“Yes, and I look at what it has done for me. I thought I’d have plenty of years later with your father, and now he’s sick and I’m all by myself.”
“You’re not by yourself. You have your sister and me. And you can rest assured that I’m dating Christopher. It’s early but a nice relationship. We’re taking it slow.”
“Good,” she says with conviction. “I’ll look forward to meeting him at Alejandra’s party.”
I roll my eyes. I know that this is a losing battle to argue with her. “I’ll ask him, but he may think it’s a little early in our relationship to be meeting fifty family members.”
“If he wants a future with you, he’ll want to meet the family.”
“I’ll ask him. I’d better go if I want to get out of here before two.” I’ll broach the subject with Christopher. What a way to make him run away from me. He may not want to be overwhelmed by all of my crazy family.
I finally get the cup of coffee from the microwave. It’s hot and strong and gives me enough energy to make it for a few more hours before I head home. When my day is done, and only toothpicks will keep my eyes open, I take a rideshare home. On the way, I see the late-night crowd enjoying the dance clubs and bars. I also see some of the locals keeping tabs on their blocks. Not long ago, this neighborhood was filled with gangs, and today I see the quiet of a sleeping family neighborhood. I grew up here. This is the heart of the Hispanic community, and there’s so much activity going on in the bright and vivid colors. I love it all.
I wonder if this is something that Christopher would enjoy. It’s too early to tell if he even wants to stay in San Francisco or move to his home in Minnesota. I barely even know him, and I’m not sure whether or not he’d be interested in anything long term, but it’s worth trying to find out.
Just the thought of him gets my panties wet. My finger hovers over my phone, debating on whether or not I should text him. Its almost midnight. It’s awfully late, and it would probably seem like a bootie call. And I know if I go over and spend the night with him, I won’t make it tomorrow to my workout. That’s always the first thing I drop, and it’s the one thing that helps me with my stress.
It’s such a tough decision, but then I think of his cute dimples, and I can’t resist.
Me: Just leaving the lab. Sleep well.
Christopher: I’ve missed you tonight.
Me: I miss you too. Crazy day.
I take a big breath, deciding I’d rather ask over text than in person so he can easily turn it down without me having to see the conflict on his face.
Me: My cousin is turning sixteen. My family is planning a party on Saturday night. Let me know if you’d be interested in coming. No pressure—I promise. It’s a lot of family, so I totally get it if you don’t want to go.
I watch the dots rotate, and I’m surprised at his quick response.
Christopher: You know I’ll go wherever you need or want me to go as long as I’m with you.
My heart beats triple time, and I have a smile on my face that nothing could wipe off.
Me: I guess if you wanted to come over to my place for a change, you’re welcome to tonight.
Christopher: I’m on my way.
Chapter fourteen
Christopher
I’m not at all surprised that Bella lives in the Mission District. It’s a great Latino district that is well-known and influential for its restaurants. There are dozens of great taquerias located throughout the neighborhood that showcase Mexican food, but there’s also Salvadoran, Guatemalan, and Nicaraguan restaurants, and it’s just a fun place to be, with bright murals and an eclectic and diverse community—everything from the tech people to long-term Latino residents. It has gentrified, but it still has some sketchy areas.
When the rideshare pulls up to her place, I see it’s your typical San Francisco neighborhood house. It’s a building that has been converted from a large house into three apartments. There is a garage out front that sits right up against a sidewalk that borders the street. Each house fills the property line to the edge so that the block looks like one long group of townhomes. No grass is visible from the front. Each of the units is on their own floor of the building—one behind the garage and one each on the second and the third floors.
Bella’s home is the middle apartment. I ring the bell, and she buzzes me in. I can’t help but feel butterflies in my stomach. I’m so excited to see her as I climb the stairs. I hear her open the door, and she’s standing there in a pair of sleep shorts and a camisole. She looks beautiful, and her face lights up when she sees me, making me feel invincible.
“Welcome to the Mission. How do you like slumming?”
“Slumming? This place is great. I love it over here. There’s so much diversity, and some of my favorite restaurants are here—the La Palma Mexicatessen, La Taqueria, and there’s Foreign Cinema down the street.”
“I grew up at La Palma. Anna and I went to school together. It was her parents’ place, and she owns it now. It’s a favorite of mine. I’ve been going there since I was a little girl.”
“Is this the apartment you lived in when you were growing up?” I take in her studio apartment and hope that she grew up in a bigger place than this small apartment. But the apartment is quintessentially her. It has a bed with bright colors, a table covered in books and papers, a television on the wall, and small kitchen.
“No, I grew up a few blocks away above Delores Park. My mom sold it a few years ago to move closer to her job, my dad, and her sister down in San Jose. I can’t imagine living in any other part of the City, or the Bay Area for that matter.”
She lights up as she talks about her neighborhood, but I can see the circles under her eyes, and I realize she’s struggling to stay awake. I reach for her and bring her in for a tight hug and a deep kiss. It’s slow and passionate. “It’s late. How about we get you in bed? You look exhausted, and I imagine you have an early morning.”
