“Let’s do that as a last resort,” Danny said. “And if it becomes necessary, the focus needs to be on her, not us. I won’t go on television, and I’ll work to keep the gossip sites from posting about me. I like to stay under the radar. I know it won’t be totally possible while dating Iris, but we’re going to make a concerted effort towards that end. The picture she posted is fine because it’s another version of shots already out there.”
“That’s disappointing to hear,” said the man. “You’re much better spoken than one would expect from a biker. You’d come off as intelligent and attractive.”
“I wouldn’t date an idiot.” Iris glared at the man. “He’s a genius, but that isn’t anyone’s business. Danny will share what he wants, and right now, that’s next to nothing.”
The PR guy held his hands up. “No offense intended, I’m merely discussing strategy. People hear biker and you have to know there’s a stereotype there.”
Her father finally spoke. “I believe the charity function has already dispelled some of that.”
Iris’s gaze swung to her father. She was shocked he seemed to be saying anything positive about Danny. However, pointing that out would’ve been counterproductive, so she turned to his head of security.
“I’ll be staying at the clubhouse on the weekends some, and I’ll probably be at Danny’s house occasionally. His office is in the clubhouse, just a few miles away from campus. If I don’t have a ton of homework, I can meet him at the RTMC’s restaurant.” She looked back to her father. “I honestly don’t know what our week is going to look like from this point forward. I’m focused on school, and he knows it comes first. He’s been good about tutoring me when I’m struggling, but with one-on-one teaching from the statistics professor, I may not need as much help.”
“I’m sending my second in command to work for Drake Security,” the security guy said. “Your father isn’t firing them, but he wants one of his own people involved in decisions and strategy.”
Which meant her father would know every time she saw Danny, but that would have to be okay. Whatever decision he made about her trust fund was out of her hands. She could only show him she was no longer the screw-up who’d blown off all responsibilities in the past. She’d continue to buckle down and make good grades, and she’d continue to make good decisions.
“Some members of Danny’s club are good friends with Aaron Drake, and I’ve become friends with Sophia Drake, Aaron’s wife.”
She turned to Danny, and he picked up where she’d hoped he would. “Aaron Drake let me consult and help find Iris. He’ll work with the club to find the best way to keep her safe when she’s with us.”
The attorney set his coffee down. “This concerns me. If her security backs off because your club can keep her safe, but then one of you shoots a photographer, or beats them bloody, then Iris and/or her father could be legally liable, since it can be construed the club was under some kind of verbal contract to keep her safe, and were thus acting on her behalf.”
Fuck. He was right. Her father had made her talk to him about the law classes he insisted she take her first years of college, so she’d had to actually buckle down and pay attention. Reading legal stuff was kind of like reading Shakespeare — you have to read it a half-dozen times to understand it at first, but then suddenly you can just read through it and understand it.
She looked at Danny. “He’s right, and that’s a problem.”
“I can see that. Let’s get Aaron, Brain, Duke, and your father’s attorneys in a room together to figure it out. Preferably, with you and me present as well, but whatever we need to do to make the lawyers happy, we’ll figure it out.”
“You’re being terribly reasonable, Mr. Franklin.” Iris’s father looked way too relaxed, and it made her worry he was about to strike out with something unexpected.
“I’m almost always reasonable, Mr. Wendel.”
“And what happens when you stop being reasonable?”
“Well now, that depends upon the situation. I tend to use my brain before I use my fists, if that’s your question. I used my brain when you got me expelled from school and made me lose my scholarships. Since I had the self-control not to strike out when I was eighteen, I hope you’ll trust me to think things through now, as well.”
“And your club? They’ll back down when challenged?”
“With a big enough show of force, you often don’t need to follow through. If they force us? Yeah, the club as a whole will make a point no one will forget, but we won’t be stupid about it.”
“You consider yourself a one percenter club, yes?” Iris’s father asked. “Doesn’t this mean you admit to being outlaws? Criminals?”
Iris started to answer, but Danny squeezed her arm, stretched his legs out, leaned back, and looked totally relaxed. “I told you already — I understand you’ve already made up your mind about both me and the club, and the only way I can see to change your mind is through my actions. You’ve read some things online and talked to some cops, and think you have all the answers. I’m no longer the eighteen-year-old boy without resources you once practically annihilated.”
Danny sighed, and Iris thought he sounded sad when he continued. “I’ll do whatever it takes to keep Iris out of our pissing match, sir. If you force me to stand up to you and fight, I will, but I think in that case, no matter which one of us wins, Iris will lose. If we can find a way to work together, then Iris gets to win because she’ll have both of us in her life. If she and I end up together, but you’re no longer in her life, I’ll be incredibly sad.”
“Daddy, you aren’t planning to try to hurt Danny or his club, are you? I mean, we all know you can make life difficult for them if you want, but if you make me choose between you and Danny, I’ll choose him. I’ve had some hope over the past couple of days that maybe you’re seeing the grown-up Danny, and that you might be giving him a chance. Is that not the case? Have you let him in only so you can see how best to attack?”
