The Thorne at My Side

CHAPTER 10

Daddy Issues

AUSTIN

What do I do when I have a choice to make? Well, I'm not sure. I haven't had a lot of choices in my life. Not major ones anyway. College was pretty much picked for me, my condo was recommended to me by my family's real estate agent. My job was mine before I even graduated thanks to nepotism in the name of legacy.

I guess starting the AI Media project was a choice I made. But at the end of the day, Dad told me to build something new that would make the company money and I did.

What if you have to choose between TalkShopGirl and whatever is happening with Maggie Collins?

I shake my head to clear the thought. Maggie and I collided and put our work frustration into those kisses. That’s all. It was just two incredibly hot kisses. And it doesn’t matter that she felt fucking perfect in my hands. And the fact that I’m thickening now just thinking about it is irrelevant.

DCFox: Honestly my life has been pretty well plotted out. You’ll understand more once my secret identity is revealed.

I’m envious of the fork in the road you’re facing. Knowing how predictable my life is I’d tell you to take the path unknown but I also understand the apprehension that brings.

I turn the phone off after sending the message and slide it onto my nightstand. TalkShopGirl has texted me at night a few times recently. I like that she’s thinking of me before bed. It feels intimate. I stare at my ceiling and imagine her awake now, lying in bed. I don’t fight the image of Maggie Collins as it appears. I drift off remembering how her body felt lined up to mine.

◆◆◆

As I walk up to my dad’s office I adjust my shirtsleeves and try to shake off the no response from TalkShopGirl that I woke up to. I won’t deny that it has put me in a sour mood all morning.

"Good morning Austin. He's ready for you," Darlene, my dad's assistant, says as she steps out of his office. "I'll bring breakfast soon."

"Thanks Darlene," I tell her with a warm smile. Darlene has known me for more than half my life and I love seeing her familiar face around the office. She may be the longest female relationship my dad has ever had. Probably because she comes equipped with a highly sensitive bullshit detector and doesn’t let him get away scott free.

"Take a seat, son," Dad says as he finishes writing something on a slip of paper before folding it and setting it to the side. "I was just on the phone with Stan III. As you know he’s the chairman of the board over at The Chronicle and he was calling to share some news."

"That sounds ominous," I say as I settle into the chair on the other side of his desk.

"Mhmm," Dad murmurs, "He was telling me something interesting about this AI Media business."

"What did he have to say?" I ask as I try to hide my nerves. I’m still developing my shrewd business sense but it is pretty clear this is a threat.

"He's preparing to sue all these little AI companies that have popped up lately for copyright infringement." Dad finally looks me cold in the eyes.

"What?" I demand as my crossed leg falls to the floor. A lawsuit could ruin AI Media.

"After talking to a buddy in the justice department he got to thinking. He claims his newspaper didn't give permission to have the robot read everything they published and spit it back out, without sources, to users. It’s going to be a class action lawsuit with three other national papers."

Fuck. That argument is clear enough for the general public to understand it and form their own opinions. They wouldn’t need a lawyer or an influencer to explain it to them and they’d stop downloading AIM as a result. But, on the other hand, in the age of social media reporting do people, everyday people, really care about properly attributing sources?

"What does this mean for us? Are you going to sue as well?"

"I want to join this lawsuit because it’s a smart move for the future of traditional news but it means we’re buck naked and bent over because of your little experiment. "

"Understood, sir." I reply, feeling like 10-year-old me wearing a suit that’s too big. Like I’m being scolded for something I’ve poured all my energy into for the last three years. A project I believe in. And in one fell swoop it feels like a total waste of time .

And I can tell my dad feels the same way.

"They're preparing the suit for the end of the month. You’ll need to make sure we aren’t at risk by then."

"I'll pull the team together today." I mentally prepare the war cry I’ll use for the team. I’m going to need their best ideas. I need them to understand the importance of solving this and protecting our work. When AIM is successful, I will be too.Finally proving to Dad I’m ready to take over the company.

◆◆◆

"Ok, let's try another," Maggie is paging through a legal pad looking for her next debate question. "Ah yes, here we are," she clears her throat. "The cost of childcare is rising faster than any other family expense across the country. In fact, in most states it exceeds the median cost of housing. How do you plan to address this crisis American families face every day?"

Maggie looks at me and cocks an eyebrow. She thinks she's got us stumped. That our software won't come up with the perfect answer to this question. I just smile at her and place a hand on Tyler’s shoulder. I know we've got this. The team and I met before coming over, we talked through the lawsuit solutions and then we ran through a few practice questions. If the answers didn’t impress me we went back and improved the prompt.

