Chapter 13
Chapter Thirteen
All That Glitters
Luke is staring at me. I mean, full-on paralyzed in shock, open-mouthed staring. He turns to look at the shiny black Chevy sitting in my driveway before snapping his eyes back to me with a noise of flabbergasted disapproval.
“No,” he says simply.
“No?” I balk. “You can’t say no.”
“No!”
“Why not?”
“Because you can’t just give me a truck, Ethan!” he shouts. “Do you know how insane that sounds?”
“It’s not that crazy.”
Luke glares at me, those electric blue eyes piercing straight through my soul. “Are you okay? Are you actually mentally stable, or should I be calling the local hospitals to ask if they’re missing a patient from the psych ward?”
I roll my eyes and pinch my forehead irritably. Jesus Christ, this man is so dramatic. “Luke, it’s not that big of a deal.”
“Not that big of a deal?” He laughs dryly, putting his hands on his hips. “Ethan, that thing has to have cost over $40,000. You don’t just give it away for free unless you’re a lunatic.”
I shrug. “It’s not worth that much.” It was closer to $60,000, but that’s just semantics.
This isn’t going how I imagined. I had a whole plan about how I wanted to present this to him.
I was going to offer it in a way that he couldn’t refuse, but the moment Luke saw me and made a fucking comment on how I’m serving ‘daddy’ and ‘breedable’ with my new haircut, I lost every ounce of intelligence I had and completely flubbed the reveal.
I’m still not sure I’ve fully recovered control of my faculties after that.
“Look, I already told you this was my mom’s truck,” I lie.
(It’s a terrible lie.) My mom wouldn’t be caught dead driving something like this, but Luke doesn’t need to know that.
“She bought it for winter driving, but she hasn’t come up for the winter in years, so it was sitting in her driveway collecting dust. She gave it to me because she won’t use it.
And I don’t need it. I already have a truck. ”
“So, sell it to someone who can actually afford it,” Luke chastises. “Turn around and make some money off of it.”
“I don’t need the money.” Understatement of the century. “But you need a car.”
“And I’ll find some cheap ass minivan on the side of the road or something!” Luke exclaims, throwing his hands up in the air. “Not this. I can’t accept this.”
“I only took it because I knew you needed something, and it was available.” In reality, I bought it from a dealer in Florida on Friday evening.
Mom helped me pick it out, then I drove it home over the weekend with an overnight stay in Tennessee.
“She knows I’m not keeping it, so it’s not like I’m going behind her back.
And I’m offering you something that you can actually use.
I don’t want anything for it, and I’m not taking no for an answer. Take the win, Luke.”
“It’s too much,” he snaps, and there’s an edge to his voice that’s laced with something bitter and tense. “I get that you’re trying to help, but I… I just can’t, Ethan. Not like this.”
“Is your only concern about how much it's worth?” I frown.
He snorts. “That, and people will think I found myself a sugar daddy if I start driving around in this.”
I lose control of my facial expression as my eyes widen in shock, my jaw snapping shut.
That would make me the sugar daddy. He doesn’t mean it literally, but heat creeps up my neck as I think he’s not exactly wrong, either.
Fucking hell. That was not what I was intending when I decided to do this, but now I can’t unsee it.
“Okay, so let them think that if it makes them feel better,” I say, running my hand along my neck with a wince. “But I want to do this for you. I know you’ve had a tough time coming back here, and this is something I can do to make it better.”
Luke lets out a disgruntled laugh and turns on his heel, scraping a hand through his hair.
He looks agitated, almost like he might flee on foot to escape this.
Then he suddenly drops his head and grabs at the back of his neck with both hands, letting out a guttural cry of frustration. It’s raw and unfettered.
“Luke…” I frown, stepping forward with my hand out, but then I stop and stay back. I’m afraid I’ll only make this worse if I touch him.
“No one’s that good, Ethan!” He practically screams it at me as he whirls around again, aggressively pressing his palms against his eyes. That’s when I see he’s crying. Frustratedly so.
Fuck me. I wasn’t expecting Luke to be this upset.
I thought he would be more excited about it.
Now I think this wasn’t such a good idea.
