Page 65 of Stacked
But of course, with every upswing, the only direction is...
CHAPTER TWENTY-EIGHT
ROBERT
I couldn’t sleep.
Nothing I did worked. It felt like every cell in my body was wired as if each one was awake by its own power and trying to crawl out of my body. I hadn’t felt this way since the night I finally decided to leave my job at the hedge fund, the night my frustration about the shady practices of my colleagues finally reached the point where it could not be ignored.
I checked the time on my phone. Three sixteen.
Sighing, I put it back on the nightstand and angled my body toward Anya, asleep in my bed for what I hoped would be the first of many nights. We had a long day together at The Green Frog, signing autographs, taking photos, and generally navigating our unexpected notoriety, but it had also been one of those great days, the kind you could bottle and the kind you didn’t want to waste. I relished every moment of it.
And, of course, we followed up the exhausting day with a couple of rounds of sex—first in the living room as we unwound, then upstairs in my bed when it became obvious that we couldn’t get enough of each other. It hadn’t even been a question if she’d stay the night with me—it had just happened.
So easily.
Now, in the early morning darkness, my thoughts kept turning back to Hudson Louis’s email. In the sea of crazy offers, scam emails, and internet trolls, his stood out as a clear, true opportunity. Venture capital was a hell of a thing and the place where millions got made overnight.
Billions, sometimes.
Not that money was my only motivation. I’d never been like that. If the dollar was all I cared about, I would have stayed in Manhattan, crunching numbers and crushing bottom lines. I’d never have come back here to forge a new path at a bookstore/bourbon bar. But as much as I tried to ignore it, Hudson’s email piqued my lust for adventure. Any VC firm he ran would surely make a fortune in the span of one great business deal.
I turned over in bed and fumbled for my phone again. Leaving him hanging would be rude, and Hudson at least deserved to hear back from me after going out of his way to locate my email address and trying to reconnect after all these years. Sending a quick email wouldn’t hurt, and I wanted to at least leave the line of communication open. I’d never been one to close doors or burn bridges.
I typed a quick reply and hit send, not allowing myself to think about it anymore. We were old friends, that’s all, and having my face plastered all over the internet didn’t give me an excuse to be a jerk.
But the moment I pressed send, I regretted it.Ding. Shit, I forgot to put this goddamn thing on silent.
Anya rustled in bed and turned to me. “What was that?” Her question sounded bleary, and I guessed the sound shook her from a deep sleep.
I slid my phone back on the charger. “Forgot to put this thing on silent, and it’s still blowing up.”
“I didn’t hear it earlier.”
“My Wi-Fi connection can be crappy sometimes, and I guess it just downloaded a whole bunch of messages at once,” I said smoothly, coming up with the first excuse I could find.
