His Huge Rock

by Sarah J. Brooks

  I looked over at Wyatt, who was smiling ear to ear. He clearly had already heard about Ren’s app, and this news story wasn’t a surprise at all.

  “Tell our audience more about Invest Tonight,” the host asked.

  “Well, two of my close friends met about six months ago through the Date Tonight app. They were actually the only couple I knew that had a one hundred percent match,” Ren started to say.

  “He’s talking about us!” I screamed with excitement.

  “Well through a misunderstanding, they ended up arguing and finally made up when my friend Wyatt went out to help Dakota’s grandmother with her investments. When they told me the story, something just clicked. There isn’t an investment app that is designed specifically for the beginning investor.”

  “There are a lot of investment apps, though.”

  “Sure, if you’re a dedicated investor, there are a lot of options. But what if you’re just Grandma Lou, sitting in your nursing home and wanting to put your money in a decent investment that isn’t complicated. That’s what Invest Tonight is here to help with. This app isn’t for day traders. It’s not for people who want to learn everything about the stock market. The app offers ten simple investment options and clearly describes each one.”

  “So your friends love story inspired you to make another ten million dollars?” the host asked as he laughed.

  “I guess so.”

  “He made ten million dollars from his app?” I asked in total shock.

  “Yep, he’s getting to be a pretty damn rich twenty-four-year-old,” Wyatt said with a laugh.

  “How long did you know about this?”

  Wyatt smiled at me like he always did, and I knew I was in trouble. Over the last six months together, there was one thing I had learned very well, I had no willpower when he turned on that amazing smile of his.

  “He was fixing some bugs in the dating app, and I told him about the night we met up with Grandma Lou. I saw his spark when I explained how I knew Grandma Lou and how she had tied us both together.”

  Suddenly there was a spark of memory of my own. It was Grandma Lou who had been the connection between us all along.

  “Did the dating app ever ask you where you volunteered or anything about Grandma Lou?” I asked.

  “I’m not sure. There were like a million questions.”

  “One question asked me about the closest person in the world to me. I answered with her name. Later when I was asked about places I frequented, I had put her nursing home on there.”

  His eyes lit up, and Wyatt pulled me toward him. I loved when he pulled me close to him like that. It made my whole body light up. The last six months had been absolute perfection, and I couldn’t have asked for a better man in my life. The Date Tonight app had done that for us, but we had made the most of it.

  “I answered that the nursing home had been a place I visited too. It was listed as one of the most important things I did that year.”

  It had bugged me since we met that we were rated a one hundred percent match, yet we were totally different. But at that moment, I realized that we didn’t have to like all the same things or have the same jobs, or even vote for the same political party. Grandma Lou was the most important person in my world and helping her had been the most important thing he did that year. For that reason alone, I knew the Date Tonight app had been right after all. We were a 100% match.

  PART II

  Contents

  Chapter 1

  Chapter 2

  Chapter 3

  Chapter 4

  Chapter 5

  Chapter 6

  Chapter 7

  Chapter 8

  Chapter 9

  Chapter 10

  Chapter 11

  Chapter 12

  Chapter 13

  Chapter 14

  Chapter 1

  Dean

  “If we invest everything into the new live streaming app, I think that would be our best bet,” Brandon, or Ren said as we started our weekly investment club meeting.

  At twenty-four years old, Ren wasn’t the kind of guy I usually hung around with. His cockiness and insistence on knowing the technology field wasn’t useful to me at all, but this was our weekly investment club meeting and I could endure him for the short amount of time we had to be together.

  “Of course you want all our money to go into technology, but for those of us who hate technology, this is the worst investment ever,” I added. “I have a really hard time taking any advice from a guy who can’t even get laid.”

  “I get laid more than you old man. How can you hate technology? It’s all the girls posting on Instagram and Twitter that have you relevant in today’s world anyway. I mean, I wouldn’t even know who you were if it wasn’t for technology. Most of your movies came out when I was a baby,” Ren replied.

  He was a little shit, and I hated that I actually liked the kid. It was the truth, though, and I loathed that even more than being jabbed about my age. At 48-years-old, I certainly wasn’t a young Hollywood star like I used to be. Luckily, there were still much older stars like George Clooney who were continuing to be profitable, so I was holding out hope that I could land a movie that would bring the excitement back into my life and keep me going in the industry.

  After being on Broadway for over a year, I was ready to get back to the relatively dull life of shooting movies. Broadway required me constantly to be in one place and to work six days a week, every single week. Although I had become accustomed to the schedule, I wasn’t in love with it at all. I missed the days of shooting movies for six weeks and then taking six weeks off to travel with delicious women and lay on the beaches of Mexico.

  Movie star life was so much different than Broadway star life. In my day to day life now, I felt like a normal guy. I went to work, did my job, and then headed home every night. There was a small window of time after a performance where I might find some fans outside the show, but as soon as I signed autographs and took some pictures, they were gone. In the morning light, I was just some dude who was walking around the city.