He lifted his eyebrows. “You’ll choose him even if your trust fund is at stake?”
“Other women manage to survive without trust funds. I’ll figure it out, too.” She shrugged and made a decision. She’d never let Danny support her, but her daddy didn’t need to know that. “Besides, do you really want me living with Danny because I can’t afford a place of my own? Or driving one of his trucks, or maybe even one of his motorcycles, because you took my car away?”
In truth, she was making enough with her social media accounts to have some other options. Perhaps he needed to understand that, too.
“My videos are bringing in enough ad revenue, I could afford a small but luxurious apartment, along with the utilities. Whether I’d choose to go that route, or to live with Danny…” She shrugged. “He’s told me I can move in with him, and given me a choice as to whether that would be into his bedroom or his guest bedroom. I plan to live on campus at least until the Christmas break, and then we’ll need to have a discussion about next semester. I’m not totally opposed to living on campus, but we should sit down with your security people as well as Aaron Drake, Ranger, and Kenny, and figure out the best option for next semester.”
Her father looked to the two PR people, and the woman shrugged. “We can make most anything work, but it’ll look better if she has her own place. If she moves in with him, you have to know the rumor mill will assume you’ve cut her off. If she has her own apartment and they alternate staying at her place and his, it’ll look better. Right now, while she’s in the dorm, she can only go to his place.”
“I think I’d like to talk to my daughter alone. Everyone stay put. We’ll go into another room, and will return to discover what the group has decided as far as security.”
Iris followed her father into his office, but didn’t sit on his sofa or in one of the chairs. It was what she’d had to do as a child, when reprimanded. She didn’t want that dynamic, so she walked behind his desk and sat in his chair.
He lifted a brow, but sat in one o
f the guest chairs.
“It’s a comfortable chair,” she noted. Had she ever sat in his desk chair? She didn’t think so. “How often do you replace it?”
“I can’t recall. I think my people must handle that. It’s been years since I picked one out, and surely that one hasn’t lasted so long. I assume they bought several when I chose one I liked, the last time we redecorated in here.”
“I know you take your job seriously. Keeping health insurance affordable is a balance between making sure people’s true health crises are managed and paid for, while not allowing the hypochondriacs of the world to drain the reserves. Staying on top of the newest procedures, but also not paying for them until they have a proven track record. It’s a huge responsibility, and one that usually comes without thanks.”
“Your point?”
“I think fatherhood might fall into the same category. I mean, you’ve made some really big mistakes, but you’ve also done a whole lot of things right, and I’m not sure I’ve ever told you that, overall, I think you’ve done a great job of being a father. I mean, sure, a few decisions weren’t so good, and they were really big, and it’s possible they sent me off in a bad direction, but I get that you were making the best decisions you knew how to make at the time.”
“I’m still not sure sending you to boarding school was the right call. That’s the decision I struggled with the most.”
“And the whole Danny thing was a part of that decision, I suppose.” She sighed. “Getting him expelled was a shit thing to do. He’s forgiven you, but I’m not sure I ever did. I’m trying to, but…”
“You really didn’t have sex with him back then?”
“I wanted to, but he wouldn’t. He said I was too young, so then, the first chance I got, I lost my virginity with someone else.”
He shook his head. “I failed you, and I’m sorry for that.”
“I’m a woman now, Daddy. I’m not a rebellious teen anymore, and I’m still madly in love with him. If you’d have let him go to college, he likely wouldn’t be a biker, and it’s possible we’d have grown apart, but now it feels as if we’ve grown even more into each other. I went off the deep end. You know I did. Drugs and sex, and lots of both. He’s had his own wild times, though he’s stayed away from drugs.”
“I’m having a hard time seeing you with fifty million dollars. I’m more inclined to give you a hundred thousand on your birthday for the next five years, and then decide what to do with your trust fund after you’ve demonstrated some fiscal responsibility.”
“I can certainly work with that, but the car I’ll buy myself if I need to live on a hundred thousand a year would be certain to create gossip, not to mention how my wardrobe would change.”
He nodded. “I’m aware.”
“As long as you’re making the decision out of love and not spite, I’m sure you and I will be fine. Even if you completely cut me off, if it feels as if you’re doing it because you love me and want the best for me, I won’t hate you for it. However, if I get even an inkling that you’re doing this to punish me for dating Danny, we’re going to have a problem, and it’ll tear me apart inside, but we will. Please, Daddy. I need you in my life. I love Danny, but I love you, too. Don’t make me decide between the two of you.”
There. She’d said it. What would he do? This was a little bit about her trust fund, but it was more about her relationship with her father.
“Money always complicates things. The lack of money is one kind of complication, but an excess of it creates another set of problems. I’d like to give you enough so you can survive if you manage it carefully, because I think I’ve failed you by giving you a limitless credit card. However, doing so now, when you assume I’m doing so because of Mr. Franklin, comes with another set of problems.”
“I had to live on a budget in rehab. Their rules, not yours. I learned all about how to budget a small amount of funds there. We were fed two meals a day, but we had to purchase the third, plus any snacks, and our luxuries. I totally screwed up the first week. I needed moisturizer, and I blew my entire allowance on a single bottle. I only ate two meals a day my first week, until I received my allowance for the second week. I didn’t make that mistake again.”
