Crash - Part One Page 4

  I studied human biology at college and was planning on becoming a scientist. As you can imagine, Stanford is full of computer geeks, and one day John had an idea to combine my medical knowledge with his coding skills.”

  “And the idea is to help people like you who need artificial limbs?”

  “Yes,” I said. “The better medical science can understand the limbs, the quicker they can improve them. Legs aren’t such a big deal, but think of someone who has lost their arm. If we succeed, people will have actual working fingers instead of just plastic ones.”

  “Impressive. And at the conference, you were looking for more investors, I assume?”

  I nodded. “Not just investors, though. We were looking for the right investor.”

  “Is there such a thing as a ‘wrong’ investor?” Carter asked. “I’ve worked with a few start-ups in my time, and they are usually desperate for any money.”

  “We had one company that wanted to use the technology on people who didn’t need it. They said it could be used to make bodies stronger, but it sounded more like cosmetic surgery to us. That’s not what we got in this for.”

  “Fair enough,” Carter said.

  “Tell me more about your job,” I requested of him.

  “Trust me, you really don’t want to hear about my job. Even I don’t find it interesting.” He was almost certainly right and I decided not to push it for fear of revealing my ignorance.

  Carter turned the conversation back to my business, and I was impressed with how quickly he picked up a lot of the concepts.

  “I think it’s about time I took you home,” Carter said.

  I looked around and saw that we were the last ones left in the restaurant. Where had the time gone?

  “I can get a cab,” I said. “No need for you to escort me to the door.”

  “Nonsense,” Carter replied. “The car is outside and I have no intention of letting you go just yet.”

  I didn’t admit it, but that was music to my ears.

  Chapter Nine

  “Well, here we are,” I said as the car pulled up outside my building. Carter got out and went round to open my door. I quickly fumbled for the handle to show him that I was capable of opening a door myself, but I couldn’t find it.

  “I’ll see you up to your room,” Carter said, placing a strong hand on the small of my back.

  I noticed a few odd stares from others on the street; I was likely not the type of girl they were used to seeing step out of an expensive car with a heavenly man escorting me inside. I tried to ignore them, I really did, but deep down I knew this looked ridiculous.

  We stepped into the elevator and a few drunk girls followed us in. One of them smiled at Carter.

  “Hi, handsome,” she said, thrusting her chest in his direction. Carter was stood right next to me, and yet she acted as if I wasn’t there. He ignored her and took my hand in his. It was the first time our flesh had ever touched for any length of time, and I felt the sparks travel up my arm and set my heart racing.

  The girl—who could barely stand up—gave me a quick once-over and then turned away to face her friends. She was nowhere near as subtle as she thought she was, and I saw her mouth the words, “oh my God.” To their credit, her friends had the decency to look a little ashamed.

  The elevator stopped two floors below mine and the girls stepped out. The drunk girl seemed to think that the open doors had the power to block sound, because as soon as she stepped out she said, “How the hell are they a couple?” loudly to her friends.

  I tried to pull my hand out of Carter’s grasp, but he held on tight.

  “Ignore them,” he said. “They’re just silly kids.”

  “That’s what everyone thinks, Carter,” I said as we stepped out of the lift. “We look ridiculous together. People probably assume I have rented you for the evening.”

  “Are you calling me a whore, Emily?”

  I laughed. His English accent softened the word ‘whore’ in a way that it almost sounded respectable.

  “You know what I mean. Anyway, here we are. You have escorted me to my door. Thank you for a lovely evening, Carter. I still don’t understand why you did it, but I am very grateful.”

  “It’s me who should be grateful,” Carter replied, making no effort to leave. “I take it you won’t be inviting me in for coffee?”

  “Carter, I can’t. I’m just—”

  “Not that sort of girl. Yes, I know. I’m still going to kiss you, though.”

  “No, Carter. Not tonight.” But I wanted him. I wanted his lips on me. I kept my hands locked by my side, but they shook, desperate to grab his head and pull him in to me.

  Carter’s hands grabbed my wrists. I made a feeble effort at resisting, but my heart wasn’t in it. He threw my hands up alongside my head and pushed me back against the door. Slowly his lips moved toward mine until they connected, sending a rush of blood to my head. I let him kiss me, his soft lips pressing firmly against mine as his tongue forced my lips open.

  I gave in. I couldn’t resist any more. My tongue shot forward to meet his as our mouths merged together. My tongue battled against his, but he was too strong and I soon succumbed. When he bit my lip I went weak at the knees, and my fake leg nearly slipped out from under me. Carter’s right hand went down and grabbed my thigh, holding it up to support me, now that all the strength in my body had left me. My artificial leg grazed against his calf, but if he noticed, he didn’t react or say anything.

  He tore his lips from mine and started to nibble my earlobe while he pressed his hard member against my sex. Even through our layers of clothing, I could feel my heat burning against his eager shaft.

  “I know you’re wet right now,” Carter whispered in my ear. “If I put my hand between your legs, I would find you wet and ready for me, wouldn’t I?”

  No words came forth, but my moan gave him all the answer he needed. Then suddenly he released me and stepped away. My left hand reached down to the doorknob to stop myself from collapsing.