  In front of my hotel there were paparazzi on some days, but not all of the days. It really just depended on the news stories that were swirling around. Most of the time, they simply snapped a few photos and then went back to their day to day lives. They didn’t follow me too often, only when I had a beautiful date on my arms.

  My agent had insisted that doing Broadway would help me become well known again. It wasn’t working out that way, though. Although people in New York certainly recognized me more, the overall country didn’t seem to care all that much about what I was up to. I really needed some publicity if I was going to land any decent parts in movies.

  Occasionally, there was a story about a movie I had done in the past which would get some excitement going. I’d get a few interview requests and sometimes even enough attention to keep me busy for a week, but it always died down. Without an upcoming release to talk about, there was a dead zone between me and the media. You could only talk about your Broadway show a certain number of times before everyone had heard it all before.

  “I’ll have you know my agent just signed an endorsement deal for me with Instamatch,” I blurted out, only barely knowing what the phone app was. “I’m hip. I know what my fans like so don’t try your little games with me,” I laughed.

  “Really?” Ren said as he couldn’t hold back his surprise. “You’re on Instamatch? Are you sure it isn’t GrandpaMatch?”

  “Shut it little man, I’m one of the big new marketing names for Instamatch,” I said as I tried not to punch the kid in the face.

  I did my best to disguise the uncertainty in my voice though, because I barely knew what Instamatch was. All I knew was my agent insisted it would make me more relevant with the younger generation. I was supposed to talk about it on social media or something, and I’d magically become hip again. Even the thought of it all made me laugh; I felt like I had moved into the ‘Dad role’ world and couldn’t see tha
t ‘hip’ roles were in my near future. But I trusted my agent, so I was going to roll with whatever she thought was best.

  “Isn’t that app geared toward the twenty-something crowd?” Wyatt chimed in and laughed under his breath.

  “I have no idea. To be honest, I just love my agent and all the work she’s getting me. If she thinks this is a good idea, I’m all for it.”

  Wyatt had met his new girlfriend Dakota online, but up until he met her, I wouldn’t have ever thought anyone could meet a decent girl online. Sure, I’d messed around with the online programs, but it was all fun and games. Wyatt and Dakota’s love increased the possibilities for me, and really the two of them were the only reason I hadn’t freaked out when my agent said she signed the marketing contract with Instamatch before running things past me.

  For years, I had self-managed every detail of my career. I said yes or no to things my old agent signed me up to all based on my gut. But my Broadway show was ending soon, and I still didn’t have a big Hollywood movie deal, so I needed a new plan and Bella Haden, my young hip agent, was just the person to bring me into the next phase of my career. Her husband was a casting agent, and I knew her father from way back; I trusted Bella and knew she would only have my best interest at heart.

  “So what will you be doing? Dating twenty-year-olds and doing commercials saying how great a hookup app it is?” Merrick added. Merrick was the owner of Stanley Associates and a well known billionaire in New York. He wasn’t the kind of guy who normally hung around low level investment groups, but his friend Wyatt had roped him into it.

  “Maybe. Hell, I don’t even know what the app is about,” I said with a laugh. “I mean, I know it’s a dating app.”

  “It’s for twenty-somethings because they use it to hook up. You do know it’s not actually a dating app like the one Wyatt used, right?” Luke chimed in, barely able to look up from his new cell phone.

  “Wait? I don’t get it. The app is just for sex?” I asked. “Is that legal?”

  I was truly confused. My agent had sold the job to me as if the app was actually a dating app that helped busy people connect and was great for people who traveled a lot. Nowhere had she told me the app was just for sex.

  “I’ve heard the creators are trying to branch out and expand their market,” Ren remarked. “They probably want you to find someone on there and post on social media that you two met using their app. It would be good publicity. They are very social media savvy; I’d be surprised if that weren’t a big part of your contract.”

  “Basically, I was just told to open the app and swipe right for the girls I like and left for the girls I don’t. If I wanted to take them out on a date, that’s up to me.”

  “Hmm, I think it’s a good idea,” Merrick added. “You can never meet too many young twenty-something-year-old women.”

  We all had to laugh at that. Merrick certainly was the king of dating the younger women. As the owner of Stanley and Associates, and one of the most sought after millionaires in New York, Merrick could have his pick of women, and he did. Merrick wasn’t really interested in finding a woman of substance, though; he was more interested in their bodies.

  I really wasn’t much better when it came to women. I enjoyed them all. Old, young, rich, poor, smart, ditzy, and everything in between; women were very enjoyable company. Since moving to New York, I had fluctuated in my celebrity status based on the whims of the tabloids. Some weeks I’d go without a single mention, and I could meet a woman at the local bar and hold a full conversation with her before she realized who I was; other weeks, I could barely leave my house.

  The idea behind me joining the dating app was intriguing to me. Would these women know who I was right away? Would they match up with me purely because of my celebrity status or would I actually find someone who didn’t know who I was, but still was interested? It didn’t really matter to me. It was a job, and I always worked my ass off for any job; this would be no exception. I was hired to be their spokesperson, whether that was on social media or some other new technology, that didn’t matter; I was still a hired employee and was going to make sure I earned my keep.

