Page 7 of Daring Destiny

Oh, I was obsessed with her, but I can’t recall ever speaking to her.

Believe me, Iwouldremember.

Astrid had me hooked from day one, the way she seemed so flawless, like she’d been born for the spotlight. I memorized her schedule, her classes, her cheer practice—everything. And while everyone thought she lived like a queen, I caught the details: the thrifted designer clothes, the way she'd sneak out alone after school to catch the city bus.

Once, I even followed her, thinking she lived somewhere glamorous. Nope. She got off at a rundown house in the Central District. Hid her real life from her so-called besties, but I saw it all. Learned everything I could. Wrote it all down in my journal.

It made me want to know her for real.

My brother Cillian got wind of how engrossed I became in her life and gave me some tough love. Warned me of how it might look if she—or anyone else-- ever caught me basically stalking her. To be fair, I wasn’t a creeper. My concentration on Astrid—or anything else that catches my attention—is how my brain works.

Anyway, he helped redirect my energy into computer programming and I thank God for him every day. If he hadn’t, I wouldn’t be sitting behind my desk in my company’s Belltown office.

I’m in between meetings, staring at my phone. Every so often the screen lights up with a new What’s App text or Slack message. Most of them will go unread for days, but I can’t help but pull up Astrid’s text and look at it for the umpteenth time.

Unknown:Brennan, it’s Astrid Gustafsson from Garfield High. I’d love to catch up. Can you give me a call?

Innocuous. Bland. Formal.

Fucking intriguing.

Should I call her? Or reply to her text? I mean, initially I was intentionally ignoring her. Now, the prospect of “catching up,” whatever that means, is never far from my mind. The problem is, something always pulls me away—juggling product development deadlines, managing investor expectations, trying to keep my best engineers from burning out. Blah. Blah. Blah.

The pressure to innovate while staying ahead of the competition is relentless. One wrong move could cost my company everything. The fires never stop, and lately, it feels like I’m holding a damn extinguisher 24/7.

During my freshman year at University of Washington, I founded CognifyAI when artificial intelligence was still a hazy, futuristic concept people couldn’t quite grasp. While most students were busy coding simple apps or dreaming up the next social network, I was neck-deep in algorithms, trying to figure out how to make machines think like us.

Well, actually, how to make them thinkforus.

I come from a big, complicated family with some fucked-up problems and a whole lotta love. My natural tendency is to isolate and find a solution to the problem. It’s how my mind works. I can’t stand to see the people I love struggle—and for a long time my family was in free fall.

Connor, my oldest brother, became head of our household after Da was injured in a car wreck and couldn’t run the family business, McGloughlin Construction, anymore. Cillian, my Irish twin and savior, took it over when Connor became a bona fide rockstar. The twins, Liam and Padraig, followed in Connor’s musical footsteps with their band, Fireball. Finally, there’s Seamus, the youngest. He’s deep into his surgical career.

Anyway, my road to entrepreneurship was inadvertent. All I wanted was to earn a few bucks to pay my own way. To take some pressure off Connor. Turns out concentrating on technology development changed my life. I was bitten by the entrepreneurial bug and I’ve never looked back.

Fast forward to now and CognifyAI is truly changing the world. We employ ten thousand people throughout the US and Europe. My AI platform has revolutionized the realty industry and we’re on track to do the same in travel and transportation by the end of next year.

As most founders will tell you, the road to success is not a straight line. It’s full of twists, turns, and pivots and requires singular focus—which is perfect for me. I’ve learned how to navigate a million different moving parts at any given time. Investors are hungry for results, and I’m expected to deliver quarter after quarter.

The stress is unbelievable. We can’t hire executives fast enough. Coders are burning out and the AI market is as volatile as ever. Every other week, I’m back and forth between Seattle and Silicon Valley, not to mention the international trips. My purpose in life, at this point, is convincing the world we’re the next global powerhouse.

Truth be told, some days I’m barely holding it together.

I don’t tell my family any of this, though. No need to worry them. Besides, as Cillian always tells me when I start to spin a bit, I need to get laid.

He’s not wrong. I’m horny as fucking hell with no outlet other than my hand. Lately, the only women I come in contact with work for me. There’s no way I’ll risk the future of CognifyAI on a potential sexual harassment lawsuit.

As it’s been drilled into me by the board, I can’t be too careful. Especially because, as one of the world’s experts on AI capabilities, I know the risks too well.

So, I’m back to staring at the text from Astrid, sipping on my third caramel macchiato since lunch. Contemplating. Weighing my options.

Fuck it.

I get up and lock the door to my office.

A quick search conjures up a few images of Astrid, mostly her professional real estate pictures. She’s beyond stunning now. Long, shiny blonde hair. Legs that go on for miles. Plump, juicy lips. Sexy curves perfectly encased in a sleek, form-fitting dress. A subtle hint of cleavage. I find myself fantasizing again about the color of her nipples. Are they pink? Brown? Rosy red?

My dick fills at the thought of pinching them. Licking them into peaked points.

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