In the Billionaires Club (10 page)

“Hi Martin. I’m Gin. I’m actually not that new. I just usually come at night. Rich takes care of me.” She shook his hand.

“Gin. Now that’s a name any bartender would love.” Gin suppressed the desire to roll her eyes. “I’m glad Rich takes care of you. He’s a fine young man. So what can I get for you?”

“A rum and Coke would be great.”

“Coming right up.”

As Martin prepared her drink, Gin said, “I guess Vin works late.”

“Vin?”

“I’m sorry. Vinnie. I usually see him at night.”

“Vinnie! I love Vinnie.” Martin had a big smile as he handed Gin her drink. “He’s definitely a 24/7 kid. I keep telling him to go home and relax, but what can I do? I’m not his father.”
 

“Yeah, I know a lot of people like that. It seems to be a requirement if you live in Silicon Valley.”
 

Martin nodded. “Pardon me, Gin. Duty calls.” A man at the end of the bar had raised his glass. Gin hadn’t even noticed. Martin had an eagle eye for empty glasses.
Unlike Rich
, Gin thought, laughing at a joke that she could only share with Vin.

“A smile while alone. I admire that.” A man stood behind her and to her left. She turned to face him. He looked like he was in his thirties. He was average height, with slightly wavy light brown hair that was combed back. While Gin was certain he was some kind of senior executive—why else would he be in the Billionaires Club—with a sports jacket and khakis instead of a suit, he looked more casual, almost like an old school movie star or a professor. “May I sit down?”

Gin nodded, and the man slid into the chair to her left. The fact that he didn’t sit in Vin’s chair made her feel better for some reason. He smiled and held out his hand. “I’m Rob Greene.” Gin took his hand in what was a firm but not uncomfortable handshake.

“Gin. Gin Langdon.”

“Well, Gin, you are obviously beautiful and sexy—” Gin cringed.
Oh God, not one of those guys who uses shallow flattery to try and get into your pants.
“—but beyond that I have to add that I’ve been a member here for a long time, and it isn’t often that I see someone new walk in with the poise and confidence that you did. So I wanted to just introduce myself and find out more about you.” He shrugged, which was kind of charming in its nonchalance.

Rob had a bearing that was attractive in its maturity. He had a angular broad face, handsome in a working class way even though he was wearing expensive clothes. He had a George Clooney or Alec Baldwin vibe. He wasn’t gorgeous like Vin, but he was very handsome.

“Sure, Rob. But why don’t you tell me about yourself first?”

“Like I said—confidence.” Rob smiled, ordered an iced tea, and proceeded to outline how he went from a bookkeeper to the CEO of a human services outsourcing company. The story was enthralling, with twists and turns as Rob was betrayed here and redeemed there.
 

They had chatted for a long time. Rob was a comfortable conversationalist, mixing questions about Gin with short humorous anecdotes and the occasional story of how a bad turn was countered by lucky break. She was about to crack a joke about him always landing on his feet, when he lowered his head and said, “And then my son died.”
 

“Oh my God, Rob. I’m so sorry.”
 

“It’s part of who I am. So I am thankful for that.” Gin about choked on her drink.
He’s thankful his son died? How zen can this guy be?
“It clarified things with my wife. She left me, and I had to strip away the things that didn’t matter. There wasn’t much left, because what matters when the most important thing in your life is stripped away?”

“That’s so sad,” Gin whispered. She didn’t know what else to say.

“But it taught me a valuable lesson, which is that sadness, happiness, pain, and joy are all fleeting.” He sipped his iced tea. “
Everything
is fleeting.”

“I just don’t know how you can overcome something like that.”

“Ah, Gin. Now we get to the heart of who I am today—You don’t overcome it. You accept it and move on.”

“That sounds hard.”

“All the worthwhile things are. You can’t just say, ‘even this shall pass.’ You have to accept the passing, and when you do so you can enjoy each moment of life.”

Gin nodded. “It must be comforting to know that the difficult and sad moments will eventually end or get better.”

“Yes, but that’s only part of it. No matter how good things get, they also eventually end.”

Gin shook her head. “Now that’s even more depressing.”