  “So how much is Instamatch paying you?” Wyatt asked.

  “I’m not sure. You know these endorsement contracts can get pretty hairy. There’s a base rate and then additional based on mentions in the press, social media, interviews, etcetera. It should flush out to be at least a million, though.”

  “Sounds like a sweet job. You get to date hot chicks and get paid for it, like some sort of reverse call girl situation,” Wyatt laughed.

  “Hey, I’m not turning down any dates, you know me.”

  I actually knew a little more than I wanted to tell everyone. My contract was for one month with an option to extend if both the client and I were happy with the progress. I legally only had to post on social media three times within 30 days, but I could post more than that if I wanted to. My commission from my particular posts would come from the specific links that people clicked on from my page. It was all very complicated, and although I didn’t fully understand how to put the links, or tags, into my social media posts, I was sure Bella would show me how it was all done.

  “Damn, that’s some serious money just for dating some hot chicks,” Ren commented. “How do I get an endorsement deal like that?”

  “Oh, just one way. Be famous.” I laughed.

  “Okay, all jokes aside. Have you started matching with these women yet? I’m on Instamatch, and it seems full of fake accounts and women who post pictures from ten years ago,” Luke said as he reached for my phone on the table. “What’s your password?”

  “There’s no password; the app should be right there on the main page. Swipe away, I’m bored with it already. It takes forever to read through their profiles and look at all their pictures.”

  “Seriously Dean, we need to talk about your cyber security.” Ren looked at me in disappointment and then started to swipe right on all the women who showed up on the screen. Then he started swiping right without reading anything or looking at the women’s profile at all; he was actually looking at me and the rest of the guys while he was swiping.

  “A little discretion at least; I don’t want to have a million women on there.”

  “The more the merrier.” Ren laughed as he continued to play on my phone. “Shit, someone sent you a message already. Damn, that was fast.”

  I watched as Ren typed a message back to the woman and then a quick dinging noise when she responded to him. Ren was clearly enjoying the app more than I was. He was probably more appropriate for the age group of women I had seen on the app so far.

  “Maybe you should just go out with her instead of me,” I said with a smile.

  “Sure thing, this girl is smoking hot.”

  We all gathered around the phone to see what the girl looked like as Ren pulled up her profile. The main pictures were of a very young, brunette girl wearing skin tight jean shorts and a top that looked to be three sizes too small. The faint outline of her hard nipples could be seen through the shirt.

  This girl wasn’t even in the realm of the type of girls I would normally date. Sure, she was beautiful and young, but she looked more like a high school cheerleader than a woman. I wasn’t in my 20s anymore, or 30s; at 48 years old, there was only one thing a young woman like that was good for, and it wasn’t an interesting conversation. I was fine with having a young piece of ass every now and then, but it was always better if we could actually have a conversation too.

  “Better just delete her; I’m supposed to be matching up with women that I can actually go on a date with,” I added. As much fun as I was sure this Ariel girl and I could have had back at my place, it wasn’t at all what the job was supposed to be about. And I was trying to build up a better reputation so I could get back into films. I was going to have to pass on the hot young brunette.

  “Too late; I told her you’d meet her at Vik’s tonight at ten.”

  “Yeah, way to go,” Wyatt
added.

  “It’s going to be a tiring night for you dude,” Luke chimed in.

  “Shit, Ren! I can’t screw this girl. I’m supposed to be using the app for dating. I’m trying to get a good reputation and get back into films. I can’t exactly tag this girl in a photo; the press would go crazy.”

  “A date doesn’t mean screwing her. You’ve got to have self-control.” Ren laughed. “Plus, it’s too late; she said she’s at work and had to go. You’ll just need to go out with her. Poor Dean, being forced out on a date with a beautiful twenty-two-year-old.”

  “Yikes, twenty-two, that’s a bit young even for me,” Merrick said smiling.

  “I bet your show is going to suck tomorrow. You’re going to be exhausted,” Luke said wryly.

  “Guys, seriously, I can’t go out with this girl. Is there a way to cancel the match or something like that?”

  “Nope, you’re going to just have to meet her at Vik’s and break her heart there. Or you could be a douchebag and stand her up.”

  “Fine, but give me my damn phone back; you’re not in charge of my dating life any longer,” I said with a laugh.

  It was hilarious that I had to go out with someone already from the app. I hardly knew what was going on, and I was being thrust into seeing some poor girl who wanted to actually meet a guy to love, or maybe not. Maybe she was only interested in hooking up. I felt off my game already, though. Online dating was much harder than meeting a girl in person.

  ***

  I read through Ariel’s profile on my way to Vik’s. She was 22-years-old, said she loved traveling, movies, and was working on her communications degree from NYU. She seemed like a nice enough woman, and I resigned myself to just having a drink and talking for a little bit before I exited the situation. I certainly couldn’t afford to lose my new sponsorship gig, so I wasn’t going to do anything that might jeopardize that.