the message a devilish smile came across his full lips as he scrolled down to see the picture of a perfectly manicured p***y.

“Hell yeah we still on! Especially after seeing this, here is my address, be there at 8pm sharp,” Chad wrote back before checking his i********: and f*******: profiles.

Inviting random women to his house was something that Chad knew he should not do, but for him it was convenient, and he knew the last person that would show up unannounced would be Courtney.

Chris even tried to convince him to use hotels instead, just as they did in college, but for Chad, it was innocent s*x, and he viewed the women as low threats. Unfortunately, this assumption was something that he would soon have a different view about.

After ten more followers, a shitload of likes, comments, mentions, and sixteen DM’s later, Chad felt a level of satisfaction as he read a few direct messages from thirsty women looking for a one-night stand with him.

Many women complimented him on how handsome he was, while others were blunt, and got right to the point of what they wanted from him.

“This s**t is crazy,” Chad said loudly as he finished typing a response back to someone that caught his eye, someone that would eventually change his entire outlook of social media and his life forever.

Meanwhile, as the day neared to early afternoon, Chad secured his tickets for tomorrows event and decided to head out a couple hours early. His first stop was going to be Starbucks to get his favorite, a Vanilla Bean Crème Frappuccino before heading home to get ready for his evening festivities.