“No, it’s not. Happiness is always around the corner. It’s just a different happiness. Look at you. You are now part of my life. This sexy gorgeous woman is sharing a moment with me. It’s beautiful.”

There was a kind of earnestness about Rob that Gin found very attractive. He was like the anti-Phillip. There was no obliviousness. No faux innocence. There was deep philosophical understanding. Rob wasn’t innocent, he was experienced and understood both joy and pain. As a result, he had no need to bullshit anyone.

“You’re angling for a date, aren’t you?” Gin asked, barely able to suppress a smile.

“Not yet. I need to know more about you, but I like what I’ve seen so far.”

“I’ll be sure to be on my best behavior.”

“Now that wouldn’t be any fun! Just be yourself. Anything else would be disappointing.”

“Fair enough. So please continue. You were saying you live for the moment.”

“No. I
take advantage
of the moment. Rob gave a few examples from his life, and Gin enjoyed how he would add commentary to each twist and turn of his tale. He described how after a series of tragedies, starting with the death of his son, he was then laid off from his dream job.

“Oh my God. I can’t believe your life. All that bad stuff and then they take away your dream. What did you do?”

“I changed my dream.”

“Wow. I’m really in awe of your resilience. It has to be brutal to be forced to just give up on your dream.”

“I wasn’t forced to do anything, and I didn’t give up on my dream. I changed it.”

“Isn’t that the same thing?” Gin replied. Gin found the way Rob so happily shared his tragic life story and how it illustrated his philosophical growth both compelling and sad. She was at least sure of one thing—he wasn’t the type of guy who would wonder if she was wearing underwear under a tight dress. He was much deeper than that.
 

“It is not. You make it sound like we all have this grand dream that will make our lives an abject failure if we don’t achieve them. But what if there are dozens of dreams, and we don’t need to rank them and strive for number one? What if each dream is fulfilling in and of itself, so you can just find the one that makes you happy in that moment?”

“Temporary dreams.”

“More or less.”

“Small dreams, then.”
 

“You could look at it that way, but is the dream of having a child smaller than the dream of becoming a millionaire? I would say they are just different, not better or worse. In my case, I changed my dream from being the CEO of a software company to being the CEO of services company.”

“Ha, I definitely see that as a big dream swapped for a big dream.”

“You’d be surprised what others think about that.”

Gin nodded. Rob definitely made her think, and she liked that. There was also an intellectual intensity about him that she found very sexy. It didn’t hurt that he was handsome.

“You know, your whole life story really underscores one important part of your personality.”

“Oh. What’s that?” The curiosity on Rob's face was intense.

“You’re relentless. You won’t let anything stop you—tragedy, bad luck, competition. Nothing.” Gin finished her drink. “I’d hate to be someone in your way.”

Rob laughed but didn’t comment and begged off further discussion of his life. Instead, he pressed Gin to continue her story. His interest seemed real, and his few comments were sympathetic and understanding. Despite her belief that her life was boring, Rob listened intently.

When she finished, Rob lowered his head. He looked sad. “Unfortunately, I have to run, Gin, but I really want to find out more about you.” Gin glanced at her phone. It was late afternoon and she had to leave, too. Rob reached back and pulled out his wallet. “It’s entirely up to you, but here’s my business card. Don’t call the numbers. I never answer them. Text my cell if you want to get together, and maybe we can have dinner sometime.” He handed his card to Gin.

“So
now
you’re angling for a date.” Gin smiled mischievously.
 

“No angling, Gin. I want to get together with you again.” Gin loved how direct he was.

“I promise that I’ll text you, Rob,” Gin replied.

“I’d like that.”

Rob left and Gin realized that the time had just flown by and that she
really
liked him. He was handsome in a way that she didn’t think she would like. She went more for the hot athletic type, but she found herself drawn to his mature and classy good looks. He wasn’t handsome in the youthful way that Phillip was handsome, and he certainly wasn’t gorgeous like Vin, but he had an intense sexiness about him. Sure, he was philosophical, almost annoyingly so, but that was also part of his charm. If a philosopher could be a relentless Silicon Valley alpha male, that would be Rob Greene.
 

And, of course, he was clearly wealthy.