  “Goodnight, Emily,” Carter said. “I will see you again soon.”

  I watched him walk away before stumbling inside and out of my dress. My fingers brought release a few minutes later, but it wasn’t enough. Next time he walked me home, I would not be able to stop him at the door.

  Chapter Ten

  When I woke up the next morning, I found my phone stuffed full of messages from my mom and John. I ignored Mom’s for the time being and didn’t even read John’s, but I did ask him to come over as soon as possible. I didn’t want to be alone in the apartment today. I didn’t trust myself not to phone Carter and invite him over.

  There was a trace of a minor hangover plaguing my head, so I made a fresh pot of coffee and sat down in front of my laptop. With the best of intentions I opened up the last thing I had been working on, but my fingers refused to do their dance across the keyboard. Fortunately, John showed up pretty quickly.

  “Morning, Emily,” he greeted me with a knowing smile. “How are you today?” John looked straight into my bedroom and then the bathroom.

  “He’s not here, John, so you can quit snooping around.”

  He ignored me and continued looking, but it didn’t take long in my small apartment to establish that we were the only ones there.

  “Do you really need to look in the trash can, too?” I asked. “You won’t find any used condoms in there, if that’s what you are after. Carter never set foot in the apartment last night. We had a lovely dinner and then he went home.”

  John looked disappointed, but poured himself some fresh orange juice and sat down next to me. “You know I’m going to need more details than that. Tell me everything, and don’t leave anything out. I’ll know if you’re lying.”

  I told him the whole story, everything except how horny I had been when he had me up against the door and what I did as soon as he left. John probably managed to guess those details anyway.

  “So, let me just get this straight,” John said. “This guy�
��who you may have noticed is somewhat handsome—took you out for a meal and wants to get into a relationship with you, but you said no.”

  “He doesn’t want to get into a relationship with me. He wants to fuck me, that’s all, and I’m not going to do that just because he buys me dinner.”

  “Straight people are so weird sometimes. Okay, so I get that you don’t want to put out on the first date, but he wants to see you again, right? So he doesn’t just want sex. It sounds to me like he wants a relationship with you.”

  “Don’t be silly,” I said. “For one thing, he’s just visiting here for a few months, so a relationship is somewhat impractical. Second, this whole thing is too weird anyway. Why is a guy like him sniffing around someone like me?”

  “Not this again, Emily. You are hot. You have a great body and most men are not going to give a shit about your leg.”

  “What should I do?” I asked.

  “Personally, I would tell him to come over and ravage me on the bed like there was no tomorrow. But I guess you won’t do that. Look, you might be right about this being a short-term thing, but that doesn’t mean it can’t be fun. Have a good time and stop worrying about what people think.”

  I agreed with John just to keep him quiet, but I didn’t think I was capable of letting my hair down like that. My only sexual experience had been rudimentary at best. To be fair, I probably hadn’t set Neil’s world on fire, either.

  We were only eighteen, but I just laid back and let him do most of the work. Was that my fault or his? I liked to think I could be more passionate than that and perhaps I just needed the right man to bring that passion out. If Carter couldn’t do it, then I might as well just buy some toys and accept a life of celibacy.

  The ringing of my phone snapped me out of my thoughts. Carter?

  “Shit, it’s the lawyer,” I said, answering the phone and putting it on speaker. We usually only heard from the lawyer if something bad was going down. “Hi, Scott. How are you?”

  “Hello, Emily,” Scott said. “Is John there, as well?”

  “Hi, Scott,” John called out.

  “Oh, good. So, how did the conference go last week?”

  I could tell this was just Scott’s attempt at small talk. He wasn’t very good at it.

  “The conference went well,” I said. “We got the attention of a few investors and have meetings lined up over the next couple of weeks.”

  “Good, good,” Scott said, and then went silent on the other end. I looked over at John, but he just shrugged. “Listen, this is a little awkward, but as you know there are a couple of unpaid bills now. The company owes my firm about $5,000 and I’m getting questions from the managing partner.”

  “Oh, yes,” I said, cringing as I remembered the crumbled bills littering my bedroom floor. “I have those bills on the top of my list. As soon as we get this funding in I will make sure you are paid in full.”

  “Great, great,” Scott said. “At the moment, we have to put a hold on any further legal services, but once the financing is in place we can do more work for you.”

  “Thanks, Scott. We do appreciate your help with this. I’m sorry for getting you in trouble with your boss.”

  “Don’t worry about it,” Scott said. “I’ll leave you to it. Keep me updated.”

  “Five grand!” John exclaimed once Scott had hung up. “How did we rack up all those bills?”

  “He charges $350 an hour, John. It’s not hard to rack up a few grand. That was the cost of incorporating and getting some of our intellectual property filings done.”

  “Christ.”

  “Yeah. But we’ll be fine as long as we get this investment sorted out in the next few weeks.”

  “I certainly hope so,” John said. “We didn’t put blood, sweat, and tears into this just so—”

  The phone rang again.

  “Ignore it,” John said.

  “It’s not Scott,” I said. “It’s Carter.”

