Agency_A #MeToo Romance

by Jason Letts

  “No, I’m not. But is this what you really want? You’re calling in a big favor so you can try to one-up me with her?” Keenan asked, a sharp edge to his voice.

  A smile widened across Seth’s face. He shifted slightly and took a long look at me.

  “Good. I’m glad I don’t have to say I thought you were better than that. But I still might have to if you try to insist I’m just trying to get under her panties. After all, I don’t think we need to have any pretenses about how I’ve already been there. But I need her for something more important than a roll in the sack. I’m going to put her to work, right as soon as you give permission,” Seth said, acting as patronizing as he could.

  Keenan turned to me looking like there wasn’t enough oxygen in the room anymore.

  “You can tell him to get lost if you want. He won’t make you do anything.”

  I took a deep breath, trying to sort out where I fit into all of this. On one hand my loyalties were with Keenan, but on the other I wasn’t against giving him a chance to feel a little jealous. I cleared my throat.

  “How about I go through with it and then you won’t have this debt on you anymore? I’m sorry, that sounds like I’m asking. I’m going to take care of this burden for you and then it can’t ever be used against you again,” I said, glad I caught myself before slipping into more passivity.

  Keenan’s eyes widened, but a single loud clap drew me back to Seth.

  “Perfect. It’s settled then. She works for me. You pay her. And I’ll drop her off when I’m done. Come on, let’s get going,” he said, turning for the door. Keenan looked like he wasn’t going to be able to take much more.

  “What, right now?” I asked, figuring it would start tomorrow or next week even.

  Seth nodded in an exaggerated motion.

  “No time like the pleasant,” he said with a smile. “And Keenan, it’s good seeing you again. You haven’t changed a wit.”

  “Neither have you,” Keenan said darkly.

  As Seth and I left the building, I was hoping Keenan wasn’t too embarrassed by what had just happened. In the span of a few minutes, he’d been completely overrode by a painful memory that resulted in the hasty exit of his most valuable employee. And he had to pay for it.

  We stood on the curb for a moment and I noticed Seth looking around like a lost tourist.

  “Do you need to call a car?”

  “No, this way,” he said. We walked to an intersection where he hailed a cab. I couldn’t remember the last time I’d been in one. They seemed like just a yellow part of the scenery to me.

  “You don’t use Uber?”

  “These guys have to eat too,” he said.

  Seth opened the door and climbed in first, I followed, and soon the driver sped off toward the location downtown that Seth had mentioned. I was taken aback when I heard the address.

  “Your office is there? How did you manage to get space there so fast? It must’ve cost a fortune,” I said.

  Seth narrowed his eyes at me as if I were speaking Greek. Then he shook his head.

  “I don’t have an office in town yet and judging by the prices I might never. We’re going to the offices of Trainathon Capital. I have an appointment,” he said, his eyes watching everything go by through the windows. I started to feel uneasy wondering how I’d be expected to do anything without a place to work.

  “What’s the appointment for?” I asked.

  “It’s for you to pitch BitGirl for an investment. It’s much better to gamble with other people’s money than your own,” he said. I grabbed his sleeve as I gasped.

  “Are you kidding me? I don’t know the first thing about pitching to investors, or about the company I’m representing for that matter. What does it even do? What does it look like? How does it make money?”

  Seth scratched his temple as he leaned in toward me and nodded.

  “My advice is not to overthink it.”

  I laughed at what I knew had to be a sick joke.

  “That won’t be hard considering I won’t have thought about it at all. Aren’t you supposed to have powerpoint presentations and whatnot? Tell me you have all that ready,” I said. I was nearly hyperventilating.

  Seth just laughed and shook his head.

  “All that stuff is overrated. You have to remember something. We’re doing them a favor by showing up and giving them an opportunity to get into crypto, not the other way around. They should be showing us boring slides we can ignore.”

  I sat back in my seat, feeling overwhelmed until a strange sense of serenity came through. There was no point getting bent out of shape over what was sure to be a failure since I couldn’t control it. If Seth wasn’t freaking out, then I didn’t need to. Something else struck me.

  “Let me ask you one thing. What are we doing this all for?”

  Seth looked at me like I had three heads.

  “We’re doing it to make money. What else is there?”

  I could think of a lot of things.

  “And the point of cryptocurrency?”

  “It’s to make money. If I can’t have the establishment’s money, I’ll create my own and get rich that way,” he said. If nothing else, he was being brutally honest. I probably would’ve been suspicious if he’d said BitCoin was part of some grand scheme to make the world better anyway.

  “And why should I be at all motivated to help you succeed?”

  At this Seth became more contemplative. He crossed his arms over his chest and even squeezed his eyes closed for a second.

  “Do you know what I heard when you gave your speech in Austin? Resentment for men and the establishment. You hide it well, but I hear it loud and clear. Guess what? You will never have a better shot in your life to rip down the establishment that keeps women down than you will today. They think they’re buying a piece of us, but we’ll actually end up owning them. We’re about tearing it all down and starting from scratch. You can be the one to make sure it’s fair for your kind.”

