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“We really weren’t flirting,” I said.
Owen’s green eyes cut up to me.
“Okay, we flirted a little bit. At least, he did.”
“So do you accept my apology or not?” he asked.
“Yes. I mean, no, you don’t need to apologize. You needed to explain where you were coming from, and I appreciate you for it.”
He smiled awkwardly, then visibly made his face into a mask of confidence and leadership. Pushing away the vulnerability and becoming the CEO again.
After that, thingswereback to normal with us. He crashed at my place that night—after I verified that my sister and Phil weren’t going to be there. We had rough, hard,desperatesex. Then we joked about how he was just there to hack my home network again. After some playful back-and-forth about how he still needs to get revenge after I hacked into his condo and addedAmber Cunt-waffleas an administrator, we kissed lazily on the bed and then made love slower, softer, and with far less urgency than before.
For the next week, it went like that. Jude one night, then Owen the next. I told each of them separately that I didn’t want to be with them two nights in a row, and that I needed some time to myself. They both bought the excuse. I knew I couldn’t do this forever, but for now, while both of them claimed they only wanted casual relationships? I was finding ways to make it work.
The company grew rapidly. Melinda had a long list of potential hires that we had interviewed, and now that the Series A financing had gone through, we began expanding like there was no tomorrow. We hired twenty new coders that week, and promoted Nancy and Dave to team leads.
Melinda also expanded the marketing team. Within four days we had a commercial spot running during one of the Giants baseball games. We set up a projector on the wall and held a big watch party in the open room at ACS with food and drinks. The commercial ran in the third inning. The ACS logo, letters surrounded by curves of circuitry, flashed on the screen.
“ACS,” said a voice actress in a professional, confident voice. “Advanced solutions for regular people.”
Everyone cheered and threw popcorn in the air. The five members of the marketing team high-fived and hugged and smiled at everyone.
Now when I came into the office in the morning, there were dozens of people walking around or working at their screens. The gym started getting used by more people than just Owen. Nancy hosted a daily yoga session, and even the normally-goofy Dave started wearing athletic shorts and joining in the sessions.
This place has already come a long way since I started, I thought while poking my head in the gym. The old org chart had Owen March and Jude Cauthon at the top, with me and Melinda directly beneath them. Now the org chart was a multi-tiered tree with more branches growing every day.
When I received my first paycheck, I remembered gawking at the amount. But that mostly went to pay bills and credit card debt. When I received my second paycheck, I paid our utilities and had so much leftover that I had no idea what to do with it. I put half of it toward my massive pile of student loans, and Michelle helped me set up a savings account and an IRA for the rest.
I’ll be able to pay off my student loans in a year or two,I thought happily.Not to mention take care of Michelle’s so she can start her career debt-free.
On top of my paychecks, my company stock options were beginning to pile up. Some companies gave them out quarterly, but ACS did it monthly. I started to do the math on how much they would be worth if—and when—ACS went public. If we went public at ten dollars a share, they would be worth this much. If we went public at twenty, they would be worththismuch.
A lot of it required guessing and speculation, but one thing was certain: I was going to make alotof money.
One day, after spending two hours with Nancy going over one of the side-chain projects, I realized I hadn’t checked the ArgoCoin price in over a week. It used to be my morning routine, compulsively checking the price on my phone as soon as I woke up. Reminding myself how much money I could have had if I didn’t cash out early. But I hadn’t checked in a week. And not only that, I didn’t even want to check now that I remembered.
Maybe I’m moving on after all.
40
Amber
For the first time since I could remember, everything was going great in my life. I had my dream job, one which challenged me and left me feeling fulfilled every day. I was making a lot of money doing it, building up my savings and finally making me feel more financially secure than I had since my dad died. And I had two cute, sexy,funmen in my life. What more could a woman want?
Furio, a voice whispered in my head.
Since the contract signing, Furio had kept in contact with us. Every day or two, he emailed Jude to ask his opinion on something technical at his other Italian crypto company, and he always carbon-copied me. Once, when he was too busy to respond, Jude asked if I would. I sent a long, detailed response. Furio answered with more questions, probing inquiries that hinted at a problem he was working to solve back in Italy. We ended up exchanging at least a dozen emails, and although they were completely professional and never drifted into our personal lives, it still felt like we were flirting.
I always smiled when I saw his email signature as well:Yours, Furio Rossi.
One afternoon, Jude called a meeting in his office with Owen, Melinda, and myself. I was the last to arrive, and they were already chatting.
“…boyfriend has been such a pain in my behind,” Melinda was saying. “He exercises every day, but aside from that he has nothing to do. He just lounges around his apartment all day, watching TV and waiting for me to get home. It’s like coming home to a puppy.”
“If he needs something to do, we can find him a job here,” Owen said. “It would be nice to actually meet the guy, too. You said he was going to come to the last work event, but he bailed.”
Melinda chuckled. “Jimmy is sweet, but he doesn’t have the skills required to work here. He’s kind of a meathead. He’s used to physical labor.”
