Chapter 7: New Apartment

“Just sign here, here and here”, said a man in a grey suit to Grace.  Grace signed all the paperwork as instructed by the man. “Congratulations, you are now the owner of a new Apartment waterfront apartment over by Bluey Beach.  I hope you will be happy there as it is not crowded, has great Ocean views and also is not far from the Central Business District”. Grace was so elated to finally have her own apartment in Straco City.  It was becoming very cumbersome living out of a hotel as she was missing having her own kitchen.  She couldn’t wait to video call her parents and show them the apartment.  

It will take about 6 weeks to process and then once all money due is paid, it will all be legally yours.  The Land Title can be forwarded to you in the mail at that point but I like to personally to deliver it to my clients with a bottle of champagne we can celebrate with.  Grace lived in a motel for 1 week when she moved into town, after that she moved into a small 3 star hotel in the City knowing it would only be until she purchased her own apartment.  “Thank you Mr Ford, I so look forward to moving into my apartment and you can send me the Land Title by priority mail. There is no need to trouble yourself.”  Mr Ford was not one to give up, “Perhaps I can take you out to celebrate your purchase, how about dinner tonight, my treat of course?  There is a fancy new Steak restaurant in town that is usually hard to get into but I have my connections and can get us in tonight”, he suggested as he checked her out from top to bottom with his beady eyes and salivating mouth. Mr Ford was a burly, short 60-year-old, bald man that enjoyed the company of beautiful girls.  He would often pay escorts to service him and he was salivating at Grace’s beautiful figure and bust.  Grace had come across men like Mr Ford before.  They were bad news and she saw no reason in staying there any longer.  “No thank you Mr Ford, I already have plans with some friends.  I really must get going as I have a lot of things to do today”, she answered just as she picked up her stuff and walked towards the door. ‘Ew, what a creep’, she thought to herself. 

Just as she had opened the door, Mr Ford grabbed her, pushed her body against the door wall which was directly next to the door.  His sweaty body was coming close to her as he held her in place and stared at her with his big beady eyes and salivating mouth.  As his lips were getting closer to hers, she could sense his breathing speeding up. At once, she twisted her body to release herself from his sweaty hands, then used her fist to give him an upper cut under his chin, and used the power in her right leg to kick him which had his body landing outside of the office onto the footpath.  Grace walked up to him as he was groaning in pain.  “That will teach you to keep your dirty and disgusting roaming hands and body to yourself!”, she shouted at Mr Ford and then started to walk away as she shook her head in disbelief.

At that moment, Carter and Tyra whom had taken the opportunity to go out for lunch together and happen to see Mr Ford’s body flying out of his office onto the footpath hurriedly walked over to her.  “Are you ok?” Tyra asked as they followed Grace as she was walking back to her hotel.  “What happened there?” asked Carter.  Grace had recognised these two people being that annoying Mr Sebastian Gibson’s friends from ‘the Shore Café’. Even though she though that Sebastian was annoying, these two people had been quite polite in the little interactions she had with them at the café.  Grace smiled at them, “I just signed the paperwork for my new apartment”. Shen then turned and pointed at Mr Ford and continued, “As I did not accept a dinner invitation extended to me by him, this grub took it upon himself to get his grubby hands, smelly body and disgusting lips onto me, so I taught him a lesson”, she answered. “You certainly did just that”, Carter responded with a huge grin. ‘This girl is really something. I wonder if Sebastian or Sean could handle her’, he thought to himself. ‘I think she’d be too wild for Sean, maybe she’d be better suited to Sebastian. Hmm, actually she could help Sean lighten up a bit after not having a girlfriend for 5 years, so maybe she’d suit Sean’.

