Chapter 9 Maverick
CHAPTER 9
MAVERICK
I ’m not sure why I called.
I have people for this.
Hell, I have Bolt for this. He even offered to reach out after he gathered some basics on the Aspire Fund. I usually never connect directly with the entity I invest in. Just send money and wait for it to come back to me with a return. I don’t know that I want to be involved yet with the Aspire Fund, but I do know that I wanted to speak to Hendrix again.
Am I the asshole for reaching out to her the day my breakup with Zere was announced? Probably. I’m not… pursuing anything. I don’t know Hendrix well enough for that. After three years with one person, I’m not even sure that I want anything with anyone right now.
But Hendrix intrigues me, and as jaded as it sounds, not many people do these days.
“Mr. Bell?” That deep, molasses-rich voice I remember from the party pours over the speaker and fills my office when Hendrix’s assistant patches her through.
“Hendrix, hi.” I turn away from my home office view, a stretch of Malibu beach, and fold my arms on the desk. “Thanks for taking my call.”
“Of course.” She clears her throat. “How can I help you?”
A grin cocks one corner of my mouth at her formal tone. I’ve already seen this woman turn a party out and cry in the matter of an hour. Not to mention the commiseration we offered each other down at the dock. I think we’ve skipped formal, but given the circumstances and her relationship with Zere, I understand the space she’s trying to insert here.
“I was hoping I could help you,” I reply. “Or at least your fund. Maybe. I’ve been looking for new opportunities.”
“Oh, sure. Well, like I said, the Aspire Fund focuses on supporting Black women entrepreneurs. As I’m sure you know, women make up less than two percent of all venture capital funding, and Black women less than half a percent.”
“And yet Black women statistically have some of the highest returning, most successful ventures,” I say, leaning back in my chair.
There’s a small silence from her end before she speaks again. “Yeah, that’s right.”
“I read that you and two friends there in Atlanta started the fund.”
“Yes, two of my sorority sisters, Kashawn Phillips, who I met in undergrad at Georgia State, and Nelly Brewer, who became kind of a mentor years ago when I was first starting out.”
“Divine Nine is a great network,” I say.
“Are you Greek?”
“Nah, I’m a college dropout. Didn’t get that far.”
“I didn’t realize, but you seem to have done well enough for yourself.” A bit of humor warms her voice. “Where’d you drop out of?”
“Caltech.”
“Is that where you launched your app?”
“My girlfriend while I was there actually designed the app. She was much smarter than me.”
“Really? And did she drop out, too?”
“Um, she was already an associate professor, so no.”
“Whoa-ho-ho-ho,” Hendrix chuckles. “Age gap. Forbidden love. You’ve got my attention. Do I wanna know the whole story?”
This isn’t why I called, but just like on Saturday night, I find myself smiling too wide and telling her too much.
“I didn’t realize she worked at the university. I got a late start in college. Took a year off to work with my dad.”
“What did he do?”
“He was an assistant coach for the Vegas Vipers.”
“Basketball?”
“Yeah. When it became clear I wasn’t good enough to play ball in college, I wasn’t sure what I wanted to do so I worked in the organization doing whatever needed to be done. I’d gotten accepted to Caltech, but deferred. By the time I started, I was twenty years old.”
“Okay, and then what happened?” she asks, a note of reluctant interest in her voice.
“I met LaTanya off campus and didn’t realize she taught at the university. We got… friendly right away.”
“You mean you had a one-night stand?”
“Blunt, aren’t you?” I laugh, flipping over the heavy hourglass on my desk. “But yeah, that’s what happened. By the time we realized I was a student there and she was faculty, it was too late. It wasn’t against code or anything, unless she was my teacher, which she wasn’t.”
“So what happened?”
“Two things happened. We created an app and a baby. She wasn’t sure she wanted to keep it, but then decided I’d make as good a father as anyone else.”
“A ringing endorsement,” Hendrix says with a chuckle.
“Pretty much. We really liked each other, but neither of us thought it was permanent. We’d actually already cooled things off when she found out she was pregnant. She was thirty by then and knew she wanted a kid, but wasn’t sure when or if she’d ever want a husband. We were good friends who decided to raise a child together.”
Hearing my words out loud I realize just how far past appropriate this conversation has gone.
“Sorry, I didn’t mean to… I called about the Aspire Fund.”
“I know, but now I have to hear how you turned an ill-advised affair with an older woman into a billion-dollar enterprise. Spill the tea.”
“I lived in Vegas for a good part of my life since that’s where my dad worked. And he was in professional sports. That combination led me naturally to a fascination with sports betting. Online betting started in the late nineties, but the technology wasn’t there for an app till the early two thous. We got in on the basement. I knew the industry and LaTanya understood the technology.”
“And the rest is history?”
“The rest became history,” I say. “But it was a lot of luck and hard work first. So I know what it’s like needing help in the earliest stages of a business.”
“So you invest in a lot of young businesses?”