"There isn't a clear answer to this issue," I start to read when Ty tilts the screen towards me.

"Ha!" Maggie scoffs as she leans back in her chair and crosses her arms.

"But I understand how important solving it is to every family. I propose a multi-faceted approach that includes paid leave for parents, preschool for every four year old, and the development of publicly subsidized early childhood centers for infants and toddlers."

"And how are you going to pay for all that?" Maggie asks as Tyler types her question into the computer.

"I'll work alongside the brilliant minds in the senate, the house, and in local government across the country. I'll work with nonprofits, schools, and houses of worship to brainstorm solutions. I won't pretend to have the answer tonight but I can't pretend there isn't a problem to solve."

The room goes quiet and I can see Maggie fighting with herself. It's the perfect political non-answer answer. The crowd will eat it up and only later will they realize she never said exactly how she'd do it.

We all know the answer is that she'd have to raise taxes but a political candidate would be finished if they said that out loud.

"Fine, let's try another one," Maggie says with a sigh.

◆◆◆

When I get back upstairs to the conference room I can feel the tension rolling off the shoulders of everyone there.

"What's going on?" I ask and Maggie looks up in my direction with an angry heat in her eyes.

"Senator Quinn came out against the bill that would have supported the expansion of tech company data rights."

"Just now?" I ask, because it seems like a pretty big thing to do out of the blue.

"No, eighteen months ago," Maggie sneers.

"So, what's the problem?"

"Well now she’s hired one of those tech companies to use all her data and the data of unsuspecting individuals to write her campaign messages!" Maggie gets more and more angry as she continues. Halfway through it she stands and her shoulders nearly touch her ears as she starts to pace.

"And?" I ask with a smirk on my face, I know where she's going, she's going to say it's a conflict of interest.

"How is this not a conflict of interest?! How are we supposed to answer the questions that will come our way when this comes out?!" she basically screams at me.

"They're not sleeping together," I tell her. "She's making a smart decision to use the best technology available to her."

"Of course they're not sleeping together ,” she scoffs. “ Is that really-“ She stops abruptly and looks at me. I can see questions rolling through her head.

"Austin, will you join me in my office for a moment?" Maggie says through gritted teeth and a less than friendly smile.

"Of course," I cheer and watch the rest of the people in the room look at each other with confusion. When I reach the door, I turn back, "Javé, why don't you work on a response to this perceived issue so when Maggie's eye stops twitching we can share it with her."

I find Maggie in her office. She is pacing three steps in one direction, pivoting, and pacing back.

"Maggie?"

She stops and turns to me. “Close the door.”

I like where this is going.

"Hi.” She says nervously.

“Hi Maggie.” I smirk.

“Okay, so, oh god,” she looks up at the ceiling and takes a deep inhale. “Have you ever had a fuck buddies arrangement?” She blurts out. Her face looks just as surprised as I feel, like she heard her words for the first time when she said them out loud.

I freeze where I am and watch her chest rise and fall with her breath.

"Have you?" I ask, not answering her question.

"No," she admits, "but I can see the value."

Can she?

"Why are you asking, Maggie?"

"I think you know why."

I can't help the smile that spreads across my face. I have wanted to get my hands and lips back onto Maggie since they first experienced her. I've been doing everything in my power to get to know her, to get closer to her, to be in her orbit since we met.

"How do you propose we start?" I ask.

I watch her eyelashes bat up and down and she inhales sharply.

"Not like that Maggie, I mean boundaries, rules. Clear lines drawn."

"Oh," she says with a flutter of a laugh and her hand comes up against her throat. "How about between now and the election?"

"Okay, and how often?"

"I'll be traveling for the campaign and not on a regular schedule the next three weeks, so how about we give the other person a twelve hour heads up?"

"Via text?"

"Sure."

"Done," I agree and I hold out my hand to shake. She laughs and shakes it. I hand her my phone to enter her contact info.

"Is that really how you want to seal this deal?" She asks with an eyebrow raised in challenge and she puts her name in.

She holds the phone out for me and I see that she’s entered just her initials.

M.C.

“Not giving me your full name huh?”

“Austin the less people who know about this or have the opportunity to find out about it, the better. I didn’t go full code name but I think we can K.I.S.S.”

“We already did.”

“Keep It Simple Stupid.”

I laugh, and then lean in to press a kiss to her cheek.

“Consider this your twelve hour heads up, MC." I check my watch. "Well, more like a sixteen hour heads up, but text me your address and I'll be there in the morning."