“Yes, you are. You have that line between your brows, like you do when you’re worried.”
After letting out a low sigh, I looked away because I was embarrassed. I had never felt embarrassed in front of Athie before, but I didn’t want her to think that I didn’t have us and that I wasn’t going to take care of her.
I had just gotten a taste of her, and I didn’t want her to leave me.
“What’s going on?” she whispered.
“I’m nervous about this trip.”
“About the investors?” She curled her fingers against my shoulders. “You’ll do great.”
“They’re going to be assholes,” I said. “I don’t want to deal with it.”
Athena shrugged. “So what? You don’t need them. Your business is doing well on its own, and I think you know the market better than anyone, especially with your experience in the … you know, porn world.”
Investors wanted a product that would make them hundreds of millions, a product or platform that could be worth billions of dollars. What my team had created could easily hit that mark. But it included elements of porn that made that a bit harder.
Everyone consumed porn in some way, but not many people liked to admit it.
It was an easy market to break into, especially with advances in AI and technology, but there was going to be a lot of credit card charge-backs from husbands and wives who’d been caught consuming pornography by their spouses.
“Stop it,” Athena said, using her forefinger and thumb to stretch out the wrinkles that had to be forming on my forehead. “There is no reason for you to stress about this. You’re okay whether they invest or not.”
“I want to make a good living for us,” I whispered, staring up into her light eyes. I gripped her waist and pulled her closer to me. “I want to give you the world without my family’s monetary support.”
“I don’t need the world,” she said, kicking her legs back and forth in the air.
“You deserve it.”
“Maybe. Maybe not.” She pecked me on the lips. “All I want is to be happy with you and my friends.” A small laugh escaped her lips. “Becoming a lawyer would be cool too. I can be your sugar mama.”
“I have expensive taste.” I chuckled and curled my fingers into her sides, tickling her where she was the most sensitive. Somehow, someway, she could always make me smile, even when I felt like shit. “I don’t think you’d be able to afford me.”
CHAPTER
TWENTY-SIX
ATHENA
“Would you like any snacks?” the first-class flight attendant asked, holding a wicker basket of candy, chips, and treats in front of Charlie and me and smiling sweetly.
We were an hour into the flight, and I had been treated like a queen since I’d stepped onto the plane.
I glanced over at Charlie nervously because, usually, in economy, they had the cheap kind of snacks, not these.
To my surprise, Charlie took two snacks and looked over at me. “You want any?”
“I’ll just take”—I eyed the candy and decided on some M&M’s—“these.”
“Is that all?” the flight attendant asked.
Did this always happen in first class? They treated me like a totally different person, like I was more important than someone in the back of the economy section who always boarded the flight last. But I mean, they were so nice up here.
“Oh, um …” I grabbed a packet of beef jerky. “I guess this too.”
Once I set them on my tray, she moved to the businessmen behind us. I chewed on the inside of my cheek, looking over at Charlie, who was already staring at me with his darkened eyes. Maybe it was just the lighting here. It was nighttime after all …
I turned back to my laptop to study for the bar exam, which I would take in a couple of weeks. Besides all the drama that had happened lately, I had been studying nonstop for this exam like my life depended on it. I really needed to pass.