Gin looked at his card. He had offices in New York, London, and San Francisco.
Rob, I wouldn’t mind visiting any of those places
. She smiled, tucked the card in her back pocket, and said goodbye to Martin. She was off to meet Lisa, and the two of them had a lot to talk about.

chapter fourteen

Any hope that Lisa would date Vin vanished before they had even popped the cork on the bottle of merlot. “Bill is
amazing
, Gin! We were at the club late into the night, and then he took me in his car—it was this ancient Audi, if you can believe that—on a drive out to the coast, and then we just sat and talked. It was like we were meant to be together.”
 

Gin was hanging out in Lisa’s apartment. They had decided to share some wine as Lisa outlined her night with Billy, who Lisa was now calling Bill. Gin turned the corkscrew and replied, “So did you give him a blowjob on the beach?”

“I know. I know. I told you to go for it on the plane with Phillip, and that didn’t work out. But to answer your question, I would have gladly gone down on him, but we were just so into talking that it didn’t even get to a point where that was an option.”

“Wait, who are you and what did you do with Lisa?”

“Shut up. I’m serious. I’ve never really had such a great time on a date that lasted so long.”

“Excuse me. You’re the girl that once did two football players at once on a first date. I do believe you told me that was a good time.”

Gin poured the wine, enjoying the game she was playing with Lisa. The two of them weren’t exactly angels, and they constantly teased each other about how slutty the other was. That they had both calmed down since college didn’t change the game, however.

“Ha ha. Yes, as first dates go it was quite wonderful getting it from two hot guys at the same time. As to last night, it was
 
a different kind of wonderful.”

“I’m really happy for you, Lisa.” Gin raised her glass. “To a different kind of wonderful.” They clinked glasses and took long drinks. “So what is he like?”

“Well, he started out really guarded. I mean he was interested in me enough to send me a drink, but when I started talking to him he didn’t say much.”

“I think he was distracted by your tits.”

“Very funny. Yes, he definitely enjoyed my outfit, but that is kind of beside the point. We really did just talk. He just asked about me. I swear he knows more about me now than you do.”

“Did you tell him about getting it from two football players at the same time?”

“Okay. Maybe I was exaggerating, but the important thing is that the more I shared and we talked, the more he opened up. He’s from a working class family, and he’s really defensive about being a rich Silicon Valley dudebro.”

“That’s actually kind of cool. A rich guy with some actual perspective.”

“And the thing is—he’s not really rich. At least not yet.”

“I know, Vin told me that. He said that he’ll be rich soon, but he had to wait for his stock to vest or something.”

“Yeah. Since they just had an IPO, he has to wait until the lockup period is over, and then he can sell his stock.”

Gin leaned forward and whispered, “So how much is he worth once he can cash in?”

“I didn’t ask him, but I know. I checked the web. He’s worth tens of millions.”

“I was going to roll my eyes and say, ‘he’s not even a billionaire,’ but we’re sitting in a broken down apartment building in Oakland. I think you would do pretty well on a nest egg like that.”

“The thing is—it’s not about the money, Gin. He’s really sensitive and down-to-Earth and funny. We love the same things.”

“Again, who are you and what did you do with Lisa?”

Lisa threw the wine cork at Gin. “Shut up. I
really
like him.”

“Okay, okay!” Gin put her hand on Lisa’s. “I’m really happy for you. That’s really wonderful. We’ll just call his millions a nice little side benefit.”

Lisa grinned. “All right. Maybe a nice
big
side benefit.” They both laughed, and Lisa described the rest of her date and how Bill was clearly her soul mate.

“Enough!” Gin laughed after one more comment from Lisa about something nice Bill did. “All I want to know now is when you’re going to sleep with him. You two are practically married already.”

Lisa was quiet for a moment and then replied, “Well, I’m going over to his place tomorrow for pizza and to watch a movie.”

“Oh my God, you are totally going to fuck.”

“No comment.”

“If you even make it to the bed I’ll be shocked.”
 

Lisa raised her glass. “To not making it to the bed. You have recent experience in that.” Gin smirked, raised her glass, and took a long drink. Lisa got a sudden concerned look on her face. “How was Vinnie today? He’s not upset with me is he?’