Chapter 10

Madison

The annoying ring of my phone brings me back to life, it feels like I slept for only a few minutes, but when I check the time I can see that it is almost 9 am.

Saying that I didn’t get much sleep tonight is the understatement of the year.

I left the party shortly after Liam, went home and sat near the pool for the majority of the night.

All the ups and downs played in my head while I tried to make sense of them.

He wants me, he wants me not.

At some point I got myself to bed thinking about the kiss goodby he gave me.

The soft touch of his lips on my cheek. Why is he so certain that I am the vulnerable party in this construction?

I fell asleep when the first signs of dawn could be seen outside.

Sighing in frustration when the mobile manages to hit the floor I’m compelled to get up and find it. The darned thing stopped ringing by the time I managed to get to it. Going into the missed calls I see that Dylan is trying to contact me. That is strange.

The baby!

Perhaps something happened with the baby. God I hope not. I call him back.

“What’s wrong?” I ask as soon as he answers.

“We have a problem” his voice is dark and gloomy.

I’m afraid to even ask what happened just keep repeating in my mind. God please don’t let it be the baby.

“One of the investors backed out.” Dylan continues.

I let go of the sigh I didn’t even realize I was holding.

“Who? Why? Is it the last guy?” I ask him.

“No, it is not him. Actually it is the first VC we signed up.” He tells me.

“What!”

The first VC we signed up was none other than Mr. Taylor from yesterday.

Ou shit, this is my fault.

His questions yesterday and me not knowing what to say to him.

I was sure that was just drunk talk which he will not even remember this morning.

Or at least he will be embarrassed for his behaviour.

But no, the guy is genuinely a real bastard.

He was using his companies money to invest and the criteria he was judging where to invest was the possibility of him getting sex?

“That is my fault.” I tell him and recap what happened yesterday evening.

Five minutes and a lot of swear words later Dylan knew the whole story.

“I can’t believe it. It is not your fault Maddie. Now I’m connecting the dots.”

“What dots?” I ask.

“He always made little remarks about you, not all the way appropriate but not all the way inappropriate, you know. I never paid much attention to that, thinking he is a little raw. But who am I to judge anybody?”

“Really? You never told me anything.”

“I didn’t because they were stupid, not even worthy of a mention.” he admits.

“What are we going to do now?” I ask him.

It has been a tiring year. Working on my books, the house and the App. Just as I started to relax and think that we just might pull this off - this happens.

And not because we weren’t good enough or prepared enough, but because some pervert thought he might score some.

If it was ever time to cry, it is now.

But at this moment I don’t even have enough strength to do that.

“We are going to sign up other investors as soon as possible and take their money before you meet any of them at a party!” Stanford interjects.

For a moment I cannot believe what he said.

Then laughter starts bubbling in my throat and I let it take over.

Guys join in and we laugh our asses off.

“I’m so lucky to have you in my life.” I tell them.

“Ahh, sweety we love you too and don’t you ever forget it. We are family,” Dylan reassures me.

He is like a big brother to me, always looking out for me and protecting me.

We decided to go back to the drawing board and revize our business plan, talk to the reminding investors and see where we are after that.

Nothing is resolved and the future of our venture is uncertain but we have a plan.

That gives me something to think about. We exchange air kisses and say goodby till Monday.

I made two steps out of my bed when the phone rang again.

I’m Miss Popular this morning.

“Hiiii Piper,” I answered, walking towards the kitchen.

“Hiiii darling,” she responded in the same manner.

“How are you this morning?” I ask her.

“Sooo, how do you like Liam. I looked like you two hit it off yesterday.”

She cuts right into it.

“You know that Liam was my old boss?” I ask her.

“Really? I didn’t know that,” Piper responds.

“Yeah, I worked in his company three years ago. You know the original one. He was already a prodigy for building it, but before he IPOed like a champ and became a gazillionaire.”

“Why didn't you tell me that!” she scolds me.

“I did Piper, I told you where I worked before I became a writer. Don't you remember?” I remind her.

“Yeah, but you didn’t tell me you worked with HIM.”

“I didn’t work with him, I worked for him. Me and about a hundred other people.”

“But you know him!”

“Yes Piper, the guy made it his business to know each and every employee of his by name. So yes I know him. We have sat in the same meeting rooms, we have exchanged sentences even before yesterday.”

“You don’t have to be mean.” she scolds me.

Ugh, no. I managed to offend Piper. That wasn’t my intention.

“Sorry Piper, the morning started with a shitstorm.” I try to explain.

“Remember the drunk guy from yesterday, a certain Mr. Taylor” I ask her.

“I do and I wanted to apologize in his name. That was ugly.”

“Don’t bother. It is not your fault he is a jerk. The guy works for a venture capital who was supposed to back us up, he was negotiating with us and he offered to be one of our investors. However, as of this morning they decided to withdraw their offer.”

There is silence on her part.

I can hear her take a deep breath.

“I’m so sorry, let me talk with Drake. Perhaps he can do something.” She offers.

“No don’t. I wouldn't want him messing his business contacts. The guy obviously likes to hold a grudge.”

I make myself an espresso while we talk for a few minutes more about what I plan to do and the possible next steps.