Chapter 27
CHAPTER TWENTY-SEVEN
CHARLIE
“You gonna be okay here?” I asked Athena, glancing out the coffee shop windows and into the casino, where people mindlessly spent their money. It was the only coffee shop in the city that hadn’t been absolutely packed this morning and had a place for her to plug in.
Plus, the hotel room was just a block away, so if she needed to head back to the room while I had this meeting, then she should be able to without a problem. I didn’t love the thought of leaving her alone in an unfamiliar city, and she had insisted on working in a café.
“I’ll be fine,” Athena said, plugging her laptop into the wall. “Now, don’t be late!”
I placed her iced green tea on the tabletop, then pulled a warmed chocolate croissant out of a bag and set it in front of her. “Make sure you eat so you don’t get grumpy. When I get back, I’m going to take you out.”
“Good luck!” Athie stood on her toes and pecked me on the lips. “You’ll do great.”
“I hope so,” I murmured against her mouth, then gave her one last kiss.
After peering back at her once more to see her supportive smile, I headed out of the café. One hand around my bag strap that hung off my shoulder and the other stuffed into my pocket, I walked through the casino toward the exit.
It was three in the afternoon, and people were already drunk off their asses while slamming their fingers down on the slot machine or stumbling out of a chapel, hand in hand, snogging each other. I doubted they’d remember this in a few hours.
When I stepped out of the casino, the warm air hit my skin. It was the middle of winter, and California was nothing like Pittsburgh. Though I wasn’t sure I enjoyed it here. Being cold gave me an excuse to bundle up with Athie.
I glanced down at my phone and drew my tongue across my lower lip.
A five-minute walk to the building.
If it didn’t work out with this venture capital investment, it shouldn’t affect me too much.
I would still be able to run the company, but it would take a bit longer to get off the ground and really start making money.
The investment would help a lot, but it wouldn’t be the death of me if I didn’t get it.
I walked up the steps and into the bustling building and entered, my mind a mess.
“Do you have an appointment?” the lady at the front desk asked.
“Yes, for Charlie Easton.”
The secretary scrolled through her computer, then smiled. “You’re just in time. Mr. Harold is waiting for you. Head around the corner, then take the elevator up to the eighteenth floor. The meeting will be in the third room on the left.”
“Thanks,” I said, clutching my bag strap harder.
The closer I got to this meeting, the more and more I felt like this was the wrong choice.
Chances were that these guys … were just like Derek. And I didn’t want to work with them if they were. I would do anything not to give them a single percent of my company. I didn’t need the investment, and I really didn’t want to make these guys money in the long-term.
While I had been so caught up in making it work, I had forgotten about the network that I did have. I didn’t want to ask any one of my friends for money, but investment and partnerships were different. Everyone benefited from that.
And out of everyone I knew, Michelle—as annoying as she was—would be a great partner.
She already ran two successful businesses—Radiant and her sex toy company—and she had mentioned to me when I was just starting that she would be interested in collaborating with me in some way.
If this didn’t work out, screw the investors.
Athie had said she didn’t care about the money, and while I knew it to be true, I wanted to give her a really, really great life. I wanted to spoil her and make it so she didn’t have to work, if she didn’t want to work.
The elevator whizzed up to the eighteenth floor, and suddenly, the doors opened. When I stepped out, the elevator doors to my left opened, too, and out walked Derek fucking Easton with a black eye and a busted lip.
His lips curled into a smirk when he saw me. “Funny seeing you here.”
“What the fuck are you doing here?” I asked between gritted teeth.
“Oh, I didn’t tell you,” Derek said. “I picked up investing in the past few years. I’ve partnered with Harold to make sure I could get my hands into every last investment that could make me wealthier than you could ever be.”
I balled my hands into fists. He had to be lying.
“Fuck you,” I snarled under my breath.
“Did you bring Athie along?” he asked. “Bet she’s working in a café somewhere.”
Restrain yourself, Charlie. Don’t fucking hit him.
If he was lying and I hit him here, then coming all the way out here really wasn’t worth it. I had convinced Athie to come here with me when she could be back at home with her friends, studying for the bar.
I needed to get something out of this that was not being thrown in jail.
“Hey, Derek,” a secretary said when we stepped into the lobby.
Derek smirked. “What’s up, Sammie?”
“What happened to your face?”
“Ah, don’t worry about it,” he murmured, glancing at me. “You should see the other guy.”
The other guy was about to pummel another fist into his face if he didn’t shut the fuck up and stop trying to inject himself into every fucking facet of my life. Didn’t he have anything better to do? Of course not.
He didn’t have a real job and never applied himself to anything other than my life.
“Right this way,” Derek said, guiding me toward the third room on the left, as if it was his first time ever meeting me and he wanted to show the girls up front that he was sweet, caring, and didn’t deserve his swollen face.
“What do you want with Athena?” I growled quietly.
“To fuck her.” A low chuckle escaped his throat as he grabbed the door handle. “Until she’s bloody.”
Just as I was about to say something, he pushed the door open, and I plastered a fake smile on my face because I knew this afternoon was about to be shit. I wanted to walk right out of here, but I had come all this way.
All this fucking way just to be shit on by him.
“You must be Charlie,” Harold said, firmly shaking my hand. “It’s nice to meet you.”
“You as well,” I said, shaking his hand, then the two other venture capital investors’ hands. “Let’s get started.”
Most importantly, let’s get this fucking over with.