Page 10 of Totally Played
Ashley
Itwasn’thowIthought the business trip would go, but we scored the extended investment and I got laid, so it wasn’t all bad. Jennifer gushed half the flight home about how she can’t wait to visit again and spend some more time with the family. I know she really means AJ. I should tell her that she’s barking up the wrong tree there, but really, how would I know. Just because we hooked up doesn’t mean he isn’t keen to hook up with women, too. Me, not so much. I’m totally a dude’s dude.
“Nice work convincing the Greys to commit to three years,” my boss and best friend, Redmond, says when I stroll into his office the following Friday.
“Once they saw the data, it was a pretty easy sell,” I reply, dropping into one of the brown leather armchairs in front of his desk. He closes the laptop he was working on. Another thing I love about Redmond. He’s always got time for you or, at least, for me.
“I hear there was a little more to it than that,” he says with a smirk.
“I don’t know what Jennifer told you, man, but it was all the numbers.”
“So it had nothing to do with them feeling guilty about you being poisoned by cheesecake?”
“Ha, no. I wasn’t poisoned.”
“Still, their son apparently spent a while in your room looking after you, I’m told.”
Fuck. Did Jennifer linger in the hallway to catch sight of AJ? Did she hear us?
“Yeah, he, umm, brought me some stuff from the mini-mart to, you know, get hydrated.” I cough on the last word and push up to arch my back over the armchair to get a glimpse of the baseball field. With so many cities with RED Tech offices he could choose to make his base of operations, I was stunned when he chose Savannah. More so when he told me it was because he’s become obsessed with Banana Ball. I’ve never seen a game, despite him inviting me along a bunch of times. I’m more of a hockey guy.
“Well, whatever you did worked. Now we just have to replicate it with the Miller, the DeVos, and the Youkoti investors and we’ll be able to keep production in the US.”
“You just want to go down to the factory and watch it all come together whenever you want,” I say, and he smiles.
“What’s wrong with that?”
“Nothing, I guess, but the Millers are going to want more than a few numbers to get them to agree to invest for another three years. Can we maybe get the content guys down to some of these farms and film some real endorsements from the guys using the sensors?”
“That’s not a bad idea. I’ll get Rigs onto it. Here are your tickets for Belgium,” he says, sliding over the envelope.
“Jennifer tagging along this time?”
“No. I’m sending her to Tokyo to start charming the Youkoti family. They have a daughter a year younger than her, and they’ve already connected on socials. It seemed like a good fit. Plus, she speaks the language, so no translator costs for me.”
“Really?”
“Don’t sound so surprised. She actually speaks Italian, too. Did you think she was just some ditzy art student?”
I shrug, the guilt seeping in because that is exactly what I thought.
“I guess I sort of did. Sorry.”
He waves a hand like it doesn’t matter, but it does to me. I’ll have to make more of an effort to acknowledge her input.
“I’ll get prepared for the DeVos meeting, unless you need anything else?”
“Nope, I left your flight home open-ended because I have no idea how long you’re going to need there. We only just convinced them to invest in the first place. They’re all about the dollars and cents of it, so be ready to go with the numbers. Lina hates when you have to look it up.”
DeVos Capital is one of the leading AgTech venture capital funds in Belgium, and its CEO, Lina DeVos, is the main reason. She built her investment company up from the ground, starting when she was only seventeen and working on her father’s farm.
“I know the numbers backward and forward,” I reassure him.
“Good. You leave in three days, so maybe get some rest, see a movie, or watch a game. Or, better yet, come to a game. I have tickets to today’s Banana Ball match, Funky Monkeys vs Animal Control.”
“I’m good.”
“One day, I will get you to a game and then you’ll see. It’s awesome.”