Tyra interrupted Carter’s thoughts by introducing both her and Carter to Grace. “I’m Tyra and this is my boyfriend, Carter. We’ve seen you at ‘The Shore Café’ a few times, it’s really nice to meet you”, she added. Both Tyra and Carter shook hands with her. “I’m delighted to meet you both, although I’m sorry you had to witness what I did in the café a few days ago to that annoying pervert and then again today”, she shyly told them. Grace was not one that commanded attention but somehow things that happened meant that she inadvertently made herself the centre of attention.  “Don’t sweat it, I think they both dearly deserved it. You have some power in those fists and legs of yours”, he commented.  “Yes, I’ve had a lot of training, mostly by my grandfather as I grew up.  He always told me that I would always put his training to good use and I can say that it has come in handy on many occasions”, she responded to him.  Although she was born in Australia, her family was from Sicily.  Her dad was one of three children and not long after he got married, he decided to break away from the family business and start a new life in Australia.  Every year, her family would spend 2-3 months in Sicily with the family and that was where Grace was taught from a young age self-defence by her grandfather as well as her grandmother teaching her about natural medicine. If it weren’t for her grandfather’s teaching from such a young age, she would not have been able to defend herself against the man she ran away from in Australia all those years ago.

“I’m new in Town. I’ve been very busy apartment hunting and moving my business from Boston to Straco City, looking for new office space, recruiting new employees, working on one of my biggest projects and just trying to ground myself into this new city.  I’ve not had much time to meet many people or even explore the city too much.  I go to that Café for breakfast every Monday after my morning run on the beach.  The Café has a nice view which I enjoy with some breakfast as I go through any urgent emails for the day”, she told them. “Wow, I thought I was busy, but you really have been busy”, responded Tyra to what Grace just told them.  Hearing that Grace had been looking for an office space for her company, Carter had a thought. “I can help you with your company office lease if you like. I have a few contacts that can accommodate whatever your needs are”, Carter told her.  In actual fact, even though Sean and he both had a number of office buildings, he didn’t have any space available but he knew that Sean had recently acquired a new 12 storey office building that he was slowly getting occupied with tenants, so he may have some space available. “Actually, I’m already sorted, I signed a new lease yesterday for an entire floor over in Collins St. We are starting our move this Friday, so wish me luck.  It is fully furnished, so the move won’t be too difficult” she said to Carter.  

“Do you have time for a quick coffee with us”, Tyra asked Grace.  “Apologies, but I’m going to have to take a raincheck on that. I’m on my way to meet my assistant so that she can organise the logistics of our move and go through the resumes with her that I have shortlisted for interviews. I’ll tell you what Tyra, here’s my mobile number, maybe we can organise a coffee date after 2 weeks. By then, I am hoping the move and interviews would have been completed”, she told them.  “Let us know if you need any help with any of that, we are of course familiar with Straco City and have many contacts.  I guess we’ll see you at Shore Café next Monday”, said Carter.  Grace shook her head, “Unfortunately not, as I’ll be working in Boston Monday to Wednesday for the next 2 weeks, wrapping things up there, moving the few staff that I will retain there to a smaller office. Can’t wait for it to be all over to be honest”.  With that they bade her farewell and Grace walked away in a hurry.

As they watched Grace walk away, Tyra looked at Carter and said, “I think she’d be good for Sean or even Sebastian, but I’ve seen Sean quietly stealing glances at her at ‘Shore Café’.  We just need to figure out if she already has a boyfriend and my senses tell me she does seem a little nervous around Sean as does he around her, so maybe there is some sort of attraction on both sides.  I’ll organise a coffee with just her and I in a few weeks.”  Carter grabbed Tyra, hugged her, gave her a lingering kiss on the lips. He loved her dearly and knew how lucky he was to have met such a beautiful, capable and caring woman to be part of his life.  He only wished his two best friends could meet someone just like Tyra.  It wasn’t as if there weren’t a steady stream of girls throwing themselves at Sean and Sebastian but most of them were gold diggers or just women that were very entitled due to money from their families.  What he liked about Tyra was that she was honest, incredibly beautiful, worked hard and didn’t care about his money or status. It was a refreshing change from the women that chased him because of his status and wealth.