  I had to spend a moment to ponder whether Seth thought “my kind” was a sort of alien species, and by the time I was sure that he was actually too smart to just spit out a weird phrase the cab was coming to a halt. The building before us was a skyscraper that dominated my field of vision. It sure did look a lot like the establishment.

  Most of what he’d said was undoubtedly nonsense, but I felt determined to find a way to succeed nonetheless, and that might’ve only been to see if such a reckless, brash way to run a business could actually work out. If this was how Seth did things, it was a wonder he hadn’t starved as soon as he started out.

  We marched into the building and took the elevator up to the twentieth floor, where Trainathon Capital was located. The company’s reception area was centered around a water feature of surprising size. The pool at the bottom could almost double as a jacuzzi, and when I peeked into it as we walked by I saw koi swimming around in there. Its noise made it difficult to speak to the receptionist, but soon we were shown into a conference room with sheets of glittery black stone on the walls.

  It was a wonder they had any money left to invest after outfitting their office.

  “Great. You made it, Mr. Travers. We’re looking forward to getting starting. I’m Ted Ritter and this is Anthony Prease.”

  Seth shook the hands of the two men warmly, one of whom was tall with red hair and the other closer to Seth’s height with earrings in both ears.

  “Our pleasure. And this is Sarah Faverly. Truth be told she’s really the mastermind behind this,” he said. I proceeded to shake hands before we had a moment standing around until our two hosts sat down.

  “I’ve got to say that BitGirl is certainly not something we come across every day,” Ted said with a hand gesturing to Seth.

  “Oh,” Seth said, tilting his head toward me and then reaching into his pockets. “I’ve got to take this. She’ll run through it with you.”

  The things Seth pulled from his pocket turned out to be a crossword puzzle and a pen, which
he plopped down in a chair to attend to. The two men, both looking a little startled, shifted their eyes to me. I smiled. Here goes nothing.

  “Actually, we’re calling it OurCoin.”

  “Love that name,” Seth interjected absently.

  “That’s to stress the differentiation from traditional money but also to make it more inclusive than just something aimed at women, who will see the role it can play in their lives without being dog-collared. You see, countless women have a relationship with their money that’s full of strife, whether they’re housewives forced to take from their husbands or working women who don’t feel like they’re getting paid what they’re worth.

  “They all want to take control of their finances, feel like they have something for themselves, and get in on a new area where they can gain an advantage. The trouble is they need a bridge to get in and the sense that others like them are crossing with them. The fact is BitCoin is a concept that should naturally appeal to women, and yet virtually all of its users are men. No one is speaking their language. No one is meeting them halfway. No one is trying to look out for them in the way that they need to respond,” I said.

  There was a sense of exhilaration at saying the first thing that popped into my head and hoping I’d be able to come up with something to fill the gap afterward. The men were listening with their undivided attention. I felt like all I had to do was remain enthusiastic and confident. Did Keenan get the same rush when he spoke in his meetings?

  “But what exactly is it?” Anthony asked, shrugging. “We know about BlockBank, of course, but is this just an extension of that? We were told this was a separate venture.”

  “It is,” I said, hoping what I was about to say would make sense. “OurCoin leverages BlockBank for its exchanges, but it’s really more of a digital wallet and marketplace combined with a lifestyle brand exuding financial comfort and sophistication. The biggest hurdle for most women is they don’t feel like they encounter cryptocurrency on a frequent basis because it hasn’t been adopted by many of the merchants they use. We’re going to change that.”

  “You are?” Ted asked. “Who exactly do you have lined up as your launch partners?”

  I noticed Seth take the subtlest glance at me from the corner of his eye.

  “None, nobody, and that’s the point,” I said, sensing I was seizing on something. “We don’t need a single other company to say they’ll do anything. What we’re doing is creating a seamless overlay that translates other websites and their pricing into BitCoin, allowing you to pay easily in that currency without feeling like you’re even dealing in dollars. We perform the exchanges and the transactions behind the scenes in no more time than it takes to click the buy button. Suddenly BitCoin is all over the web and accepted by every retailer on the Internet.”

  “Interesting,” Ted said. I nodded, wondering if such a thing was even possible.

  “One of the things I’ve noticed though with women is that they’re usually scared off by risk. How many of them are going to flee from a service like this as soon as the next dip in the rates leaves them even a penny short of where they started?” Anthony asked.

  Seth cleared his throat and leaned forward.

  “We all know that crypto has had a rocky start, but BlockBank is now big enough that it can single-handedly stabilize the market by creating a price floor at which we’ll purchase virtually any volume of currency. The days of crashes are over because of that confidence, and as for any minor dips the nature of BitCoin where transactions are small fractions of a single coin is enough to not make it glaringly obvious when value erodes slightly. Besides, that’s the time for us to trumpet that a dollar can purchase even more BitCoin than before. It’s like having a sale. Bringing all of these new people to crypto is only going to strengthen the value.”

  I smiled, hearing my own words echoed back to me. As oblivious as he seemed at the time, Seth must’ve been paying very close attention to what I’d said.

  The conversation continued through topics ranging from our exact target demographics to the profit margins on the exchanges and the transactions, all of which I conjured whole cloth. Seth didn’t make a sound other than to grunt once or twice as he fought with the crossword puzzle.

