Black Buck by Mateo Askaripour

Author:Mateo Askaripour [Askaripour, Mateo]
Language: eng
Format: epub
ISBN: 9780358380641
Google: oxLcDwAAQBAJ
Amazon: 035838088X
Publisher: HMH Books
Published: 2021-01-05T00:00:00+00:00

* * *

Rhett lived on one of those quaint, tree-lined streets in the West Village with cobblestones, celebrities walking their dogs, and boutique shops that need to sell only two pieces a month to survive. He had the entire floor of a brick townhouse all to himself, but he always had people—models, bottle girls, and other glamorous socialites—inside.

“Yo,” he said, opening his door in nothing but a pair of plaid pajamas. His eyes were bloodshot.

“What’s up, man?” I dropped my bag and sank into his soft leather couch.

“I’m losing it and didn’t know who else to call,” he said, arms crossed as he paced around the room. “We’re getting eaten alive. By everyone. The media. The board. Celebrities. Do you know what Mark Zuckerberg said about us? Mark fucking Zuckerberg of all people. That we’re the reason tech startups are getting a bad rap. Can you believe it? Us? When Facebook’s been stealing users’ information from fucking day one. I ought to find him and beat the shit out of him.”

“Whoa, slow down, man. This is war, remember? This shit happens, and we can’t let it get to us, just like you’ve said this whole time.”

He sat down on the polished hardwood floor, his head in his hands.

I walked over to the kitchen and grabbed some expensive faux-­gourmet coffee and put it in the machine.

“It’ll be okay,” I said, watching his shoulders shake up and down. He was sobbing. Loudly.

“Get up.” I picked him up and threw him onto the couch. “And drink this.” I handed him a cup of the over-roasted sludge.

“Thanks,” he said, wiping his eyes. “Lucien and the rest of the board said that if we don’t close a significant amount of cash this month I’m out.”

“What do you mean out?”

“Fired, Buck. They said I’m fired at the end of the month if we can’t pull it together. All of this shit, it’s just the excuse they were waiting for to get me out. They’ve always hated us, and I knew it, but now I really know it.”

“But how can they fire you, Rhett? Don’t you and Chris own a majority of Sumwun?”

Rhett tried to muster a smile. “Sometimes I forget you’re still so young. Of course we don’t own a majority of the company. All of those millions we raised came at a cost. The more money we needed, the bigger the piece of the pie we gave away until we were left with less than them. Plus,” he said, sinking deeper into the couch, “Chris is on their side.”

I reflexively took a sip of my coffee and spit it out. “Hold on, Rhett. So why don’t we say fuck them? After all of the cash we’ve closed over the past few months, can’t we just survive off that?”

“No, Buck.” He shook his head. “That’s not how it works. Plus, we don’t have any cash. We’ve been living from hand-to-mouth for the past quarter.”

“Hand-to-mouth? We’ve closed over a million dollars a month since I started. We’ve been hitting the numbers.

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