Maybe if I hadn’t bought such a new truck, he wouldn't be so uncomfortable accepting it.
Somehow, I think he would have reacted this way to anything I gave him, no matter how I presented it.
I’m starting to catch on that Luke isn’t comfortable accepting help from others.
Every time I’ve stepped in without him asking, he’s reacted with irritation, and here I’ve gone and done something absolutely massive in his perspective, even though it’s inconsequential from mine.
He also seems distrustful of the motivations behind it, and I can’t discount his feelings.
He doesn’t know me well enough yet to understand that this isn’t unusual for me, and I guess I don’t know him well enough to know what he wants or needs.
Clearly, I’m crossing some kind of line.
Sometimes, I forget that the concept of money has forever changed my brain chemistry. It’s harder to judge when I’ve overdone something since I’ve lost touch with the real world when it comes to spending money.
When I was a kid, I couldn’t fathom how much a million dollars was.
It was just this big number that seemed so far out of reach.
Then I won that jackpot, and my take-home was about $50 million.
And I thought one million was big. After buying my house, my mom’s condo, a shit ton of books, and anything else a twenty-two-year-old could have wanted, I never even made a dent.
I still had a bank balance far larger than I knew what to do with.
So, I invested a significant portion of the winnings because that was the advice given to me, and now the balance has increased to over $300 million in the thirteen years I’ve had it.
The rich get richer without even having to lift a finger.
Still, I’ve spent so much on my friends without them ever realizing it. And I’ve never once asked for anything in return. The way I see it, I have all this money and only one lifetime to spend it in, so why should I be frugal? The problem is, I have to remember I’m the only one who knows that.
God, things would be so much easier if I came clean, but I’m hesitant to let it out.
As much as I’m willing to spend the money, I don’t want people to look at me and only see what I can give them.
I’m terrified that if I do, it’ll stop being Ethan for Ethan’s sake and turn into Ethan for Ethan’s money.
With a sigh, I turn to look at the new truck, dragging a hand down my face.
“Okay,” I say. “If you don’t want to take it, then I won’t force you to. But I’m not going to sell it, either. So, it’ll be here if you change your mind.”
“Jesus Christ. You’re such a fucking idiot,” Luke scolds, holding his head in the palm of his hand. Then he suddenly starts laughing—it’s a little unhinged. “How have you survived this long making these kinds of stupid financial decisions?”
“My dashing good looks?” I shrug, and he scoffs.
Groaning, he turns to look at the truck, frowning and shaking his head. He hugs his arms across his chest like it’s the only thing holding him together. “Fine.”
“Fine?”
“Fine.”
“Does this mean…you are taking the truck?” I frown.
“It’s your life, Ethan. You get to be as stupidly generous as you want, and I have no room to judge. But I’d be an idiot to look a gift horse in the mouth.”
“Why does that sound like a backhanded compliment?” I laugh.
“Are you absolutely certain you won’t regret this?” Luke frowns, giving me a wary look. “You’re not going to come banging on my door demanding the keys back or ask for some ridiculous favor in return? Because if this is some ploy to get something out of me later, I don’t want it.”
“No, Luke. I’m serious.” I smile, shaking my head. “No strings attached. I’ll forget it happened after you drive away, and we never have to talk about it again. I promise. You don’t even need to tell anyone it came from me. Actually, probably best if you don’t.”
Luke releases a shuddering sigh, letting his arms drop to his sides. He looks at his new truck with disbelief, his jaw clenching slightly, fresh tears in his eyes.
“Can I hug you?” he asks suddenly, his expression a little vulnerable.
It’s utterly unexpected after he was so prickly about all this, but I can’t help smiling. I nod.
Luke doesn’t hesitate. Crossing the short distance between us, he practically slams his body into mine, knocking me off balance.
He wraps his arms around my shoulders, squeezing so tightly that I let out a little gasp.
But I laugh and wrap my arms around him, holding him just as firmly.
I can feel every word he’s not saying in this hug, every ounce of gratitude pouring out of him like a sieve.
His tension melts away as he drops his head on my shoulder, and I revel in the unexpected closeness, my face warming.
I take in every sensation I can while this lasts.