Page 36 of Denying Davis
“Moving on.” I placed my beer in the cupholder. “Her mom was a great employee, and she used to bring Sam to work a lot. We became pretty close when I was a kid, and she was one my best friends, but then she disappeared.”
I didn’t add that she’d walked out of my life right after the moment when things had changed—when we’d crossed from friends into more, when I’d finally let my feelings take over. Aaron didn’t need those kinds of details.
“And now she’s back, and you’re falling for her.” Aaron laughed. “I shouldn’t be surprised, right?”
“She’s still what I remember. No—scratch that. She’s better.”
Aaron wrinkled his nose. “We already went through this with Luke Rothschild, remember? He fell for that yoga girl—”
“Natalie is more thanjusta yoga instructor.”
“Well, I’m not saying she’s not nice. She’s perfectlyfine. Pretty girl, and all of that. I know he loves her. But it…it cost him. It took a lot of effort from me to work it all out.”
“Seems like he’s doing well enough. Namaste Now has a bunch of locations, and they’re opening in Orlando next month.”
Aaron sneered. “No one ever said Luke doesn’t have a head for business. It’s a good concept, and he’s franchised it well. But what I’m telling you is—and this is client-to-client—he had to take atremendousrisk. More than you’d expect. His father didn’t react very well once he found out Luke was serious about this woman.” Aaron paused. “I doubt that your grandfather will take it well either. Everyone knows Senior expects you to marry a woman from the right family, one who can help you keep the Armstrong empire alive.”
I stiffened. “He doesn’t have much choice. He either leaves the company to me, or he leaves it to strangers. And he hasn’t spent his life building up an empire to see it washed away.” I stared at my friend. “So, I want to help her.Andher mother.”
“Are you sure this is—”
I held up a hand. “She’s in trouble, and she needs help, whether she asks for it or not.” I pointed at my chest. “I’m the guy to do it.”
It had been a long time since something motivated me this way. But we were talking about Samantha, and I wasn’t going to let her get away again. Not when I could make up for the past.
“This is way out of character for you, bro. I haven’t known you to go out of your way to help anyone. Ever.”
He was right. I’d been selfish for a long time and consumed by my own hubris—my own focus on whatever it meant to be an Armstrong. A bitter taste filled my mouth, and I shrugged one shoulder. “People can change. Maybe I have.”
“Somehow, I doubt that.” Aaron sighed, a telltale signal he was growing annoyed with my demands. Too bad, he’d have to accept it. On the drive from the hospital to the club, I’d made up my mind. I wasn’t going to let Samantha and her mother suffer. Not anymore. “As a member of your wealth management team, it’s my duty to help you consider this from all sides. You can’t afford to fall for anyone out there, Davis. You must make strategic decisions—there are too many things at stake for you to do something different. This is about so much more than what your heart—or your dick—tells you to do.”
I laughed. “My dick, huh?”
“Hey, I’m a man too. I know how it works. Even if I like men instead of women. We get tangled up.”
“I assure you, this has nothing to do with my dick.”
“What does it have to do with, then?”
My heart.
I grabbed my club out of the bag. It was shiny, customized, and rarely used. I twisted it back and forth in my hands, thinking what a frivolous and impulsive purchase it had been. “Let’s start by helping her.”
“And how do you propose doing that?”
I didn’t have a great answer—I was basically making this up as I went along, and I knew it. But I also wasn’t about to turn back. “For starters, I’ll probably need to get my hands on at least five hundred thousand. Maybe a million, just to be safe.”
His eyes widened. “A million?”
“Yes. This sounds like a lot, but I want to give her enough to take care of her mother’s medical bills, and then not have to worry about her other expenses.”
“Very generous. Some might even call it extreme.”
“So what? I can do this, and I want to. I’m going to.” I walked closer to him, eager to end this subject so we could get back to our golf game. He might have been a trusted advisor, but when it came to talking money, I found the topic distasteful. “I know I have two hundred forty saved in the Barclays account. So, that’s a start.”
“But that’s the money you’ve been saving from your monthly trust fund payments. The money you put away in case something catastrophic happened and you got left out of…” Aaron glanced at the open golf course as if to confirm we were still alone. We were. “The point is, it’s not something you want to fritter away.”
“I wouldn’t call this that. We can consider it a donation.” My mind flipped through the other investments I’d made with Aaron, ones that remained independent of any Armstrong funds. “So, we go with the two forty cash, and then there’s the hundred thousand in P&G stock. We can sell half of that. Then we only must find seven hundred and ten more. I’m sure you can do that.”