  “I think you’ve spelled it out pretty clearly. It would’ve been helpful to have some of this down on paper to reference later,” Ted said, rolling his eyes a little. I shook my head in annoyance and blustered onward.

  “If we had to print out booklets for every venture capitalist we’re talking to about this the city would run out of paper. Now if you need me to go over anything again so you can take notes…”

  It was a straight bluff. I don’t think I could’ve recalled a single figure I’d said.

  “Let’s just move on to the investment terms. How much are you looking for?” Anthony said, leaning forward with his elbows on the table. He was like a dog looking for scraps. Somehow Seth had sized these guys up perfectly without ever seeing them. I took a big breath and shot for the moon.

  “We’re asking for ten thousand dollars,” I said. Seth cleared his throat.

  “A hundred thousand in this A Series round,” he said. I nodded.

  “In exchange for?”

  “Ten percent,” I said. That put everything I’d been making up at a million dollar valuation, which seemed crazy and excessive in itself.

  “Two point five percent,” Seth corrected me. I tried not to let it phase me. Was this idea that really only existed inside my head worth four million dollars to someone?

  Ted and Anthony spent a few minutes jotting things down on pads of paper and exchanging notes, looking over at each other, and underlining things they’d written. Not an audible word passed between them. I stood there trying not to act as awkward and exposed as I felt.

  Finally the two men looked up and got out of their chairs.

  “Well, this sounds very interesting and you have our thanks for coming down to tell us about it. I think we’ve cobbled together everything we need to make a decision and we’ll let you know as soon as we can,” Ted said, extending a hand.

  Seth set his jaw and shook it, but I sensed an opening.

  “So that’s a no then. We appreciate your time,” I said, extending a hand. Ted held up a finger.

  “I said we’ll let you know,” he replied with a little nod. I shook my head.

  “Sorry, I don’t think I was being clear. If you can’t give us an answer now this opportunity isn’t going to be available anymore. Our next appointment is with the Brooklyn Angels. You know how they are with their checkbooks. I can give you another thirty seconds to decide,” I said, looking him straight in the eye.

  Ted froze for a moment and I could tell that I had him. His eyes began darting around a bit. Anthony scratched his waistband.

  “You can’t be serious. We have protocol here we have to follow. It’s one-hundred thousand dollars. I can’t just…” Ted stammered as he raised his eyebrows at me, but I didn’t flinch. “OK, OK, we’re in.”

  I shook his hand and that was that.

  By the time Seth and I made it to the elevator, I was in such a bubbly state after my accomplishment that I couldn’t keep still. Bouncing maniacally, I clutched Seth’s sleeve as I giggled openly. He was expressionless when I would’ve expected him to be engaging in joyous celebration with me.

  “Oh, come on,” I pleaded. “You can’t tell me that wasn’t good. It was masterful. I was practically conducting an orchestra in there. What a rush!”

  Seth took a moment to spy at me out of the corner of his eye.

  “Don’t get too full of yourself. More than anything else, it’s their job to write checks for anything that seems better than a misbegotten flopfest. Now the real work begins.”

  My enthusiasm dipped a bit at this dose of reality, and I finally managed to keep both feet on the floor.

  “What’s next?”

  “Living up to our obligations. You bit off a big chunk. I hope you can chew it,” he said. />
  I recalled some of the features and capabilities I’d promised in the meeting, things I’d never seen any website or program do before. I didn’t really know the first thing that needed to be done to bring any of that into reality.

  “You’re going to help, right? It’s not going to be all crossword puzzles. I don’t know what I’m doing.”

  This time he tilted his head and gave me a long look.

  “You’d better figure it out. I’ve already got a business to run and don’t have time to sort through all of these decisions to you. I’ll hook you up with a graphic designer, a web designer, and my programming team, and we’ll be working in the same space, but OurCoin is going to be your baby.”

  I sighed as the elevator doors opened up. A little of my optimism remained from the meeting. If I could land a hundred-thousand dollar investment, maybe I could accomplish this as well. Who knew? I owed it to Ted and Anthony, who I didn’t want to rip off. I owed it to Seth, who I wanted to prove my competence to. I owed it to Keenan, who needed me to repay his debt. And I owed it to myself, because I didn’t start things without the intention to finish them.

  We took another cab and got out in a part of town I wasn’t as familiar with. I wasn’t exactly sure what workspace he was talking about, but then we walked into the YMCA, which had some tables beside some big glass windows overlooking the gym area. All of that was beside a hotel reception desk. Seth pulled open a laptop and sat down as if nothing weird was going on.

  “This is where we’re going to be working?”

  Seth nodded and reached into his pocket for something.

  “This is the WiFi code they gave me. I told them you were staying with me so you’d get access too. Your phone will suffice today to talk over the plans with the guys, but tomorrow I’ll have a laptop for you too.”

  I peered at the paper slip and then raised an eyebrow at my new boss.

  “I thought you’d be staying at the Four Seasons or something again,” I said.

  Seth shook his head forcefully.

  “The benefit here is that work frustrations can be pounded out in the gym. But if you really want to work up a sweat, we can head up to my room.”