“Yeah, I used it.” I nodded even though he couldn’t see me. “It sucks. It matched one of my friends up with some rich girl. Now they’re married with a kid on the way. It didn’t match me with anyone.”
“I believe that was a mistake.” He sighed. “In fact, I’ve been doing some research and I believe I did find your soulmate.”
“Is this some sort of scam?” I leaned the phone against my shoulder and dug into my pocket for my pack of cigarettes. “I’m not going to spend any money on this shit if you’re about to try and sell me something. I already bought your shitty fucking app.”
“No, actually I’m the one that wants to pay you. I want to fly you to New York and introduce you to your soulmate. If things work out, I think you’ll be very happy. If they don’t, I’ll give a hundred thousand dollars for your trouble.” His words made me immediately perk up.
“A hundred grand? Just for coming to New York?” I lit my cigarette and smiled. “Do I get this in writing?”
“You will.” He exhaled sharply into the other end of the phone. “Give me your information and I’ll have my lawyer draw up a contract.”
“Okay. Shit. Yeah, send it over.” I handed the phone back to my receptionist. “Give him the address of the shop.”
A couple of days later, a man pulled up in a BMW with a contract and a plane ticket. I had my receptionist help me read the legalese and she seemed to believe everything was legit. I signed the contract, gave it back to the guy who delivered it, and kept the plane ticket. I wasn’t interested in finding love or meeting my soulmate. I just wanted the money. A hundred grand was enough for me to live on for a long time. I might even get to take a vacation for the first time in my life. When I arrive at the airport in New York, a limousine picked me up and brought me to a mansion that was bigger than any house I had ever seen.
“Where’s Ethan Prince? I’m here to get my money.” I walked into the living room and raised my eyebrows in surprise when I saw several other guys already seated.
“Join the club.” One of the guys nodded towards me. “He hasn’t shown up yet.”
“Well, shit. Is this for us?” I walked up to a bucket of beer that was on ice.
“Yeah, they said we can help ourselves.” One of the other guys lifted a beer. “I already got started.”
“Fuck yeah.” I grabbed a beer and twisted the top off. “So, did everyone else get a call from this Ethan Prince guy about the Soulmate app?”
“Yeah.” A man in a suit nodded. “We were comparing notes before you got here. It seems that all of us used the app and didn’t get matched with anyone.”
“My girlfriend used it—or rather, my ex-girlfriend.” A guy with dark black hair and pale skin lifted his head. “Now she’s married to someone else.”
“Shit.” The guy in the suit blinked in surprise. “Nothing like that for me. I didn’t get a match and didn’t think about it again until I got the call from Mr. Prince.”
“Same here.” I nodded and sipped my beer.
I took a seat and over the course of the next hour, a couple more guys showed up with similar stories, except they were mirror reflections of each other—they appeared to be twins. The six of us talked until the door opened and a man walked in wearing a suit that was more expensive than my whole wardrobe. That wasn’t what caught my eye, though. That caught my eye was the radiant vision standing next to him in a red sequin gown. She was stunning. I had to clench my jaw to keep it from falling open. When Ethan Prince said she was potentially my soulmate, I forgot about the hundred grand. His announcement caused the room to break into an uproar and then they disappeared into one of the side rooms.
“Okay, this is bullshit.” The guy next to me snarled. “I want my money. I’m done with this.”
“This has to be some reality television show. I bet we’re on Candid Camera or some shit.” The guy in a suit exhaled sharply.
“Candid Camera or not, I’m not leaving here until I get money.” I lifted my beer to my lips. “And I’m going to drink a few more beers.”
I put away a second beer while Ethan Prince and Violet had a conversation we couldn’t hear and then the door cracked. A few more minutes passed and Ethan Prince walked back into the living room. He pointed at me and I shrugged to the rest of the guys when I stood up to follow him. He led me to the room they were in, motioned for me to go inside, and then he closed the door once I stepped into the room. Violet was sitting on the sofa with a smile on her face, but I could see a bit of uneasiness in her eyes.
“Hey.” I lifted my head with a nod. “I’m Boyd Fowler.”
“Come have a seat.” She patted the cushion next to her on the couch. “Let’s talk.”
Girl, there’s a lot of things I want to do to you that doesn’t involve talking.
Chapter 8: Violet
“So you grew up in Kentucky? This is the first time you’ve even been out of the state?” I blinked in surprise as Boyd told me about his life.
“Yeah.” Boyd shrugged and lifted his beer to his lips. “I never had a reason to leave. I spent my teen years working at my grandfather’s shop when I wasn’t getting in trouble. After he passed, I took it over and I’ve stayed pretty busy.”
“I know all about getting in trouble.” I exhaled sharply. “That’s what got me in this position to begin with.”
I told Boyd about hacking the PrinceSoft security system, getting arrested by the FBI, and eventually developing the prototype for the Soulmate app as penance for my crime. I could tell that most of the details about coding and hacking went over Boyd’s head completely. He appeared to be smart, but he wasn’t very educated. I had spent so much time around people that were brighter than me in the last year working at PrinceSoft that Boyd was like a breath of fresh air. His approach to things was pretty simple, even if the strategy was sound. He didn’t need a complicated algorithm to get anything done, he just made it happen.