“I might be insulted if you weren’t telling me the truth.” She reaches for my hand and leads me around her apartment while she turns lights off and gives me the tour. “Here is the bathroom in case you need that later. If I snore too loud, you can sleep on the couch.”
“You don’t snore.”
“According to Ellie, I do.”
“You purr in your sleep. I’ll be fine.”
“I was planning on getting up and going for a run in the morning. My stress levels are really high right now and starting my day off running seems to help.”
“Can I join you?” She’s talked about running in the mornings before, so I packed running shoes and workout gear in my overnight.
“Do you run?”
“I’ve been known to do some running. I tend to play basketball pick-up games these days for my workouts, but I was on the cross-country team in high school. There’s a good chance you will lap me or just leave me in your dust if you’re a sprinter, but I might be able to keep up with you.”
“I’ll set the alarm. I’m not a three-minute miler. I just need to get out and pound the pavement a little bit to just work through the stress.”
“I get it. What time do you want to get up?”
“How about five thirty?”
I groan internally, knowing that time is quickly approaching. “That works.” We move into her bed.
I strip down to my boxer shorts and crawl in between the sheets, and she cuddles right in with me. It just feels so right. She fits perfectly spooned in close to me. Almost immediately, her breathing becomes rhythmic, and I drift off quickly myself.
When the alarm goes off, I’m disoriented, and it takes me a minute to realize where I am. I was in such a deep sleep. I think we touched all night long. I’m not usually a cuddler. This woman is upending everything.
I hold her tight, not wanting to get right out of bed.
“If I question it, or if I go back to sleep, I may never get up. I need to get going. You don’t have to come with me,” she says sleepily.
I shake t
he cobwebs from my brain. “No, I need to do this.”
We both quickly dress, and we’re out the door. As we stretch a little bit on the sidewalk out front, she explains her running route.
I nod, and we start heading south on Mission Street. The traffic is light, and with the exception of a few breakfast spots and bakeries, the street is quiet. We run about eight blocks, and just as the neighborhood starts to get a little dicey, she turns right and runs uphill to the top of Dolores Park. My lungs are burning, and the only thing that keeps me going is hearing her breathing just as hard as I am.
Dolores Park is popular for a lot of reasons, but often when there is a park scene or picture where they want the San Francisco skyline in the background, this is where it’s taken. This morning it is more beautiful than most because the sun is rising, and behind downtown and the sky is a contrast between the black night sky and the orange sun pushing her way into the darkness.
After twenty minutes of running, we arrive back at her place, and as we’re cooling down, I notice I’m definitely breathing much harder than she is. She turns to me and says, “I’m impressed. You did pretty well for not running recently.”
“Thanks. If I told you the truth that I hadn’t been running in almost five years, would you believe me?”
She grins widely at me. “Not at all.”
“Well good, because it’s true; I haven’t been running in almost five years, so I’m thankful to you for going probably a little slower than usual to let me stay with you.”
“I’m grateful to have you join me for my run. I won’t deny that there are some less-than-desirable locations in the Mission, but we turned before it gets too crazy, with the homeless and a methadone clinic. It makes me feel safer having you with me. Plus, I like the company, even if we didn’t talk.”
Once we enter the apartment, she offers, “Why don’t you get in the shower first, and I’ll get the coffee ready and check my emails so we can get out of here. I’ve got to get over to Union Station and on the BART for a nine o’clock class in Berkeley.”
“No problem. I’ll be quick.” I jump in the shower, and it smells like her. I like her floral-smelling shampoo and her basic Ivory soap. I quickly realize I actually feel really great having just run. I have a ton of energy, and it’s so early I can get several things on my to-do list crossed off.
Drying myself off, I alert her, “The shower’s all yours.”
I rub my hair with a towel and look up just in time to see the flash of her nakedness, and it takes all of my willpower to not act upon it and join her in the shower.
We are like a well-oiled machine and seem to alternate well in her small bathroom. When we are finally ready to catch our ride, we head downstairs. I look at her, and my heart almost stops. She’s hardly wearing any makeup. Her hair is damp, and she’s already distracted by her day. Our ride drops her at Union Station and then drops me at my office.
I arrive early, which is kind of nice. I’m not the first to arrive, and I noticed that Mason is here but behind closed doors. I don’t want to interrupt anything, so I go in search of a cup of coffee and work my way through the SVBJ. Each morning I look to see what is going on with my clients and some prospects, and I know a few articles will be written about some emerging pharmaceutical companies, which tend to be my sweet spot.
The noise of the office slowly increases as more people arrive. I’m working through my presentation on Black Rock when my internal office instant message pings.
Mason: Can you come in here, please?
Me: I’ll be right there.
Picking up my Moleskine notebook and pen, I walk to his office. Sitting with Mason is Sara, Cameron, Dillon, and Jim, our security guy. This can’t be good.
“Hey, what’s going on?”
“Well, apparently Evernote was hit by our hackers last night,” Mason informs me.
I sit back hard in my chair and let out a big sigh of air. Oh fuck.
