Page 3 of Take You

“But you know it makes sense.” He knew it, and I knew it, but I also knew he wouldn’t do what I was suggesting he should.

“Stop. Talking.” His tone was as sharp as the shady look he was throwing me as he spoke.

I continued to stare him down—he didn’t scare me. “Dude, just fucking ask them.”

Chapter 2

Fox

I swore to God, sometimes I hated him as much as I loved him.

“You just had to fucking go there, didn’t you, asshole? I’m not asking your parents for a goddamned dime, let alone thousands of dollars. Hard. No.”

“Man, you need to check your fucking pride.”

“Why? Because paupers like me can’t afford to be proud?”

“What? No. Why do you have to be such a jerk about this shit? Because pride comes before a fall, and I’m no fortune teller, but I sense an almighty fucking fall on its way. Not only that, but they love you like a son, and would give you the clothes off their backs without thinking twice.”

“Jesus. Now I have an image in my mind of your mom and dad naked. Thanks for that, buddy.” Everything Kane was saying was correct. Amelia and James O’Neill were generous to a fault, and had shown me nothing but love over the years since I’d first met the family. They truly did treat me as one of their own, but that wasn’t the point. “But parental porn aside, I’m not going to abuse their generosity by asking them to cover this. I’m just not.”

“First of all, it’s not an abuse of anything, and secondly, you wouldn’t need to ask them if you didn’t want to. I could do that instead.”

“It’s the same fucking thing, regardless of who’s doing the asking, and my answer is still no.”

“You wouldn’t be taking anything from them if it was a loan. Just give it back to them when the mailbox money comes in. That’s what they always say, anyway. ‘You can pay us back when you’re the next dot.com sensation.’”

“You mean like all the other ‘loans’ they’ve given me over the years? You know as well as I do that they have no intention of ever asking for any of that money back, and when I try to give it back, they’re going to refuse until they’re blue in the face, even if I end up richer than God, so don’t give me that shit.”

“Okay, busted.” He held his hands up in mock surrender. “What can I say? They have big hearts, and even bigger bank accounts. You know they could give you that money, and ten times more, and not even notice it was gone, right?”

“Yeah, I know. And you know that’s not the point. It’s the principle of the matter.”

“But what is point of the principle in this particular instance? Not using the trust money, even though this is exactly what it was set up for, and refusing Amelia and James’s money, even though they would love for you to have it, doesn’t make you principled; it makes you a stubborn ass who’s willing to cut of his nose to spite his face.”

“And you’re acting as though this is news to you, because...” I shot him a look that told him exactly how stupid I thought he was being.

Kane flipped me off. “Well I suppose you’re right about that, at least. No news there. Okay, you won’t borrow from my parents, or take from the trust, but how about you borrow from the trust? Then pay that back when your businesses blow up? You could even charge yourself a ridiculous rate of interest, and guarantee big ROI for the fund.”

“So, you’re saying that because I refuse to take money from the trust, I should take money from the trust and just call it something other than taking money from the trust? What fucking breeze do you think I blew in on? One more time for the people in the cheap seats at the back. I’m not taking from the trust... or borrowing... or doing anything else that constitutes withdrawing cash from it, now or at any time in the future, until it’s time to use it for the purpose for which I originally intended. We clear?”

“As a fucking pane of glass. So, what are you going to do?” I didn’t miss the note of agitation in Kane’s voice as he spoke.

“Like I said, I’m going to remove the ‘problem’. With them gone, I won’t have to worry about any of this shit. Fuck them, and the fucking horse they rode in on.”

“And what exactly did you have in mind?”

“Well, that all depends on who they are and what ‘stimulus’ they’d respond to best in terms of ‘encouragement’. Everyone will respond to different things. Take fears or phobias, for example. One person will leap off a building to avoid a spider, the next will pass out from being at the edge of said building, but would give the spider a kiss and not even blink. We’ve just got to work out what buttons to press, then hit them hard until they crawl back under their rock.”

“Okay, so do you think you should maybe dial back the evil-psycho routine just a teensy bit?” He made a pincer movement with his thumb and index finger. “While we work out a game plan? Because, right now, you’re seeming a little unhinged to say the least, and I worry not only for your elevated blood pressure, but for the hole you’re about to wear into the rug with your incessant pacing. Cool it, bro.” I stopped pacing. “There we are. That’s better. Come sit.” He patted the couch, where he’d thrown himself while we were talking.

“Don’t do that.”

“Do what?”

“Treat me like I’m some kind of fragile baby bird. We’re not fourteen, and I’m definitely not that guy anymore.” I shuddered at the thought.

“I know you’re not, and I would never suggest otherwise, but that doesn’t mean I’m ever going to stop looking out for you, whether you like it or not. In fact, especially if you don’t like it. Now, are you going to sit down and watch TV with me like a normal person, or what?”

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