  Chapter Eleven

  “Hello, Emily,” came the smooth voice on the other end of the phone. I quickly sat down before my legs gave out. The soft tones of his voice triggered some sort of automatic reflex in my body, making my heart rate increase and my stomach contract, not to mention what happened between my legs whenever I spoke to him.

  “Hi,” I replied. Great response, Emily. God, I sounded like a fourteen year-old with a crush on a boy at school. Why couldn’t I act normally around him?

  “I’m coming over Tuesday night with Chinese food,” Carter said.

  “What? You’re coming here?” Apparently Carter wasn’t going to wait for an invitation.

  “Yes. I will be round at about eight. I’ll bring food and wine. You just make sure you have the place to yourself.”

  “But, um, Tuesday isn’t good,” I said, hoping my lie sounded a little more convincing over the phone than it would have done in person. “I have plans with John.”

  “No you don’t,” Carter said. “I checked with John before calling.” I glared over at John and he quickly made himself scarce. “I’m going to have you Tuesday night,” Carter finished. “I’m going to pry open those legs and taste what is between them. I just thought you should know that so that we are both on the same page.”

  I gasped and slapped my hand over my mouth. I couldn’t believe he had the nerve to say that. But then Carter had never exactly hid his intentions from me.

  “I don’t know, Carter. This all just feels like it is moving a little too fast.”

  “No, it’s moving too slow. If you don’t want this to happen, then just say so and you will never see me again. So what is it? Shall I come over Tuesday night?”

  I nodded, then remembered I was on the phone. “Yes,” I whimpered.

  “Looking forward to it.” He hung up.

  I closed my eyes and took some deep breaths. Was this really happening? Was I actually going to have sex? With Carter? Everything seemed too good to be true. Then John came into the kitchen with news that hit me like a cold shower.

  ---

  PharmaTech called, but they didn’t call with an offer; they called with a threat. “Meet with us or we’ll just copy your code and subject your company to death by legal fees.” Those were probably not the exact words used, but it was the summary John gave me.

  We agreed to meet with PharmaTech’s lawyers at their offices on the thirtieth floor of a high-rise in the city. John and I elected to go to the meeting dressed in the most casual and inappropriate clothing we could find. We wouldn’t be able to out-dress a couple of hotshot lawyers anyway, so there was no point trying. This way we could show we were not intimidated by them.

  We were shown into a room with walls made entirely of glass, although the pattern on the glass gave us a degree of privacy. Three lawyers entered the room. One was about my age and he looked like a newbie; probably just there to take notes.

  Doug, the older lawyer, was about forty and had a harsh look to him. Lisa was probably in her early thirties and would have been attractive without the stick up her ass. I didn’t catch the young one’s name and didn’t really care.

  “Thank you for coming down,” Doug said. “I understand that our client may have scared you over the phone and I apologize for that.”

  “Let’s just get straight down to business, shall we?” John said. “Your client wants to buy our business, but we don’t intend to sell. Not to them, anyway. So what leverage do they have?”

  “Our client feels that they can help you a lot with your business,” Lisa said.

  “We don’t need any help,” I said. “We are doing quite well by ourselves.”

  “Sure, sure,” Lisa said. “But our client feels that there are weaknesses in your algorithms—something to do with security of the data—and they can help you with that.”

  How the hell did PharmaTech know about that? We only found out ourselves about a couple of weeks ago and John had been working to fix it ever since.

  “Our algorithms are fine,” John lied. “If
that is all, I think we should leave. This meeting is a waste of our time.”

  “Our client is prepared to buy you out for ten million dollars,” Doug said as we stood up to leave. “That’s a lot of money. You should give it some thought.”

  “We have other investors,” I said.

  “And do you think they will want to invest after doing due diligence?” Lisa asked. “They will find out about this problem you are having and call the whole thing off. Look, I respect your morals and your desire to do good for the world and all that, but I’m telling you that this business is going nowhere. PharmaTech is offering you a way out. Think about it.”

  John and I left the building and headed straight to the park where we could talk in private.

  “How the hell does PharmaTech know about that problem with security?” I asked.

  “I have no idea,” John said. “The only people who have access to the code are the few beta users we enrolled.”

  “Did you mention anything to the potential investors at the conference?”

  “No, of course not. What do you think I’m going to say? ‘Please give us lots of money, but by the way there is a big problem with our product.’ ”

  “Then how—”

  “Oh shit,” John said, sinking his head into his hands. “What if they hacked into the program? They must have a dedicated security team—it wouldn’t be a big leap to imagine them devoting some resources to hacking our system.”

  Regardless of how they found out, the business was screwed unless we could fix this problem. I massaged my temples and tried to relax. Suddenly Tuesday night could not come soon enough.

  Chapter Twelve

  When I heard the knock at the door, I quickly opened up my laptop to make it look like I had been working instead of just sitting around waiting for Carter to appear. After a bit of debate with John, I settled on wearing a formal black skirt with a more casual low-cut top. It felt just right for an evening in, but revealed enough cleavage to keep Carter’s attention. The skirt was not long enough to cover my leg; now we would see just how normal he could act around me with a plastic leg on display.