Page 80 of Heart Strings & Hotlines
She tosses the pills into her mouth and washes them down with the drink, then glares at me.
“First,” I say, “I need to trace your IP networks and your files all the way back to the day you started building the hotline. Once I prove you didn’t build it on his system, then we move to phase two. You’re going to need a tech company big enough to handle rapid growth and change as your company does. You have a vast knowledge of your algorithm, but you need more experience on the technology side to expand into areas where you’re not as versed.”
“You really believe that a hotline for single parents and maybe a dating site will grow that much? Come on. There are hundreds of sites and even more apps.”
“True, but none of them are as comprehensive as yours. And those two things are literally the stepping-stones for what you’ve created here.”
She tucks her legs beneath her and bites on her nail. I’ve never seen her do that before. It’s disgusting but somehow manages to turn me on at the same time, so I stare at the ceiling to compose my thoughts.
“I don’t know what to do with these distractions, Lottie. You breathe, and I get hard.”
She releases a dry chuckle, and I steel my resolve before allowing her into my line of vision again.
“I’m not sure I’m following you.” Her face scrunches into a frown. “What else is there besides my hotline and a matchmaking app?”
Is she serious? When she stares at me with a weird shake of her head like Kara does when she’s waiting for me to say something, I realize she’s very serious.
“Sweetheart, you’re not thinking big enough. What you’ve created, it’s unlike anything else out there. It’s like you took the science behind every personality test, combined it with a knowledge that only comes from human emotions and wove them into something that can quite literally change lives.”
Lottie drops her head to the back of the sofa and then pinches the bridge of her nose. I want to crawl inside her mind. I hate being shut out from her thoughts.
“I get that helping people find love can change lives. But you’re making it sound as though I’m missing something earth-shattering. How else are you envisioning me implementing this?”
How can she not see its potential?
Before I say something stupid, I stand and pace the room.
“Okay, I’m going to think out loud. These are off the top of my head, and I can explain in greater detail if you want to know more.”
My palms are itchy, so I wipe them on my thighs. Am I nervous? I don’t get nervous, so why is my stomach swirling as though I’m about to throw up?
I side-eye Lottie. Maybe I caught her germs. It would be my own fault. I mean, I did fuck her before she’d even finished her antibiotics. Slept with her? Made love?Saying “I fucked her” sounds crass.I’d much prefer my narrator to be dormant sometimes.
“It can help in pain management and treatments,” I say. “Fashion advice. Social media feeds. Fantasy football?—”
“You like football?”
Her question halts my pacing. “No. I hate it. But every time something enters the digital space, I learn it, learn from it, and understand how to make it better or build from it. Fantasy football hooks millions of people every year for very specific reasons. If you built something that integrated your system, you could create game strategy assistants that adapt to personality-based decisions. What you’re doing is integrating highly logical strategies with gut-feeling decisions to give them guidance based on intuitionandstrategy.”
She leans back on the sofa, a little pale.
“Are you okay?”
She nods. I’m not sure I believe her, but my mind is spinning, and these ideas need to be released, so I continue.
“On top of dating and relationship matches, you could go a step further and create coaches for specific personality types.” My brain is working faster than I can speak. “Take someone like me, who isn’t the easiest person to get along with. It doesn’t mean I don’t get lonely, but I also don’t have the skills to meet someone on my own. Or how about the way law enforcement could use your strategies to deepen their criminal profiling? It could change the world. It would work better than existing models for hiring, team bonding, and conflict resolution. In education, it could help guide students to learning models best suited for how their young brains work and develop.”
Lottie bites her nail again, but at least she appears to be taking in what I’m saying without immediately shutting me down.
“The problem is…”
Her gaze snaps to mine, all wide-eyed and completely intoxicating.
“In the wrong hands, your platform can also be used to discriminate against people like me, or anyone who doesn’t perfectly fit the mold. It could encourage fraud, identity and thought manipulation. Social engineering, privacy breaches, and emotional productivity manipulation are all real concerns.”
“Jesus, Thane.” She stands abruptly, and now she’s the one pacing. Her place is too small for us both to take the floor, so I sit in the spot she vacated. “This is all off the top of your head?”
“Yes.”