“Oh, yeah. I even make investments that my advisers deem unwise, but just feel right to me. Guess that’s the gambling background coming into play.”
“And what have your advisers told you about Aspire?”
“Nothing yet. I haven’t asked them.”
“Maybe you should.”
“Maybe I’m asking you.”
Neither of us speaks for a moment. It’s the kind of quiet that percolates. It brims with tension and teasing and possibility.
“What do you want to know?” Hendrix finally asks.
“Tell me about Hue.”
“Oh, you have been doing your research,” she chuckles. “Hue was in our first round and they’re doing very well.”
“And if I wanted to invest?”
“How do they say it? Yesterday’s price is not today’s price.” Her voice is teasing, but smooth with the truth of her words. “Their valuation is much higher than it was when we first started.”
“The mark of a good investment. Have your people send details to my people.”
“I am my people.”
“Then you send it to me.”
Another longer silence and then she replies. “I can do that, but if you really want to help somebody…”
“I do.”
“Then I’d love for you to consider becoming an LP in fund two or even investing in some of our current portfolio companies who are still raising,” she says. “Since you’re a man of risk and all.”
“Oh, throwing my words back in my face, huh?”
“Not in your face.” Her laugh unfurls, unrushed and unbothered. “Just reminding you of what you told me. Now we do have a showcase coming up.”
“A showcase?”
“A time for potential limited partners to hear from our fund one founders about their experience as we raise for the next round.”
“When is the showcase?” I lean forward, and tell myself the eagerness is for the opportunity and not about seeing the woman offering it.
“It’s being finalized, but it’ll be here in Atlanta and soon. I mean, if you don’t mind coming here.”
“Text me the details when you have them. Your assistant has my number.”
She and I both know we could organize the specifics through our assistants, but we also know she doesn’t want a potential investor like me to walk.
“Sure,” she finally says. “As soon as the details are nailed, I’ll text you.”
My mouth twists into a satisfied smile like I’ve won this round when I shouldn’t even be playing. Not with this woman. “Appreciate that.”
“I have a three o’clock I need to get ready for, but thank you for following up,” she says.
“Look forward to hearing more.”
“Um, Mr. Bell.”
“Maverick, please, since we may be doing business together.”
“Yeah, Maverick, I plan to tell Zere that you might be investing. I want to avoid any misunderstandings on that front.”
“Ahhhhh. I see.”
“She and I are doing Chapel’s show together, so I need to protect my working relationship with her and wouldn’t want her to wonder about the nature of my connection to you.”
“Makes sense. Not her concern anymore,” I say wryly. “But I respect you being completely aboveboard. Did she tell you why we broke up?”
“She did, yeah.”
“Sometimes people want different things more than they want each other. In the long run, it’s best they go their separate ways.”
“Makes sense,” she says. “Well, I have another call and need to go, but I’ll be in touch.”
Once we’ve disconnected, I stare at my phone for a few seconds before dialing Zere.
“Mav,” Zere answers on the first ring. “Hey.”
“Hey.” Now that I have her on the line, I’m not sure what to say as I watch the falling hourglass sands mark the seconds stretching into awkwardness. “How are you?”
“Don’t do that,” she whispers, strain cracking her typically cool facade. “I cannot take small talk from you right now. My office has been fielding calls about the announcement all day. I haven’t left the house because I know someone will ask me about this mutual breakup of ours and I’ll…” Her voice trails off, breaks over the words she doesn’t say. “Please just get to the point of why you called, Mav.”
“Zee.”
“The point.”
“I, uh, I’m thinking of selling the Miami house.”
“You’re thinking of it?” She barks out a laugh. “I know you better than that. By the time you say you’re thinking about something it means there’s probably already a for sale sign out front.”
“We had our first bite this morning,” I admit. “But I know how much you love that house. I thought I’d ask if you want it.”
“If I want it? A twelve-million-dollar house. You just want to give it to me? Like a parting gift for your mistress?”
“What? Hell, no, Zee. That’s not—”
“Because I wasn’t your mistress. You didn’t keep me. Support me. I was with you because I loved you. I stayed because I saw a future for us.”
“I never lied to you. I told you from the beginning I didn’t want more kids, and you said you were fine with it.” I frown, but gentle my voice despite the firm message. “It’s not my fault you thought I would change. Thought you could change me. I never wanted to hurt you.”
“But you did.” Her words tangle with her tears. “I’m hurting so bad today and you call to offer me a house? Like some string of pearls for being your favorite fuck you’re done with and want to dismiss?”
“No. It’s not like that.” I pinch the bridge of my nose and huff out a breath. “I didn’t want you to find out I’d sold the house and not talked to you because I know you love it so much. And I would give it to you because I care about you.”
“Not enough, though, right?”
To completely compromise what I want the next twenty years of my life to be? No, not enough for that.
“Zee, I’m sorry,” I say after a moment. “Goodbye.”