Chapter 21 #2
This was going to be fine. “Great. Let’s go rescue my uncles. Vince looks like he’s about to pop a blood vessel.”
Candy’s heart pounded in her ears as they approached Vince, Lochlan, and Zeele. Lochlan had completely tuned out, his green eyes glassy. Vince, however, was focused as ever, a slight scowl playing on his glossy lips.
“You know, I didn’t have that experience with LoveNet,” Vince was saying, folding his arms over his chest. “Have you thought about increasing that three hundred character limit?”
“Not particularly.” Zeele’s voice was smooth, polished like she’d stood in the mirror the night before and practiced each word.
She swirled the drink in her flute before taking a small sip.
“We did extensive surveying of our user base, and a very small percentage of users needed more than even a hundred characters.”
“Sounds to me like they’re using the app wrong.” Vince’s attention shifted to Candy and Votra, and Zeele’s gaze followed his. She stiffened visibly, her eyes immediately landing on Votra.
“Votra. I wondered when I might run into you.” She turned to Votra, not acknowledging Candy. This time, Candy didn’t think twice about lacing her arm around Votra’s protectively.
Zeele was beautiful in the way a snake was. Her eyes were much more narrow than Votra’s, her skin a deep emerald green. Her face was slender, angular, almost threatening in itself. The suit she wore clung to her thin frame, her blouse clasped firmly at the base of her throat.
“Hello, Zeele.” Every muscle fiber in Votra’s body was clenched, but she remained composed. “I hope that you are having a good time.”
“Oh, I am, thank you. I was just talking to Victor here about LoveNet.”
“It’s Vince,” Vince interjected, voice dripping with agitation. “I was just telling her how much I really didn’t like LoveNet, actually.”
A smile quirked at the corner of Votra’s lips, but she suppressed it. “Have you done any of the Starcrossed demos yet?”
“I have, actually. And I was impressed. You did a fantastic job, little Votra. I mean that.” Zeele’s words seemed genuine enough, but there was a hint of condescension to it that stoked the irritation simmering in Candy’s stomach.
“It was a collaborative effort,” Votra said. “Between Candy and I.”
Zeele finally seemed to notice that Candy existed, her cat-like stare landing on her. “You hired someone? Incredible. I never thought I would see the day that you would ask for help. Good for you.”
This was really starting to piss Candy off. “I’m sorry, I don’t think we’ve properly met,” Candy said, injecting as much saccharine sweetness into her voice as she could. “Who are you again?”
Zeele didn’t miss a beat. “My name is Zeele.” She whipped a business card from her pocket, offering it to Candy. “Founder of LoveNet. We were the number one ranked social app on the hypernet for three quarters of the last year.”
Candy took the card, resisting the urge to jam it in Zeele’s drink. “Oh, I’m familiar with LoveNet. Incredible app. I especially admire how you have to spend twenty credits a month to do more than send an emoji to ten people a day.”
Zeele wasn’t fazed. “You are too cute. No wonder Votra chose you to work with. The two of you will learn one day that this field is about making money where you can. You will never be able to survive off app creation if you give it all away for free. But Votra has heard this whole speech before, right, my dear?”
“I have. Many times.” Votra’s voice grew weaker, and she seemed to shrink into Candy’s side. Candy rested a reassuring hand between Votra’s shoulder blades, Zeele’s sharp eyes following the movement.
“No offense, Zeele, because I’m sure your advice is absolutely riveting, but I think we have a pretty good handle on what we’re going to do with Starcrossed.
We’re not really looking for advice,” Candy said.
Lochlan let out a low whistle; he must have tuned back in once the promise of a fight presented itself.
“Thanks, though. Very generous of you to offer.”
Zeele’s lips turned up into an unkind smile.
“Of course. It is not my business how you decide to run yours, even if you are doing yourselves a great disservice.” She looked back to Votra one last time.
“It has been lovely to see you again, Votra. Though I feel like I must remind you, in case you have forgotten, that you did not want to date someone you worked with again. You made that quite clear to me the last time I saw you.”
“Well dating someone you work with generally works out better when one of you isn’t a thieving cunt,” Candy snapped.
From somewhere beside her, Vince gasped.
“Good luck riding off all the work Votra gave you. Eventually, you’re gonna have to come up with your own shit, and then you’ll really be in trouble. ”
Finally, the unshakable Zeele was shaken. Even Votra shot her a look that she refused to acknowledge for the moment. “I… need to take a call. If you will excuse me.”
The moment she was out of earshot, Vince erupted into laughter. “Holy shit, Candy, that was brutal,” he said, wiping a tear from his eye. Lochlan still seemed to be reeling–his poor old brain was processing a lot of new information.
“Candy,” Votra murmured, just quiet enough that only Candy could hear. “Can I speak with you? Alone?”
Shit. She’d gotten ahead of herself. Zeele was going to tell everyone that the co-owner of Starcrossed was a crazy, unhinged bitch that attacked her, unprovoked.
“Uh, be right back,” Candy said to her uncles.
She let Votra guide her out of the ballroom and into the quieter, open hallway of the hotel.
“I’m so sorry, I–”
And then Votra kissed her harder than she’d ever kissed her before.