He sat back. “I’d forgotten about that. I received daily reports, and I wanted them to make an exception and allow you the third meal, but they assured me you wouldn’t learn if they coddled you. I almost pulled you out, but I was assured you were getting enough calories and nutrition in the two meals.”
“I’m sure I probably did, and it’s good you left me in. Going a little hungry while I was getting clean was a hard lesson, but they were right — I needed to learn it.”
“In my position, what would you do with the trust fund?”
She’d stick to the original stipulation of needing a college degree, but just saying that wouldn’t get any kind of point across to her father, so she told him, “With a hundred grand a year, I’ll get a one-bedroom apartment and a reliable yet inexpensive car. I’ll depend mostly on the wardrobe I already have, and fill in only for special events. With a few million, I’ll get a car that speaks to the family name but isn’t terribly extravagant. My wardrobe likely won’t change much — not enough for anyone to notice, at any rate. I’ll live in a spacious two or maybe three-bedroom apartment on the riverfront.”
“And if you have the entire trust fund?”
“I’ll have the means to get started with the photography career I hope to excel at. A proper studio, a skilled PR person, and the ability to hire top models for a few shoots to get my name out there. I’ll start small and have perhaps a half-dozen projects under my belt before I organize something big. I’ll have a staff to help with my social media career, and I’ll hire the best producer and editor, so I’m certain my internet video channel looks as professional as possible. Within two to three years, I should be bringing in more money than I’m spending.”
She leaned back in his chair, didn’t like the way it felt, and sat straight again. “I assume I’ll be paying for my own security if I get my full trust fund, but that you’ll still be providing it if I don’t?”
He didn’t respond, so she kept going. “No matter what, I hope you’ll let me run ideas past you. I’ve learned how to make a business plan, and how to create a budget. I hope you’ll always be available to look these over for me, so I can avoid any potential pitfalls.”
“I’m no longer concerned you’ll go off the deep end with drugs and partying, if I turn your trust fund over to you. I do have concerns about…” He sighed. “There’s no polite way to say it. I worry you’ll fall in love with someone who’ll want you only for your money, and who’ll take it off your hands. I feel the need to hold onto it so you don’t lose eighty percent of it to a man you think loves you. Maybe not Mr. Franklin, but if the two of you break up next year and you begin dating a swindler, it will kill me to see you taken advantage of while you get your heart broken.”
“I’m pretty sure I’ve learned enough over the years so I know who’s out to get my money and who’s interested in me. The same can be said of my looks — it took a while for me to learn who could see the real me inside, and who only saw my outer shell.”
“And you believe Danny sees who you are, and not what you are?”
“He does, Daddy.” Iris thought this was the first time her father had called him by his first name, instead of Mr. Franklin.
“You might be right, but I’m not convinced this means the two of you will work long term. You come from completely different backgrounds, Princess.”
Iris smiled. “I loved being your princess when I was little.”
“And now?”
“The summer I was prisoner kind of messed everything up with us, Daddy. You almost destroyed our relationship back then, and that was because of Danny. I hope you won’t act with that kind of tunnel vision again. I understand I was young and you thought you were doing what was best to protect me, but you have to understand how badly it damaged o
ur relationship.”
“I do.” He leaned back in the guest chair a little. Not as much as Danny had earlier, but it was a similar projection — of being at ease instead of on guard. “I don’t know what to do about your trust fund, but I’m not going to cut you off. At the very least, you’ll get a half-million on your birthday, and then a quarter million on subsequent birthdays until we figure it out. I’m not saying for sure that you won’t get your trust fund as planned, I’m just saying I have concerns, and I’d like you to be a little more settled before you get the entire thing.”
“No matter what, you’re my daddy and I’ll love you. As long as you don’t use it punitively, we’ll be fine. Even if you cut me off, I’ll figure out a way to survive.”
He stood, walked around his desk, angled his keyboard so he could type from beside the desk chair, and they were suddenly watching and hearing the conversation in the next room.
“I won’t lie to Iris,” Danny was saying. “If we need her in a bulletproof car instead of on the back of my bike for security reasons, I’ll tell her. Need I remind you that one of our members is married to Suli — guitar player for Mythic Beast? If we can keep her safe on bike rides, we can keep Iris safe. We’ll figure it out.”
“Do you know who the biker called Brain is?” her father asked.
She shook her head. “I’m pretty sure he comes from money, but I haven’t asked for his legal name.”
“Thurston Silas Alexander. Brother of Senator Alexander of Virginia, and son of the man who’s actually running the Federal Reserve, as opposed to the appointed figureheads.”
“I’m not surprised. I really like him. It also probably explains why the club is so financially successful.”
“They have a number of legal ventures, but it also seems there are some illegal ones. You have to know I’ve had my people look into it.”
“Of course. What did you find?” Knowledge is power, and she needed to know. She wasn’t going to let her father come between her and Danny, but she wasn’t going to stick her head in the sand like an ostrich.
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