“So, what does that mean?” I ask. Evernote came to SHN because of a relationship with Dillon, and they were incredibly generous to assign them to me.
“It looks like they got into their human resources system and hijacked all their employee names, addresses, socials, and all their personal information, along with the credit card information from all their clients,” Mason shares.
“My team has already gone onto the dark web, and we see the information up for sale,” Jim adds.
“Oh crap. Does Evernote have to report this to someone?” I ask.
“It’s the smart thing to do, but there’s a lot of gray area in reporting requirements. Sara, you would know this better than I do—what do you think?” Mason asks.
“I’ll have to look that up. I’m not sure really,” Sara replies. “We’ll do some research. There’s the possibility that they may not have to report it.”
“Jesus Christ. When is this going to end?” Dillon pleads to the ceiling.
I agree, this is just too much. “Who should I get in touch with at Evernote?”
Mason says, “Right now, Emerson is already on her way there to sit with her team member who works on-site. Because of it being the HR portal, Jim has her doing some covert research.”
“Okay, what can I do to help? What do you need from me?”
Mason lets out a long breath. “You know, I don’t know that there’s anything we can do right now. They’re your client, and we wanted you to know, but I think it’s mostly up to Cameron and his team and Jim.”
Cameron has been quietly listening to us. “I don’t know if I’ll put Parker on it again. He was pretty busy with Pineapple Technologies, and that’s just wrapping up. I’ll see where he’s at and if he’s open to working on Evernote.” He looks at Jim. “Should I reach back out to Cora Perry at the FBI and see what her thoughts are and how she would like us to move forward?”
The room collectively seems to agree with Cameron’s idea.
“Jim, do you have any different thoughts on what I can do?” Cameron asks.
Jim shrugs. “I think you’re doing what’s correct. You can check with Cora and see if she thinks we should pull Assistant US Attorney Walker Clifton in on this since we do know that it’s our Adam and Eve.”
Adam and Eve are two hackers who have been targeting us and our investments along with some of the other venture capital funds throughout the Bay Area. We recently discovered their names in a major breach of a different client, and the US attorney’s office was able to secure multiple indictments against them.
The meeting begins to break up. I feel helpless. I don’t have anything to do other than sit back and watch what feels like a car accident in slow motion. “Keep me posted.”
As I’m leaving, Dillon asks, “Hey, you want to grab lunch today? Let’s talk about what you have going on. I heard some weird rumor about one of your possible investments, and I wanted to talk to you a little bit about it.”
“Sure. Anything to be concerned about?”
“I don’t know. Let’s figure this out together. Bring your file on Earth Path. We can have a quiet chat.”
“Sure. What time you want to go?” I ask.
“Noon? We can head over to Scotty’s Bar over by the Y. It’s close enough to walk to, but we shouldn’t have too many ears to eavesdrop,” Dillon offers.
“I was there the other day. I actually ran into Annabelle there.”
Mason gives me a funny look, and I don’t want to get anyone in trouble, so I excuse myself and head back to my office to review a few more proposals and make some phone calls.
I meet up with Dillon at noon, and we walk the eight blocks over to Scotty’s Bar and talk as we go. “I’m hearing that your Earth Path has their partnership fracturing and on the brink of splitting, which may affect us if we invest.”
“The partners are splitting up? How did you hear that? I’ve not been told that yet.”
“I heard it through a friend of a friend, so we want to make sure that we vet that information really carefully. I don’t
want to dump a few million in, and they split that money among themselves and leave us with no company.”
I nod vigorously. “Agreed.”
Over lunch, we go through my file on Earth Path, and we talk a little bit about Black Rock and my presentation on Sunday night.
“Any fun plans for the weekend?” Dillon asks as we walk back to the office.
“I suspect it’ll be a quiet weekend. I started dating someone, and she’s a grad student at Berkeley and needs to study and work this weekend.”
“It looks like Cameron can’t join us to play golf this weekend. Any interest in joining Mason, Trey, and me for golf on Saturday morning? We’ll play down in Palo Alto?”
“I’d love to play. That would be great. I’ll check with my girlfriend and make sure I’m correct about her plans.”
“Just let me know. Emerson is happy to come, but I think she’s looking for some girl time with her friends.”
“I know we are doing a family thing on Saturday night, and I might bring her to the Arnaults’ on Sunday night.”
“I look forward to meeting her, but prepare her for the quiz from the girls. They’ll put her through her paces in looking out for you.”
“I don’t think I’m worried about that. I’m more worried about what they might say about me.”
He laughs loud and deep. “You’ll be in good shape. They’ll take good care of you.”
When I return to my office, I see I missed a text from Bella while we walked back.
Bella: How are you feeling post-run today? Are your knuckles dragging on the ground yet?
Me: No, not yet. Actually, it is pretty invigorating. I think I need to do that more often. Although, it was a kick in the pants to get up so early.
Bella: I know it is, but it really helps me deal with some of the stress.
Me: I’m glad you got me out, and I commit to doing it again the next time. Speaking of which, what’s your plan today?
Longing (Billionaire Venture Capitalist #7): A Billionaire Romance Page 9