Page 9 of The Startup (The Erotes Circle #2)
CHAPTER NINE
As I emerged from my cocoon of nostalgia, Emma and Kim sat there, mouths agape, staring at me.
“Well, that was…very detailed, Vi.” Kim said, stifling laughter.
“Yeah, it’s just sad that was the end of your wild, sexy adventures, right, babe?” Emma winked at me.
She was baiting me, but as much as I loved Kim, I wasn’t even half ready to let her in to the insanity that Emma and I took part in.
“Yeah, now I’m home by six every night, and I’m only sleeping with my girlfriend…” I teased.
Kim shot a look between Emma and me and then pointed at me with an immaculately manicured dagger of a nail, “Whatever’s going on there, that surprises me coming from Shy Violet and the quietest employee at AthenaTech, but I’m glad you two are having fun.”
“Formerly Shy Violet…” I said, sipping at my wine and nudging Emma with my shoulder. Oh, the tales we could tell her.
“Anyway, what happened with Lucia? ”
“After we graduated? She moved to New Orleans, haven’t talked to her in…well, pretty much since the last time I talked to you…”
“She seemed pretty wild, not gonna lie, it doesn’t surprise me she’d go off to somewhere like New Orleans, but it sure seemed fun for you two while it lasted.” Kim said. “Oh, um, not to make you jealous or anything by talking about Vi’s old relationships, Emma, it was forever ago.”
“No need to worry about that…at all.” Emma smiled. I could already see the gears turning in her head, wondering if she could look Lucia up to see if she’d be ready to go for another round with old Vi, but I reminded myself to put a stop to it once we were away from Kim.
Lucia was indeed a wild ride, but not in a fun or safe way. I wasn’t going to tell Kim about it, but I would tell Emma, and once I told her about Lucia’s…lax attention to safety in the bedroom, she’d understand she was bad news.
Long story short: choking may be popular in porn videos, and maybe some people had even figured out a way for it to be fun and not the most fucking terrifying thing one could imagine, but when a woman with grip strength that could crush concrete does it, things can go from sexy to ‘leave my goddamn dorm room before I call 911’ in about a second.
But those bad times were long gone, and I was happy to have a girlfriend, not to mention a growing roster of other women, who knew exactly how to pleasure me and hurt me in safe, thrilling ways.
“Alright, Kim, you heard about us, don’t think I’m going to let you get away from this without you telling me all the details of your love life. How’s the sexiest catcher I’ve ever known doing in the bedroom?”
Kim rolled her eyes, “Well, sorry to burst your bubble, but starting four companies before you turn thirty doesn’t leave a lot of time for men, and now that I have enough stability to probably go out and date…would you know it, very few men give a single fuck about a woman once she turns thirty, especially when she’s six feet tall and could probably lift them over her head.” Kim looked down at the table and frowned, and it was one of the first times I’d really seen Kim be anything but completely confident and vivacious.
“I think there might be some women who would line up for a woman like that…” Emma nibbled at a piece from the charcuterie board that Kim had gotten for the table.
“Oh, my god, if…that is not even…” Kim was visibly flustered in a cute way, but I could also tell it was wearing thin a little on her after I had just bombarded her with the story about Lucia. I knew if I didn’t intervene, Emma would keep pushing, so I had to cut things off.
“Kim, we understand. It sucks. Were it not for Emma and…others, I would have probably still been in a massive slump, so there’s hope for you still.” I said, putting my hand over Emma’s, signaling to her silently that we’d had enough of the truly fun talk. “Now what about AthenaTech? Has Emma annoyed you enough that you’ve considered firing her already or is that coming down the line?” I gave my girlfriend a knowing smirk and made a note to tell her that yes, it was a joke, really, later tonight lest she worry the rest of the week about it.
“Couldn’t be better, I mean, our profits are solid, deliverables are shipping on or ahead of schedule, and the stock is rising nicely. More VCs are nibbling at us every day, which means more funding, so, what’s not to enjoy?”
“Sounds like I’m jumping on a rising tide…and, I get to work with my girlfriend and my mysteriously re-appearing best friend from college? What could be better? ”
“We could go back to talking about Kim lifting women up…that would be, objectively, better, more interesting.” Emma deadpanned.
Maybe I’d let her wait a little while tonight before telling her the firing thing was a joke…